That would be Mitt Romney getting fact checked live on TV on Libya and Benghazi, and it became THE moment of the last presidential debate, that solidified the idea that Mitt Romney had no idea about anything on foreign policy.
Now I freely admit, that is an edited tape. It ends in the middle of Candy Crawley's sentence, before she mentions that Romney is also correct that it took 2 weeks to for the Administration to say their was not also a mob presence at the attack. But I picked the edited version for a reason, thats the only half people remember.
Then of course famously, John McCain decided to jump on the FAILwagon, and try his hand at it.
Specifically McCain decided to attack UN ambassador Susan Rice (who has as much to do with embassy security as I do) for saying this on the air
'"Based on the best information we have to date, what our assessment is as of the present is in fact what began spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest outside of our embassy — sparked by this hateful video. But soon after that spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that — in that effort with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available in Libya post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much more violent."
Which as it turned out were based on the official talking points put out by the white house. Which was the explanation for why John McCain had said the same thing the day before Susan Rice....
So yea thats kinda awkward. Didnt help that it looked like a transparent ploy to get John Kerry appointed Secretary of State, so that Scott Brown, who had just lost his senate seat, could run for Kerry's seat and head back to Washington.
Which kinda hit a snag, when it turned out Scott Brown doesnt want to run. So yea it was all for nothing, and now as a result, no one seems to give a damn about anything John McCain is doing. Apparently he has no credibility left.
Not that that stopped more Republican's from jumping on the FAILway.
Next up, Rand Paul, who decided to attack Hilary Clinton, during senate hearing on Benghazi ....the problem here was that Mr. Paul's question was about Turkish involvement in Benghazi, which led pretty much everyone watching to have the same reaction I'm sure Mrs. Clinton had in her head "Dafuq?"
Didnt help either that totally out of far right field came mere minutes after Rand Paul suggested if he was ever president [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA] he'd have fired Clinton for not knowing anything about what was going on....Irony thy name is Rand Paul.
And by the way, coming out of those hearing, now former Sec. Clinton is the most popular politician in the country. So yea, clearly that worked out well for the GOP.....
Nor was Paul the last republican to throw his credibility under the bus.
Next up Senator Ron Johnson, who had this very awkward exchange with incoming Sec. of State John Kerry at his confirmation hearings the next day.
See Johnson asked Kerry if Kerry if Kerry would work with him on a permanent basis to find out what really happened at Benghazi, at which point Kerry then said "I think it was very clear… were you at the briefing with the tapes?"
Johnson it should be pointed on, serves on the committee that Kerry chaired, meaning any briefing for that committee of any kind both men could have been at.
Now because of that fact, Johnson had to tell the truth, because of course Kerry already knew the answer.
"No" Johnson quickly replied. Then proceeded to sit there as Kerry pointed out "Well, there was a briefing with tapes, which we all saw—those of us who went to it—uh, which made it crystal clear."
In otherwords, "Sen Johnson, how about doing your job?" So yea, as Queen would say, another one bites the dust.
All of these by the way, serves actually as BACKGROUND to the real story here. Which is that one republican still thinks this is a good idea to attack on. Enter Lindsey Graham.
Who went on "Face the nation" today and threatened to place a hold on the nominations of the Sec. of Defense and CIA head unless he gets answers to a few questions
From the Face the Nation transcript:
BOB SCHIEFFER (Host): I’m not sure I understand. What do you plan to do if they don’t give you an answer? Are you going to put a hold on these two nominations?
GRAHAM: Yes…How could Susan Rice come on to your show and say there’s no evidence of a terrorist attack when the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said they knew that night? I think that was a misleading narrative three weeks before our election.
SCHIEFFER: Let me just make sure, because you’re about to make some news here, I think. You are saying that you are going to block the nominations — you’re going to block them from coming to a vote until you get an answer to this? Now, John McCain has already said he doesn’t think the Republicans ought to filibuster this. What will you do? You’re just going to put a hold on it? [...]
GRAHAM: I want to know who changed the talking points. Who took the references to Al Qaeda out of the talking points given to Susan Rice? We still don’t know…. I want to know what our president did. What did he do as commander in chief? Did he ever pick up the phone and call anybody? I think this is the stuff the country needs to know.
Now of all the republicans, Graham has reached a new level of insanity.
1) We already did the Susan Rice thing. You can ask John McCain about it, he read the same talking points she did. And believe it or not, Susan Rice still has nothing to do with Embassy security.
2) You know what every single person (other then Romney and Clinton) mentioned in this blog has in common? they ALL sit on one of the committees actually responsible for Embassy Security, and giving the state department money for said security, (Which for the record Clinton requested and they refused). So clearly none of these guys have heard why its a bad idea to point fingers (you got 3 pointing back at you)
3) Chronology: Graham was elected to congress in 1995 and placed on a committee that happens to be responsible for embassy security. US embassies have been attacked on a near yearly basis since Bill Clinton was in office in 1998. The longest stretch of time without an attack is a tie. 1 chunk from the end of 2008 to the middle of 2010, and the second from the middle of 2010, until Benghazi. Also known as most of the first Obama term.....
Which means for all of those attack, Lindsey Graham has been on the Committee responsible for embassy security (in either the house or senate as he moved chambers in 2003)
Oh by the way, the attack in 2010, that you likely never heard of, killed 8. But you know why Lindsey Graham, and the rest of the GOP never had their panties in a twist in 2010? it wasnt a presidential election year,
Also by the way, there was another attack on an American Embassy, last week over in Turkey....but the problem is, it only killed 1 person, so Graham wont get any attention talking about it.
4) In earlier comments in that same interview (which I'll post in full below, I just couldnt find a full printed transcript) Graham blamed the incompetence of the current Sec of Defense and the current head of CIA for Bengahzi.
Now lets assume Graham is right....take a look at his threat. He's threatening to block the confirmation of their successors. Which means the incompetent people STAY IN THE JOB. Seems to me, if you actually thought they were incompetent you would want them replaced as fast as possible, not force them to stick around longer. Because we actually do kinda need a Sec of Defense and a CIA head...those are not the agencies you want running around with no one managing.
In other words Graham's just throwing a fake temper tantrum. In fact if we sum up Graham's appearence we get this:
Shorter Lindsey Graham: "Until I get to see the presidents personal diary, about one of the least lethal attack on an american embassy in my entire tenure sitting on the committees [partly] responsible for embassy security, and get to see who prepped a totally unrelated to the event black woman for TV, I am going to pretend to be outraged and shut down the entire US military apparatus, I mean its not like we were attacked and our embassies use Marines for security or anything. I mean I'd ask for his birth certificate but that is so 2009....."
The upside is, like Romney, McCain, Paul, and Johnson before him, Graham is likely going to get badly embarrassed, and never be credible enough for anyone to give a fuck about again.
But the real question is actually this: How many more times do republicans need to try this before they get it. It doesnt work, its not going to work, and honestly Seppuku is faster, less annoying and less painful to watch.....
I mean I'm all for flushing the GOP down the toilet, but even my dog knew better then to keep running into a closed door.....just saying.
(now for full context, as much of Lindsey's graham's interview on Face the Nation I can get...its about 4 1/2 minutes and I've had some issues getting it to embed which is why i didn't want to post it in the middle of the blog. Sorry about the link, best I can do.)
Now I freely admit, that is an edited tape. It ends in the middle of Candy Crawley's sentence, before she mentions that Romney is also correct that it took 2 weeks to for the Administration to say their was not also a mob presence at the attack. But I picked the edited version for a reason, thats the only half people remember.
Then of course famously, John McCain decided to jump on the FAILwagon, and try his hand at it.
Specifically McCain decided to attack UN ambassador Susan Rice (who has as much to do with embassy security as I do) for saying this on the air
'"Based on the best information we have to date, what our assessment is as of the present is in fact what began spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest outside of our embassy — sparked by this hateful video. But soon after that spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that — in that effort with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available in Libya post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much more violent."
Which as it turned out were based on the official talking points put out by the white house. Which was the explanation for why John McCain had said the same thing the day before Susan Rice....
So yea thats kinda awkward. Didnt help that it looked like a transparent ploy to get John Kerry appointed Secretary of State, so that Scott Brown, who had just lost his senate seat, could run for Kerry's seat and head back to Washington.
Which kinda hit a snag, when it turned out Scott Brown doesnt want to run. So yea it was all for nothing, and now as a result, no one seems to give a damn about anything John McCain is doing. Apparently he has no credibility left.
Not that that stopped more Republican's from jumping on the FAILway.
Next up, Rand Paul, who decided to attack Hilary Clinton, during senate hearing on Benghazi ....the problem here was that Mr. Paul's question was about Turkish involvement in Benghazi, which led pretty much everyone watching to have the same reaction I'm sure Mrs. Clinton had in her head "Dafuq?"
Didnt help either that totally out of far right field came mere minutes after Rand Paul suggested if he was ever president [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA] he'd have fired Clinton for not knowing anything about what was going on....Irony thy name is Rand Paul.
And by the way, coming out of those hearing, now former Sec. Clinton is the most popular politician in the country. So yea, clearly that worked out well for the GOP.....
Nor was Paul the last republican to throw his credibility under the bus.
Next up Senator Ron Johnson, who had this very awkward exchange with incoming Sec. of State John Kerry at his confirmation hearings the next day.
See Johnson asked Kerry if Kerry if Kerry would work with him on a permanent basis to find out what really happened at Benghazi, at which point Kerry then said "I think it was very clear… were you at the briefing with the tapes?"
Johnson it should be pointed on, serves on the committee that Kerry chaired, meaning any briefing for that committee of any kind both men could have been at.
Now because of that fact, Johnson had to tell the truth, because of course Kerry already knew the answer.
"No" Johnson quickly replied. Then proceeded to sit there as Kerry pointed out "Well, there was a briefing with tapes, which we all saw—those of us who went to it—uh, which made it crystal clear."
In otherwords, "Sen Johnson, how about doing your job?" So yea, as Queen would say, another one bites the dust.
All of these by the way, serves actually as BACKGROUND to the real story here. Which is that one republican still thinks this is a good idea to attack on. Enter Lindsey Graham.
Who went on "Face the nation" today and threatened to place a hold on the nominations of the Sec. of Defense and CIA head unless he gets answers to a few questions
From the Face the Nation transcript:
BOB SCHIEFFER (Host): I’m not sure I understand. What do you plan to do if they don’t give you an answer? Are you going to put a hold on these two nominations?
GRAHAM: Yes…How could Susan Rice come on to your show and say there’s no evidence of a terrorist attack when the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said they knew that night? I think that was a misleading narrative three weeks before our election.
SCHIEFFER: Let me just make sure, because you’re about to make some news here, I think. You are saying that you are going to block the nominations — you’re going to block them from coming to a vote until you get an answer to this? Now, John McCain has already said he doesn’t think the Republicans ought to filibuster this. What will you do? You’re just going to put a hold on it? [...]
GRAHAM: I want to know who changed the talking points. Who took the references to Al Qaeda out of the talking points given to Susan Rice? We still don’t know…. I want to know what our president did. What did he do as commander in chief? Did he ever pick up the phone and call anybody? I think this is the stuff the country needs to know.
Now of all the republicans, Graham has reached a new level of insanity.
1) We already did the Susan Rice thing. You can ask John McCain about it, he read the same talking points she did. And believe it or not, Susan Rice still has nothing to do with Embassy security.
2) You know what every single person (other then Romney and Clinton) mentioned in this blog has in common? they ALL sit on one of the committees actually responsible for Embassy Security, and giving the state department money for said security, (Which for the record Clinton requested and they refused). So clearly none of these guys have heard why its a bad idea to point fingers (you got 3 pointing back at you)
3) Chronology: Graham was elected to congress in 1995 and placed on a committee that happens to be responsible for embassy security. US embassies have been attacked on a near yearly basis since Bill Clinton was in office in 1998. The longest stretch of time without an attack is a tie. 1 chunk from the end of 2008 to the middle of 2010, and the second from the middle of 2010, until Benghazi. Also known as most of the first Obama term.....
Which means for all of those attack, Lindsey Graham has been on the Committee responsible for embassy security (in either the house or senate as he moved chambers in 2003)
Oh by the way, the attack in 2010, that you likely never heard of, killed 8. But you know why Lindsey Graham, and the rest of the GOP never had their panties in a twist in 2010? it wasnt a presidential election year,
Also by the way, there was another attack on an American Embassy, last week over in Turkey....but the problem is, it only killed 1 person, so Graham wont get any attention talking about it.
4) In earlier comments in that same interview (which I'll post in full below, I just couldnt find a full printed transcript) Graham blamed the incompetence of the current Sec of Defense and the current head of CIA for Bengahzi.
Now lets assume Graham is right....take a look at his threat. He's threatening to block the confirmation of their successors. Which means the incompetent people STAY IN THE JOB. Seems to me, if you actually thought they were incompetent you would want them replaced as fast as possible, not force them to stick around longer. Because we actually do kinda need a Sec of Defense and a CIA head...those are not the agencies you want running around with no one managing.
In other words Graham's just throwing a fake temper tantrum. In fact if we sum up Graham's appearence we get this:
Shorter Lindsey Graham: "Until I get to see the presidents personal diary, about one of the least lethal attack on an american embassy in my entire tenure sitting on the committees [partly] responsible for embassy security, and get to see who prepped a totally unrelated to the event black woman for TV, I am going to pretend to be outraged and shut down the entire US military apparatus, I mean its not like we were attacked and our embassies use Marines for security or anything. I mean I'd ask for his birth certificate but that is so 2009....."
The upside is, like Romney, McCain, Paul, and Johnson before him, Graham is likely going to get badly embarrassed, and never be credible enough for anyone to give a fuck about again.
But the real question is actually this: How many more times do republicans need to try this before they get it. It doesnt work, its not going to work, and honestly Seppuku is faster, less annoying and less painful to watch.....
I mean I'm all for flushing the GOP down the toilet, but even my dog knew better then to keep running into a closed door.....just saying.
(now for full context, as much of Lindsey's graham's interview on Face the Nation I can get...its about 4 1/2 minutes and I've had some issues getting it to embed which is why i didn't want to post it in the middle of the blog. Sorry about the link, best I can do.)
No comments:
Post a Comment