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If President Barack Obama taps U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to take over for Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, her nomination will be met with stiff resistance by some Republican senators.
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., each pledged to filibuster Rice's prospective nomination as secretary of state due to her public explanations for the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.
Amid speculation that Obama might nominate Rice for the top diplomatic post to succeed Clinton, who has said she plans to step aide now that the president has won a second term, McCain said he would "do whatever to block the nomination that is within our power" at a press conference Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
Graham and McCain, joined by New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R), also called Wednesday for Congress to establish a temporary select committee to investigate the attacks in Libya.
But as Obama prepares for his first post-election news conference, at which he will likely be asked to address personnel issues in his administration, Republicans meant to send a strong pre-emptive warning.
"She is so disconnected from reality that I don’t trust her," Graham said.
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Rice said “This [the attack] is a response to a hateful and offensive video that was widely disseminated throughout the Arab and Muslim world.” It is obvious to anyone knowledgeable about the workings of government, that Rice could never have said such a definitive statement on her own, without approval, and direction, from Obama. So why would experienced senators pretend that she said it on her own?
The answer is that they want to put pressure on her to admit publicly that it was Obama's idea to lie about the Benghazi attack.
Just more right wing nut BS. Rice was giving an answer based on the information given her.
Given to her by whom?
The transcript of her statements is located at: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-us-ambassador-united-nations-susan-rice/story?id=17240933
Now to speculate on who told who what is rather pointless then as the incident was "still under investigation." Fact is that to immediately place blame on one person/faction/country at that time without definitive proof could have severely and negatively impacted political relationships and the balancing act that our allies have to walk to maintain what little stability they have in their countries. It could preprejudice and hinder any investigation that is taking place (weapons of mass destruction anyone?)
It's like when you go hunting, just because you hear leaves crunching and something is hidden behind a bush and shaking it, you don't automatically assume it's a deer and shoot. You wait until you confirm the target and THEN take it down. That way you can avoid some significant unintended consequences.
"She is so disconnected from reality that I don’t trust her, Graham said...."
disconnected from reality like the Republican party, is that right Mr. Graham???
Great. A proven LIAR as Secretary of State. Well, at least she'd be a good representative of the Obama regime.
Don't you republican get tired of calling people liars and things everything is a conspiracy? I would suggest that you listen to some of your fellow republicans who said that they had to stop listening to Fox News so that they could have a clearer rather fairer understanding of what is true and what is not. The woman, (Rice), did her job and told the American people what she knew. If it was wrong, then don't shoot the messenger but look for why the information was incorrect. Try thinking with your brain.
Hypocrites. I see people saying that the administration only followed the intel given to them so that's ok. But yet they say that Bush should have known better than the people giving him the intel.
I see people complaining that the Reps will block some nominations, but yet how many did the Dems block? A ton of them, but that's ok I guess since it was the Dems doing the blocking.
Get your stuff together. Either cry when the Dems also do it, or don't cry at all.
One standard for libs, and another for everyone else.
your facts are not correct. the number of filibusters from the republicans has increased dramatically which has lead to our current state. They must be willing to negotiate or our country can not move forward.
walter, not only have the Republican fillibusters increased dramatically, they've set all kinds of records.
They're a very proud group... <smirk>
Fake filibusters. Not real filibusters. There is a significant difference between the two. Stop repeating falsehoods. The Democrats haven't done any real filibusters in decades.
Please tell me about these events:
June 14, 2002, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Suicide bomber kills 12 and injures 51.
February 20, 2003, international diplomatic compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Truck bomb kills 17.
February 28, 2003, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Gunmen on motorcycles killed two consulate guards.
July 30, 2004, U.S. embassy in Taskkent, Uzbekistan
Suicide bomber kills two.
December 6, 2004, U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Militants stormed and occupied perimeter wall. Five killed, 10 wounded.
March 2, 2006, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan
Suicide car bomber killed four, including a U.S. diplomate directly targeted by the assailants.
September 12, 2006, U.S. embassy in Damascus, Syria
Gunmen attacked embassy with grenades, automatic weapons, and a car bomb (though second truck bomb failed to detonate). One killed and 13 wounded.
January 12, 2007, U.S. embassy in Athens, Greece
A rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the embassy building. No one was injured.
July 9, 2008, U.S. consulate in Istanbul, Turkey
Armed men attacked consulate with pistols and shotguns. Three policemen killed.
March 18, 2008, U.S. embassy in Sana'a, Yemen
Mortar attack misses embassy, hits nearby girls' school instead.
September 17, 2008, U.S. embassy in Sana'a, Yemen
Militants dressed as policemen attacked the embassy with RPGs, rifles, grenades and car bombs. Six Yemeni soldiers and seven civilians were killed. Sixteen more were injured.
Where were the right wing whiners then?
I thought Hillary Clinton was Sec State, not Susan Rice.
Honestly wtf does Benghazi have to do with her?
the gop has spent the last 30 years proving their incompetence on national security issues - yet here they are again doing their best to double down on their madness. Proving once again, that for these bitter fat old white men, stopping Obama is more important that stopping the world's worst actors. However, Texas will soon be blue (by 2020) and once that happens, there won't be a republican elected to the office of President for 20 years, perhaps longer. Goodbye politics of resentment. Hello progress. Soon!
McCain and Graham are supposed to be "thinking" and reasonable Republicans. If that's the case then the GOP is in deeper trouble then even they thought.
BTW - President Obama basically told the two of them to stuff their threats where the sun doesn't shine in his press conference this afternoon.
I wish these 2 so-called Senators, one suffering dementia and the other a pure politician, would worry this much about the fallen Soldiers they sent into battle over the last 10 years, but that is bad politics and they don't care about those families one bit.
The Republican Party has no shame in their behavior. This is why the American people must stay engaged in our politics by protesting these idiots. Their behavior is repulsive and the American people must put a stop to it. The Republicans have no intentions on doing what is best for all of the American people. They only want to help the rich and any actions the president put forworth for the betterment of the people. Please, give me a break. It is time the American people take a stand and I say it is time for us to do it.
2014 will be here in no time! I hope that the American people will continue to use their voting powers and vote all of these right wing congressman/women and senators out of office. Starting with Graham and McConnel John McCain has been on the wrong side of every issue, that is why he couldn't be President (the American people dodged a bullet). So nothing he says is creditable.
Until 2014, we should send emails to the GOP reminding them, that it's coming and voting them out is on our agenda.
Susan Rice had nothing to do with Benghazi other than that she appeared on a news show to provide some information based on what she was told at the time.
The republicans jumped on this attack for political reasons before it was even over and they don't know how to back up while it is being responsibly investigated. The election is over Sens. McCain and Graham. You can stop posturing over this and wait until actual facts are determined. By all means, continue to investigate, but making irrational statements about the qualifications of a public servant who had nothing whatsoever to do with decision making around the event is just sour grapes.
How do you spell PROPAGANDA?
And then there was Ronnie who lost several hundred Marines in Lebanon.... the GOP sure complained lots about that... Oops... that was GOD RONNIE.... the only people who care are Fox News (who now has to find other things to make them relevant since all their buddies lost) and the Tea Baggers... move on.... it happened..... And while we are at it... Make McCain do an actual filibuster... see how long he can hold his bladder.....
Clearly the republicans did not understand the results of the election. My hope is that the democrats will change the rules of the Senate, which they are entitled to do and make it much harder for them to filibuster. Our representatives need to be able to vote on confirmations, budgets and other items. If they want to filibuster they should be required to stand in the well of the senate and talk continuously. we should broadcast this live over cspan so we can all watch them make fools of themselves. this gamesmanship must stop. now.
Clearly it is liberals that do not understand the results of the election.
If America had been upset with the republicans blocking the excessive spending by the democrats they would not have returned so many to Congress. If liberals had a 'mandate' as so many liberals obviously believe, then Obama would have won by substantially more than 1/2 - 1 percentage point.
Welcome to the real world.
In the electoral college system you would be an idiot to work at winning the popular vote by a wide margin. It would likely result in your losing the electoral college vote, because you spent too much time and effort in getting out more vote than you need in states that you already are certain to win, or narrowing the margin of loss in states you have no chance of winning. Why do you people always feel like you get to move the goal posts in the middle of the game?
The Presidential election contest is an electoral college contest. If you want to make it a popular vote contest, you'll need to make voting either easier and quicker, or extend voting from one election day to an election week of 7 days and still allow early voting. Look how Arizona still hasn't counted 200,000 votes more than a week after election day.
Gee, nothing has changed, same President, same old Congress. Let them block away. I hope the people that have voted for the clowns have some intellegence - oh wait a minute we are talking about the ones that want to leave the US? Let them leave, we can charge them for Highway use, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Military defense, immigration, schools, and all of the rest of the too costly government help. We can use the money for our states.
So Republicans are ok if a black woman named Rice fans the flames of paranoia over WMD's that didn't exist, but have a problem if a different black woman named Rice tries to explain a terrorist attack with incomplete information? Of course they do, because that's the kind of hyper-partisanship Republicans like.
It's always ok......if you're a Republican.
Just saying "NO" GOP is not being a leader... GOP and TEA PARTY you've seriously lost your way.... and your days are numbered... with your backwater non-factual ideas that have zero mathmatical and scientic basis.
As a friendly reminder.. "Just Say No" was Nancy Reagan's war on drugs motto. Not the motto for the GOP problem solving some of our most serious issues. Oh and BTW GOP... no one has forgotten that YOU GOP are the cause ALL of our fiscal problems... 2 wars and medicare part D. Funny how you don't offer any REAL ideas to fix the problem you grumpy old men created!! WHAT GIVES!! IF you aren't going to offer REAL solutions... why are you in office wasting TAX PAYER DOLLARS!?!?
Susan Rice gave us what the intelligence people gave her. The fact that it was not totally correct information is not on her.
I don't get it that the Republican Party is on this path of their destruction by the things they say and do. As a Fiscal Conservative and a Social Liberal, I understand the need for the Conservative side of things. What we get from the Right these days is pure Bullsh!t that helps no one but the "1%".
GOP filibustering an Obama appointment? So what else is new? SSDD
There is something really humorous about Lindsay Graham calling anybody else "detatched from reality." Like all GOPers, he feels bound to say no to anything the President might suggest. Really, my son, it's getting old.
I used to think McCain and Graham were smart, my mistake they are air heads. You all need to leave the Senate, before you cause any more damage.
Graham and McCain have been off the rails for quite some time. Sure, they have lucid moments here and there, but are largely rubber-stamp wing nuts.
No one has even mentioned the fact that they accuse the current administration of not will to make cuts to the entitlement programs and then accuse him of cutting $716 billion out of Medicare like he was satan himself.
How on earth do they reconcile that lunacy???? Did they think that people wouldn't notice those ridiculous positions. If there's incompetence in D.C. it's the good old right wing boys club.
Hope the Dems change the filibuster rule to what it was before...when a congressman had to stand up and speak. When these bozos actually have to get in front of a national audience and try to justify blocking a presidential appointment, we really get to see how extreme they are.
So the Repubs didn't learn anything after the sound thumping they got last week, eh? My thinking is, they know their political base is constantly shrinking, so they plan on wreaking as much havoc as possible on the American people while they still have the House majority.
At this rate, if they don't do something drastically different to broaden their appeal among the voters, they will be a non-entity by 2020. And, they have nobody to blame but themselves, for allowing the Tea Party and the religious zealots on the right to dictate how they vote in Congress.
A half of a percentage point is a 'sound thumping'?
Just how deluded are liberals?
332 to 206, that's the contest. ya got thumped whether you know it or not.
Okay, having Lindsay Graham - or most any congressional Republican - describe someone as "disconnected from reality" would be hilarious if weren't so tragic. People of the GOP! Read the Pew Report. Americans blame YOU for gridlock and here you go talking filibuster even before someone's even nominated. People of the GOP! Karl Rove has left the building....and Ohio. People of the GOP! Go home and wash the tire tracks off your shirts. Come back with a plan and bring your tax returns along this time. Turn off Fox and start watching Sponge Bob. You'll positively feel your I.Q. soaring.
Note to never-ending limit to Hypocrisy GOP:
Where was all this outrage when YOUR Rice - as in Condi - failed to get W to move on OBL warning of "determined to strike in US" summer 2001, and outrage over "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud" and ZERO WMD's in Iraq.
Foreign Policy and debt outrage?? GOP has ZERO credibility.
When we get to the bottom of the illegal 10 yr war (we've had NO answers and NO one fired, NO indictments)
THEN, and only then, do they have the right to get outraged over - not lying, but not being clear for a whole 14 days on a terrorist attack in Libya. Wow, you mean it takes more than a few days to dissect a crime scene? Yup! GOP - this is not NCIS - the real world it takes a little longer -
I don't recall a lot outrage from them on the couple of DOZEN major attacks during Reagan's 2 terms.
It's ok......if you're a Republican.