The only meaningful complaint raised by Republicans against Susan Rice is that she shared the collective judgment on the Benghazi attack on Sunday shows. It gives new meaning to the phrase "blame the messenger" -- Rice didn't write the CIA talking points, she simply told the public what they said, just as she was asked to do.
And yet, the Republican campaign against her appears to be intensifying. The latest criticism comes by way of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who, next year, will ostensibly be the Senate's only GOP moderate.
Rice paid Collins a courtesy visit this morning, and the Maine Republican later told reporters that Rice served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs when al Qaeda attacked American embassies in Kenya and Somalia: "What troubles me so much is the Benghazi attack in many ways echoes the attacks on those embassies in 1998, when Susan Rice was head of the African region for our State Department."
This is pretty twisted -- to suggest the assistant secretary of state for African affairs is responsible for security decisions at every U.S. diplomatic outpost in an enormous continent is absurd, even by the standards of congressional Republicans -- but as the smear campaign against Rice unfolds, it's also quickly becoming the norm.
Collins added that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) "would be an excellent appointment and would be easily confirmed by his colleagues," thus boosting the Republican Party's partisan goals of shrinking the Democratic caucus.
In the meantime, GOP antics are making Democrats getting angrier by the day.
Democrats, though, tell NBC they're ready and willing to fight for Rice and believe they could overcome those holds. Anyone who thinks that John McCain, Ayotte, and Graham's caustic reaction to their meeting with Rice yesterday gives Democrats any pause on Rice's nomination, should think again, according to a Democratic Senate aide.
"People are happy to fight for her," the aide said, adding, "This is getting people's back up. The general sense of the mood is this is ridiculous. She's obviously qualified." The aide also questioned whether Republicans besides McCain, Graham, and Ayotte would think this is a "smart fight to pick" given Rice's qualifications and that this would mean a "high-profile fight with a qualified African-American woman." As to the threat of holds from Ayotte and Graham, the aide said that if Rice is nominated and presents well at her confirmation hearing, there's a "good chance cooler heads prevail" and there would be more than enough votes to confirm her.
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There are plenty of cool heads on the GOP side. They all have that natural air conditioning as the wind flows in one ear and out the other.
They are after John Kerry's senate seat. They want a Republican in there. We need Kerry in the Senate.
They take us for fools.
They're wrong. I have bad eyes and can still see right through them.
India, just today it began to dawn on me that this really is not about Rice, it is about trying to force Obama to clear a Senate seat that could fall to the Republicans.
it is about trying to force Obama to clear a Senate seat that could fall to the Republicans.
All this lunacy would make sense if they could get more than a 1% return on their ...
1% ... Oooohhhh, I get it now! .... Republicans DO risk allot for their 1%, Don't they?
.
I even think they're wrong about MASS putting a GOP in Kerry's seat. I know the Koch brothers have deep pockets, but look at, say, Sherrod Brown, who won Ohio with tons of money being poured in against him.
People are getting damn fed up with the Republicans' BS and obstructionism. I sure as hell am. I feel like that 70's song, sitting in the corner, losing my religion!
I don't see how this is about Kerry's senate seat since he seems to be the President's choice for Defense. It's just some cranky old clowns who really like to be in front of a camera complaining about something.
The ol' boys got to her. Senators Snow (ME) and Hutchison (TX) are gone, which leaves Senator Murkowski (AK), Stepford Senator Ayotte (NH), and Susan Collins (ME). If Ayotte and Collins want to keep playing senator, they'll have to dance to the Taliban/Teaparty's music.
They don't have anything to hold over Senator Murkowski. Unlike that reality show queen, the Senator is a genuinely independent spirit.
They still think they're dealing with the 111th Congress that had backstabbers like Lieberman and Ben Nelson in the Democratic caucus weilding disproportionate power, a Senate leadership that was still clinging to the forlorn hope that the old days of collegiality and legislation passed through personal friendships across the aisle could return, and a bunch of chicksh*t Blue Dogs in the House who'd collapses into a fetal position and soil themselves at the very thought of Republicans running mean commercials about them.
Now I understand. To counter the Repubs conspiracy theory about Benghazi being a WH coverup, and Rice sent to spout the party line, the Dems offer a theory Repubs are after Kerry's seat. A seat in an overwhelmingly Dem state once won by a Repub running against an inept Dem. This is all idiocy.
To state the "collective judgment" was being stated at the time is, at best, misleading. Initially, public announcements referred to a stupid video which led to violence. Meanwhile, internally, we now know the CIA knew it was terrorism from day 1. Then, Carney kept spouting the stupid video. Then, the Pres went before the UN and continued the video story. If the admin didn't want the Quieda involvement announced, all they had to do was say the incident is under investigation. And, if "collective judgment" also includes the the Pres, didn't he read the intel reports?
Lastly, why do some always jump to the racist, sexist assertion ?
Kerry's not going anywhere. I think one thing Obama learned with taking Napolitano out of the governorship of Arizona was that it's pretty stupid to shrink your side.
But the obviousness of the Republicans is really nauseating.
McConnell for Secretary of State!
I agree- one conspiracy theory should not be met with another conspiracy theory
No. We know that General Petraeus suspected that Al'Qaeda might have been involved, but this was not confirmed and no one knew officially until the preliminary investigation was finished by the FBI
They did say this. In fact Rice herself stated this explicitly and so did the president. They both stated that to the best of their knowledge at that point in time the video had lead to protests which had turned into terrorist attacks. Those statements, for the record, have not been found to be false.
Again nothing stated by Rice or the president contradicts the information we have now. But if you mean to say was the President of the United States part of the editing of the talking points then the answer is no. I don't know why you would make this leap in judgement.
So you deride conspiracy theories to match other conspiracy theories which is logical. You then go on to make your own conspiracy theory. So what is the stupidity you're deriding here? That you want your conspiracy peddled and not these other two? How does this make you any better or different?
These gop/tp GOMERS Will Stop at Nothing to Avoid and Evade the Main Topics of America's Best Interests ~ One Being JOBS,JOBS,JOBS of which once every 4 months or so they bring up and claim that JOBS is the most important issue for the USA , Yes Once every 4 Months THEY Bring it up ! Bunch -o- Dead-Beat GOMERS ~ hey ~ Take Another 4week Vacation You Bunch -o- Useless TURDS ! WHY Do WE Pay These IDIOTS ~ For WHAT ?
Notice how all three: McCain, Graham, and Ayotte, recited their identical "talking points." This isn't about Susan Rice, it is about Benghazi as a wedge issue for Rove and the Kochs in 2014. There are MANY out there willing to trust FoxNews and Limbaugh about Benghazi. Trust me on this. Our state suffered from the 2010 elections. I am going to work to make sure it doesn't happen again in 2014.
"Kerry's not going anywhere. I think one thing Obama learned with taking Napolitano out of the governorship of Arizona was that it's pretty stupid to shrink your side."
TC . . . Let's hope he learned that. The Democrats worked too hard in 2012 to get to 55 people in their Senate caucus. Virtually handing back one of those seats to the Repubs--and to someone we spent millions of dollars to get OUT of the Senate--would be idiotic beyond words. It would be an insult to Elizabeth Warren to have to work almost immediately with the person she spent so much time, energy, and money defeating.
Kerry has several more terms left in the Senate if he wants them. And, if he chooses not to run in 2014, at least the Dems will have time to organize a campaign for someone to run against Brown.
The Napolitano appointment cost Obama and the Democrats in several ways, including making it easy for Arizona Republicans to pass a bunch of nonsense legislation that made things difficult for both Dems and many of their constituents.
You may have more confidence in Obama's willingness to learn those lessons than I do. We'll see if he sees the importance of hanging onto that Senate seat.
Cartoon:
Within the intel ccommunity, Patraeus admitted he thought it was a terror attack and he didn't know who changed the talking points. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/petraeus-arrives-on-capitol-hill-for-closed-door-benghazi-hearings/2012/11/16/ab0dd2f8-2fea-11e2-ac4a-33b8b41fb531_story_1.html
The video never should have been mentioned, especially if the CIA knew early on it was terrorism. The President if Lybia even said it was terrorism a day after. By referring to the video just added to the stupid conspiracy theory.
We already went over this Tom. What Petraeus stated was that he suspected it was Al'Qaeda but did not confirm that it was Al'Qaeda until the investigation was over. You're deliberately misrepresenting the statements as they were reported to the press in order to slant the news story artificially to support the narrative that you just hypocritically denounced.
A. was there a protest that took place in response to the video in Benghazi? Yes
B. Was there a protest that took place in response to the video in Benghazi before the terrorist attack which created confusion? Yes
C. Was the act of terror using the protest as cover to create confusion? Yes
The only way you could be concluding this first sentence is if you live in a completely delusional world.
No, he stated that the Libyan people were not responsible for this attack and that he suspected it was due to militant Islamic groups.
I'm against this conspiracy! Which is why I keep lying about it to push the conspiracy forward! Everyone who rants about conspiracies is stupid! Now listen to my conspiracy!
Yes that's real credible, Tom
And, yet again, you link to an article that disproves your narrative in the first few paragraphs. Seriously, conservatives, READ these articles BEFORE you post them.
See what they are saying? They are saying that had little information and while they assumed Al'Qaeda was involved they did not have evidence that Al'Qaeda was involved and therefore they wanted to be cautious about making that connection without proof. Ya know, like a good investigator does. And what does the article state? That there were in fact protests and that they did in fact contribute to the attack which would justify their mentioning by Rice, Petraeus, and the president.
It won't be a shoe-in for Scott Brown. I'm betting Governor Patrick runs for Kerry's seat, and no way Brown beats him.
Cartoonthenews, #11.7 Actually, I don't believe it was Al' Qaeda, but a local militia. That is what I heard. Libya has a number of Islamic terrorist groups.
trainrbarry, Duval Patrick would win. An excellent choice. Brown wouldn't win, I agree with you.
@India
Technically speaking both would be correct. Al'Qaeda is a vague and ambiguous label that the CIA places on select Islamist terrorist groups. Technically speaking Al'Qaeda doesn't exist in the sense of a singular terrorist organization plotting attacks in different locations. "Al'Qaeda" is sort've a stock term that the CIA and other intelligence agencies use to label various small terrorist cells that have similar traits in common such as leaders who know each other, similar suppliers, etc. as a means of making it easier to track the group- but no one group actually refers to itself as Al'Qaeda.
Cartoonthe news, #1.20 Well, now I have learned something new! Thanks.
The only things these Non-Americans keep doing is making the GOP look even more idiotic. They are all reading from the same hack script. Then we have Fox News that spins it into oblivion.
How many more questions do they want answered? Uhm, you were there with the people... and you didn't ask the question? Have they ever been on a job interview?
After the Ayotte interview on Andrea Mitchell today... it is pretty damn clear this is a major smear job. They don't care about Susan Rice. They care about their own party of goofballs. They want Kerry's position to open up.
Susan Collins brought up something from 14 years ago??? Uhm, why didn't you bring it up then? Why now? How stupid do these people think we are. Furious? Yes I am.
The DNC needs to step up and start slamming these "people"... They need a taste of their medicine. Karma is a wonderful thing.
The largest air of disrespect now is... it is all about Susan Rice. They didn't give two cents about those who died. They don't care about all of those men and women who have had their lives taken for keeping THE U.S.A. safe! Not to mention... and, I said this before... do they even shed a tear for the lives taken by violence in their home states their represent?
Get these fools out of office.
Calming down now. Arghhh.
#2 Jango,
What you said. Get em out!
Thanks India... Was calmed down... now... just really annoyed.
Cannot wait for Ed, Rachel and Lawrence tonight.
*Correction... do they even shed a tear for the lives taken by violence in their home states they represent?
Jango,#22.2
No. All they cry about is their taxes being raised.
Kerry should come out and decline to accept any offer. If he did then they would back down a little thus proving that it is his seat they really want.
Better yet Hillary should reconsider and stay.
I don't think it would be far fetched to suggest that if Kerry were nominated for a post that Dems would try to convince a Kennedy to run for the senate seat. That would end Mr. Centerfold's hopes and career as a Senator. Even all the Wall Street money could not help Brown.
# 2 Jango
Let's see:
Are Boxer, Feinstein, Pelosi screaming about the crime in Calif?
Is the Chicago gang decrying Chicago violence?
Your statement is irrellivent
Yes, they want more police hired but.............. Hum, does that sound like Benghazi?
Tom...
Thank you for your clarification. However, I was making a point. Oh, and the correct spelling is irrelevant.
The only plausible Kennedys are Victoria, Ted's widow, who won't do it, or Ted Jr., who lives in Connecticut.
A naked and untoward full body block by these denizens of obstruction!
They got nothing save a strategy to force President Obama to choose Sen. Kerry, and leave a special election for Scott Brown to try to scratch his way back into the upper chamber!
Appropriate response - Pass radical filibuster rule changes, nominate Ms. Rice, and dare the GOP to bring it on! -Kevo
I was not aware there were so many varieties of Wrestling Match Types.
I think this is the one where they put a black female in a cage and several white men go at her... Then the promoters figure out the scenes sends the wrong message so they throw in a few female wrestlers to go at the diplomat. Except she diplomatically refuses to descend to their level.
I think the climax of this spectacle is they want the mighty champion to enter the cage to free the damsel, who actually isn't a damsel, but the narrative as it plays out leaves no doubt what role she is cast in.
Their narrative just stinks. Race hatred, Misogyny, degradation of political dialog and institutions. The whole thing is so much ugly right wing theater.
Exactly. This is nothing but payback for Elizabeth Warren taking the centerfold's "seat." The GOP is trying its best to play smashmouth politics. I sure hope Obama's ready to rumble.
Kevo...Exactly right. Petty motivations from the pettiest of parties. Gag each time I have to listen to them talk. It always about gaining power with these people...and they want that senate seat...bottom line...not what's best for the nation but always how it benefits them in their grab for power. Pathetic.
Meanwhile, back in Congress, all the real post-election issues which weren't worked on pre-election are still simmering on the back burner...
These work-avoiding folks are the real waste of government dollars.
what is it going to take with these people? honestly, i can't think of anything that will change their warped, GOP-first mentality. because two ass-whippings in 2008 and 2012 didnt work. nominating their party id for senate seats in 2010 and 2012 failed.
how do you make these craven scum actually care about their job or the country?
Apparently, this is what the GOP has decided is their best way to divert attention from the fact they are an intellectually bankrupt party on matters of economics, science, and good-faith actors in the nation's interest.
Can you imagine the traitorous strategizing talks that's been going on in GOP offices?
I've been using the phrase "intellectually bankrupt and divorced from reality" to describe republicans for awhile now. I think it has a nice ring to it.
'
The theme to exercise on the "divorced from reality" part of it is the comic book flavor of this. You look at these characters like Santorum, McCain, Ryan, Cantor- they truly regard themselves as first among equals with exaggerated sense of power to control events. It is the Wobegon effect- the "Woe Be Gone" effect of denialism. A willing suspension of disbelief is actively courted, and the open secret the GOP is powerless is denied so that the comic book superheros can take the stage and transfix the audience with daring feats of heroism against their evil foes.
Lake Wobegon is a fictional small town in Minnesota where the men and women are good looking, pure and above average in every respect.
If only the Fox bubble did not exist, and if only it were confined to such a small number of people.
That's good, John!
That's good, John!
John,#5.2
That was a great show with Garrison Keiler! I loved it. All the men were smart and all the women were good looking. LOL Haven't heard it in a while. Is it still on?
Oh, and all the children were above average.
Lake Woebegon still exists and the show is still on the air Saturday nights on local NPR.
Any of you morons look at the national debt lately. Dirty Harry Reed wants to lift remove the debt ceiling completely. Talk about devorced from reality.
As for Rice she admitted that she "errored" in her information and you call it a smear campagne. You were lied to and you don't even care.
The liberal motto: protect our own, the truth doesn't matter.
Even the obscure does not escape you guys. They are free at itunes going back to 2010. The Nov 10 episode, 3 minutes in covers the scene at the cafe after the election.
Welcome to Woe Be Gone, chemdmd. Enjoy your stay. It is so... pleasant there.
Just don't make eye contact and you will be fine.
I explained this once to you before. The debt ceiling and the national debt have nothing to do with one another. You are confusing two entirely separate issues simply because they have the name "debt" in them.
No, she didn't. She did state that she takes responsibility for her statements and that she is sorry if she mislead anyone. But that is a different statement than the one you're pretending to exist. Additionally there has been absolutely zero evidence to support your accusation that anyone lied.
When you can provide factual evidence to support your claims then we'll talk. Otherwise you are throwing stones in a glass house.
dear chemdmd, as soon as you figure out the difference between your a## and a hole in the ground, we can talk. Not before.
referring back to Messerly's comment at 4:03... I just can't help picturing Newt dressed in tights and a cape with a bag over his head flying in from his colony/hideout on the moon to thwart the evil black villainess Susan Rice and save the republic from tyranny! Think about it....
I'm really trying to understand the crux of this Benghazi-Rice messaging "issue". There is an accusation by Susan Collins of politicizing this before the election.
Is (are) she/they saying the President would not be elected if we had been told by Rice that this was whatever they are objecting to? I really want to know what they are trying to accomplish in plain language, not some flowery language and inferences of conspiracy.
This is just stoopid to me. I read a military news account dated Sept. 12 that there was intelligence regarding that video and the President also said it was a terror attack. I will try to find the one I found some time ago, but here is one article http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2012/09/ap-military-pentagon-boosting-security-us-embassies-091212/
Yes, we know national debt, we know. Trying to work on that, but there seems to be hostage taking again. We don't want hostage taking, we want Congress to get busy.
I know this was a tragedy, but really… was it preventable?
I think it was both and I do not understand that there is some kind of conspiracy here. There was a terror attack. There was intelligence that referenced that video.
Yes, we have to try to prevent these types of horrendous events. This should be done throughout State and CIA. Susan Rice was not in charge of security, perhaps it was because Congress voted not to fund security in Libya. Maybe they should have Marines at these "hot spots". Do we have the will to pay for that? I would. What kind of witch hunt are we having? One to bring down the CIC or the budget issue of guarding consulates?
The President is CIC, but Congress has to fund things. The State Dep't is not favored well by Repubs, they want to attack, not diplomacy. There's not much money or lobbyists in it, except maybe private security.
I know one thing for sure, I would like very much to hear Repubs acknowledge that Iraq and Afghanistan wars were done off budget and have a HUGE impact on the debt, then top that off with Bush tax cuts. That is my dream chemmd. To have Repubs admit that the spending is not ALL on social programs and cutting has to come from the least well off.
"Dirty Harry Reid," huh? I think I like it. "So you want to shut down the government? Are you feeling lucky, punk?"
We cannot let Susan Collins or other Republicans new baseless Kenya and Somali attack on Susan Rice be the shiny object they are hoping we are distracted by. Every Democrat there is needs to attack on the one clear fact that it is Republicans who are misleading the American people for political purposes. The only reason they are bringing up Africa is to distract us from the fact that they no longer have a leg to stand on when it comes to the Benghazi charge. Before we address the Africa attack we have to finish Republicans off when it comes to the slander of Susan Rice on Benghazi.
The Republican charge against Susan Rice and the administration boils down to their belief that the administration misled the American public to cover-up the involvement of Al Qaeda terrorists in the Benghazi attack because the administration wants the public to believe that they have destroyed Al Qaeda. Pres. Obama has never said Al Qaeda is close to defeat. He has said Al Qaeda proper has been decimated and the Al Qaeda offshoots that have spread out throughout the Middle East, including in Libya, are the best evidence of this. Why would the administration cover-up their best evidence of how effective they been at decimating Al Qaeda proper? Pres. Obama has made it clear he understands the terrorist threat by dedicating increased resources to fighting these offshoots wherever they pop up. The consulate in Benghazi was a CIA listening post set up to precisely go after these types of offshoots in order to aggressively prevent these organizations from carrying out any attacks. Tragically, war is war and there are always losses. But, the struggle goes on and I don't know how much more you could be on the mark about preemptively targeting the groups that matter.
The far more likely reason for not disclosing the classified information about the specific involvement of Al Qaeda in Libya is to prevent tipping them off to the ongoing operations trying to bring them down. The best evidence of this is the fact that it was the intelligence community who eliminated references to Ansar al-Sharia in the talking points provided to Susan Rice, for the distinct purpose of not tipping them off.
The only mistake made, if you can call it that, was the idea that there was a protest from which this attack evolved out of. The intelligence community has explained that now they are pretty certain there wasn't a protest but they're still not 100% certain of this either. What they are certain about is the fact that this discrepancy resulted from the fog of war and not any intentional effort to mislead the American public.
If this is obvious to me, someone who is well informed but not privy to all of the intelligence information that John McCain and the like are, then it is obvious to them. Therefore, they are the ones misleading the American public for political reasons. They deserve hard questions about why they would want to press for answers they know the public can't know in order to protect intelligence operations. They deserve hard questions about why they would engage in a political attack on public servants like Susan Rice and the intelligence community doing their best to serve us.
Susan Rice and the entire intelligence community has provided all the information they can to answer the charges that they misled the American public for political purposes and it is clear that what they haven't revealed, won't reveal and shouldn't be revealed, is because it is critical to our national security. Now, it's well past time for John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Kelly Ayotte and every other Republican attacking Susan Rice to provide all the information they have that can answer the charges that they are misleading the American public for political purposes.
Susan Rice, the intelligence community and the American public deserve journalist asking these hard questions for as long as they pressed Susan Rice and the administration on this issue and until the slandering of Susan Rice is undone and the American public understands who is really engaged in politics instead of protecting our national security interests. After all, isn't it Republicans who have been continually proclaiming they want to get to the bottom of this so we understand who would engage in politics at the expense of our national security? I feel the same way and if we spent weeks going after Susan Rice to find out it isn't her or the administration engaged in politics, we should continue to spend weeks getting to the bottom of it by pressing Republicans in the same fashion.
It's all bluster. They won't vote against Susan Rice. Yes, they will try to appease the base by asking Rice absurd questions, but in the end it's not a fight any of them want to take home.
I think Rachel's theory is correct. The Republicans only want Sen. John Kerry's seat and all of this has nothing to do with Susan Rice.
I agree. The GOP wants to take Kerry's senate seat at all costs.
I initially thought this theory was a bit crazy....but now. The only other, viable, theory is that the Senators are all just a bunch of a..holes.
smb ... there's no reason it can't be both.
Again. Governor Patrick vs. Scott Brown. To quote Mittens, "hahaha, hahaha, hahaha."
the deeper these GOP lifers try to plant their anti-Rice flag the more mud they get on their suits
It's getting to look like Lawrence was right a long time ago. These Senators are trying to get Scott Brown back into the Senate in Mass.
I can't stand that Susan Collins is now involved in this political game that just flings mud on Susan Rice and President Obama.
You know when the Rs accuse politicization because of timing and messaging, that's what THEY are doing here. They project, project, project.
We ALL want to prevent something like this from happening, but it does not need to be played out in the media.
Ms. Collins is paying the ol' boys for being allowed to play senator with them.
If she is genuinely moderate, and not a Stepford Senator like Ayotte, she has to say something soon.
Actually, Collin's recommendation is the kiss of death for Kerry.
One Swiftboat at a Time, Senators!
In the voice of Hal Holbrooke in his long running character as Mark Twain, we could aspire to imitate how he might have waxed sharply the fine point of irony, hammed into the pointed weapon of words.
Let us all take up the woeful plight of one Senator Swiftboat. First it is tamely at odds to point out that the undertaker slowness in speaking of Senator Swiftboat lamely concerns us. The undertaker always reserves to speak last I suspect that the practice of this habit was left over from days prior to embalming. The undertaker preferring that the designated corpse would remain so during services. This is rare and no one uses more words than needed when discussing the nearly departed. If a person is disposed to thinking quickly and speaking slowly then we come to expect to see the wisdom of the method as being near genius. Contrast the stutterer who has not yet master the art of speaking first within one's own head, before entertaining us with the passible words. If fact I suspect that any thinking ahead that improves speech, would be welcome. I will leave the undertaker alone, and explore the possibility that speaking much too slowly is doubly confusing. If I cannot tell the impairment from wisdom or if I cannot tell quick thoughts for deliberative machinations then I cannot conclude anything of the value of the speaker's wisdom.
Senator Swiftboat got that name because someone in favor of his lame speaking opposition performed a villainous service. In knowing in advance how Senator Swiftboat would respond, to a completely false and unsupportable proposition, or simply to be falsely accused. This is technique not unknown in the Inquisition that used the practice of slow deliberation, to float the false accusation widely, but then to look quite reasonable in declaring later, in silence that the accusation was indeed false. Senator Swiftboat was stunned because he was disposed to deliberative reasoning, and unprepared to counter attack quickly enough to deflect the attempted damage. Senator Swiftboat was, it seems campaign not for elective but appointed office, not unlike a Justice for the Supreme Court. The villainous act was done in allowing the truly impaired speaker, incapable of thought much less articulation to become the winner or rather the one carried into that position by others.
Senator Swiftboat was unanimously opposed by Republicans of every stripe and caliber in every possible way, as being uniquely unqualified by reason of disloyalty to the Republican Permanent Cause, warfare. His ever vital being speaks of caution of deliberation, of slowness to the point fault in response so delayed as to be ineffective. Their assessment then was that he could be persuaded simply because of the amount of time it took to process whatever he may have thought and that an incident would be over before he had finished thinking.
Now to come to the present day where the entire country is trying to recover from viral Romnesia, these same low levels, not likely to succeed, dead ends, has been, parade of Romnesia sufferers march past us like the last of 100 year old veterans of the Civil war. The Republicans are now singing, the praises of Senator Swiftboat. Who on God's Green Earth, would have heard of, or wanted to hear praise for an appointment, to Secretary of State the President had yet nominated. When have we heard of the stadium cheering wildly, for the hero of the game, before the game has been scheduled? Since when has the office of the President been guided by the roar of the crowd. There would be no better way to attempt again, again to destroy the President and the office of the President that to succeed remotely in this dying act assignation. There could be not better way to slip the control of the Secretary of State to hands beholding to the feckless Republican Senate, than to speak for the nation before The Secretary of State?
Republicans Grasping at the golden ring to unite the majority of the Senate to grasp war powers from the House and the Executive. Sure the heads in the dysfunctional Senate can be recruited in this desperate act of power and self-aggrandizement. The Senate has no rules but its own.
Then the above is made to look worse, by a frivolous attack on Ambassador Rice, who as with Senator Swiftboat, has been ruthless attacked. By the very Republicans who have not yet been cleared their own public embarrassment from public involvement in the same incident. Their Candidate Romney right in the middle of the news of bloodshed, blatantly and flatly accused the State Department of misinterpretation. In effect the State Department was not but rather following the Republican warmongering Talking point's correctly. Now the highest levels of government inspection is laboring to find a way to explain how is was that the Republican Campaign Operative (McCain et al) was able to have the Ambassador targeted and then to foolishly interfere with the unfolding process (not having the sense to shut up). Obama now has to disclose the Republican destructive ploy and find a way to ironically save the Republican Party, while the ever determined Republican are attaching on every front. (Could a dead Republican Party be foil for negotiation? No not much.)
When we let the Senate Minority take absolute power by every means at their disposal, we are just disposing of the America in the same trash bin.
This is how the Republicans negotiate, they take Hostages of Executive appointments to gain support for their goal of retaining the Filibuster to have the minority hold absolute power over the Senate and the country. Support your Senator's inaction!
Hatred of brown people. What else is new.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) acknowledged on video, that House Republicans had consciously voted to reduce the funds allocated to the State Department for embassy security...
For the past two years, House Republicans have deprioritized the security forces protecting State Department personnel around the world. In 2011, House Republicans cut$128 million off of the administration's request for embassy security funding. They shaved even more funds in 2012 -- cutting back by $331 million.
THEN THIS HAPPENED... Consulate personnel stationed in Benghazi expressed concerns over their safety in the months leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks that killed four Americans, including Amb. Chris Stevens.
SO NOW... Question. Instead of Fric and Frac and their Maid making continuously inane comments about Susan Rice, what she knew and said, (when she has already made it clear to anybody and everybody...) what are they going to complain about next... the fact that her hair was messy when she said it?
Why don't they answer the obvious question? How close was the help Benghazi might have gotten, how far away was that help, and who would be the help?
THIS is the real answer. If the Republicans had not withheld the money for the Security of Embassies and Consulates that the State Department had requested, would they have had enough security with them, then and there? Would closer, stronger help have been more readily available? Not military, but Embassy Security.
Ask the Republicans who cut the money that might have made that call for extra help unnecessary. See if Fric, Frac and the Maid still want the cameras in their faces when they're fumbling around with those questions.
No one party cuts funds. Funds are approved by appropriation committees, passed by both houses, and signed by the president. It is then left to the administrators to spend that money and adjust programs based on priority.
Are you saying it wasn't the Republicans who cut the defense funds for embassies and consulates? That those cuts were passed out of a committee controlled by the Republicans against the wishes of the Republican majority? And that the legislation was then passed by a House in which the majority of members were Republicans, but anyone wanting to re-insert those funds was prevented from doing so?
The only people with the power to remove those funds from the bills while they were in committee, then move the bills that didn't contain the requested funds out of committee and finally to pass those bills that didn't contain the funds requested by the State Department were Republicans.
Pitiful, just pitiful...
How did the bill pass the Dem controlled Senate and get signed by the Pres?
The longer this charade drags on, the more this looks like a classic 'good-old-boy' effort to weed out talent that threatens them.
Ambassador Rice has been extremely effective in negotiating with her counterparts on the UN Security Council. One result of this is that the world has placed draconian sanctions on Iran, which unlike our solo act against Cuba are effective and severe.
Trouble is, talent often generates resentment from those without it. In the private sector this leads to large companies driving out talented individuals who then build up the competition (think of Disney and Pixar). In the federal government this leads warmongering Senators to punish successful diplomats, for sanctions and negotiations prevent them from sending other people's kids to war.
Susan Rice is not being attacked for being incompetent. She is being attacked for proving negotiations work far better than the sabre-rattling preferred by the GOP.
While I wouldn't argue with anything you've said (all true), I'm becoming more and more convinced that the theory put forth on TRMS last night is what underlies this circus. That is, the GOP sees a chance to kick Susan Rice out of the way, make John Kerry the obvious choice for SoS and get Scott Brown back in the Senate when a special election--with a poor turnout like the last SE he won--is held to replace Kerry. Then they've replaced a D (Kerry) with an R (Brown). Very neat.
No one has yet proferred any plausible complaint that would justify the monolithic objection that Republicans have made to this smart and capable woman being named to head the State Department. And she hasn't even been put forth for the job yet. Settle down, people.
The only reason Scott Brown won the special election was that the Democratic Party in MA ran such a poor candidate. Martha Coakley simply refused to campaign. Like it was beneath her to go out and shake hands. If the Democratic Party in MA run a decent candidate who will go out and really campaign I think it is unlikely for Scott Brown to win.
The only potential Democratic candidate mentioned so far for a vacant Senate seat in MA is the popular current Governor of MA, Mr. Patrick. I do not think Mr. Brown would have a snowball's chance in Hades against Mr. Patrick, and I doubt even GOP Senators are deluded enough to think otherwise as well.
This thing with Susan Rice smacks of something personal.
It has lately come to my attention that there are TWO problems with Rice. Those 'bumps" beneath her jacket look suspiciously like "breasts".
And, her dusky complexion may not be entirely due to Time Spent in at the Beach.
Both are disqualification for confirmation to much of anything.
I have never understood why Sen Collins was considered a moderate. She is not. She is a right wing ideologue, just like the rest of the Republican Party. Trying to be nice and characterize her as being a moderate because she sometimes thinks of the people of Maine rather than just spout the Party line is wrong. America is a center country - neither right nor left and assuming that center right is moderate is incorrect.
She's not a winger, she just goes along and does what they want and says "who me? Of course not!" She might be "good" but she promotes evil, so she is not good.
Harolyn Bobis,
Susan Collins is a right winger. She is ALSO not the brightest bunny in the hutch.
As far as not bright bunnies go, it's a helluva big hutch, too.
Ayotte, McCain and Graham, should instead be explaining why they voted to cut funding for the protection of embassies and consulates. It was they, and their Republican hoodlum friends, who are the cause of the deaths in Benghazi. I would like to think it is their immense guilt that is driving them to blame others for what they caused, but it is now obvious that they suffer from a sociopathic rational deficiency. Republicans should apologize en-masse to the families of the slain, for it is them who have blood on their hands.
Except this is really not about what happened in Benghazi. That's old news and beside the point to these people.
What they want is to get Kerry to become the next Secretary of State, so his Senate seat would need to be filled, right? If they can have another special election like the one after Ted Kennedy died, hardly anybody bothered to vote, the GOP got their guy in (Scott Brown, I mean) and he's conveniently available these days, having lost to Elizabeth Warren. See? They get rid of a Democrat in the Senate and gain another Republican vote there. Suh-WEET!
Simple Kerry solution that was the Republican solution.
2009. President Obama is looking for a Secretary of the Treasury. He feels he has a good choice. Judd Gregg from New Hampshire.
The Republicans go crazy. We can't lose a seat in the Senate and then have a DEMOCRAT name a Democrat as the replacement. The only way that we'll allow this to happen is if the Democrats guarantee that a Republican will take Gregg's seat.
So why should Massachusetts be any different?
Ambassador Rice has proven a tough, seasoned negotiator. To get Russia and China on board for sanctions against Iran is proof of that. That she will not be pushed or bullied might not go down well with the Senators who prize "submission" in their dealings makes it even more imperative for the Ambassador to be considered for SecState. Also the transparency of the political maneuvering by the Republicans to find another seat in the Senate (Kerry's) is obscene, if not clumsy.
The saga of the Benghazi attack continues or a more accurate title since the saga has nothing to do with the actual attack itself, would be the never-ending, manufactured scandal of the initial ambiguous verbal description of the attack by an Obama Administration official who wasn’t actually involved in any way but was asked about it once...
Read the rest
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Wouldn't it be great if John Kerry said very clearly that he's not interested in that job -- he wants to stay in the Senate? Won't happen, I know, but it would be fun to see how quickly those frauds shut up. I wonder what they've promised Collins (an embarrassment to all of New England, she is).
How about Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois for SOS even though he's a partisan nebbish? Then we can get another Democrat into the senate and props for helping the disabled.
My dog is smarter than Mark Kirk was before the stroke.
Forcing us to go through all of this and decimating Susan Rice just to get one seat in the Senate (and still barely be the minority in the chamber) because they now totally support a guy they tore apart 8 years ago as being totally unqualified.
As they said in the Mel Brooks movie History of the world Part 1, "That is nuts. N-V-T-S nuts"
One thing is for sure. The republicans still care more about making Obama look bad than doing the right thing for their country. See you all at the polls come mid-term.
AHA! I thought that mccain's three stooges were just arrogant and stupid. But behind that facade is the pure evil attempt to get back that senate seat for that political hack, sexist, racist, sycophant of Wall Street, brown. Those self-serving jackasses don't give a whit about Rice, Bengazi or even this country. They should be purged from congress and tried as traitors. Who the hell elects these people, anyway? I hope the President kicks their butts.
Sen. Collins just tipped their hand. They are upset that Obama killed their dictator friend with U.S. blood on his hands. Senators Graham and McCain were both shaking Qadafi's hands just two years before this "dictator" who was responsible for the Lockerbie bombing of PanAM 103 and the Berlin disco bombing that killed U.S. soldiers was killed by Libyans that Obama supported. Why didn't they question Bush for making any deals with this guy with U.S. blood on his hands and actually sending the other Rice, Sec of State Condi Rice, on an official state visit to this dictator who Reagan tried to kill in response to the Berlin bombing? When are Democrats or progressives in the media going go ask Senators Graham and McCain are they just upset that Obama literally killed the friendship that Bush, Condi, and the two of them had forged with this dictator with American blood on his hands?