Another little temper tantrum from John McCain
UPDATE at 3:05: In his press conference this afternoon, President Obama was quite forceful in his defense of Ambassador Rice:
“Let me say specifically about Susan Rice: She has done exemplary work she has represented the U.S. and our interests in the U.N. with skill and professionalism and toughness and grace. If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me. And I’m happy to have that discussion with them. But for them to go after the U.N. ambassador? Who had nothing to do with Benghazi? And was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received? To besmirch her reputation is outrageous.”
—————
This is just stupid.
An increasingly petty and petulant Sen. John McCain has gone off the deep end again, announcing that if U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice is nominated to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of State, he would attempt to filibuster her nomination.
His reason?
Because Rice, serving as a foreign policy spokesperson for the Obama administration, went on Sunday talk shows shortly after the attacks in Benghazi to say the following, after noting that an investigation was still underway and the details were unclear:
“But our current best assessment, based on the information that we have at present, is that, in fact, what this began as, it was a spontaneous — not a premeditated — response to what had transpired in Cairo. In Cairo, as you know, a few hours earlier, there was a violent protest that was undertaken in reaction to this very offensive video that was disseminated.
We believe that folks in Benghazi, a small number of people came to the embassy to — or to the consulate, rather, to replicate the sort of challenge that was posed in Cairo. And then as that unfolded, it seems to have been hijacked, let us say, by some individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons, weapons that as you know in — in the wake of the revolution in Libya are — are quite common and accessible. And it then evolved from there.
We’ll wait to see exactly what the investigation finally confirms, but that’s the best information we have at present.”
That version of events turned out to be incorrect in one relatively small detail. Subsequent investigation has determined that there had not been “a small number of people” protesting outside the consulate before a force of roughly 150 armed men rushed the facility, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Three other Americans also died in the attacks.
Some conservatives have attempted to read great importance into that incorrect detail. In fact, McCain and others, including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, wish to declare Rice unqualified to be secretary of State for having made that statement.
It is truly a ridiculous position to take, for two glaringly obvious reasons:
1.) Compare Rice’s statement to the best then-secret intelligence assessment of the CIA at the time she appeared on the Sunday talk shows:
“The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. Consulate and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations. This assessment may change as additional information is collected and analyzed and as currently available information continues to be evaluated.”
Clearly, Rice’s statements on ABC and other stations that weekend accurately reflected the best intelligence available to her and others at the time. Trying to declare her unfit to be secretary of State on that basis is nonsense.
And McCain has every reason to know that it is nonsense, which brings us to …
2.) In 2005, at the start of his second term, President Bush nominated Condoleezza Rice to replace Colin Powell as secretary of State. And Rice, as you may recall, had her own rather extensive history of statements on Sunday talk shows that later turned out to be incorrect, with consequences that were far more profound and costly to this nation than the tragedy at Benghazi. More than 4,000 American men and women were to die in a war founded on those statements.
As Condi Rice told Wolf Blitzer on CNN on Sept. 8, 2002, regarding Saddam Hussein:
“We do know that he is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon. We do know that there have been shipments going into Iran, for instance — into Iraq, for instance, of aluminum tubes that really are only suited to — high-quality aluminum tools that are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs. …we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”
By 2005, the whole world knew that statement by Rice, along with others by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and others had been false. Saddam had no nuclear program; the aluminum tubes had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction. Their explanation for those false statements was that they had merely relied on the best intelligence available from the CIA, and can’t be held accountable if those assessments were wrong. (There is considerable evidence that Rice, Bush, Cheney and others in fact cherry-picked the evidence to suit the case they wanted to build, but we’ll set that aside for the moment.)
Despite these false statements by Rice — again, statements with grave national consequences — Senate Democrats in 2005 did not launch a filibuster in an attempt to halt her confirmation. The vote to approve her was 85-13. Among those voting to confirm her were McCain and Graham.
Also voting to confirm Rice were Sen. Joe Biden. And Sen. Hillary Clinton. And yes, Sen. Barack Obama as well.
The parallels between the two cases are uncanny, right down to the gender, race and surname of the main character. But the differences in how the two cases are being handled is more startling still, and all too revealing of just how unhinged and hypocritical many of today’s Republicans have become.
If President Obama believes that Ambassador Rice is the best person to serve this country as secretary of State, he should not hesitate to nominate her. If McCain and others wish to make the case to the American people why Rice is unqualified, they should likewise not hesitate to do so.
But by doing so, they will be drawing more attention to their inadequacies than to those they imagine in Rice.
– Jay Bookman
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571 comments Add your comment
alex
November 14th, 2012
3:59 pm
….”BUT BY DOING SO”……WHY, what if they explain their position lucidly, a bit presumptious…., If this is all they have to suggest inadequacies then yes this is ridiculous. I guess this is what a senate hearing is all about, air the areas of controversy or question. Is she qualified, etc. Clearly we do not have the whole story and mabye that statement she made was accurate, if so we will find out in the questioning… We CAN thank god, Obama did not nominate Jane Fonda……..
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 14th, 2012
3:59 pm
I’m a big boy. I can take it. But, I did not write what you posted. Someone must have hijacked my moniker. But, I will take the heat.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
john dahodi
November 14th, 2012
3:59 pm
In my opinion, the person need to be blamed, investigated and questioned is not Susan Rice but HILLARY CLINTON, our secretary of State and who is in-charge of our foreign missions around the globe but for some unknown reasons no one including any GOP leader is raising her name and for the last several weeks; she has kept herself aloof from his issue keeping silence. WHY?
Moderate Line
November 14th, 2012
4:00 pm
Brosephus™
November 14th, 2012
3:39 pm
And not necessarily for you, but any Moonbat trying to turn Obama’s reelection into something it was not. He won just over 50% of the popular vote and 26 states plus DC. Long from a mandate or landslide.
Only four presidents since 1900 have been elected twice with more than 50% of the popular vote in both elections: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald W. Reagan, and Barack H. Obama.
+++++
I always like when people cherry pick data.
Eisenhower won 57.4 to 42 which was a 15 pt margin.(Turnout 60.6)
Reagan won 58.8 to 40.6 which was a 18.2 margin(Turnout 53.1)
Obama won 50.6 to 47.8 which was a 2.8 margin(57.5)
Nixon won 60.7% to 37.5% which was a 23.2 margin(55.2)
Bush received 50.7 for his second term and Obama received 50.6.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
November 14th, 2012
4:01 pm
You would think that by now these conned posters would at least have pieced together a plausible movie script that brings in the facts and “asks the questions”. UFO groupies have more plausible theories. Classy does not even know there is a consulate in Bengazi. How silly.
stands for decibels
November 14th, 2012
4:02 pm
Can someone translate from the Wingnutese @ 3.58?
How does telling this “lie” magically put the Ambassador in Tripoli instead of Benghazi? You’re making even less sense than our J-Reb.
josef
November 14th, 2012
4:02 pm
SFD
Well, don’t come down too hard on them for calling “lies.” Their only following our suggestion that they talk about something they’re familiar with…
Jay
November 14th, 2012
4:02 pm
Classy, the “demonstration” angle does NONE of those things.
josef
November 14th, 2012
4:03 pm
ooops…
@ 4:02
That’s THEY’RE…and I’ve not even had the first G&T…
stands for decibels
November 14th, 2012
4:04 pm
Anyway, I might check in later to see if some Grand Unified Theory of Why Duh Preznit Lied about Crazy Muslims Rioting Spontaneously (and feeding every wingnut’s worst nightmare in the process) might emerge.
/drive-by
Thomas Heyward Jr
November 14th, 2012
4:04 pm
Clearly…..what is needed is a CIA Performance evaluation Team.
CIAPET.
.
Be that as it may……..everyone knows that…Octobersurprisingly , Obama and his Chicago crew arranged for Chris Stevens’ to be kidnapped so that Obama could either negotiate for the release of Stevins by probably swapping some of our prisoners and subsequently making him look tough for the upcoming elections.
The three guys on the ground weren’t in on the scheme and came to Stevins rescue.(that’s why the would be rescuers were ordered to stand down).
The kidnappers thought that they had been double crossed and the blood bath ensued.
.
Everybody knows this.
Sam M.
November 14th, 2012
4:04 pm
Mr. McCain, still sore about loosing the election. I always loked at him
as an intelligent person, but now I see him for what he really is. Attacking
Susan R. is an all time low. Americans know that when you have two
major events happening in one area there maybe some confusion. We
know that Democrates nor Republicans are going to just make things up.
Remember the reports on weapons of mass distruction report during the
Bush administration (Condolisa Rice). No one doged her for that and we
went to war over it. Lets get the economy together, thats what the
prople wamt. Don’t direct people’s attention away from that. Wake up
guys!! I am Independant by the way.
Lord Help Us
November 14th, 2012
4:05 pm
Man, I thought it was willful ignorance for a long time.
But, now I am thinking that a whole bunch of people seriously need an intervention…
classyasalways
November 14th, 2012
4:06 pm
Jay – It does ALL of those things. Uninformed, Unprepared, unresponsive administration = failure.He wanted to shift the conversation so it doesn’t look like a massive intelligence failure on his watch. If the shoe were on the other foot, you’d see it too. Take off the blinders. I thought the media was supposed to be objective? no. SAD.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
November 14th, 2012
4:06 pm
Heywood: The three guys on the ground weren’t in on the scheme and came to Stevins rescue.(that’s why the would be rescuers were ordered to stand down).
The kidnappers thought that they had been double crossed and the blood bath ensued
that sounds squatchy.
Jay
November 14th, 2012
4:07 pm
LHU, it IS worrisome, isn’t it.
Moderate Line
November 14th, 2012
4:07 pm
But by doing so, they will be drawing more attention to their inadequacies than to those they imagine in Rice.
++++
Not really. The one thing that seems to be constant in politics is selective memory. Condoleezza Rice received the most no votes since 1825 and the Dems delayed the vote. Kerry, Boxer and Durbin both voted no. There were 12 votes against Rice.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee reported the Rice nomination favorably to the full Senate by a vote of 16-2 with former Democratic presidential contender Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., voting against her. In the full Senate, opposition to Rice gathered steam with the 13 Democrats opposing the president’s first-term national security adviser. No Republicans opposed the confirmation.
Since 1789, only eight nominees to the position of secretary of state have received votes against their confirmation; Rice’s Senate confirmation succeeded with the second-largest number of “nay” votes in history, nearly matching the 14 nay votes received by Henry Clay during President John Q. Adams’ administration in 1825.
Jay has a convenient memory.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Inauguration/Story?id=122188&page=1
classyasalways
November 14th, 2012
4:08 pm
Oh and did anyone actually figure out WHY he was in Bengazi?
Thomas Heyward Jr
November 14th, 2012
4:08 pm
john dahodi
November 14th, 2012
3:59 pm
In my opinion, the person need to be blamed, investigated and questioned is not Susan Rice but HILLARY CLINTON, our secretary of State and who is in-charge of our foreign missions around the globe but for some unknown reasons no one including any GOP leader is raising her name and for the last several weeks; she has kept herself aloof from his issue keeping silence. WHY?
——————————————————————————–
.
Thou shalt not blasapheme the Prog Vice-God.
Jay
November 14th, 2012
4:08 pm
Good news for Obama and Boehner, bad news for Saxby:
Tom Price defeated by McMorris Rodgers for leadership spot.
Lord Help Us
November 14th, 2012
4:09 pm
‘LHU, it IS worrisome, isn’t it.’
Maybe they can get a group discount with that ‘Intervention’ show…
I recommend shock therapy (but that would be for my own entertainment…)
indigo
November 14th, 2012
4:09 pm
John McCain showed great courage as a Vietman prisoner of war and combat pilot and we honor his service.
That said, it’s clear this sterling military performance hasn’t carried over into his political service. With each passing year, he becomes more of an embarrassment to that great soldier he once was.
It would be in everyone’s best interest, especially his, if he wouild just quietly resign from public service.
jewcowboy
November 14th, 2012
4:09 pm
“But, now I am thinking that a whole bunch of people seriously need an intervention…”
I’m telling you…mandatory Thorazine if you self-identify as a Republican.
JamVet
November 14th, 2012
4:09 pm
Surely there are better choices to run the State Department.
Yet you name…………………………. none.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y
classyasalways
November 14th, 2012
4:11 pm
stands for decibels – US Embassy is in Tripoli, not Bengazi. Ask yourself, why was the ambassador in Bengazi? You know, you can Google this stuff, right?
Regnad Kcin
November 14th, 2012
4:11 pm
“Oh and did anyone actually figure out WHY he was in Bengazi?”
So, what’s the FOX theory?
jewcowboy
November 14th, 2012
4:12 pm
“Oh and did anyone actually figure out WHY he was in Bengazi?”
You mean why would an Ambassador actually be in out and about in the country in which they are posted?
Thomas Heyward Jr
November 14th, 2012
4:12 pm
Keep Up the Good Fight!
November 14th, 2012
4:06 pm
Heywood: The three guys on the ground weren’t in on the scheme and came to Stevins rescue.(that’s why the would be rescuers were ordered to stand down).
The kidnappers thought that they had been double crossed and the blood bath ensued
that sounds squatchy.
————————————————————-
.
I’ve never heard nor seen one…..but I’ve smelt them.
They’re out there.
hey you 1
November 14th, 2012
4:12 pm
He will forever be remembered at the first to lose the presidency to a black guy. He can’t get over that.
Joe Hussein Mama
November 14th, 2012
4:12 pm
Classy — “Oh and did anyone actually figure out WHY he was in Bengazi?”
From what I’ve read, the Ambassador liked getting out of the Embassy and meeting/dealing with the *people* of whatever nation he was serving in. And he was apparently making contacts with businessmen who were merchants, shippers, building contractors, etc. in an effort to act as a sort of ‘matchmaker’ of needs and abilities for Libya’s liberation.
Perhaps he was just meeting people and making contacts among the Libyans.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
November 14th, 2012
4:14 pm
Oh and did anyone actually figure out WHY he was in Bengazi
Scouting for a Pappa John’s franchising opportunity”
josef
November 14th, 2012
4:14 pm
JAY
“Tom Price defeated by McMorris Rodgers for leadership spot.”
Okay, you old sourpuss…here’s another of those “hopeful” thingies we’ve been talking about. It seems the message may be getting through…
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 14th, 2012
4:14 pm
Tom Price defeated by McMorris Rodgers for leadership spot.
And there was much rejoicing.
classyasalways
November 14th, 2012
4:15 pm
I don’t have the answer, that’s supposed to be up to media types, like Jay. I don’t watch FOX news. Never have. Of course, they’re too busy taking DNC conference calls to ask tough questions. Yes, why was he out in the country, more specifically, WITHOUT security?
classyasalways
November 14th, 2012
4:16 pm
Joe, did you confirm that?
Brosephus™
November 14th, 2012
4:17 pm
Moderate Line: I always like when people cherry pick data.
What’s cherry picked about that? I could have cherry picked data and included Nixon’s second election where he garnered more than 60% of the popular vote. There have been 13 presidents who have been elected to two terms with 12 of them getting consecutive terms. Out of that 13, 7 of them got more than 50% of the popular vote in both elections. Not even Bill Clinton achieved that.
I actually like how people try to assume someone’s cherrypicking something by simply quoting fact.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
November 14th, 2012
4:17 pm
I don’t watch FOX news. Never have.
The #1 cable news channel that seemingly no one ever watches.
Things that make you go, hmmmmmmmmmmm….
nelson
November 14th, 2012
4:17 pm
I see a rather sharp divide in the discussion. I would be hesitant to besmirch the character of one of our greatest war heros and statesmen. What is becoming of greatness when we settle for mediocrity in government with marginally qualified people intent on getting as much of everything for themselves possible.
Where is the dedication, duty,honor, country.
Another down day on wall street, and i may have to resort to panhandling, i could be good at it, humble,obsequious,self effacing, better than good.
Moderate Line
November 14th, 2012
4:18 pm
Sam M.
November 14th, 2012
4:04 pm
No one doged her for that and we went to war over it.
+++++
You are factually incorrect. As I have pointed she received the second highest number of no votes for any Secretary of State. Look up what Byrd said.
http://www.democracynow.org/2005/1/26/sen_byrd_rice_responsible_for_most
Jay
November 14th, 2012
4:18 pm
Right, Moderate.
Because a measly 13 “no” votes out of 48 Democratic senators (Rice 2005) is exactly like using a filibuster to block a confirmation vote from even taking place (Rice 2013).
alex
November 14th, 2012
4:18 pm
Great news for the repubs, a moderate, yea. The future is so bright < i need shades. Think of it a day without quotas, more days like amb. Rice being nominated ,without referral to race or gender, a new dawn…CAN YOU DIG IT! ( OOPS!)
iT IS WITH GREAT JOY THAT SUCH A VARIETY OF BLOGGERS HAVE COMPLIMENTED THE SEN. FROM ARIZONA<
Keep Up the Good Fight!
November 14th, 2012
4:18 pm
Hmmmm, so now asking the “tough questions” is to ask the same questions that have been asked and answered. I don’t think that would even make the Sesame Street Tough Questions team.
willie lynch
November 14th, 2012
4:21 pm
Never thought much of John McCain until he gave his concession speech the night he lost the 2008 election. After hearing his speech I thought, man if this guy had run with the same dignity and comportment Obama would have never beaten him. It’s a shame that someone who obviously possesses so much more has lost the desire to share it. Hatred will suck the life right out of you.
Joe Hussein Mama
November 14th, 2012
4:21 pm
Classy — “Joe, did you confirm that?”
I don’t have a firm source to point you to; I read one essay online from someone who used to work with Stevens in a previous assignment, and I heard a personality profile on Stevens that was aired on NPR a few weeks ago. Both indicated that Stevens liked to get his hands dirty and spend time with the ordinary, everyday citizens of whatever country he was posted to.
And FWIW, there were some photos circulated on the web after Stevens’ death of Libyans holding apologetic signs, written in English, expressing their regret over the massacre and their apparent respect for Stevens. Those should be pretty easy to Google.
I’m not sure that we’ll ever know exactly why Stevens chose to be in Benghazi that day.
josef
November 14th, 2012
4:21 pm
CLASSY
“Yes, why was he out in the country, more specifically, WITHOUT security?”
That was his style. That’s why he was so loved by so many Libyans and why they came out in the tens of thousands to express their sorrow that their friend had been murdered. Stevens was a class act. Would that we had more such diplomats.
Fred ™
November 14th, 2012
4:22 pm
josef: “Ja? Ja wolę polską. Wygląda naprawdę obcy!”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I almost missed that. I came down to check out what was “going on” with Hope Solo and decided to see if Benny replied.
I don’t know Polish per say, but that’s what it looks like to me. I THINK it says something like ‘Me? I want Polish and I don’t know what the last phrase says lol.
Kam: I read what happened to Hope. I’ll keep my politically incorrect opinion on it to myself lol.
Fred ™
November 14th, 2012
4:22 pm
No back upstairs and out of the dungeon.
hamiltonAZ
November 14th, 2012
4:24 pm
Watching the unraveling of the Republican leadership (especially McCain) has the feel of watching the old 60s movie “King of Hearts.”
Joe Hussein Mama
November 14th, 2012
4:24 pm
Classy, here are some of the photos I spoke of. This source also offers translations of some of the Arabic-language signs visible in the photos as well.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/09/does-not-represent-us-moving-photos-pro-american-rallies-libya/56803/
Jay
November 14th, 2012
4:25 pm
Classy, Stevens was the type of diplomat who smuggled himself into Libya on a Greek freighter while the civil war was still raging, so being in Benghazi — the port city in which he arrived in said freighter — was entirely in character.
But I suspect you have some much-more-entertaining theory as to why he was in Benghazi. Please … do share!
jewcowboy
November 14th, 2012
4:28 pm
“Yes, why was he out in the country, more specifically, WITHOUT security?”
Because that is the job of an Ambassador. It’s not all sipping Moet at black-tie soirees and dancing the waltz. Most of it is grunt work. And it is well know that Ambassador Stevens pushed back heavy security, as he felt it came between him and the people of the country in which he was posted. He would often go jogging through the countryside.
But I suppose if I were trying to justify my own world view of a conspiracy, I could just ignore these facts and pretend there was something nefariousness going on.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/14/world/middleeast/diplomats-pulled-2-ways-between-protection-and-accessibility.html
Joe Hussein Mama
November 14th, 2012
4:31 pm
Classy, here’s some supporting background on Stevens that corroborates some of what I said earlier.
http://world.time.com/2012/09/12/ambassador-chris-stevens-the-american-who-loved-libya-1960-2012/
josef
November 14th, 2012
4:31 pm
FRED
I translated it into Redneckese down there at Mama’s request!
JAY
@ 4:25
Some people just can’t quite get a handle on that about Stevens…frankly, his was one of those lives that a movie should be made from…he had the chutzpah to live life to the fullest, doing his job with a humbleness and dignity that should be the very fabric of those we see as our representatives abroad.
hamiltonAZ
November 14th, 2012
4:32 pm
I watched McCain give his “flat affect” version of Captain Kurtz the other night and wondered aloud if men were standing by offscreen with the “jacket” – just in case.
His recent deportment was unquestionably a boon for the President’s re-election. People must have been thinking, “we were actually close to handing this man the levers of power?” It is a true OMG moment.
Barack's the best
November 14th, 2012
4:32 pm
Sorry to say it, but I think that McCain’s time in a POW camp is finally having an effect on him. Lest our Regressive brothers and sisters misinterpret that, let me say that I have the utmost respect for John McCain the solider, who bravely put his life on the line and suffered unimaginable horrors in defense of our liberty. But, and it’s a BIG BUT, he clearly has gone bat$hit crazy since running for Prez and it’s high time he retired (in Colorado – methinks there’re some meds there he could, well, benefit from).
tiredofit
November 14th, 2012
4:33 pm
Many are saying the Senate committee had access to the intelligence reports. What is their excuse?
captguitarman
November 14th, 2012
4:33 pm
OK. She was a spokesperson. Let’s pretend she was not told what the administration learned shortly after the attack (or maybe even while it was going on – it lasted 7 hours) about the phony video cover story and the organized terrorists. And so she goes out to schill for them on 5 networks, and then learns that she was set up to promote the video cover story. And then the stuff about the security flares having been sent up previously being ignored, because added security would not be quite in keeping with the Presidents view of things in that part of the world. And a US Ambassador and Americans died. And she is the cover girl, but one with great integrity, etc. Did I miss the story about her resigning her post in protest over how she was treated, or did she really know after all? One thing is true, when the hearings start on all of this, the people are going to find out. They always do. Way too much smoke here, now with the Petraeus scandal, for there not to have been a fire.
Amazing how little communication goes on in the White House. Unlike all Pub/Con presidents, who some how always knew every thing, Obama some how doesn’t know much of anything. We are now supposed to believe that Attorney General Holder didn’t tell the President about Petraeus and his girlfriend in August when Holder learned about it. If you believe that, you are naive beyond redemption or smoking way too much ganja, or based on the statistics about the “new America,” probably both.
The lamestream double standard is getting to be tiresome, and the disappearance of true journalism in the country is not a good thing. Having only one major network with a critical view of Obama and his administration is bad enough. But worse is all the others completely in his corner and working for him and providing cover when necessary. All that “to do” about the outing a Valerie Plame and the hundreds of negative articles and TV spots, and here she was, safe at home. An Ambassador and three Americans are murdered, and a phony cover story is created and then discovered, and then it is learned that security flares had been sent up repeatedly and ignored, all on 9/11, and the lamestream reaction? “Romney spoke out too soon.” And . . . yawn . . . hardly a peep.
And now, right after the election, Petraeus, a cooperative player in the phony video story, goes down in flames. All hell breaks loose. Everyone suddenly wakes up. How did this not get out since August. There was a rogue FBI agent, and now they are involved. The girlfriend’s home gets raided for Petraeus files and e-mails . . . that wasn’t important to national security before the election? Holder knew in August. And now Petraeus can’t or won’t testify unless he is subpoened? If these were Pub/Cons the lamestream would be having foaming at the mouth seizures on a 24/7 news cycles. They wanted to stay back and help their pal, but now they will be drug into it. And it will all come out. It always does.
indigo
November 14th, 2012
4:33 pm
Kamchak – 4:14 “and there was much rejoicing”
Not among Big Business moguls and their fundamentalist faithfuls.
jayross495
November 14th, 2012
4:34 pm
What does it matter whether the tape was involved? Four Americans died and that is serious enough for a major investigation. The American people also need to know who was behind that anti-Muslim tape that caused other American diplomats and ordinary citizens around the world to experience very harrowing days and nights and the American flags to be burned. Why does it seem that these GOP senior men and others in the GOP are trying so vigorously to remove questions about that tape? Where will the money trail lead? All those questions are also relevant for the American people. That tape put the lives of other diplomats at high risk and the American people also need answers about who was behind that tape especially since the consultant of the tape confirmed to CNN that the tape was a political tape to yield the exact response that followed. BTW The American people also need to know about the army couple that was
murdered in connection with plans to assassinate the president. Who else was involved in that plot?
TM
November 14th, 2012
4:37 pm
“But for them to go after the U.N. ambassador? Who had nothing to do with Benghazi? To besmirch her reputation? It’s outrageous.”
If she had nothing to do with Benghazi why send her out to be the spokeswoman for the administration– was everyone else who had something to do with it busy trying to figure out how they screwed up?
hamiltonAZ
November 14th, 2012
4:38 pm
Lastly, the substance:
One would think these people, if they were interested in anything but destroying the executive, would see what even a lay person can. That is, Benghazi was planned, but probably loosely. Such a plan often foments unrest (the street riots) using current events (the video) in order to provide a diversion and help the success.
We’ll find that’s what happened here. Of course, we could station armies at every diplomatic outpost, but given the current state of affairs in that region, we might not have enough armies.
McCain and Graham would better serve their countries by helping fashion a strategy (not a war) for stabilizing the region.
jewcowboy
November 14th, 2012
4:39 pm
“Four Americans died and that is serious enough for a major investigation.”
Four Americans…really four? Good golly gosh…that many huh? Can we start an investigation into how 4,488 American have died based on “we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”?
straitroad
November 14th, 2012
4:39 pm
Jay,
At some point, you will have to come to grips that obama makes mistakes and isn’t perfect. This situation was screwed up royally from the beginning and he is the one in charge. McCain doesn’t give a flip if his scrutiny of obama hurts your feelings.
DannyX
November 14th, 2012
4:41 pm
Book that will never be written…
“Romney Landslide: Secretary of State John Bolton Moves America Towards Apocalypse”
curious
November 14th, 2012
4:41 pm
If the Ambassador knew security was deficient but went ahead on a risky trip to an outpost with even less security, I contend he used very poor judgment that got himself and 3 others killed.
Unless he publicized his trip to Benghazi, he had the bad fortune to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
All this talk about somebody lying and somebody dying is a bunch of baloney.
teamguy
November 14th, 2012
4:42 pm
Let’s see, John McCain was captured during the Viet Nam conflict. . .tell me again how getting captured makes one a hero?
neohueman
November 14th, 2012
4:43 pm
Uncle fluffy needs a nap!
Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette
November 14th, 2012
4:44 pm
Is this what the GOP thinks an ambassador does all the time?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wrfatICxx0
kayaker 71
November 14th, 2012
4:44 pm
Somebody is lying. Think it might be the ones who have the most to lose? if Patraeus had any balls, he would go before the committee tomorrow and state that his admission that the raid was caused by a video was incorrect and that those in the WH and in the CIA knew it was incorrect all of the time. He should admit that he was covering for the president and his cronies, which he most certainly was. So was Rice, Holder and everyone in the media who swept this under the rug. You can run, Bozo, but you can’t hide.
hamiltonAZ
November 14th, 2012
4:44 pm
“This situation was screwed up royally from the beginning.”
Not sure there’s strong support for this comment other than people shouldn’t die at American Diplomatic locations. It is an unpredictable world and while we must keep our finger on the pulse, hindsight (as Billy Carter once opined) “ain’t wurf a dam”
josef
November 14th, 2012
4:44 pm
HAMILTON
Good comment and much agreed….
Jay
November 14th, 2012
4:45 pm
Great movie call, hamilton!
josef
November 14th, 2012
4:46 pm
teamguy
It was his actions IN captivity…he was a real mensh and, yes, a hero…
Joe Hussein Mama
November 14th, 2012
4:46 pm
K71 — “if Patraeus had any balls, he would go before the committee tomorrow and state that his admission that the raid was caused by a video was incorrect and that those in the WH and in the CIA knew it was incorrect all of the time. He should admit that he was covering for the president and his cronies, which he most certainly was.”
Evidence, please?
kayaker 71
November 14th, 2012
4:46 pm
teamguy, 4:42,
Spend 5 yrs in a North Vietnamese prison being tortured most every day without losing your dignity or making statements against your country and then tell me that that does not a hero make. You McCain detractors make me sick.
Sam M.
November 14th, 2012
4:48 pm
Really!
Who is this clown that wrote the statement about Obama
being envolved in a plot on the murdered Ambassador.
He must have graduated from Peter Pan University.
People are tired of the lies. Thanks
teamguy
November 14th, 2012
4:48 pm
What’s a “mensh”?
Jay
November 14th, 2012
4:49 pm
team guy, by all accounts McCain was a royal pain in the butt to his captors, refusing to bend or break under torture for a LOOOONNNNNGG time. Everyone who was in the Hanoi Hilton speaks very highly of his courage under great duress, and he deserves a lot of respect for that. He certainly has mine.
But that heroism 40 years ago does not make him a good U.S. senator today.
teamguy
November 14th, 2012
4:49 pm
But he admitted he gave info to the enemy. ..not hero material.
Nunna Yobinnes
November 14th, 2012
4:50 pm
Fred – On the previous blog you were upset with a poster for disrespecting the President. I’m good with that. However, another name that came up in this discussion, Joseph Lowery was disrespectful to President Bush (to his face) with some snide comments, but Bush to his credit turned the other cheek. Lowery lost any respect I might have given him at that point. Anybody can be a jerk. To be gracious is much more difficult.
Lord Help Us
November 14th, 2012
4:50 pm
‘ his admission that the raid was caused by a video was incorrect and that those in the WH and in the CIA knew it was incorrect all of the time. He should admit that he was covering for the president and his cronies, which he most certainly was. ‘
Well hecks bells, son…since you already know everything, why don’t you go testify…
Joe Hussein Mama
November 14th, 2012
4:51 pm
K71 — “Spend 5 yrs in a North Vietnamese prison being tortured most every day without losing your dignity or making statements against your country and then tell me that that does not a hero make. You McCain detractors make me sick.”
It’s funny how you’ll slag all over Petraeus while defending McCain. Did you ever serve with either man?
FWIW, I haven’t said *anything* negative about McCain here; nor have I leapt to a bunch of unwarranted conclusions about Petraeus.
Lord Help Us
November 14th, 2012
4:51 pm
‘You McCain detractors make me sick.’
And Max Cleland?
Jay
November 14th, 2012
4:52 pm
teamguy, after you go through what McCain went through and still say nothing, you’ll have the credibility to be convincing on that point.
In the meantime…
GT
November 14th, 2012
4:52 pm
McCain has tried to get us into a war with Syria for several months. Now the rebel troops he wanted us to back are reportedly violating human rights in the same fashion as the government troops.
McCain is like the old man backseat driving while the young men and women of politics negotiate the real road and hazards this country is encountering. Graham represents a small state the backed Newt in this Republican primaries, nuff said.
Recon 0311 2533
November 14th, 2012
4:53 pm
I’m not sure if Rice would be the best choice for secretary of state but in fairness the Benghazi tragedy can’t be laid at her feet. The spineless administration and state department sent her out to the television networks with information they knew was false. She in all probability thought she was providing an accurate accounting that Benghazi was a spontainious reaction to a ant-Muslim video and not a preplanned well coordinated terrorist attack. Of course her information has been proven false, however, she was only being used as a tool in a coverup attempt that’s failing miserably. It’s looking more and more likely that Patraeus thought he could skate through his indiscretion unscathed by giving the same Obama blame the video line to congress and the media. Maybe tossing Petraeus and unleashing this still uncertain email exchange story about General Allen the administration hopes to get the story off Benghazi and focus on a sex scandal. This administration is both ruthless and incompetent a scary combination. The next four years are going to be very tough.
josef
November 14th, 2012
4:53 pm
teamguy
Mensh is a Yiddishism that’s kind of hard to translate, but is about the highest accolade you can give a person. Actually, that’s what it means most literally “person.” But in the popular language, it is an individual who represents the finest and most humble qualities of the human being, who does what is right because it is right, no other reason.
kayaker 71
November 14th, 2012
4:54 pm
Bookman, 4:49,
So, what the hell is a “good Senator”? Someone who goes along with all of the inane Bozo proposals that have sunk us deeper in debt and caused the Fiscal Cliff that we are about to jump over? Maybe if McCain would have been more compliant in his views, he might have gained the respect of someone so far up Bozo’s butt that he can’t see the light of day. But somehow, I don’t think that is what he has in mind.
Common Sense isn't very Common
November 14th, 2012
4:56 pm
JohnnyReb@3:49 pm
then its off to see the Wizard.
—————————————————-
Sheet night already?
And you know how he hates it when you leave the Grand off his title
JamVet
November 14th, 2012
4:57 pm
I guess after that uber-successful War on Women, the cons thought better of starting another one. (grin)
clem
November 14th, 2012
4:59 pm
bet rice could whip mccains arse, no for sure on graham
gm
November 14th, 2012
4:59 pm
Wow, McCain where was this fire when 3500 Americans died under W administration?
lets do the math 4 Americans dead to 3500 Americians on our soil, McCain still hates President for his landslide defeat, next up Romney in a couple months, angry white conservatives males are lining up.
Erwin's cat
November 14th, 2012
4:59 pm
Four Americans…really four? Good golly gosh…that many huh?
riiiiight…after all it was only 4 Americans…why all the drama, we lose that many in a Chicago weekend
Joe Hussein Mama
November 14th, 2012
4:59 pm
K71 — “So, what the hell is a “good Senator”? Someone who goes along with all of the inane Bozo proposals that have sunk us deeper in debt and caused the Fiscal Cliff that we are about to jump over?”
Man, you’ve gotten *nasty* since last week, K71.
I think if I set a gallon of milk out on the counter last week when you made your last appearance before the election and then picked it up yesterday when you returned, it’d be juuuuust about as sour as you are now.
I was trying to have some polite conversations with you last week, but now, I don’t think it’d be possible to do that any more. You just seem too hacked off and angry to make very good company.
JamVet
November 14th, 2012
5:00 pm
Oops, make that *would have thought* in my last.
And how about this for a chuckle.
That profile in courage, Sean Hannity says “Senator Kerry needs to be vetted, and he’s just the guy to do it.”
Once a swiftboating POS, always a swiftboating POS, I guess…
jconservative
November 14th, 2012
5:00 pm
I have no idea what kind of relationship Obama has with him but my nominee for State is Senator Dick Lugar.
Joe Hussein Mama
November 14th, 2012
5:01 pm
C. Sense — “Sheet night already? And you know how he hates it when you leave the Grand off his title”
I thought it was a Bund meeting.
curious
November 14th, 2012
5:01 pm
Jay,
You do enjoy rattling the cages of all these conspiracy types, don’t you?
I can see them turning red in the face as they type another post. They should at least resolve one before going to the next.
getalife
November 14th, 2012
5:03 pm
Resign gop kooks..
BenDaho
November 14th, 2012
5:03 pm
That version of events turned out to be incorrect in one relatively small detail. Subsequent investigation has determined that there had not been “a small number of people” protesting outside the consulate before a force of roughly 150 armed men rushed the facility, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Three other Americans also died in the attacks.
Jay, the events happened on 9-11. Only a blind loyalist or a moron would buy into a youtube video causing this. Their trial balloon popped in grandiose fashion, yet as a “journalist?” you can not bring yourself to question anything that Obama does. You can’t even see the possibility of a cover up. You could step in a pile of O’s sh!t and swear it is manna from heaven..