Benghazi Gate

[th'FOOL]

[Autistic Angel]

During his appearance on Meet the Press this week, Senator Lindsey Graham insisted over and over again that the "video protest" narrative was invented because it worked so well to President Obama's advantage.

Well, I think one of the reasons that Susan Rice told the story she did, if the truth came out a few weeks before the election that our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, had been overrun by an al Qaeda sponsored or affiliated militia, that destroys the narrative we’ve been hearing for months that al Qaeda has been dismantled, bin Laden is dead, we’re safer.  And Susan Rice just did not say it was a result of a mob spawned by a video like Cairo.  She actually said on Face The Nation, “I want to remind the American people this president promised to go after bin Laden, refocus on al Qaeda.  He got bin Laden.  Al Qaeda has been dismantled.  And the truth of the matter is nothing could’ve been further from the truth, and the story she told reinforced a political narrative helpful to the president, but disconnected from reality.

"Nothing could be further from the truth."

Apparently Republicans, who ran their 2002, 2004, and 2006 campaigns almost exclusively on the fear that liberals would somehow invite worse attacks than 9/11, the anthrax mailings, multiple embassy attacks, and untold scores of deaths throughout Iraq and Afghanistan that were happening on their watch, are now arguing that this single terrorist attack had the potential to instantly unravel all of Obama's strategic victories against al Qaeda.

Seems like a stretch to me.  Of course, Susan Rice isn't the first administration official who's come under prolonged and concentrated fire for weirdly trumped-up reasons.



Previously there was Eric Holder:



Van Jones:



And Shirley Sherrod:




If two points make a line and three make a pattern, what do four make again?  I'd suggest "tapestry" but that implies too many colors.

-Autistic Angel

[Canuck]

I think the real cover up is what Susan Rice is taking to make a 50 year old woman look so young!


Also, adding "gate" to the end of a noun does not immediately make something a scandal, Eco.

[Razgon]

haha, even I know why it is called Watergate...and it has nothing to do with the word Gate.

[Ironrod]

Waterghazi?

[CeeKay]

Bengate!

[Exodor]

Hey where'd everybody go?

It was the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that took the words “al Qaeda” and “terrorism” out of Rice’s talking points for those Sept. 16 talk shows. It found also that both the CIA and the FBI approved of these edits, following standard operating procedure. The report states emphatically: “The White House or State Department did not make those changes.” One source told the network’s Margaret Brennan that the controversy over the word choice employed by Rice has come to the intel world as “a bit of a surprise.” Another source said that there were “legitimate intelligence and legal issues to consider, as is almost always the case when explaining classified assessments publicly.”

[hepcat]

I'm sure this will be called a coverup by the repubs who were screaming for Obama's head on a platter.

[theohall]

I'm sure this will be called a coverup by the repubs who were screaming for Obama's head on a platter.

When was the last time a US Ambassador was assassinated???  Wasn't it 1979????  Yet - NOTHING HAPPENS to those responsible.  They all get to keep their jobs???? 

If YOU allowed someone to get killed at YOUR job for not providing necessary security when YOU were warned repeatedly that additional security was needed, should YOU keep your job?  Heck - apparently providing new Chevy Volts to the Austrian Embassy for a ridiculous sum is more important than providing security in a high threat area.  The State Dept actually had the nerve to say they did not have the funds to improve security in Libya while they were busy handing money to GM for cars in Austria. 

But let's keep ignoring facts and just blame it on "repubs" over-reacting.  Stunning how ignorant many are of all the facts around this and were a "repub" President in office with these same facts, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, and everyone but Fox would be demanding action be taken.

NO AMBASSADOR DEATHS since 1979, yet somehow this is the "Repubs" issue?????? 

How many Ambassadors have died under any President since, say, 1900???  Is 112 year too long?  I only know of 2 Ambassadors being assassinated in that time span and BOTH were under Democratic Presidents with extremely weak Foreign Policy stances.

[Lee]

Dude, a little less Fox News maybe? I feel like I am reading Hannity sound bites in your posts.

[TiLT]

theohall, you really should start reading these threads before you post in them.

[hepcat]

How many Ambassadors have died under any President since, say, 1900???  Is 112 year too long?  I only know of 2 Ambassadors being assassinated in that time span and BOTH were under Democratic Presidents with extremely weak Foreign Policy stances.

So...only the death of Ambassadors count?  The rest of an embassy's staff is expendable, I suppose.  7 U.S. embassies and consulates were attacked under Bush.  But I guess unless they explicity kill the Ambassador, that's not worth noting.

Sadly, you probably DO believe that.  It would suck to have to admit that you hadn't done your homework before posting that drivel.