Jay Carney, 2012 Presidential Election | featured news

The White House Thursday accused Republicans of using the deaths of four Americans in Libya for political gain as questions mount about the administration's evolving account of the attack. White House spokesman Jay Carney hit back in a row sparked by complaints by presidential candidate Mitt Romney and other Republicans that top officials have been unwilling to categorize the killings as terrorism.

The White House criticized Republican claims that President Obama called an ambassador's death a 'bump in the road." White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama was referring to Middle East unrest in general, and called the GOP claim "both desperate and offensive."

President Barack Obama will hold his first news conference of the year Tuesday, the same day his Republican rivals face off in 10 voting contests. White House spokesman Jay Carney announced the Tuesday afternoon news conference on Twitter. Obama held his last full news conference in November during the APEC summit in Hawaii.

When Republican candidate Mitt Romney attacked President Obama for conducting a "feckless" foreign policy, the White House had a ready answer. It came from a Republican. White House spokesman Jay Carney quoted this particular Republican as saying: "I've been very supportive of the President's decisions in Iraq and Afghanistan ... When you look at the prosecution of the war effort against the enemy in the tribal areas, there's clearly been more done under President Obama than there was under President Bush in terms of a more aggressive effort focused at them." "So said John Boehner, Speaker of the House, highest elected Republican in the land," Carney dutifully reported.