Madeleine Albright drops ISIS references from convention speech

PHILADELPHIA — Just hours after Republicans mocked Democrats for avoiding talking about the Islamic State at their convention, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright deleted two references to the terrorist group from her prepared remarks.

In the remarks passed out to reporters, Mrs. Albright was to say that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is trusted by allies and “who knows how to work with them, not alienate them, to defeat ISIS” — using a common acronym for the Islamic State.

But in delivering her speech on stage, Ms. Albright left out the entire line.

Later in her speech, she was slated to say Mr. Trump “has undermined our fight against ISIS by alienating our Muslim partners.” Instead, in speaking, Ms. Albright substituted the word “terrorism” for ISIS.

The GOP convention last week spent an extraordinary amount of time focusing on Mrs. Clinton’s record handling terrorist hotspots in the State Department — including the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, and the threat from the Islamic State.

But Democrats have shied away from talking about terrorism during the first two days of their convention.

Mr. Trump’s campaign, in a statement, mocked the party for that.

“Maybe they didn’t mention ISIS because Hillary Clinton’s foreign invasions gave ISIS a launching pad — something we can be sure her base is none too thrilled about. Or maybe they didn’t mention ISIS because Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine want a monumental increase in Syrian refugees,” said Trump spokesman Jason Miller.

Former Sen. Carl Levin, who was chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee before his retirement last year, bristled when told that Mrs. Albright dropped planned references to ISIS.

“Someone’s trying to make something out of nothing,” the Michigan Democrat said.

He said there were at least four references to the Islamic State by other speakers earlier in the evening.