Getty Images
If Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) wants to be considered the last moderate Republican standing, she's going to have to drop this outrageous campaign against Susan Rice. Consider this latest complaint (via Kevin Drum).
Collins told reporters she was "troubled" that Rice had "decided to play what was essentially a political role at the height of a contentious presidential election campaign" by appearing on five political talk shows to present the administration's position.
So, let me get this straight. The week of a terrorist attack against a U.S. consulate, the Obama administration dispatched a U.S. ambassador with foreign policy experience to the Sunday shows to update the public and the media on what transpired, based on the best available information. This, according to Susan Collins, is "troubling" because it made Rice "political."
Is there something in the water in the Republican cloakroom?
Administration officials go on Sunday shows all the time, this has been the case for decades, and I can't recall any policymaker from either party ever complaining about the practice before. Indeed, Collins' whining is arguably dumber than John McCain's -- McCain complains about what Rice said on the Sunday shows; Collins is complaining that Rice agreed to appear on the Sunday shows in the first place.
Funny, in 2004, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice appeared on a Sunday show shortly before a presidential election and repeated campaign talking points, praising George W. Bush as "a strong leader" after a debate performance. A few months later, Rice was nominated as Secretary of State, drawing praise from Susan Collins. If she found it "troubling" that Rice was being "political," Collins forgot to mention it.
Indeed, the Rice-to-Rice comparison is especially problematic for Collins, because it makes her indictment yesterday seem that much more ridiculous.
Yesterday, the Maine Republican complained, for example, that Susan Rice, in her capacity as the assistant secretary of state for African affairs during the Clinton administration, failed to appreciate the "threat assessment" surrounding two U.S. embassies attacked by al Qaeda in 1998.
Zach Roth's response rings true.
[A] far more devastating terrorist attack occurred three years later, when a different Rice, Condoleezza, served as National Security Adviser to President Bush. Indeed, in August 2001, Bush and Condoleezza Rice received a CIA memo headlined: "Bin Laden Determined To Strike In U.S." If ever a government official "had to be aware of the general threat assessment," it was Condoleezza Rice then.
Collins didn't think so, though. It's easy to "go back now and pick out a clue here and a tidbit there ... but we have to keep in mind the environment," Collins said when the memo surfaced in 2004. "We have to keep in mind the volume of reporting that the president and his advisers are dealing with each and every day."
The following year, Collins voted to confirm Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, praising her "professional experience and personal integrity."
Condoleezza Rice failed to take the al Qaeda threat seriously before 9/11, made demonstrably false claims about Iraq before the launch of a disastrous war, and routinely played the role of a partisan activist, despite serving in an NSA role that has traditionally been non-partisan. Susan Collins wasn't troubled by any of this when she voted to make Rice the Secretary of State.
Susan Rice appeared on a Sunday show and repeated the best available information about an attack on a U.S. consulate. Susan Rice is so "troubled" by this, she's going along with a coordinated-but-stupid smear campaign.
The farce continues.
Postscript: Just to clarify something, the current Secretary of State was a politician (senator and presidential candidate). John Kerry is a politician (senator and presidential candidate). For Collins to argue that Rice's "political" qualities make her a poor choice for the State Department is pure nonsense.
Leave a Comment:
i, for one, will RELISH the appointment and CONFIRMATION of Susan Rice as our next Secretary of State.
The Republicans' poorly-disguised attempts to open up the Massachusetts Senate seat for Scott Brown may be having the effect of making it all but impossible for Obama to nominate John Kerry.
It may well be that, if he doesn't nominate Rice (which he should do, of course), Obama will end up nominating someone inside the department or a well-regarded outsider. Bob Kerrey would be an interesting choice. He's a former Navy SEAL and war hero who served as Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He served on the 9/11 Commission and has administrative experience as Governor of Nebraska.
I thought it would be a good appointment too and thought Rachel's right about the objections to Rice being more about getting Kerry out of the Senate until I read about Rice's multimillion dollar investment in Keystone XL, a disastrous project over which she would have influence as Secretary of State...so now I'm thinking the GOP protests will go away and make it difficult for the President to appoint anyone else. Geesh, it's all such a complex game with our lives and the future of the planet.
I voted for my friend Tom Allen Democrat to replace her but, low info voters kept her in...
just another example of republican dumb-assery. it's becoming common with what passes for a moderate these days in that party once you start listening.
We need fewer people like Susan Collins in our congress.
We need more people like Susan Rice in our government.
It is time to clean House.
Susan Collins vibrating speech cadence makes one wonder if she walks around all day with a vibrator, vibrating in her privates.
Susan Collins for a long time has been effectively a right winger. All her votes support the wingnuts, none of her actions or words oppose them. You don't have to be a card-carrying member of the Nazi Party to be a Nazi. She is actually the worst kind of hypocrite.
Collins is a partisan opportunist not a moderate Republican. She has demonstrated this time and again with her votes. Time to call a spade a spade.
LOL can you say Susan is feeling the pressure from the right/wrong side that a tea beggar is waiting in the wings to take her seat.
the really sad part is she is falling for it, as we all know she will have a primary anyways.
When, oh when will the GOP begin to become serious in trying to solve national problems instead of playing political games with them. Reagan ran up the deficits with a "Star Wars" program that never left the teleprompter or fruitless (but expensive) DOD contracts and did nothing substantial in causing the collapse of the Soviet Union. GW found mythical WMDs and al Qaeda cells in Iraq and cost the US a credit card war, enormous deficits and 4,000 plus American lives lost. Where were the "three amigos now transmuted into the three blind mice" then? They were defending bankrupting the US to serve rather surreal GOP goals.
The real reason for this movement against Rice is that she is the only one that can be held responsible for the White House lying around this. For that matter she probably wouldn't be in this much trouble if the Administration had come clean earlier instead of covering up the ugly truth. Obama lied about Benghazi weeks later on Letterman.
So yes, the messenger is being shot, since the instigator is bullet-proof.
Complete information was withheld to avoid compromising the investigation.
By your logic, cops should have no right to withhold sensitive info in an ongoing investigation.
and how do you feel about the confirmation of condaleeza rice after she lied about WMD in iraq? how do you feel about the lies by the bush administration that led us into iraq, and were responsible for the deaths of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of innocent iraqi lives?
it took YEARS for the bush administration to admit that there were no WMD in iraq, yet YOU ALL expect the Obama administration to have all the answers the day of the attack.
its difficult to determine exactly what happened during a fire fight like what happened in Benghazi, especially when you all (repubs) expect answers IMMEDIATELY for political reasons.
speaking of instigators, you all appear to not expect as much from your repub leadership as you do from democrats, an example of that would be george w. bush who lied to get us into iraq.
Obama doesn't need to be bulletproof. You guys don't have any ammo.
What investigation? This was politics pure and simple... the man that killed Bin Laden and made the world safe again couldn't be seen to have feet of clay just before the election. Obama covered up and continue to lie for weeks after.
People died, Obama lied.
bush LIED FOR YEARS, thousands of people died.
even after w. bush's "mission accomplished", the iraqi war continued for YEARS, killing thousands MORE.
Thats the most unhinged aspect of this Shooter, this silly notion you have that Obama might have lost because some murderers attacked a CIA Outpost/Consulate. Your guy was beyond that, a complete clown. Nothing could have changed that
Which is worse... being lied to, or lying to yourself?
Some people are in the unique position of experiencing both conditions at the same time. They like to use pithy, low-thought phrases like, "People died, Obama Lied".
Lebowsky Dude, #5.6 Shooter is living in a parallel universe called Foxworld.
Once you go down that rabbit hole, there's no escape.
What investigation? This was politics pure and simple..
That's the beauty of it ...sucker we did it, got away with it and won the election .
Mitt should have kept complaining after the attack and completely politicized the issue .
You brought a knife to a gun fight .
We're laughing at you not with you...
Here's where the right wing dumbassery feedback loop just kills me. In the wingnut mind, even though Obama called this a terrorist attack right away, he didn't actually want it to be characterized as a terrorist attack right before the election because he knew nothing makes Americans more likely to vote against a president than . . . um . . . waving the bloody shirt and demanding vengeance and ordering the military to blow the crap out of some random nearby brown people to show everyone how big America's dick is. Yeah, that's the ticket. Because Americans just hate it when that happens. They totally punish presidents at the polls for doing that.
So, to avoid that, Obama sent Susan Rice out to to the Sunday shows to say this thing that was actually totally different from the words the recordings of her appearances seem to show her actually saying at the time. And, anyway, a word got changed in the talking points before they were given to her and that never happens. So, conspiracy!
The amazing thing to me is the common common element that this latest Big Conshpirshy!!!! shares with every other big conspiracy theory about a Democratic President you idiots have concocted over the last twenty years: in your minds, the total incoherence of the theory is the best evidence of a conspiracy, not evidence that you're all just completely out of your damn minds.
Whitewater, Vince Foster, Filegate, the Christmas List idiocy, the Travel Office idiocy, birtherism, the big conspiracy to hide the grades of a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law, Fast and Furious, Solyndra--not to mention climate science denialism--the common thread binding all of them is that the factual suppositions, asserted motives, timelines, and narratives are all absolutely incoherent. And because it makes no sense whatsover, conspiracy!
In the the gop voters world , an attack on an embassy out post / cia operation , in a unstable nation , justifies a democrat president being unseated , while the 9/11 attacks that happen right here in america , justify bush being looked at as a hero and deserving re election , next joke please
Issa did an investigation and made public classified information - way to go Issa.
There are currently 2 investigations going on and the Secretary of State Hillary Clintion is waiting for the completed reports. This data should show us where our failures were:
1. Do we need to improve how we compile intel, how we have the various agencies work together to limit the bad intel from the good intel, and how and when it gets disbursed to the correct departments and than to the American people.
2. What do we need from the Host Countries to guarantee the safety of our personnel.
3. What do we need to provide our embassies excellent security, if we don't trust the Host Countries ability to provide security.
Steve . . . Actually, Obama referred to it as an "act of terror" rather than as a "terrorist attack." To Republicans, those two things are nothing alike. To sane people, there's no difference between those two phrases.
But when you have nothing else, you run with what you have. And the Republicans don't have much.
Provide any evidence that the White House lied or that Rice is responsible for said lie
What was there to "come clean" about and what was covered up and what was "the ugly truth?"
Provide any evidence for this claim
The investigation by the FBI that revealed all this secret information you're misrepresenting and pretending indicates a lie, but it doesn't really.
Provide any evidence for this claim
But Condoleezza Rice is Republican, so that made it A-OK.
So Collins didn't want anyone to appear on the Sunday shows back then? Imagine the cover-up conspiracy talk if no one spoke about it on behalf of the administration?
...the Maine Republican complained, for example, that Susan Rice, in her capacity as the assistant secretary of state for African affairs during the Clinton administration, failed to appreciate the "threat assessment" surrounding two U.S. embassies attacked by al Qaeda in 1998.
So, the message is that every single person, no matter in what capacity they serve, is required to be not only fully aware and informed of every single development in a crisis, but also personally responsible for said crisis.
This is a pretty high standard to which the Right would never hold themselves. They are perfectly comfortable spouting fat-assed monday-morning-armchair-quarterback nonsense safely from the confines of D.C...."Ain't there a black Democrat we can blame for something?"
Indeed, they're on her like, well, white on Rice.
@Largenose
That was the remark that made me lose any and all respect for Sen. Collins.
Susan Rice had no role in security during her post as Asst Secretary for African Affairs and she had absolutely no role in security for the Libyan consulate as UN Ambassador to the United Nations.
Threat assessments for individual embassies and consulates were not part of her job description.
I think yelling "BENGHAZI!!!" is the Republicans new 'Prima(lar)ry Scream!'
She, like Scarlette O'Graham, is facing a primary challenge soon, and needs to display some belligerent stupidity to satisfy the base.
I get that she's about to be challenged, but aren't the people of Maine (& SC) tired of being made fun of for sending idiots to represent them - I for one am tired of their ignorantly educated idiots grandstanding!
Zora: South Carolina has been full of fools and morons easily led to treason for 300 years. I did used to think better of Maine.
Collins will immediately fold her hand when Obama nominates Susan Rice. Sure, they will do a little grandstanding during the confirmation, but they will relent. Any Republican running in 2014 besides Graham does not want this to make it to the front pages of the papers.
I for one think their bark is worse than their bite in this instance.
They will hem and haw until they are blue in the face, but when push comes to shove they will confirm Susan Rice as Sec. of State. All they are doing is trying to force Pres. Obama NOT to choose Susan Rice as his nominee for Sec. of State so they will have a second shot at Scott Brown staying in the Senate (when they say the Pres. should choose a "more qualified candidate", they mean Kerry).
Sounds like someone's worried about a primary challenge from the right!
There should be consequences for war crimes, but that didn't happen for Bush/Cheney. There should be consequences for stupidity. I sure hope that happens.
Hey, Steve Benen. There's a "Susan Rice" in the second paragraph above the postscript that should be "Susan Collins." It's a little confusing at first. Can you change it?
When I listen to Collins, McCain, and Ayott talk about how they need more answers, they sound like the stupid kids in class who didn't do the readings, are not listening, and then proceed to ask the teacher something that was just explained 2 minutes ago. Stay in school!
It would be nice if we could flunk these 3 out of Congress.
Someone in the comment section on MJ found this gem from Susan Collins in April 2004 presented reactions to the "pre-Sept. 11 briefing memo* on Al Qaeda:
OK Steve covered it. Should have keep reading.
I wonder how McCain et al bribed Susan Collins into such a position? Surely she didn't arrive there on her own! Or did she? With McCain it's old age. With Graham it's the appeal of the cameras. With the two women who have joined them, what is it? Are they Republican ranking member wantabes?
Am I to understand that whenever there is a sentry/security failure anywhere in the world,, the National Security Advisor, or the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., or the President of the U.S.,, should be held accountable?
Any respect I may have had for Susan Collins has gone away as a result of this silliness.
All these Senators who are afraid of being primaried should look at Indiana and Missouri. When moderate Republican candidates are replaced by far right Tea Party candidates, Democrats win a seat that Republicans thought they had in the bag.
She looks and sounds worried, she should go back to her previous role as Bewitches' nosey neighbor, Mrs. Kravitz.
Susan Rice is being stonewalled to position Kerry for the appointment, and force a special election in Massachusetts.
Duh.
I think they (the Repubs) want Kerry as SOS so they can try to put Scott Brown in that seat. It's all just game playing and politicking.
DON'T SUPPORT RICE FOR THIS POSITION!! http://www.onearth.org/article/susan-rice-obama-secretary-state-tar-sands-finances
She holds significant stock in Canadian energy companies - including the companies behind the XL Pipeline. Do not trust her!
Uhm, her husband is Canadian. $300k isn't 'significant'.
Go back to Stepford, Jessica, your fellow wives miss you. Left wing morons are far more embarrassing than the other kind.
Read the article before you judge, at least: "Rice and her husband own at least $1.25 million worth of stock in four of Canada’s eight leading oil producers, as ranked by Forbes magazine. That includes Enbridge, which spilled more than a million gallons of toxic bitumen into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River in 2010 -- the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history." So that's a little more than 300k (which is stated as 300 - 600k in the article.) Also, insulting vitriol makes you look pretty ugly, TC. Consider that next time.
I did read that article and found it less than convincing. A Canadian citizen invests in Canadian stocks that look to be a good investment - so? Or is investing in oil companies now the same as holding stock in companies that invested in pre-Mandela South Africa?
As long as Susan Rice, should she become SoS, either place any stocks she and her husband own into a non-Romney blind trust or recuse herself from any decisisions that would affect her and her husband's investments, I'm fine with it.
I'm not so fine with those using guilt-by-association to smear someone. Smacks too much of AmericaBlog or worse.
Dr. Rice is not a member of the intelligence community nor was she privy to what the FBI, NSA and CIA and military knew before during or after the event. She was asked to go before the public and convey what information was available at that time and was given talking points which she did. As with any incident of this nature data develops over time and often what is thought initially as more information becomes know changes what is known and has occurred. Shes a very qualified individual with extensive experience to hold the job of SOS. These attacks on her are pure partisan politics and funny how these same politicians who are attacking her had no issues with similar things that occurred under Bush in fact these same individuals publically shouted about WMD in iraq, WMD that NEVER were found.
Rachel's point on her show last night that Collins, Ayotte and McCain might be using this ridiculous campaign against Susan Rice to help their friend, Scott Brown, recapture a Senate seat in MA for the GOP was excellent. And, like others commenting here, many of us in MA have suspected as much, though it was news to me that, as Rachel pointed out last night, these three were among the few Republican colleagues to actively campaign for him. The crazier their anti-Rice crusade becomes, the more clear it is that something like this must be what they're up to. I am not really surprised to see this kind of behavior from McCain and Ayotte. But, the "moderate" Susan Collins should really be ashamed of herself.
verrrry interesting, SuefromArlington.
A new Susan Rice theory (at least I haven't seen it before):
The Republicans are making us THINK they are opposing Susan Rice because they can't believe their luck in possibly getting the "liberal-hawk" as the next SoS.
Rice is far more closely aligned with the R's thinking - that the US have a deep footprint all over the world - than anyone else (Kerry) who could assume the post. If they display (read: feign) disgruntlement well enough, she'll move even closer to their ideal of all intervention, all the time.
That way, they get to say they confirmed her AND she gives them "right" thinking about international affairs.
A win-win for them, is what they're thinking, as they call their brokers and order up more defense stock.
And just where did the report of this Republican ju-jitsu move originate?