Good lord, if this aint the biggest double talk bullshit.. (Susane Rice)

[Enkel]

@YogSosoth

What I also got was Heck telegraphing the GOP’s play, because starting at about 3:55 on the video, Heck mentions that what he’s REALLY pissed at is the Obama administration for trying to use Rice as a figurehead to take the blame, and his (and the GOP’s) anger is directed at Obama, and they are using Rice to hurt this administration.

The dumbest part is when he’s saying the intention behind putting Rice up there was so that the administration would have deny-ability… and he admits that Obama said “if you have a problem, take it up with me”

SO, just WTF is Obama denying?

All I see is a who lot of wasted salaries. I doubt the American public really gives a crap about this and this witch hunt isn’t going to provide operation insight like the already on-going investigation will. This is a bunch of chumps grabbing sound bites. I want to see each of these crusades tallied up in how much the Tax Payer is paying in salaries for this crap.

[Enkel]

@drew870mitchell

The Republicans were heavily pushing Kerry because they want him out of the Senate. They think their golden boy Scott Brown could win another special election in Massachusetts.

I’d really rather that he not pick Kerry for anything because I don’t want that little skid mark to even have a chance at running again. He needs to pack up his Ranger and head on home.

[Damuri_Ajashi]

@RickJay

The Republicans are quite obviously starting to gear up to impeach Obama. You’d hope the Jindals of the party would take the lead in preparing the GOp for the future, but they’re being elbowed out of the way.

John McCain doesn’t give a shit about the four Americans who died in Benghazi, and he doesn’t care what happened there. Nor do his fellow conspirators. All that matters to them is that the deaths are a convenient thing to try to launch an impeachment from.

I think impeachment would be a great idea!!! It would be a great way to win the house and get a supermajority in the senate in 2014. Its like the Republican party just thinks they need more cowbell.

@elucidator

I think you are working this too hard. I very much doubt that they have a plan at this point, and much more do I doubt that impeachment is at its core. What they know right now is that they have been robbed, they know they have been robbed because America agrees with them, which means America voted for them, which means they’ve been robbed.

So, yeah, they’re mad as hell, and eager to take revenge, but a plan?..they have not.

WTF, are you Yoda now?

These guys are totally floating an impeachment balloon. I for one think we should encourage impeachment but if you listen to the echo chamber of talk radio, impeachment is too good for Obama. Its our patriotic duty to impeach him. 4 people got KILLED in Benghazi, Watergate was just an amateur burglary attempt, how can we NOT impeach him?

@Esox_Lucius

Re: the video in the OP, at least it’s good to see a legitimate journalist calling bullshit on the guy. Maybe now that the people have spoken, the mainstream media might be more willing to do it more often, and the Repubs won’t be able to use them to spread their disinformation.

(I assume O’Brien is a legitimate journalist. I don’t get CNN.)

She is one of the sexiest legitimate journalists out there after Anderson Cooper.

I think (hope?) that the journalistic world became inspired by the Candy Crowley moment. Not because they became idealists but because they realized that pushing back against obvious bullshit could be good for your career.

[BrainGlutton]

@elucidator

I think you are working this too hard. I very much doubt that they have a plan at this point, and much more do I doubt that impeachment is at its core.

That won’t stop certain parties from making futile demands for it.

[BrainGlutton]

@Damuri_Ajashi

These guys are totally floating an impeachment balloon. I for one think we should encourage impeachment but if you listen to the echo chamber of talk radio, impeachment is too good for Obama. Its our patriotic duty to impeach him. 4 people got KILLED in Benghazi, Watergate was just an amateur burglary attempt, how can we NOT impeach him?

Because it’s supposed to be a remedy for “high crimes and misdemeanors,” not for ordinary “maladministration” or mistakes. At the Constitutional Convention, George Mason wanted to make impeachment available for “maladministration,” but Madison carried the day.

[Enderw24]

Good lord. How difficult would this response from Joe Heck have been:

“I’ve been in office since 2011. If you want to talk about this equivilance between Condoleezza Rice and Susane Rice, ask someone who was in office at the time Condoleezza was nominated as SOS. In the meantime, I think my point is a fair one and deserves to be answered by the administration.”

[SteveG1]

@Euphonious_Polemic

It’s pretty clear. If McCain (and the other Republicans who “missed” the senate hearing) had actually gone ahead and attended the briefing, they would have gained information.

Then they would not be able to complain about not getting information.

And they would not be able to spin false stories that are contradicted by the information (which thankfully they did not have to hear!).

So I can really understand why they did not attend the Senate hearing.

That made perfect sense to me. Now I’m REALLY scared.

[SteveG1]

@RickJay

The Republicans are quite obviously starting to gear up to impeach Obama. You’d hope the Jindals of the party would take the lead in preparing the GOp for the future, but they’re being elbowed out of the way.

John McCain doesn’t give a shit about the four Americans who died in Benghazi, and he doesn’t care what happened there. Nor do his fellow conspirators. All that matters to them is that the deaths are a convenient thing to try to launch an impeachment from.

They (the Jindals) are not extreme (or rabid) enough.

[rooostra]

Oops, wrong thread

[panache45]

@Shakes

Do you guys have any idea how stupid your party looks right now?

And that’s not even counting all the embarrassingly stupid shit that’s been coming out of Romney since the election.

[Happy_Lendervedder]

From a hearingtoday:

Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) said this: "What is clear is that this administration, including the president himself, has intentionally misinformed, read that LIED, to the American people in the aftermath of this tragedy…

Rohrabacher shot back, going further, intimating that what the White House has done is worse than Watergate.

“This is not simply a cover up of a third-rate burglary,” he alleged. “We have four of our personnel dead, and it is not a McCarthy-era tactic to demand accountability and to demand that American people are not misinformed about it to the point that they don’t know what the threat is.”

The back and forth continued when Rep. Jean Schmidt, a Republican from Ohio, also accused the administration of lying.

It got quite heated with shouting and fiery back-and-forths between the parties. But if anyone thinks this is just some random, unorganized line of questions and accusations, they’re nuts. This is a coordinated effort to criminalize the president, to cast him into the rank of Nixon. This isn’t to just thwart a Rice nomination, this is to take Obama down.

[Leaffan]

@Happy_Lendervedder

From a hearingtoday:

It got quite heated with shouting and fiery back-and-forths between the parties. But if anyone thinks this is just some random, unorganized line of questions and accusations, they’re nuts. This is a coordinated effort to criminalize the president, to cast him into the rank of Nixon. This isn’t to just thwart a Rice nomination, this is to take Obama down.

Sure. But it’s full of sound, and fury, signifying nothing.

[elucidator]

Don’t kid yourself, if Clinton could get away with those secret cocaine airfields in Arkansas, Obama can get away with this. He’s got cunning, he’s got deceit and he’s got more than fifty Senators with D’s after their names.

[C3]

@Enkel

All I see is a who lot of wasted salaries. I doubt the American public really gives a crap about this and this witch hunt isn’t going to provide operation insight like the already on-going investigation will. This is a bunch of chumps grabbing sound bites. I want to see each of these crusades tallied up in how much the Tax Payer is paying in salaries for this crap.

Yeah, the thing is, people were interested in the Clinton scandal because it was titillating. I would bet most Americans, at best, have only a vague idea that something happened at Benghazi and probably don’t find it interesting enough to expand on that knowledge. I can’t imagine this is going to get any sort of public steam behind it. The “Watergate-style hearing” thing doesn’t really conjure anything up for most people, either. I’m 40 and Watergate happened before I was born. The only people left in this country who still have any real memory of the whole thing are retirees. I obviously know what Watergate is, but if they’re trying to trigger some sort of Pavlovian response with the imagery, it’s only going to work with people who have actual memories of it. Most of those people are already Republican voters/Fox viewers.

[Happy_Lendervedder]

@Leaffan

Sure. But it’s full of sound, and fury, signifying nothing.

Oh I’m not saying it’ll be successful, but these clowns have one thing on their mind: Impeachment. To paraphrase the immortal Debbie Dunham, “I know everything their dirty little minds are thinking… it shows.” They’ve got a big, giant hardon for Obama. This isn’t about Benghazi, Rice or Petraeus. It’s about impeaching Obama, or at the very, very least, making him appear worse than Bush.

[tomndebb]

It would really get interesting if the administration noted that any errors that occurred were driven by the fact that the resources to defend embassies and consulates had been stretched to the breaking point by Republican budget cuts.

[RickJay]

I had this conversation on Facebook today with a Republican. I’m going to paraphrase but as God is my witness I am giving you the straight jist of the conversation:

ME: This Benghazi thing is nonsense; it’s a manufactured scandal to start an impeachment.

REPUBLICAN: It’s scandalous. Obama has blood on his hands, and delaying the information until after the election was undemocratic. Obama lied, and if he was a Republican the media would crucify him.

ME: There were diplomatic staff killed during Bush’s term. He’s a Republican. I didn’t hear a scandal raised.

REPUBLICAN: This is different. (Links to article which states the Benghazi attack was an intelligence failure and that Obama mischaracterized the nature of the attack.)

ME: I see foreign policy problems, sure. But there’s no grounds for impeachment here, and yet that’s obviously what they’re gearing up for.

REPUBLICAN: Everyone’s drinking the OBama kool-aid! Obama is the Messiah!

ME: I agree there were foreign policy and intelligence failures. I don’t see crimes. And why did McCain skip a briefing on the attack if he wants to know more about it?

REPUBLICAN: There are high crimes and misdemeanors! the administration knew what was going to happen, and it’s TREASON!

ME: Um… uhhh, no. They didn’t. Dude, treason is when you make war, or assist those making war, upon your own country. Are you of the impression Obama personally led the attack? That’s treason.

REPUBLICAN: Well, I was exagerrating. I’m trying to get across how serious these crimes are.

ME: No, “treason” wasn’t an exagerration, it’s wrong. Look, can you tell me what crimes were committed by Obama? Just one?

REPUBLICAN: Why are you so obsessed with me calling it treason? But you refuse to see the truth. You’re blindly devoted to Obama. You think he’s the Messiah.

ME: Could you please tell me what crime you think Obama committed?

REPUBLICAN: Opportunism. And the security was no good.

ME: Those are not crimes. What crimes were committed?

REPUBLICAN: Obstruction of justice! And accessory to murder?

ME: Do you know what those legal terms mean?
This is literally what’s going on. Impeachment: It’s inevitable.

[Oakminster]

@RickJay

This is literally what’s going on. Impeachment: It’s inevitable.

Bullshit. Impeachment is not going to happen.

[fumster]

@C3

I’m 40 and Watergate happened before I was born. The only people left in this country who still have any real memory of the whole thing are retirees.

I beg your pardon.

[elucidator]

And, once again, we find ourselves playing the fun game, Just How Fucking Crazy Are These People, Anyway?

Best formulation for the moment is, sure, some of them are that crazy. Guys sent as part of the Batshit Revolution of a couple years back. Most of the rest are afraid of them, but can still count.

If the House of Reprehensibles voted unanimously to impeach, there would still be more than fifty Dems in the Senate. The fix, as they say, is in.