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If John McCain thinks he's improving his reputation and credibility, he's mistaken.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he was "surprised and frustrated" to read reports that the intelligence community had altered talking points about the attack in Benghazi, Libya, after being told last week that the source of the edits was unknown.
A spokesman for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Monday said it was the intelligence community -- and not other agencies or the White House -- that made the edits.
In a written statement, McCain complained that "senior intelligence officials were asked" last week about minor changes to CIA talking points, "and all of them -- including the Director of National Intelligence himself -- told us that they did not know who made the changes." He added that this is "another reason why many of us are so frustrated with, and suspicious of, the actions of this administration."
The truth really isn't complicated. Intelligence officials said they didn't know, probably because this wasn't a detail they bothered to explore in detail before talking to lawmakers. (Of all the things Congress was likely to care deeply about, the semantics of talking points written four days after an attack weren't likely to be one of them.)
But after this proved to be fascinating to some lawmakers, officials looked into it, got an answer, and let folks know what the found -- that the intelligence community changed "terrorists" to "extremists" for entirely legitimate reasons related to intelligence and national security.
Why is McCain "surprised and frustrated" by this? Your guess is as good as mine. It's possible McCain kind of enjoys being "surprised and frustrated" in perpetuity, and yesterday's statement was just a copy and paste of how the senator was feeling the day before.
That said, McCain at least resisted the urge to again condemn Susan Rice in his statement, probably because there's nothing left for McCain to criticize her about. Indeed, the senator's various theories have already been discredited, and though his statement yesterday insisted there are "many other questions that remain unanswered," it's no longer clear what else the senator wants to know.
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My problem is that, we as a nation demand answers to horrible events like this immediately, and nobody has the guts to say, "we haven't a clue but are finding out." they always have to seem that while we were surprised but the attack, we knew it was going to happen?
I do agree that we need to know what happened in Benghazi, but I don't think we need to place blame on anybody. A bunch of militant nut jobs (their religious beliefs do not count as I firmly believe that if you kill in the name of your god you have no religious beliefs and you are just a nut job) found a small chink in our armour and attacked. The people of Libya, had not part in this, you only have to look at the video showing them clearing the streets and carrying the ambassador to the hospital, if the Libyans had been involved the body would have been desecrated. No armour is perfect, we must remember that, and no security system is perfect. Stop trying to place blame and let us just honor the dead.
Seriously. I live in Imperial Beach CA, a small town a few miles from North Island Naval Station and the home of one of the ex-seals that was killed. He and his wife owned a small club in IB called "The Salty Frog", a hangout for navy seals. My daughter's band played at the club several times and I met Ty and his wife through her. Can you imagine being his wife and reading all these wild stories about sodomy and torture of those men? And it's all bulsh*t, made up by bloggers and know nothings with nothing better to do than stir up hate.
These are real people dealing with real pain and the last thing they want is to have this whole thing politicized. Ty went there to do security work for the CIA. He knew what he was getting into. He was one of those who ran INTO the consulate against orders because he felt it was his job to try to save the Ambassador. He is a hero and we need to let this go. The family needs to be left alone to heal.
We are all Libyan's now.
What has all this cost us in terms of salaries, office supplies, Senators' time, etc. ??
Expect it would be what used to be called "a pretty penny" --
So you don't think the investigation of the deaths of four brave Americans is worth a pretty penny? How about trying to find out what happened so we learn from our mistakes? We all have to not ask questions and just accept things? This is America, we are free to ask questions and delve into a situation when we are not satisfied.
Perhaps McCain needs a Snickers? In my mind I keep seeing McCain in the Snickers ad instead of Joe Pesci, with someone pulling him aside and saying " you get a little angry when you're hungry".
A little sympathy for Senator McCain, please. All of us will get old one day -- at least we hope to live that long.
Old does not equal stupid...
Let's hope we know when to bow out of public life gracefully when the time comes that we're only causing problems....
since mccain chose sarah palin as second,,i do not trust his judgement,,,,i will not trust any republican IN THE FUTURE EITHER,,THEY WILL SAY ONLY WHAT THEY THINK WE WANT TO HEAR, not what they really beleive,,,so i do not beleive in their integrity,in four years,,it will be dangerous to beleive any of them,,,, a fact is sure,,in florida,,the republicans tried to cheat,,none of the democrats,we did not not need to cheat,,we only needed everyone to vote,,nothing else and mr obama won big
It seems Senator McCain just keeps talking to try to recapture some kind of relevance...however the more he talks the less relevant he is....although the press in DC just love sticking a microphone in his face....strange
Meghan McCain seems to be on a mission to get her party to focus on things that important to Americans. Prehaps that charity should start at home .... her dad has gone JackSh**Crazy.
I believe Mr. McCain is "surprised and frustrated" by the fact that those darn kids are on his lawn again, and he'll get the lawn sprinkler and spray them, don't think he won't, oh no, he will. Dern Tootin!
The more this conspiracy theory on Benghazi goes on; the more it appears that the Republicans have had a role in the events on 9/11/2012, in Libya and how they unfolded to the American people. McCain seems disappointed that this event did not cause President Obama to loose the election; as does the rest of the GOP. If the information to be released was changed and none of the department heads know where the order came from; the next step in command would be the Congressional Intelligence Committees. The orders could have came from any House or Senate member that sits on the committee.Their first message, delivered by Mitt Romney and echoed by Ryan, was that the Obama Administration apologized to the attackers for our freedom of speech. When it was made public that the statement issued by the Embassy in Cairo was made before the Benghazi attack and did not come from the White House, they started on this cover up theory. If McCain wanted more information, he should attend the intelligence briefings. Typical of the Republicans of recent years, to create chaos to cover their own actions.
Shades of Tailgunner Joe?
I just want to weigh in on this because I haven't heard anyone else say it, and if they have, then maybe it bears repeating. The GOP, led by Senators McCain and Graham, are complaining that "the administration" didn't come out quickly enough to say that the September 11 events were perpetrated by terrorists, particularly since we now know that David Petraeus believed that to be the case from the beginning. (Aha, smoking gun!)
Well, I would counter that it's not "diplomatically correct" to make inflammatory accusations (which this could have been) until details are sufficiently confirmed. And although people with inside knowledge were highly suspicious of a terrorist attack, no one knew for certain until American operatives could investigate. This was not possible until days later. We saw the reaction from the diplomatic community to Mitt Romney's immediate reaction. Even Conservative writer Peggy Noonan criticized Romney, saying "cool words or no words" would have been better.
So I agree. This has been blown way out of proportion, and to quote Ann Romney, "Stop it!"
Ok you and @Mousesj are making entirely too much sense. Stop it!
McCain might be creating a crisis in an attempt to maintain some power and relevance he realizes is slipping through his fingers. And although his behavior is problematic it is--on a human to human level--simultaneously sad .
Yes Senator, senility can be very "surprising and frustrating"
Have we finally figured out that spending 6 years as a POW has nothing to do with
intelligence or understanding the American public. The man survived and that's good, but
I've known other POW's who were a lot smarter and less critical of everything in their path. I've also known one who went to the Army as an alternative to jail. Does his time in a Vietnam POW camp make him into a smart guy? It may have improved his character, but beyond that...
Senator McCain needs to coast quietly, then retire. He's getting too tired.
John Mccain no more -------> please
I think John McCain has a vision of himself as a great American Leader. In the vein of this Admiral Grandfather and Admiral Father. He has exceeded in position his grandfather and father. But, McCain really hasn't contributed anything major to the country since his political life started. He is a sentimentalist and lacks an ability to see the future without same enormous evil that is waiting to occur.
He, with this Libya issue, demonstrates a lack of fitness for American Foreign Affairs. The passage of time changes everything. He has been passed up in the changing world by Time. As a naval aviator, he was reckless, and now as a senator is trying to prevent forward change.
I think he should retire from public life for the good of the Nation.
Obstruction of the desires of the majority of the nation's voters, reminds one of a old professional athlete that refuses to voluntary retire past their professional prime.
I actually think McCain is doing all of this because he wants to be Secretary of State. I think maybe he is a little bit delusional and he thinks if he refuses to allow anyone to be confirmed to the position he might have a chance. Now we all know how delusional thinking this way is, but crazy people don't know they're crazy. In the press release today about the truce in Gaza he stressed the need for diplomatic leadership going forward. Maybe he wants Obama to send him over there to work on Middle East peace or something. It's laughable, but McCain doesn't know he's the latest gift to comedy in America.
Back during the 2008 campaign, he claimed that Iran, a Shia country, was training Sunni Al Qaeda terrorists. As most people who read the news (excluding Fox) knew by 2008, Al Qaeda and Iran are enemies. If he were made Secretary of State, I'm sure he would bring his vast ignorance and bad temper to bear on all our foreign relations problems.
has anybody heard about senility? maybe McCain is losing it and should be resting at home instead of working for millions of Americans and seeing "things" that are not really there and wasting other people time.
McCain is "surprised and frustrated" every morning when he wakes up and discovers he is not the President of the United States.
http://chucksmomentoftruth.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/thanksgiving-turkey-mitt-romney/
Senator McCain: you have chosen your "Custer" moment--and it is a stupid hill to fight and die on. We know it, and I am guessing now you know it too, but cannot be seen as backing down one inch. For a guy who has survived all the scandals and the poor choices you have made through-out your career, this intransigence seems to be as foolish as some of your greatest moments, such as making Palin your vice-presidential running mate. Senator, you better hope something even bigger comes along, or you will forever be tarnished with this stupidity.
McCain and Graham need to knock it off. Plus... those 97 people who sent the President a letter about Susan Rice. So much for working together. I hope some of these bitchy old dinosaurs are on their way out in the next election.
I have several family members that are Republican... guess who they voted for this year? President Obama. Need I say more. There are more annoyed than anyone.
I can't believe you guys are missing the whole point. Four brave Americans died, they died for heaven's sake! The news people are so enamored of our President that they wouldn't touch this with a ten foot pole. You mean to believe that the Commander and Chief didn't know exactly what happened? If Bush would have been in the office the news would have crucified him. The Liberal news plays favorites. I remember when the word "journalist" actually meant something. John McCain is a champion of the military forces--two Seals died over there. Shame on all you people making this about Democrats, this is about Americains who served.
Petered out was the correct word to use for McCain. He's too old to get it up,get it on Not even Viagra or Testoserone would help him at this point. Its time for McCain and Graham to retire. Both Mccain and Graham have become the old farts in the Congress.