White House says Republicans scoring points over Libya deaths

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.There was an attempt by Republicans beginning with Governor Romney to try to turn this event into a partisan issue, Carney said, accusing Republicans of trying to score political points out of a terror attack.Republican opponents accuse the administration of downplaying and changing its story about the attack two weeks ago in a bid to paper over possible security or intelligence lapses that may have contributed to the deaths.US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice initially said the attack was by extremists taking advantage of a spontaneous demonstration against an anti-Islamic film made by Christian extremists in the United StatesLibyan officials say they believe the assault on the consulate, which included the firing of rocket-propelled grenades and several hours of small arms fire, was pre-planned in advance by foreign extremists.Carney said last week and on Wednesday that the attack was terrorism. On Tuesday, Romney accused the president of papering over the incident in which US ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed.Obama has not yet used the word terrorism specifically in reference to the incident, but in his initial reaction to the assault, he did say that no acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of Americans.On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared to suggest there could have been an Al-Qaeda link to the attack on the consulate.A senior administration official later rowed back her remarks.