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The right's first conspiracy theory was that David Petraeus' sex scandal was hidden until after the election to help President Obama's re-election odds. Putting aside the strange notion that Petraeus' adultery would affect the president's political standing, this looked pretty silly when we learned some congressional Republicans knew about the story before the election.
The right's second conspiracy theory was that David Petraeus' sex scandal was part of a larger scheme to prevent him from testifying on Benghazi. This is just as dumb as the first -- Petraeus had already testified once, and his resignation won't stop him from testifying again.
Which leads to the right's third conspiracy theory.
Charles Krauthammer, the Fox News and Washington Post commentator, believes the Petraeus' sex scandal is linked to a closed briefing that he gave two days after the attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, in Benghazi, Libya. [...]
Krauthammer said on Fox News Tuesday that ties he sees between what Petraeus' told the Congress in September and his fear for his future at the CIA make his affair with biographer Paula Broadwell important to the public.
In this new theory, the White House knew about Petraeus' affair, and told Petraeus to mislead Congress or the administration would leak the scandal and ruin him. In other words, Obama was blackmailing the director of the CIA. (In fairness to Krauthammer, he's not the only one spewing this garbage; "Fox & Friends" pushed the same nonsense last week.)
Petraeus is a free man, and can now say as he pleases, and he's now shooting down this inanity, too.
Former CIA Director David Petraeus on Thursday said his resignation had nothing to do with the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and denied disclosing any classified information.
"He has made it very clear that [his resignation] was about an extramarital affair and not over classified information or Benghazi," CNN's Kyra Phillips said.
I keep waiting for a Republican adult to step up and say the party is wrong to lose its mind over this, but it's not happening.





I guess it's good to know what the Crazies are saying, but I hope nobody thinks they can get them to talk sense. Because they won't.
If it weren't for the crazy righties comedians would be out of work.
If it wasn't for the crazy righties, Dennis Miller would be out of work.
Hey, remember when Dennis Miller was funny... yea, me neither.
Chris Randall, Funny you should say that I actually saw Dennis Miller at a PGH comedy club many years ago and he really was funny!
Then he became a right-wing nut. Now we're still laughing............AT him.
The republican party self aware ofter four years of hair on fire? nope..no chance.
Will Fox News listen to their fellow republican? *dun dun dun* (to be continued)
Proves yet once again that watching Fox News makes you stupid. Just ask Karl Rove & dick Morris!
I know but let them continue to bask in their lies. Just know a republican will NEVER win again if they do.
And look,
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/11/15/1198301/fox-news-captions-footage-of-illegal-border-crossings-with-the-hispanic-vote/
They are still insulting minorities. Just wait until they insult Asians. I know will soon.
I keep waiting for a Republican adult to step up and say the party is wrong to lose its mind over this, but it's not happening.
It would be the right time for the Adults in the Republican party to stand up and be counted, make themselves known and take command of the party, while the Extremists in the Republican Party are still trying to find an effective spin to why they lost the election
OTOH it my be self preservation forcing the adults to keep their heads down because the Crazies will go after them.
Shouldn't have empathy for the Republican, reduces the amusement factor too much.
.
First, there are no adults in the republican party, just old children.
Second, they like to lie too much.
Third, there is no one in command, unless you mean lush limbrain?
"Republican Adult" is an oxymoron.
Did they "learn" anything from their bullshhitt in the Clinton years? Only that they could derail him, regardless of the outcome.
You don't need to look any further than John McCain to see there are really no more adults within Republican leadership positions. At least any that are willing to speak up. After the last many years of John McCain’s complete turnaround, especially his latest escapade into the Susan Rice smear campaign, it's hard to believe he was once considered a leading adult within the Republican Party.
Thankful mom beat me to the punch; apparently there are no grown ups left in the GOP's right-wing. There are no adults and no intelligent people there anymore.
I'm trying to think when there was at least one intelligent person there.................
.........................................................nothing comes to mind. I mean when you look at the bunch of whack jobs that ran with Romney in the primary, (Jon Huntsman the exception), you almost begin to wonder if Mitt wasn't it. You can see where that leaves them.
Maybe they outsourced their brains?
Republicans think Gen'ral Petraeus
Was silenced so he couldn't betray us...
He quit 'cause the Skipper
Couldn't keep up his zipper,
But the Right makes up scandals to flay us...
All the GOP noise over this is a smokescreen to try and hide the fact that they had been pushing for Petraeus to run for office, yet again selecting someone who is an adulterer to represent the "family values" party.
It seems the right missed the point here. They can not handle success-they won congress in 2010 and set about trying to rule the roost. Their Comb snagged on a barb of arrogance, their spurs stuck into the flesh of voters and they crowed while sitting on the fence.
Now they want to get some payback over the villination of GW?
Villination? I better submit that one to wikipedia quick!
Villification?
This Just In:
CIA intercept: Domestic email hack.
From: Fox News To: Wile E. Coyote@Acme Dirt Co.
Need better mud. This batch not sticking. Rush new supply ASAP.
RE: your complaint
The mud stuck to your hands perfectly well. We are not responsible for your ignorance.
Oh please. Obama has already admitted to telling his UN Ambassador, what to say. Why wouldn't he do the same with Petraeus?
Jennifer Griffin's reporting hasn't been challenged....
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/26/cia-operators-were-denied-request-for-help-during-benghazi-attack-sources-say/print#ixzz2AQ9CgJXN
Ooooh a FOX link. Can you do a little better?
And you are correct about Obama but then that is called leadership and of course being a right wingnut you would not understand this. Also note he said she was merely repeating what the latest intel had said. The world is not a static place and we are not clairvoyant---sorry.
It is all the have Fox news fake outrage I'm waiting for Fox to come out that somehow the new black panthers lead the attack on the embassy or ACORN.
It's challenged, simply by the fact that it isn't true... which isn't a surprise given the source. Try again, this time with something less of a GOP mouthpiece. Hint: Drudge and Brietbart won't cut it.
Try the logic of your statement; why indeed would he not admit to doing so if he did so. He did openly admit that Rice was carrying the administration's water so, if he would admit that, it is reasonable to assume he would cop to Petraeus if he had. He has nothing to lose now.
Perhaps, Petraeus is simply telling the truth. Nobody has accused him of lying.
And so what anyway. Whatever is the big deal about this except that our top generals seem to have complicated lives?
Trolls gotta eat, right Shooter? I'll lend you the extra 14 cents that pizza dude has to add to each pizza for Obamacare...
Shooter- "Oh please. Obama has already admitted to telling his UN Ambassador, what to say. Why wouldn't he do the same with Petraeus?..."
Yeah...He told 'em to tell the truth about what happened. "We have nothing to hide...not that it matters to some. Be sure and mention that republicans voted to take $300,000 away from the security budget in Bengazzi, and now complain there wasn't enough security available."
btw...Papa Johns is a chain with few that have more than 50 employees so don't have to provide HC. So petty. Donate millions to win elections to keep from paying HC for employees. Petty so petty it's not just sad it's amusing too.
Yes please, by all means. If you want to remain in the echo chamber do not read the Fox link.
Already did; I'll be wanting the braincells it killed to read down to your belief level back, by the way. It's still a falsehood.
Now Shooter is talking about echo chambers as if he isn't so deeply embedded in one that he has to scratch his ass when his nose itches.
If you only listen to fox then you probably haven't seen this:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/11/01/173372/us-says-help-was-sent-to-benghazi.html
There's this interesting thing about Intelligence...
Good Intel: Bin Laden
Bad Intel: Iraq
We all saw what happened when you jump the gun with bad intel. Shooter, if ya want instant gratification, go buy a happy meal from McDonald's. Rice reported what information was available at the time.
OK so yet again Shooter sends a link that doesn't prove the claim he is making, doesn't address or disprove the claim being made in the article, doesn't address or disprove anything about the Democratic narrative in general regarding the issue at hand OR the issue Shooter supposedly believes he's addressing, and that generally doesn't give more information on the subject at hand.
I am of the opinion that Shooter doesn't actually read the articles he links to: he simply does a Google search for something and then copy and pastes the first article headline he finds thinking that somehow debunks the liberals who talk to him. Unfortunately for him most of us are not stupid enough to avoid reading the actual article.
At no point in time does the article you link to make this claim nor does it provide any evidence that Petraeus was told what to say. The article in question says that the people in Benghazi were told to stand down when they wanted to respond with military action which, of course, has everything to do with the confusion at the time. Again if it was a protest on the consulate building that had gotten out of control a military response would've sparked another war. And then, of course, you Shooter would be on here wailing about the debt and deficit and how Obama just keeps starting all these wars. But, of course, you aren't trying to evaluate what happened and why in Libya- you are only interested in blaming the president for whatever knee-jerk reactionary benefit you think you're going to gain. First you thought it'd cost him the presidency and now you think it'll get him impeached. It will likely turn out that you're jumping the gun (just like with Solyndra, just like with Fast and Furious) and the House will yet again declare that the administration did nothing wrong and responded accordingly.
Will you bow out and be humble? Well the other two times you weren't so I'm going to guess you won't be this time.
But yes it's everyone else who is living in a censored bubble. Didn't you call my post the other day about how you project everything you feel onto other people "incoherent?" Heh hilarious since yet again you're proving me correct.
Shooter, Susan Rice had as much to do with Benghazi as I did. NOTHING. Get over it.
I don't hear the Republicans mentioning that it was they who cut the budget for the consulate's security by 300 million dollars. What about that?
I don't hear it on Fox either.
The CIA briefed everyone the same, at the time. That included Susan Rice and John McCain and the Senate and the House. She got the short straw to go on Meet The Press with what they had.
The one thing Obama is NOT is a liar. It is that dynamic duo of McCain and Graham who are lying for personal reasons. There seems to be an epidemic of it going through the GOP. They caught it. Maybe got too close to Mitt Romney?
Exactly India and Cartnews , the gop have had the same access to info as the admin and Rice , yet they still claim the admin is lying , the cia has made the info public and shot down all of the gop assertions , but the gop insist on making fools out of themselves , their rabidness to politicize EVERYTHING knows no bounds
And the shooter voters lap it up , and are even more dishonest than their politicians who give them cover for being trash filled liars , romney has emboldened them , they watched the msm cater to all his BS , and they are doubling down ...There will be no working with these folks , most of us knew that tho
Patango, I agree, there is no working with them, now or ever. I knew that, too. Their intransigence is equal to their disdain for the president. They only want to make him look incompetent and responsible for everyone's failings; especially theirs.
I hope Obama holds out and stays strong and we go over the fiscal "cliff". I honestly believe it is the only way to end the Bush tax cuts. Then they can be forced to agree to giving the middle class, or the 98% of us, a proper tax break. Think how bad they'd look if they refused 98% of their voters!! All they care about is their reelection, anyway, not their constituents. The see them as nothing but a number of votes. In fact, I believe their allegiance to Norquist will fall aside to second or third place when their "jobs" are on the line.
I'm in good company, Paul Krugman said the same thing a day or so ago.
Or there's a fourth theory, which says Petraeus resigned because he screwed his biographer.
Now what fun is that?
Next up for Fox: General Betray Us!
Petraeus-Betray us.
It rhymes.
India...
Kinda caught that... See post #4.5...
David, I saw that just as I was turning in for the night. Good one, and hope to see more of you and your poems on this blog!
Now you are officially Rachel's poet laureate.
Not to mention, who but you is going to correct my miserable French? LOL
After four years of pusillanimous distractions and misguided attacks on the Obama Administration by the Party of No, I am certainly tired of and a bit pissed off at the very same people who are doing the crazy - the same people who brought us Birtherism, Death Panels, Paling around with terrorists, and you name it if it refers to untoward and unbecoming politics, are now floating yet another crazy!
Well, those crazies are wearing out their welcome at the table of civil discourse! The entire FOXNEWS Corps needs to be laughed out of town! Their credibility is worse than that boy who cried wolf too many times!
Their credibility is as equally worth to us as a muddied cigarette butt lying in the rain soaked gutter awaiting the wheels of a big automobile to take it down the road on a cold and dark night!
To McCain, Graham and all the FOX Friends - STFU! -Kevo
Fox is number one in the world? What are you even talking about?
Fox does beat MSNBC and CNN in terms of nightly news viewership. Fox doesn't beat any of the basic channels (ABC, CBS, and NBC) on their nightly news coverage in terms of viewership. It also doesn't beat any of the networks in daily news reporting or on weekend coverage. It is only in the night slot when Fox competes with the other news networks.
Also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum
I should ALSO add that by making the claim that you just made- that Fox is number 1 in the world- you have just debunked the claim that the mainstream media is liberal. If Fox gets all the views then that makes Fox the mainstream media and Fox is clearly biased towards conservatives.
Everyone remember this post so that when Nevada starts whining about liberal media bias you can throw his own logic back at him.
Heh, you used "logic" in regards to a post by a troll!
Fox ia nothing but Lies. And President Obama has no intention of confiscating anything. If youre refering to the tax rates going up, he isn't doing a damn thing. They expire all by themselves on 1-1-2013. But god I love the way you righties hate this country and the middle and low income people. Don't mind spending billions on unnessacary wars, gifts to big Oil companies, but God forbid you give one damn dime to help some needy person. STFU
To anyone with half a brain and even a modest education, Fox is a bad joke, and worse, it lies to its viewers. It is a toxic propaganda machine. It isn't even American owned. It should wave Australia's flag while it's doing all the flag waving.
Fox is absurd.
Jarold, so delighted you don't hate me. (you figure it out).
Lies to its viewers...you mean like when NBC doctored the Trayvon Martin tape to try and show racism....no apology from Rachel....staying on the Martin case....how many times did the analysts on NBC say there was no cuts on his head....then it turns out a closer view shows a deep cut to the back of his head and a busted nose....when this started coming out....rachel stopped talking about her here biggest subject...cold turkey...done. Plus, Rachel is not covering benghazi...the biggest story since september and nothing from her. You all are being used.
FOX 'News' shocks you with their audacity,
And have BIG problems with their veracity,
But, concerning the drama
Of how they hate Obama,
You have to admire their tenacity...
Jeroldtol ,,,,, nbc , cbs , abc and npr get 100 million more viewers in just one 1/2 hour a day program , than your 24/7 national enquirer tabloid entertainment channel does ...And what do your stooges run? about 15 corrections a week because they do not know if boehner is a dem or a gop ? lmao
Not to mention that Fox news having millions of viewers is a guess based on the 54,000 Neilson families who are the only viewers who decide a shows ratings. So if 35,000 Neilson families tune into Fox the Neilson networks claims each of those 35,000 represent millions of viewers but as it has been proven over the years the rating system is flawed, remember it was the Neilson families that got Star-trek cancelled after the first show only to CBS's horror the show was extremely popular as letters came pouring into CBS head quarters when viewers found out they cancelled Star-trek.
They beat the dead horse.
Its poor name, was Benghazi.
It will not stand up.
Once again Fox News is leading the Republicans down the rabbit hole into their echo chamber. When oh when will the Republicans ever learn to raise their eyes and ears away from that trap and view what's happening in the rest of the world?
Rachel, sorry to be off topic, but if you have the influence at MSNBC that I think you have, please do something about that horrible woman on The Cycle, S.E. Cupp. She has to go. I'm sure by now that you've heard of her rude and embarrassing behavior on the show today when speaking to Sister Simone. She was embarrassing and rude on Bill Maher and Morning Joe. Will not watch the Cycle until she's gone. Love you Rachel. You're the best, and MS. CUPP could take a lesson from you.
jak, I couldn't agree more about SE Cupp (C cup?) I don't watch that show anymore because of her. She got on my nerves.
That party needs an enema. First one, McCain.
Some say John McCain is an enema of the state...
The trouble with ignorance is that it picks up confidence as it goes along.
- Arnold H. Glasow
;-)
42 in Philly, So many good posts tonight! :) back at ya!
I can't understand why the Spooky Michelle Bachmann is not weighing-in on this Spook-a-rama Drama.
Did she have a lobotomy, or something? Is she in the political ICU?
Let's be fair to Michele Bachmann, perhaps she does not know where Libya is. Or, she may not know how to spell Benghazi.
I hate it when you liberals pick on that woman.
Krauthammer... That name rings a bell. Isn't he the guy who thought Democrats could control the weather and knew that it would be raining during their convention? By his logic, of course the omniscient Obama Administration knew about Patraeus' affair... and whether or not General Allen is/was having one. I'm surprised he doesn't just stay completely mute out of fear the omniscience extends into his own personal life.
Always nice to see how stupid stupid has to be, to be one of those morons.
I'm waiting for Liz Cheney's opinion!! (She's the right wing crazies' "expert" expert, on most any subject!!!)
whups... hold up a sec...
Steve Benen -- the Republican party has a -mind- ?!? ...when did that happen?
Why, if I had half a mind, I'd be a Rape-Public-CON...
The trouble with ignorance is that it picks up confidence as it goes along.
- Arnold H. Glasow
;-)
The Repubs are just frustrated because they know someone needs to be impeached but they can't figure out who..I say impeach Glen Beck..his comedy career needs to be resurrected for the good of the people
That Heinous Petranus! How dare he get nookie when the party got Romney!
These guys are like BengZombies shamblig around looking for something to get thier hands on groaning Bengazie BeeEEeengazie.
. ... Benghazi ... Weapons of Mass Destruction, anyone? Anyone?????
Poor bastards,,, YOU LOST, GET OVER IT!!!