E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSA House Foreign Affairs hearing on "Benghazi and Beyond" quickly turned into a shouting and accusations forum.
It began when 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. Now President Obama has the gall to float the name as possibly secretary of State, the name of the person who is the actual vehicle used to misinform the American people during this crisis."
Karen Bleier / AFP - Getty Images
National Intelligence Director James Clapper arrives for a closed door hearing conducted by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence November 15, 2012 on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat also from California, called the attacks on Rice "unfair" and leveled that Colin Powell testified that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, because that's the information that was given to him.
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.
Key Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee are calling for a broader investigation into the attack on Benghazi and vowing to block UN Ambassador Susan Rice from becoming Secretary of State, if she should be nominated, because of her initial comments about the fatal incident. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., discusses.
"This administration continues to put out things that are just not quite true," she claimed.
Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) began by saying he was not going to attack the White House or malfeasance at the State Department. But he then instead spoke for six minutes and didn't ask a single question of the GAO witness.
Naturally, Democrats responded. It began rather timidly and escalated.
"Barack Obama was no more responsible for what happened in Benghazi than George Bush was for Sept. 11th or Ronald Reagan was for the blowing up of U.S. Marines in Beirut," Rep. Eliot Engle (D-NY) said.
Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) unloaded, first sarcastically: "Let's just hang the guilty parties."
"The stench of hypocrisy that hangs over this city today emanates from this room," Ackerman said. "I've listened to my colleagues talk about the President of the United States and others in the administration using [the] terms 'deliberate', 'lies', 'unmitigated gall', 'malfeasance,' which is malicious and knowing evil-doing, 'disgust', 'coverups'."
He continued, "If you want to know who is responsible in this town, buy yourself a mirror!"
Ackerman went on to say that Republicans had "the audacity to come here" when the administration requested, for worldwide security, "$440 million more than you guys wanted to provide. And the answer is that you damn didn't provide it! You REDUCED what the administration asked for to protect these people. Ask not who the guilty party is, it's you! It is us. It is this committee, and the things that we insist that we need have to cost money."
He added, "Could you tell me which of my colleagues on this committee was as bodacious in their insistence that we provide more money for American security in the State Department budget. I would appreciate it."
Ackerman then asked them to raise their hands and gave them a count of five to do so. None did.
Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA) picked up the push back. He held up a letter, dated yesterday, in which he was asked to co-sign saying that Susan Rice is unfit to be secretary of State.
"Smear, character assassination, judgment before all the facts are in is McCarthyism," Connolly said, "and that's an attempt to besmirch, in my opinion, the reputation of a very talented and capable public servant. I want no part of it."
He added, "The election is over. The president won reelection. The voices of the public were heard. They want us to cooperate. If you want an honest investigation of this tragedy, we will join you. But if you want to persist in trying to put this, lay this somehow at the doorstep of the president or the secretary of State or the United Nations ambassador, you will find us ready and willing to resist to the teeth."
And that was just the first half of the hearing.
Leave a Comment:
poor poor liberals..you gave it good to Bush, and are balling your ever so tolerant eyes out that the other side is picking on your boy..suck it up, because this term is just starting...he'll have his scandal sheet filled before the first years even done. i love watching you idoits squirm..but hey..at least msnbc was saved for you for another four years, and eddie schultz is already acting like he won a prize in a cracker jack box..he cant stop drooling with sarcasm over o'reilly on fox..what was it..two nights ago he brought up his nemesis bill in four different segments of his shock jock show? cant get over teh fact that bill kicks his butt in ratings..or is it he cant get over the fact he walked off fox news years ago because he was put on the spot...here ed..take a bottle of lisinopril before you bust a vein in your neck..would hate to be one of his kids..or his wife he slapped around.
Democrats supported Bush after 9/11. The current GOP uses dead Americans as props. That's the reality.
You meanwhile, will get to watch the slow death of the GOP. Its done. Dead Party Walking.
Ed Schultz, Lawrence O'Donnel, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, and Lou Dobbs are all sleazy propagandists and none of them should be supported by any "news" agency.
News Crap has become a huge national security threat. The main line of broadcasting has been to misinform the American voters and influence the outcome of elections in a negative way that has repeatedly proven detrimental to the United States and the American people. These actions are illegal and an open act of subversion.
Partnered with the known crime syndicate and hate group calling themselves the republican party their conspiracy to destroy our nation has cost the American people TRILLIONS of dollars and millions of lives.
The time for accountability is now. As a citizen of this "nation of laws" I call upon law enforcement and our government to act swiftly and defend us from all enemies, foreign AND domestic.
There were 14,748 murders in the U.S. in 2010, and soldiers die almost every day in our wars, yet the only one to get any attention is Chris Stevens (even the other people who died at Benghazi aren't named). Why is that? The attitude in government and the press seems to be that only elites matter and everyone else is fodder. Is it image that is the concern and not the actual lives?
If no other truths are to be told today by any republickins we should find room for a few more ourselves...
How about the certifiable fact that Sirie is an untrainable pervert with a penchant for buggery?
This "Sirie" thing would likely be more upset over the loss of the corpse-buggery angle than anything else. Speaks volumes.
How do you put somebody on "loathe and abhor"? Is there a button for that?
Republican's have chosen to ignore November 6 as if it never happened. They don't get it that the American people are simply fed up with their crap.
Your Empty Suit is a liar....sooner or later someone will come forward that cannot be bullied or threatened...The Empty Suit will eventually pay for his deeds...and I hope it's at the gates of Hell!!
Who told his minions to use the You Tube video as an excuse. Once that question is answered truthfully we'll know who killed these people......
Does GOP hang their head on the same information that "Mitten" will win big? They need to wake up and buy a mirror and face the "real reality" not their bubble reality
It's interesting to watch Fox News once in a while. Benghazi 24/7. One talking head after another explains how people died at the embassy because Obama sacrificed them for political gain. On top of that he is simply inept.
Obama and Hillary have been lying to us for months now, you may be surprised to learn. Don't bother to look to Fox News for any mention of Romney's attack on Obama for "sympathizing with the terrorists" -- while the attack was STILL GOING ON and the ambassador still alive. It's a non-event.
Sooner or later the paranoids will have to connect all the far-flung dots and drag in Petraeus and the FBI and Chelsea Clinton and Cedric the Entertainer -- a vast conspiracy by the communist elitists in the Obama administration.
That scenario -- Obama deliberately lying and claiming the attack was the result of some dumb videotape -- is very real at Fox. They seem to believe it implicitly. There are two or three independent investigations underway, but why wait for the results when you already know what happened?
Having worked at a large Embassy in the middle East many years ago, I can tell you that Marine guards
are not "guards" per se. We usually had only 2 on duty during the day and 1-2 at night. They weren't there
for protection of the personnel, but primarily to patrol & check the secure sections of the Embassy and for ceremonial duties. And there is a big difference between a large Embassy and a Consulate - most consulates have only a few people.
The election offered the Republican Party many valuable lessons. Both conservative and liberal analysts agree that the Republican Party must heed those lessons now and make critical changes if it wants to stay a viable party. However, the existent Republican politicians don't hear them at all. When people are hell-bent-for-leather about something--like pure hatred for Obama--mere words cannot stop them. They'll reach that bent-for-leather destination.
Consequently, I conclude that the Republican Party will go over the cliff. It is doomed by its own existent politicians.
We get it Republicans; you can not give it up. Your priorities are so skewed. The entire Middle East is a volatile mess; there are going to be more wars. Chris Stevens has been running guns from Libya to Syria for years; six years per your Bush buddies authority. Yes!!!! You will blame Obama for it, because the Republican party is so perfidious. Blame Obama for everything Bush destroyed. Republicans will never take blame for anything. Yea the Republicans can not swallow that they lost, so they just keep on spewing hate, rhetoric and vile indignation. We need to get this Country back on it’s feet and Republicans want to fight and trash the President. Type in: “US Press Reveal White House's 6-Year-Long Support for Syrian Rebels” as MSN will not allow websites:english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9107118926
This is what is wrong with the Tea-Publican Party!!! Romney referred in his statement to the “embassies” and particularly to “our embassy at Benghazi, Libya.” He made the mistake three times, so it wasn’t just a slip of the lip.
Any first year international relations student knows that our diplomatic offices in the capital are “embassies,” and our offices in cities that are not the capital are “consulates.” Consulates deal with local matters of the PEOPLE!!
Tea-Publicans don't tell LIES!!! they just don't KNOW!!!
Obama wouldn't lie would he.
Him lie VS you seeing any truth? That is a tough call.
Shoot the messenger - Both senators have signaled GOP will continue to obstruct even if they have to manufacture lies and hate and compempt for this Black President without regard of the American people current situations as if everything else needs to be put on hold to their satisfaction - Grow Up. This should include all the peoples(Iraqi) the GOP policies have kill prior to and after 911, but to place blame as the straw they broke the camel's back is not truthful or honest. Bush/Cheney should be held accountable for war crimes and murder of American military personnel on fabricated lies to the American people by which this latest tragedy is a product thereof. Bring out all the truth instead trying pin all the ills on President Obama. What about Iran-Contra? Kuwait/Iraq war? If you want the truth go back from when all this started. No wonder no real Americans trust the GOP and their talking heads.
WTFHAPPENED
Ha-ha....still playin' dat race card huh.
Get your popcorn....David Petraeus is going to have LOTS TO SAY tomorrow.
GOP what a joke. Fuzzy facts lots of lies to the public they are suppose to serve and a bunch of pissed off old farts who will do anything to hide the truth about all things government including economics. Blame everything and fix nothing. Bush did the private military to replace Marines in the first place. Contractors not soldiers as security. When it was not a private profit enterprise and Command and Control was national not private interest diplomats were protected by pride not money!
The link is always appropriate when the republicans claim to want truth about anything or special investigations!!!!!!!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/business/questions-raised-on-withdrawal-of-congressional-research-services-report-on-tax-rates.html?ref=business&_r=0
The GOP makes me want to scream. Thank god for the forceful rebuttals from the democrats on this committee. What we need now is for these jerks to STFU and go about the business of the American people. These republicans cannot leave public service fast enough for my taste. Remember these ass clowns come the mid term elections. Let's finish what we started - remove the GOP from power!
I love how everyone is quickly backing people that all have their fair shares of lies (Republicans & Democrats). As politicians it is their jobs to lie.
The truth is that most Americans are moderate, although it seems we are becoming more polarized. Rather than solely and blindly backing a party, how about backing the individual based upon the content of their character. I say when 2014 rolls around, vote out all liars regardless of whether they are red or blue.
As for the Benghazi attack, it is still murder of 4 Americans which deserves a proper investigation and trial. Let's focus our attacks on those who committed the crimes, not to kill the messengers. If the investigation turns over some negligence on anyone's part, let it be handled by the due process of law, not a mob with pitch forks and torches.
Yes, by all means let the facts speak. That is precisely why the GOP should STFU.
Ok, we could buy 24 hours after the attack the administration saying they thought is was becouse of the youtube clip. TWO WEEKS ????? I dont think so. No question the administration was lying. They lied and we know it. If you continue to defend that, then there is no hope for you.
Oh by the way, remember those tax hikes on the wealthy??? Well guess what ???? Turns out we are all getting a hike,,,,DUH. ..............they are talkin 50K or more will get a 5% hike. At least I didnt vote for the jackass
Lefties spent years telling you how much Bush lied - and you told them to go to hell because the 'intel' at the time was one way and it turned out to be wrong at the time.
You all gave the President and his team less than two weeks - so I think they are legitimate in telling you right wingers to go to hell for the very same reason.
If you all don't back off and shut up until the facts of who/what/when are determined, then you are no better than the lefties you complained about back then!
This whole damn thing is a semantic argument run amok. The you tube video was simply the straw that broke the camel's back for the islamists in Benghazi. I'm sure that many of the militias who participated in their revolution were Islamist sympathizers. I'm sure they hated America. I'm sure there was chatter in the streets about a lack of safety for Westerners. I'm sure many people were enticed into anger by islamists over these videos and they went out in protest. Some of them brought their guns. The protest got out of hand and turned violent. The ones who did the shooting belonged to an islamist militia. Call it a terrorist attack or a violent protest - it is the same @!$%#ing thing! If that is what you are calling a lie you are a bigger hypocrite than you know.
Listening to McCain tell it, one would assume that Obama was laughing it up while watching satellite footage of the attack. Things unfolded rapidly and local forces did respond. But by then it was over. We can debate why the consulate didn't have more security. We can debate why the budget was scrapped by the GOP controlled House. But what we cannot do is go around with pitchforks hoping to skewer the President and call him a liar and a terrorist, because there is zero evidence of that. There is no evidence that anyone lied to anyone about anything - unless you want to argue semantics.
As for your tax BS - the first time the Bush tax cuts were supposed to expire, the President wanted to extend them for the middle class only as a way to keep people afloat. But the GOP said that was class warfare because he was going to allow the cuts to expire for the wealthiest. Now years later they are set to expire again along with the temporary payroll tax break that Obama also passed (your welcome). So how the @!$%# is Obama raising your taxes? He has only ever lowered them. If it wasn't for him you would have been paying higher rates the whole time! The ending of what was temporary cuts is not a raising of taxes, it is a reset to normalcy. You are incorrectly arguing that he has said he only wants taxes to go up for rich folks because in context he is only talking about the extension of Bush's cuts. Payroll cuts were never a part of that discussion. And what is 5%? Is it 5% more in taxes, or 5 percentage points more? There is a difference, but I know you haven't worked that out. If you are paying 15% in taxes, a 5% raise in your rate = 15.75% Holy @!$%# not an increase in 0.75 percentage points!!! Where ever will I find that kind of money??
Good god, I am so sick of the ignorance and the arrogance with which it is displayed! Honestly...holy @!$%#...@!$%#.
Man these Republicans have learned nothing from the election!
Rrepublicans - STOP DECIDING THE GUILT OF THE PRESIDENT AND HIS TEAM BEFORE YOU HAVE THE FACTS. GO GET THE FACTS AND IF THE FACTS BEAR OUT YOUR PRE-DETERMINED CONCLUSIONS, THEN DO YOUR THING. If the facts don't align with your pre-determined conclusions, then you won't have blown it AGAIN in front of your American Public.
Listen to all of you people...... forget the damn politics for once. We have 4 dead americans that could have possibly have been saved. OUR Gov't was watching the attack in REAL time, the rapid response force was told to stand down, the gunship that those 4 americans thought was coming was told to stay put, FALSE information was given out for 2weeks after the attack. Security forces was ordered out just days prior to the attack. The state department had several valid requests for help and did nothing to act on those requests. And to top it all off, This President takes off for a fund raiser just hours after their death, not even calling for flags to be flown at half mast. Yest a couple of weeks later, a retired Senetor dies at home and he orders the flags at half mast. That Senetor did NOT die in the line of duty, but those 4 Americans did.
When the USS Cole was attacked, Bush canceled ALL of his planed ativities and stayed at the WH till he knew that things were under control for sure and had answers to tell the American people. Obama's handling of this affair to date is is and has been a direct slap in the face of those 4 Americans.
I have seen many Presidents come and go over the years, but I have never seen one with so little regard for the loss of American lives as this one. And that's not politics. That is judging the man by his OWN actions and inability to accept responsiblity and take ownership of the fact that his administration failed to even try and save their lives........
WHY can't you people for just once, put politics aside and demand a truthfull accounting of the failure to do something, anything to try and save them....!!!!!!!!!
While my memory isn't the same as yours of whether Bush stopped everything to deal with the Cole incident (my memory is that he didn't drop everything anymore than Obama did - but for sure he sure didn't drop 'everything and kept reading that book to them school kids when the terror attack on the world trade center happened...), I would agree that people need to drop the politics, drop the attacks and stop drawing conclusions based on hate of Obama and find out what the full set of facts are.
FormerMarineSgt, Yes Bush did take 5 min to finish the story that he was read to those 1st graders, but he then left immediately back to DC. The difference is that Bush didn't blow off the tragedy to go party for money nor did he stay away for 3 days after the attack.
The problem here is that Obama by his own acts and omissions has contributed to not only the loss of those 4 Americans, but has kept enough of a smoke screen going that every time additional fact come out, it makes him look like he is intentionally trying to keep something covered up...... This is one of those times where the truth, no matter how bitter it may be, would serve everyone better than the smoke and mirror game that is going on right now.......
Again, it is his own actions and lack of that, is making this worse. Regardless of how good or bad he may be as a Pres. it's going to bit him and those around him in the ass, bring down a lot of good people just because they are trying to cover just what he knew, when he knew it, what he did and didn't do....... Just from the absolute facts that are already out, and you as an ex-military know that he was informed as soon as the attacks began. Those kind of things don't happen without the Pres. being immediately notified....... Again, I don't give a damn about the politics of it. He failed those 4 Americans as their Commander-In-Chief. You know and I know it and to date, he STILL hasn't accepted the responsibility of that failure.......
I thought Bush was flown to an air force base in Nebraska to keep him safe while the first 911 attacks were happening...am I wrong about that?
Never got to Nebraska..... threat assesment cleared the way into DC and the next day he was at ground zero
Wrong Richard. below is the timeline of events. Bush DID NOT spend 5 minuts with the kids then immediately head back to DC. It's all out there for anyone who is actually interested in what actually happened that day.
7:59 a.m. American Airlines Flight 11 takes off from Boston's Logan Airport.
8:13 a.m. The last official communication between American Airlines Flight 11 and ground controllers occurs and the transponder stops transmitting. The hijacking occurs at about this point.
8:14 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 takes off from Boston's Logan Airport.
8:20 a.m. American Airlines Flight 11 begins going off course.
8:20 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77 leaves Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C.
8:42 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 takes off from Newark Airport.
8:43 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 is hijacked.
8:46:26 a.m. American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston, Massachusetts, crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center with an estimated 10,000 gallons of fuel and traveling 470 mph.
8:50 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 begins heading towards New York City.
8:55 a.m. President Bush is notified of the first crash and replies, “What a horrible accident!”
8:56 a.m. The last official communication with American Airlines Flight 77 occurs and the plane's transponder is turned off. Presumably the hijacking occurs at this time.
9:02:54 a.m. United Airlines Flight 175 hits the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes.
9:06 a.m. President Bush is notified of the second crash, but remains in the school classroom in Florida where he is doing a photo-op for his educational policies.
9:16 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 is probably hijacked about this time.
9:17 a.m. The Federal Aviation Administration closes all New York City area airports.
9:21 a.m. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey closes all bridges and tunnels in the New York City area.
9:29 a.m. President Bush addresses students and teachers at Booker Elementary School about the terrorist attacks.
9:30 a.m. President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Florida, announces that the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."
9:36 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 turns and begins heading towards Washington D.C.
9:38 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
9:40 a.m. The FAA ends all flight operations at U.S. airports, the first time in U.S. history that nationwide air traffic nationwide is stopped.
9:45 a.m. The White House evacuates.
9:57 a.m. Bush leaves Florida.
10:05 a.m. The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
10:10 a.m. A portion of the Pentagon collapses.
10:10 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93 crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh.
10:13 a.m. The United Nations building evacuates.
10:24 a.m. All inbound transatlantic flights to the United States start being diverted to Canada.
10:28 a.m. The north tower of the World Trade Center collapses from the top down.
10:35 a.m. Air Force One heads for Barksdale Air Force base near Shreveport, Louisiana.
10:45 a.m. All federal office buildings in Washington are evacuated.
10:57 a.m. New York Governor George Pataki closes all state government offices.
11:45 a.m. President Bush lands at Barksdale Air Force base near Shreveport, Louisiana, rather than return immediately to Washington, D.C.
1:27 p.m. A state of emergency is declared by the city of Washington, D.C.
1:44 p.m. The Pentagon announces that five warships and two aircraft carriers will leave the U.S. Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia, to protect the East Coast from further attack.
1:48 p.m. Bush leaves Barksdale Air Force Base and heads for Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
4:30 p.m. The president departs Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska aboard Air Force One and returns Washington, D.C.
5:20 p.m. The 47-story Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex collapses.
I thought the Benghazi hearings were "closed hearings?"
the Anti America Republican Terrorists Party in Congress is just stalling for time about taxes.
Straight Democrat - 2014
The Republican Congress accuses President Obama of lying!?! They're joking right!?! The Republican Party are the world's biggest liars of all times! The American People are sick of the Republican Party!!! The Republican Congress needs to get in line or they will be voted out. I think the Republican people in Congress are un-American. Its very clear the Republican Party is for the rich and not for the everyday American Family. The Republican Congress is just stalling for time about taxes. The Republican Congress would like some wiggle room? No there is no wiggle room! The rich for to long have not paid taxes like we have! Its time they pay out. President Obama! There is NO wiggle Room! NO, NO, NO! What the hell are you talking about! No more tax loopholes for the rich! End of story! Its time they pay! what is best for the everyday American and Family. The Republican Congress needs to get in line for what is best for 98% America and not only the 2% rich.
well, for one, 49% voted for the republican party so it really is a stretch to assume that everyone in the U.S. is sick of the republicans. Secondly the richest people in the government are Democrats. Kerry is stupid rich. Third, the rich pay more in taxes than you know. They pay a crapload in taxes and raising their rate a few percentage points will add enough extra income to run the government for maybe 3 days. And last the Dems and Reps are pretty much the same. What they should be focusing on is spending. Balance what they spend and they can live within their means like we lowly people do.
Before you get butthurt, I make 25k a year, am a contractor and voted for O'.