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During a recent trip to Europe, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton contracted a stomach virus, and two weeks ago, her ailments left her dehydrated. It reached the point at which Clinton fainted, struck her head, and suffered a minor concussion.
Except, many on the right refused to believe it. For Fox News and many other Republicans, Clinton was pulling a Ferris Bueller -- pretending to have health trouble in order to avoid testifying on Capitol Hill about the September attack in Benghazi.
As Josh Rogin reports, Clinton is returning to work, and in the process, knocking down yet another silly GOP conspiracy theory.
Clinton's ongoing recovery will still prevent her from flying abroad, but will allow plans to move forward for her to testify in open hearing on the Sept. 11 attack on Benghazi, testimony that she was unable to give -- as per her doctor's orders -- on Dec. 20. Her return to a public schedule could also end the weeks of conspiracy theorizing and wild speculation about whether or not she was faking or misrepresenting her illness to avoid testifying.
"The secretary continues to recuperate at home. She had long planned to take this holiday week off, so she had no work schedule. She looks forward to getting back to the office next week and resuming her schedule," Clinton aide Philippe Reines told The Cable.
And as part of that resumed schedule, Clinton has pledged to appear before both House and Senate foreign relations committees in January.
Referencing Rogin's fine list, it's unclear whether the New York Post, the Daily Caller, hosts on Fox News's evening shows, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), the conservative website Pajamas Media, the Investors' Business Daily website, conservative blogger Lucianne Goldberg, and others are prepared to apologize for spreading the so-called "concussiongate" nonsense.
As for the larger context, we can also add this absurdity to the lengthy list of Obama administration conspiracy theories that the right took seriously but which never panned out.
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There is never any kind of price to pay for the blatant lying, so there is literally no incentive to tell the truth in the right wing world.
The right wing mind thinks a lie is the truth, that day is night, that black is white, and that 2+2=22.
Elections are the price. They just keep thinking they won't have to pay it... until they do. I say let 'em stay crazy.
Allen West... soon out the door and bitter. Fox News... how many times have they been caught with their pants down lately??? Conspiracy theory idiocy in the extreme.
Members of the Right Wing Lunacy Cult really need to pull their heads out of the place the sun doesn't shine. Debunked how many times???
Don't forget John Borrasso... who seems to have become more idiotic than John McCain and Kelly Ayotte. Competing with Lindsey Poo Graham in their double talk on EVERYTHING.
How about the Right apologizing to Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton, President Obama and other Democrats??? Welcome to Fantasy Island.
Better yet... stop the spewing garbage out of their mouths and do some DAMNED WORK!
And the teapub conspiracy promoters will keep on with their wingnut theories because MSM never calls them on it, but they always "report" it.
John Bolton is a complete buffoon
The right-wingnuts won't apologize. They'll merely say that they shamed Hillary into testifying, and claim victory.
The nut-jobs have nothing else...
They'll do the Mitt Romney, "I'll take a lot of credit for that."
Oh yea sure we believe that. And come January, Missus Clinton will suddenly run up a huge fever and have to take vacation in Bermuda.
We're onto your game, Madam Secretary. We're watching you. *does that whole pointing fingers to eyes, then pointing them at Hillary thing that looks really silly but is also somewhat intimidating*
(/sarcasm, of course)
That’s just what they WANT you to believe.
In reality, our Secretary of State spent the past two weeks heading up a covert UN operation, with her team of operatives surreptitiously reviewing FBI and ATF files to record the names and addresses of all patriotic American gun owners. With this information in hand, the blue helmeted thugs will know which doors to kick in when the dusky hoards overthrow the US Government, make us all learn Kenyan and convert us to Islam.
Don’t say you haven’t been warned.
And they would have gotten away with it if not for those meddling Wingnuts?
How in the world can you expect these evil plots to succeed when you people keep giving them away?
Giant: I heard Clinton needed the time to dispose of some forensic evidence regarding the supposed suicide of an aide because she has been so busy trying to have diplomats attacked. The House Republicans reportedly offered the State Department Carte Blanche as far as security is concerned, even volunteering some badass newly armed kindergarten teachers.
Of course, she had to get rid of Norm Schwartzkopf to pull this all off.
Secretary Clinton sure does have a lot of stuff on her plate. Balancing diplomacy and safety of those extraterritorial and all these plots to destroy democracy and take over the free world.
She's a busy woman.
She poisoned Arafat with a spiked cannoli, right after she shot J.R. I heard whe was not accounted for during the time of the Lindberg kidnapping...
Holy crap! Thanks so much for the laughs, I really kinda needed it today! Let's see if this works...
Who do you think dug the bunker Hussein was found in?
You all left out her biggest competition, Amelia Earhart. Hillary made sure she disappeared permanently!
do you have that sint of sh!t when you eat because you are full of it!
Dude -- I seriously need to know who this "Carte Blanche" person is! Obviously some kind of commie-pinko from France or Europe or somewhere -- just look at that last name! I bet he/she is a supporter of Sharia Law like all those other pinkos in France.
I declare the urgent need for an html <snark> </snark> tag.
Sonny, no drinking and posting.
That's a PUI or a PWI depending on the state you're in...not the mental state you're in, the physical state you're in, not the physical shape you're in, the actual state where your abode abides...Unless you're high, not how high you are physically but how high you are chemically which then falls under the no toking and posting rules.
Either way, obviously you shouldn't do it.
No Reply button for "Giant kid" how's that paranoia working out for you? Good grief! The people at Faux News all need something more to do than make up @!$%# and broadcast it as "news"..It is a sorry state of affairs.
Giant Kid. I do hope it was sarcasm when you wrote 'have to learn Kenyan." Sadly though I suspect that it was just ignorance. There is no language called Kenyan - there is however Swahili, the lingua franca of the Kenyan coast and the most universal of the commonly spoken languages in the country.
Mr. Benen, may I be so bold as to suggest a new weekly segment entitled:
"Chronicling the GOP's Tin Foil Mad Hattery"
?
Only you could make it so.
Cheers!
Sounds like a full-time job to me.
Maybe a year-end list of 2012 Wingnut Conspiracy Theories is in order? Of course if Steve started today, and worked 24/7, it would still be impossible make the New Year’s Eve deadline. We'll look for it in February.
I see a promotional tie-in with Reynold's Wrap.
Despite all the other disappointments I might have had in the election, I am elated over the fact that Allen West and Joe Walsh will lose their pulpits.
You have to love that Glenn Beck style connect-the-dots-that-aren't-there conspiracy mongering is what passes for journalism in the wingnut sphere.
Do these idiots have any family around Hilary's age? A cold can sideline them for days.
But I digress, their democrat hate fetish has nothing to with logic or facts. To them, Benghazi is nothing more than a hook to hang their impeachment dreams on.
Hahahahahaha... C'mon. Any apologies about Solyndra? Fast and Furious? Any of Mitt Romney's Fox-generated lies? Wingnut World doesn't do apology. Being a wingnut divorced from reality means never having to say you're sorry. It means it's on to the next fabrication for Useful Idiot Nation consumption.
DisgustedWithitAlll: Being a wingnut divorced from reality means never having to say you're sorry.
I thought it meant never having to say you're wrong. You know, never wrong, but always right. Or.....
A WHOLE WEEK, with 'nothing scheduled'?
AHA! remember the awful movie "Face Off"? So, who is it that will be testifying? Perhaps Vince Foster has been "kept on ice" all these years. . .
We need Dan Burton to hold hearings to clear this all up.
Who wants to bring the watermelon?
I used to work for a small business. The owners had a history of suing anyone they could drag into court. As a result, they feared that the world was out to sue them.
I think the same is for republicans. They lie through their teeth at any opportunity, and therefore, fear that the rest of the world is lying.
Well they are masters of projection all based on their own flaws because they can not grasp that no one wants to be a greedy suck up just like them.
So True!
Obama's is going to turn this country into a fascist state. Obama is an obstructionistering liar...
Southerners would lie abouts blacks rapeing white women all the while they were rapeing black women.
I was watching Book TV yesterday and David Mariness author of Barack Obama, The Story said the INS was tracking the Obama's on a near daily basis during the time Barack Jr was born.. Facts though, will never stop the birthers..
Remember how Bush lied about how the Clinton's vandalized the White House when they left? The work orders proved otherwise, but nobody media-wise cared. Maybe they were all tinglely about some other new Bush lie...
can any one give a good example of any time Bush wasn't lieing?
Michael, You have hit the nail directly on the head. They lie, they conspire, they cheat, they steal, they hate. They can't imagine that others can be honest, open, compassionate and loving. They see the world through @!$%#-colored glasses from having their heads up their asses. They spew @!$%# because they are so full of it, it comes out of their mouths. I don't watch Fox News except for when I need a good laugh and to see what crap they are throwing around, but I did watch on election night just to see Karl Rove have his little hissy fit when their plot to steal the election was stopped by the Anonymous group. It was the most hilarious moment ever.
Be wary. If a Publican accuses you of lying...they are covering up a greater lie. If they accuse you of voter fraud at the polls, they are committing fraud behind the scenes. Whatever the conspiracy...they are guilty. I recently moved to Northeast Texas, the Bible Belt. Faux and friends do their dirty work because IT WORKS. These people will vote for the man that is against gay rights rather than the man who would feed 10 million hungry children. That is their version of "Christianity". I am afraid for our country.
She's got to get back to work with NATO and finish the master plan to come and "git R guns"! Yesiree..
LOL! Everyone in my office suddenly wanted to know what the heck was going on in my cube because I laughed really loud at your comment. Thanks for the much needed comic relief :-)
Hillary was not the only one on the trip who got sick. It is quite common for people to get a stomach aliment in foreign countries. This whole affair only proves that our diplomats are human.
So, for Pete's sake, give the woman a break. She has been galavanting around the globe for four years and she is tired. Let her have a little sick leave.
At least she didn't barf on a Prime Minister.
Any one need a new hobby?
My hard drive doesn't have enough space.
The right-wing have nothing better to do but put people down and NOT handle the business at hand. They continue to beat a dead horse issue. Let's move on, folks!
Fox news resembles a club my friends had in grade school, held in the neighbor's treehouse. I imagine they play with magnifying glasses during the breaks.
Morning Joe's Joe Scarborough also made fun of the significance of Secretary Clinton's concussion -- he owes her an apology!
Joe is a total ass as anyone who has watched him knows.
There is not a teacher , strike that, UNION teacher who should be teaching.
A gun owner is good no matter what and guns should not be controlled.
That is Joe.
Lets see, Joe's opinions change a little after Sandy Hook. The UNION teachers who gave their life's were maybe alright.and the kid who shot them was maybe suffering from asburgers should have been jailed long ago. I do not agree with that and Joe has a son much like the shooter, But you see Joe like the Fonz JOE likes to interrupt all and never admit he is wrong, Come to think of it, that is all of Fox News
I'm with you Metal. If I see Morning Joe and listen to it for a few minutes, I automatically change the channel because I think it's Faux Fake and BS Gnewz.
Why anybody watches "Morning Joe" is beyond me. It's Faux News Lite. If that's what you want, go to FNC and watch the real thing.
Because occasionally, mpguy, something magical happens . . . like when Zbigniew Brzezinski came on the show and called Joe's knowledge of foreign affairs "stunningly superficial." I smiled all day.
In order to recognize you are wrong and aplogize for your slanderis comments you have to be a person of character and integrity, which none of the above are.
Maybe the Right Wing Representatives and media should be made to undergo a mental evaluation. It might also minimize the escalation of mass shooting, as I'm certain many would fail the test and then be stripped of their right to bear arms
So then...the entire over-ammo'd and under-studious collective conservative community has an epiphany and discovers their entire foundational philosophy is based on an fictitious reality perpetuated by biased media propaganda, orchestrated by their own political party to keep them so far in the disinformation weeds they'd vote against their own self-interests with conviction?
I don't think they'd take that very well...
Guess what she is human people do get sick, but the Republicans have to make a negative case about everything.
I hope she is getting better as I think she has been an excellent representive of this country will really miss her when ahe is gone.
Just wish she would run for President.
Whenever you hear a quote from the Wall Street Journal, New York Post or Fox News, it's all out of the same lying mouth. Rupert Murdoch owns them all. He would own all media if he could. We need to start dismissing the relevancy of any quote from his organizations. They are all calculated to promote his wealth and agenda. We need laws to stop one man from owning so much. His publishing houses produce all the distorted, dishonest books promoted on FOX NEWS! Dangerous for one man to have so much power! Where will it end?
Any time I hear repukes yelling conspiracy, I almost always retort "at ther very least, no one should have died in Tower II".
The docu-movie 9/11 Press for Truth (@ Amazon) simply looks at what was public knowledge before 9/11. The more you know and the more people that watch this movie, the less you/we will vote repukagain.
GOP=freaking morons!!!
GOP = God Obsessed Putzes
I have had a brain concussion before. It took me three months to recover. I didn't think I would be able to work as a nurse again. Give the woman a break. This is a nasty diagnosis.
In my experience, the people who are the least trustworthy actually exhibit the least trust. That would pretty much summarize my thoughts on the far right.
Not always. Some of us were just badly burned by love...
:)
you cannot have a discussion with insane people. republicans in office are believing anything they can in the hopes that people will be fooled into believing it also. They lie to themselves and they don't even know where the lies start and stop anymore
As George Costanza said, "It's not a lie...if you believe it." The GOP mantra.