There’s a Scandal Alright–Just Not Where You Think

Tags

Benghazi, Dan Burton, Darrell Issa, House committees, Jonathan Kar

I’ve long wondered at the seeming inability of the GOP to remember that we actually keep records of  “that stuff”. They continue to forget that. I give a pass to the typical TeaPotter who is so ill-informed that they are left with nothing but misspelled phrases that they either paint on cardboard signs or attempt to regurgitate from memory. They can’t be expected to actually, you know, KNOW history.

As you know doubt know, the GOP has been looking for a way for five long years now to bury this president. All of their schemes have come to naught for quite obvious reasons, but even when we thought things might, just might, return to some semblance of normalcy after their debacle of 2012, well, sadly they learned nothing.

Some of their own kind (Pat Toomey)  even admit, that their membership so hates this man that they will vote NO on legislation as publicly supported as universal background checks. So of course we expected that rottweiler of a thug, Darrell Issa to continue his determination to find SOMETHING that can bring down this administration.

Benghazi was their choice, aided and abetted by one John S. McCain, who had a personal vendetta and was more than willing to rattle the sabre of “coverup” at least as it pertained to Susan Rice, a woman we can now categorically say was unfairly maligned and mistreated by Johnny and his misogynist guy pal, Ms. Lindsey.

Let me just say this simply. The Benghazi “scandal” is nothing more than a witch hunt. And history explains it all to us.

Darrell “my brother did it” Issa is chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. That is, innocent as it sounds, a very powerful committee, and one Issa has used since 2010 when he assumed chairmanship, to conduct endless hearings into the Obama administration, hoping to find ANYTHING that can be used to harass and drive from office the Negro in the White House.

It is also the only committee that is allowed to issue subpoenas under the chairman’s signature only. However, this has seldom been the practice. Normally, given that grave power, the Chairman has sought the agreement of a full committee vote before so proceeding. This has been  the case except for only two occasions in modern times. Hint: this is where the history gets important.

The most notable occasion when the Chairman took sole control over subpoenas was under the chairmanship of Dan Burton, (R-IN). Mr. Burton had a serious case of the ass against one William J. Clinton. Like Darrell, Dan fairly lit up the committee with his constant and outlandish claims of wrongdoing.

This resulted in a scandal of course–Mr. Burton spend years, over 1,000 subpoenas, and 7 million bucks of taxpayer money, trying to prove that there was scandal to be found in the fund-raising practices of the Democratic Campaign organization. Copies of audio tapes from a “witness” were released. Later it was determined that the tapes had been severely “edited” to appear quite different from their original content. Burton fired committee staff man David Bossie, the supposed “editor”.

However, the scandal went further, and finally, there were calls for Burton to step down himself. He never did of course.

Well, here we go again.

Mr. Issa decided that Burton’s sole possessor of the subpoena was a good thing,  and re-instituted the practice again. This brought a rather lengthy and well-reasoned letter from Elijah Cummings, ranking minority leader on the committee, and a man with a memory. He pointed out that unilateral usage of the power of subpoena had gotten the GOP into serious trouble once before, and it was better to return to the normal and regular practice of bipartisan issuance of these orders.

Of course, Mr. Issa declined rational behavior and has as we all know run a one-man-show of Obama attack. And the expected result has occurred.

For weeks the GOP has harped that the Obama White House was engaged in a cover-up regarding Benghazi. That cover-up has never been spelled out well, but it seems to have revolved around the White House changing the talking points (which implicated Rice somehow), to protect the State Department (and Hillary Clinton) from being accused of malfeasance.

This claim was bolstered by information from e-mails circulated between the  parties involved. We were told this by the GOP. Jonathan Karl broke the story for ABC, claiming as the GOP had alleged, that State Department officials had participated in changing the talking points, along with the White House. Karl implied that he had seen the emails himself and “quoted” from them.

When the true emails were brought forth, they told a different story–one that indicated that neither the White House nor the State Department had played a part in the versions discussed and finally issued by the CIA for distribution (i.e. to Susan Rice).  Now of course Karl claims he never actually saw any e-mails but his “source” shared “notes” with him of what he/she read.

The fair meaning  of what Karl claimed and the actual truth leave little doubt that there was a deliberate attempt to portray the White House and State Department in a bad light and to provide proof that they had acted politically with the intent to deceive. Since the e-mails were the subject of subpoenas, the likely “source” is undoubtedly someone on Issa’s committee.

It is ironic in the end that all this Benghazi “scandal” has been in part to dirty the White House, but also to begin the long process of discrediting Mrs. Clinton. While nobody is all that surprised by the GOP’s doing that, it must be remembered that when all efforts were directed toward destroying the President, the GOP actually held Mrs. Clinton up as the “ray of sunshine” in the otherwise dismal Obama landscape.

Now that the President seems invincible to their machinations, Clinton, the new threat, became the new target.

It’s all so predictable.

And that is what needs be investigated it seems–why are my tax monies being used to manufacture scandals for Republican political gain?

Riddle me that Batman.

Related articles

• Benghazi Backfires on Republicans as Democrats Eviscerate Issa and the GOP (politicususa.com)
• Will a GOP aide be fired over Benghazi email changes? (salon.com)
• CBS News: Republicans Changed Benghazi Emails (themoderatevoice.com)
• CBS: Republicans were source of inaccurate Benghazi emails (dailykos.com)
• Why the GOP may regret its Obama scandal obsession (tv.msnbc.com)
• Benghazi Backfires on Republicans as Democrats Eviscerate Issa and the GOP (easyjjgrand3.newsvine.com)

The Benghazi Hustle

Tags

Benghazi, GOP, Libya, State Department, teabaggers

Here we go again. Everybody hold tight because this merry-go-round is speeding around the curve and headed for–well just about anything that the GOP imagination can dream up.

In a valiant attempt to turn a mole hill into a mountain, Republican Tea Snorters are busy twisting and feigning shock and awe at the shameful and deliberate attempt by the Obama Administration to get “brave Americans” murdered by, well, you know, their true friends.

If one reads the headlines of the extreme-stream media, here is what you will find:

“Benghazi Witness: First Time in my Career that a Diplomat Has more balls than somebody in the Military.”

“Benghazi revelations today could obliterate Obama’s Credibility and Sink Hillary’s 2016 ambitions.”

“Issa seeks more whistle blowers after dramatic Benghazi hearing.”

“Two key witnesses refuse to testify at Benghazi hearing.”

“Benghazi Makes Watergate look like kindergarten: The End of Obama”

“Hillary perjured herself on Benghazi?”

“Benghazi Whistleblower: You Should have Seen what Clinton Tried to do to us that night.”

And on and on it goes.

Here’s what I think we know at this point.

1. A YouTube video riled up Muslims around the world and demonstrations were being held in a variety of places, Egypt among them.
2. A demonstration occurred at Benghazi, that was violent.
3. Ambassador Stevens was fairly well known to favor less security rather than more in an attempt to be open to the residents of the country.
4. Republicans had steadfastly refused State Department requests for more money to beef up security around the world.
5. The Ambassador and three others were killed in the first attack.
6. Air support could not have reached the outpost for hours, a minimum of 5-7 according to the military.
7. There was no basis for suspecting a second attack.
8. There were no deaths or serious injuries sustained in the second attack.
9. A team of FOUR, a military security forces was located at Tripoli but they were concerned about security there, and even John Bolton admitted that they were unable to determine whether the four men should leave that facility for Benghazi when the deaths had already occurred and there was no reason to suspect a second attack.
10. Senator Tom Corker from Tennessee, sat on the Senate hearings on Benghazi and said that he read all the material and thought he knew what happened and was satisfied.
11. The President termed the attack a “terrorist attack” the day following the attack.
12. That Susan Rice delivered the cautionary remarks that we were unsure what happened based on material supplied her by others in the State Department or other agencies.
13. That Al Qaeda is not an organization so much as an idea, and many Islamic groups claim “affiliation” without benefit of any actual connection. To this day, we don’t know I don’t think who this group consisted of.
14. There was no reason to believe that naming it other than a terrorist attack was some how beneficial to the White House in the midst of an election. Most presidents, following some catastrophe or other see their polling improve as people tend to “rally round” the Administration. If the President had war mongered the event, the GOP would have been arguing just the opposite–that he was making it much worse than it was in order to gain sympathy.

The bottom line to me here is simply. The Benghazi outpost was under-secured. Certainly the GOP bears SOME responsibility for that fact as do congressional Democrats who agreed that they didn’t need additional funds. There was apparently not good plans in place for an emergency like this. There should have been.

Beyond that, it was a sad tragedy. But let us remember. Americans are dying around the world every day. They are dying in service to the country, and as employees of corporations doing business in dangerous places. These four were doing their jobs. They perhaps did not receive the full support they should have, but such is life in dangerous occupations. I don’t mean to minimize it, but it should not be overstated either.

The GOP tried to make this into some scandal during the fall of 2012 to hurt the chances of the President to be re-elected, and enhance their candidates chances. That didn’t happen. Now they see polling that suggests that Hillary Clinton, if the nominee will beat any Republican so far put forth, easily and soundly.

Is it hard to see why this is happening now? Of course not. This is just an attempt to dirty up Clinton and force her to not run.

That’s my take on it.

And what is yours?

Republicans are united in their insanity that this will lead to impeachment.

Do you?

Related articles

• Republicans continue to press for answers on Benghazi (nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com)
• Yet Another Benghazi Nothingburger Today (motherjones.com)

And Three Makes a Bowl of Stupid

Tags

Benghazi, humor and satire, John McCain, Kelly Ayotte, Lindsey Graham, Susan Rice, United States Naval Academy

What do an old bitter man and a closeted sycophant need? Why they need a Kelly Ayotte, a literal nobody from pretty much nowhere who can be womanly, albeit white, but at least she protects the dynamic duds from being charged with sexism!

In the ongoing attempt to make  mountains from mole hills or pretty up a pig, the John Sidney and his sidekick nasal Linda, err Lindsey, are blubbering that they are *stamp* *stamp* still not happy with Ms. Rice and well heck, they are just not happy.

Among the things they are not happy about are:

1. John is still not happy that he lost the election in 2008.
2. John is still not happy that he let his super staff choose Sarah (I just wanna be somebody or make a couple of million–either one) Palin as his running mate.
3. John is still not happy that he was a relatively stupid Naval Academy student and graduated bout sixth from LAST, and drove more than one plane into the ground, managed to get captured and spilled his guts relatively soon thereafter and has never been properly rewarded by his country from his point of view.
4. John is still not happy that his father never felt he met expectations.
5. John is still not happy that he has to pretend to be a happily married man when all he really wanted was the money.
6. John is still not happy that he is old, has little hair left, and can’t get even a middle-aged woman to look at him more than once.
7. Lindsey is still not happy that he is unable to accept the fact that he likes men over women, which he definitely doesn’t call homosexuality, but knows that he doesn’t like it one bit.
8. Lindsey is still not happy that everyone knows that he kisses John’s ass for reasons that nobody wants to even guess at because it makes one’s brain hurt and makes anyone to shudder uncontrollable at the mind picture of what that might entail.
9. Lindsey is still not happy that he finds himself not sufficiently conservative enough to stave off a primary challenge in his state in 2014.
10. Lindsey is still not happy that he is named Lindsey–whether he blames his mother or his father is up for grabs.
11. Lindsey is still not happy that he keeps getting personal invitations to speak before the Log Cabin Republicans and all are hand delivered with a *wink* *wink* *nudge* nudge*-know what I mean?
12. Lindsey is still not happy when Joe Lieberman snickers at his straight out of Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire’s Blanche DuBois voice.
13. Kelly is still not happy that they chose her to make up the new Three Amigos.
14. Kelly is still not happy that she is from such a dreary state as New Hampshire which has its own issues with silly accents.
15. Kelly is still not happy that she has to ask John what a “hold” is and why she has to threaten to do it.
16. Kelly is still not happy that she isn’t quite sure who Susan Rice is or why the two men are so mad at her.
17. Kelly is still not happy that Mitch McConnell just laughs uncontrollably when she calls him on the phone.

This is not, never was, and never will be about Susan Rice.

This is about John’s anger, Lindsey’s fear, and Kelly’s new-found idea that she might be able to run for President someday if she gets some name recognition. As you would expect, their behavior is despicable, and the GOP is ill-served by their misdirection. But they, like the lunatics that call themselves Tea People, are too lock-jawed stupid to see beyond their own personal whines.

And so the Democrats need only sit back and watch the circus and call for a soda and some popcorn.

Bring on the clowns!

Related articles

• Lindsey Graham suggests Susan Rice opposition is payback for John Bolton (rawstory.com)
• GOP Senators ‘Disturbed’ After Susan Rice Admits To Lying (freedomoutpost.com)
• GOP Senators ‘More Disturbed’ After Meeting With Susan Rice (huffingtonpost.com)
• Kelly Ayotte’s Death Wish (boomantribune.com)
• What GOP senators could do to block Rice (firstread.nbcnews.com)

 

We Were Right All Along

Tags

Benghazi, Election 2012, GOP, John McCain, Lindsay Graham, Mitt Romney, Susan Rice

We knew this man, maybe not from the start, but pretty soon thereafter. Many, like the Contrarian, who is not so quick to judge, resisted, but in the end, most of them came to the same realization–Mitt Romney truly is the entitled, aristocratic, I’m-better-than-you-because-I-worked-harder-than-you piece of work we believed him to be.

Unwilling to present himself even in defeat as a gracious loser who maintains good wishes for all Americans, he recently showed that he his what we thought, and now what he would have us believe.

Also, Willard refuses to believe that his conversations with others (a conference call to donors) might be recorded, so we have his own words.

The Bain Baron reported that the President used the “old playbook” of rewarding his constituents with “gifts” of medical care, tuition grants, Dream Acts, and so forth to buy their votes. Women were “gifted” with contraceptive care, while presumably African-Americans were given the present of the fictitious reduction of work requirements for assistance.

Sound a lot like the 47% remarks?

Steve Benen makes a huge point about how Romney, the quintessential abuser of big gifts–wealth, education, connections and so forth, who used massive amounts of government aid in his Olympics leadership and in his Romney Care, still finds it “outrageous” that the President would use the government to “improve the lives of working class people.”

Is that outrageous to say, when of course, as Benen points out, his intent was to “gift” the wealthy with even more tax cuts.

What an absolute horses ass this man truly is. He deserves nothing but our contempt.

≡

While I’m on the soapbox, let me say this about that.

Benghazi.

I admit that I have not read a lot about this tragedy, no more than I receive on PBS and a few other media outlets. I’ve not read deeply into the event. What I have gleaned leads me to believe that this was largely a failure (if indeed there was a failure) at the state department intelligence level. I am willing to concede that. I believe that it was at a level that might not even reach the ears of the Secretary of State, let alone the White House. Should Mrs. Clinton have been informed? I’m not sure it rose to that level. But I would think that there is probably a flaw in the intelligence end of things that allowed the growing danger to go unacted upon.

I am also under the impression that the intelligence network which has been faulty since before 9/11 in the sense of its ability to successfully integrate itself with all its various arms in the CIA, FBI, Homeland, military, etc., failed to have a coherent understanding of what happened for days after the event. No doubt parts of it did have the right tracking, while others did not. This apparently produced a rather tentative analysis that nobody felt comfortable in laying out as the “cause”.

This leads, in my opinion, to the rather tepid statements made by the White House and the State Department in the days and first couple of weeks. This is what Susan Rice, UN Ambassador, reported.

Given all that, I find John McCain and Lindsay Graham’s bombast unconscionable and basically nothing but self-serving rhetoric. Most of McCain’s crap comes from his inability to get over his being thrashed by President Obama in 2008. If you remember, it was not until Mr. McCain was beaten in a rather bloody battle with then Governor George W. Bush, for the 2000 nomination, that he became the “maverick” who became against almost anything that Dubya for was for (except for military bluster which Johnny adores above all). He has repeated that unfortunate personality flaw with Obama, going out of his way to attack at every juncture in a show of macho swagger.

Lindsay, the sycophant of McCain, and perennial brown-noser, and perennial bachelor with no personal life apparently, has a more pressing problem–he’s up for re-election in 2014 and he is anything but the darling of his local TeaBuggery crew. He supported the bank bail-outs and at least at one juncture, supported climate change legislation. He is considered a RINO by those on the far right and may well be challenged by Joe (you lie!) Wilson. His opposition to Susan Rice as the next Secretary of State (should the President nominate her) is held to be by some at least a mere chance to appear tough with the President.

Oh and lets not forget that McCain had no problem with presenting all that faulty information about WMD’s in Iraq a few years back. I have not looked it up, but I have little doubt that Mr. Graham also blew that horn. And of course McCain came to the defense of Condi Rice over her little faux pas over WMD’s as well.

So please, don’t tell me you are doing this for the good of the country and for those four dead men in Benghazi. I am not buying it.

Politics as usual from the right.

That’s the way I see things from here in the Foothills.

And what about you?

Related articles

• Lawrence O’Donnell Tears Into McCain And Lindsay Graham For McCarthy-Like Opposition To Susan Rice (mediaite.com)
• The sore losers club (salon.com)
• McCain and Graham attack Susan Rice. Hypocrisy? (tv.msnbc.com)
• McCain And Graham Defended Condoleeza Rice Over Iraq WMD Testimony (buzzfeed.com)
• Video| John McCain Insults UN Ambassador Susan Rice As the GOP Continues Their ATTACKS On Women (3chicspolitico.com)
• Obama Defends Susan Rice in First Press Conference After Re-Election (theatlanticwire.com)