NYT: The Benghazi Circus
Thank you, Mr. Rosenthal 
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/the-benghazi-circus/
November 16, 2012, 12:09 pm
The Benghazi Circus
By ANDREW ROSENTHAL
There are still unanswered questions about the Benghazi mission killings–remaining fine details about what happened that day, what the intelligence community knew (or didn’t know) before the attack, whether better security around American diplomats could have prevented the tragedy. It’s not surprising that, directly after the incident, there was some confusion as to what, exactly, had taken place. Just as it’s not surprising that questions remain two months later. At least it’s not surprising to serious people with a background in military and intelligence matters.
Which, apparently, does not include Republican members of Congress. I wrote yesterday that Senators John McCain and Rand Paul, who’ve been ranting to the press about Benghazi and declaring their determination to get to the bottom of things, failed to attend a classified hearing on Wednesday dedicated to demystifying the attack.
On Thursday, the Republican members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee did manage to show up for a public hearing on Benghazi, but they turned it into a political circus. Their main, no, their sole purpose was to attack President Obama and Susan Rice, the American envoy to the United Nations. They were far more interested in going over, for the thousandth time, what public statements were made by which public officials on what day than in actually addressing substantive issues.
Among the worst offenders, and that was a tough competition, was Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California: “What is clear is that this administration, including the president himself, has intentionally misinformed, read that lied, to the American people in the aftermath of this tragedy. Now, President Obama has the gall to float the name as possible secretary of state the name of the person who is the actual vehicle used to misinform the American people during this crisis.”
I can see how Mr. Rohrabacher, who was a big supporter of President Bush when he “intentionally misinformed” the world about Iraq, using an actual secretary of state as his “actual vehicle,” might come up with that scenario. But in the case of Benghazi, it’s pure fiction and it’s impossible to imagine he doesn’t know that.
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Something obviously went wrong in Benghazi. An Ambassador died. It’s necessary and appropriate to discuss what happened so as to avoid similar missteps in the future. But missteps don’t always add up to a scandal; and confusion after the fact doesn’t necessarily constitute a cover up. The more time Republicans spend going down the conspiracy path, the less time gets devoted to learning from our mistakes and rectifying them.
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It used to be noise made on Bullshit Mountain rolled downhill and became the talking points everywhere. If Senator Durbin dared to utter that he didn't agree with the dubya regime, he was pummeled...forced to apologize and anyone else who dared to question the talking point du jour of Ailes, rushbo and company were dismissed as cranks and "libruls".
Thanks to the hard work of folks on the innertoobs as well as Rachel, Ed, Keith, Lawrence, Chris, Martin and others via MSNBC, there's a pushback that the great unhinged still haven't figured out. They're still used to manufacturing "news" and expecting that they could amp up a scandal that would distract from the big ass kicking they took in the elections and attempt to "lay down the law" with that "uppity" Obama (how dare him win!! :sarcasm
The real stinger for people like Gramps McCrank is how President Obama has made strong inroads against the decades-long hold on the public perception that rushpublicans are stronger on foreign affairs and defense than Democrats. The poutrages will continue...
I hope it's also an omen of things to (finally) come for the Republican party.
This article was so beautifully written, wasn't it!
I feel more optimistic today than I have in many years...energized by how well Progressive values did in the past election...and in the ability of the truth to prevail over hate and fear!
Cheers!!
