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Ben Stein's Diary
Covering Up Petraeus
Eric Holder is light years ahead of John Mitchell.
Monday
What pitiful pikers Haldeman
and Ehrlichman, John Mitchell, Howard Hunt, Chuck Colson, and
Richard M. Nixon were when it comes to cover-ups. They didn’t even
start to know how to cover up a crime. For that you have to go to
true experts like the Attorney General of the United States, Eric
Holder, and the head of the FBI, Robert Mueller.
These men, in possession of undisputed evidence that General Petraeus had lied to the FBI, did absolutely nothing about it except to cover it up. The DCI had — as we discussed yesterday — to have lied to the FBI about whether he had anything going on in his life that would compromise him. Not only that, but he had violated laws about protecting the security and integrity of classified information, and had used prohibited, not secure means of communication. He had also enlisted a colleague and lover, Paula Broadwell, in this effort. She, in turn, had broadcast the info that was supposed to be top secret to the whole world — itself a violation of law.
Again, federal law prohibits publishing classified material or even using insecure means to communicate it.
Gen. Petraeus and his girlfriend are not the real story here, though. Love is strange and a man with the credentials of David Petraeus should not be prosecuted for anything short of murder.
The real story is that AG Holder kept this illegal arrangement going, did not stop it, allowed highly classified information to flow on Gmail, for heaven’s sake. He saw an ongoing violation of federal laws about classified material and did nothing to stop it. Not only that, he made sure it was covered up, not allowing anyone to stop it until the (rigged) election was over.
What is this except aiding and abetting? What is it except that Watergate standby, obstruction of justice? A really experienced Chicago prosecutor could make a list ten pages long of the laws that have been violated.
Now, let’s see if the Congressional Democrats allow a special prosecutor. (We know Mr. Holder will not touch this with a ten foot pole.) Let’s see if the Washington Post goes after Holder the way it went after John Mitchell. Let’s see the mighty New York Times flood the zone. Not bloody likely. No one will be prosecuted. That’s political realism. But meanwhile, look at it and be impressed. Let’s see just how well a really smooth cover-up can work when the media is with you, not against you.
This is a bad one.
About the Author
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He writes “Ben Stein’s Diary” for every issue of The American Spectator.
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ElGordo| 11.13.12 @ 8:34AM
It's been almost 3 months since the Benghazi and the Administration is in its cover up mode. It's time for the House Republicans to play hard ball. The House Republicans should refuse to negotiate any tax changes until the administration releases all the information on Benghazi & Fast/Furious
Aristocat| 11.13.12 @ 8:53AM
Eric Holder belongs in the federal penitentiary, not
as Attorney General...
Rhoetus| 11.13.12 @ 8:58PM
Boy Clinton and Obama are guilty of much more.
Bob K| 11.13.12 @ 9:53AM
Don't hold your breath waiting for "Bawling John" Boehner to take any action on this!
TLP| 11.13.12 @ 1:20PM
If a Tree falls in the Forest, and nobody hears it? Does it make a Sound?
There is no Watchdog Media when there's a Democrat in the White House. NONE.
They SAT on the RAPE CHARGES from Quanita Broderick. They SAT on the Monica Lewinski Affair. They SAT on The Blue Dress.
And, they Rallied around their guy - Bill Clinton - while Viciously Attacking Paula Jones, Kathleen Willy, and any other Woman who made allegations against this Serial Misogenyst.
CNN even went so far as to Run A Program on the Altruism of Lying in a Trial where Sexual Predatory Behavior is the Charge.
And, as bad as all that was?
There has been a Total News Blackout on this new guy's Marxist, White Hating, Jew Hating, America Hating, Far Left Associations during his entire Adult Life. As well as his Lies, Broken Promises, his Illegal Drilling Moratoriums, his GUN RUNNING to Mexican Drug Dealers, and his Outright Lies concerning the Attacks on our Diplomatic Missions and Personnel, in Cairo and Benghazi.
God help us.
Occam's Tool| 11.13.12 @ 3:15PM
first of all, Ben, this is a Nation of Laws, not of men. US Grant was far more important in history and contributions to our country, and he got investigated plent as President. Petreus, if he released classified documents, should go.
We have a deep bench in the GOP. We're just letting the Rockefeller types run things and wondering why our ass gets whipped. Turn it over to Allen West. The guy's a FIGHTER!
Mike in N.C.| 11.13.12 @ 8:17PM
To all who responded to El Gordo's post. You people are nuts.
Craigpurcell| 11.13.12 @ 9:03AM
Bentser,
Where does one apply to get an unpaid job as a "social liason" for the State Dept./Dept. of Defense?
Wonder where all our money is going while we we are both morally and physically bankrupt?
Obama will be squealing to get out of being President before it is all over...
It is just not going to be fun anymore now that all that hopey changey stuff isn't sprinkled around like so much media driven fairy dust.
So when will the Independent Counsel be appointed?
Cobalt| 11.13.12 @ 9:21AM
It would take 67 votes in the U.S. Senate to remove Obama from office, and that will never happen.
Bob K| 11.13.12 @ 9:54AM
Of course! But at least it will keep it busy from screwing up other things!
gene| 11.13.12 @ 10:07AM
Everyone seems to ignore the fact that this Holder fellow sold automatic weapons to Mexican drug cartels that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. Too many are looking at "Obstruction of Justice" when they should be looking at complicity in murder.
Libertas Americana| 11.13.12 @ 10:53AM
Ben:
Well written....
How do you say "purge" in English? .... oh, yes. "Purge."
I wonder if this is just the beginning. Remember, the purpose of voting is for revenge. Mr. Obama strikes me as a very angry man. ... Yes, I could be wrong. I hope so.
gene| 11.13.12 @ 11:10AM
Oh yes, there is a lot of anger. Harry Truman had "political enemies" that in private were personal friends. Honest people with integrity. They had little patience for phonies. For people like President Obama and Hillary? Political enemies are not and can never be friends. Only enemies to be DESTROYED. Just remember European History and how quickly it devolved into WWI and WWII and the Holocaust. President Obama wanted some people to "WAIT until after the Election. An Election where some voting districts in Pennsylvania "Voted ONE HUNDRED Percent for President Obama, and supporters state that this is not abnormal or suspicious. The Chris Matthews will genuflect and kiss his Majesty's Royal Heinie. And then they will point fingers and blame Bush, Reagan, the GOP, etc. and when that does not work anymore they will blame Israel and the Jews.
Libertas Americana| 11.13.12 @ 11:28AM
Maybe I should explain my strange feeling that this could be a "purge," something that hasn't been written so far. Extra-martial sexual relations happen all the time at all levels. But, for this person to write this resignation memo in this manner at this particular time - AND - to be accepted as such, I find strange.
Any other president would have said: "Dave, look, you can go... word it differently ... say 'time to retire now that there is a changing of the guard in January'.... go on vacation until January 20 and retire.."
On the other hand, what really happened is that Patreaus was completely and totally dishonored, by his own pen, and excommunicated completely from public view. I can't ever remember seeing such a thing in the U.S. But, it happens all the time in dictatorships...
Just saying... looks awfully fishy to me. Looks like, and smells like a purge.
John Harris| 11.13.12 @ 11:38AM
With CIA Director Petraeus forced to resign in disgrace, Sec. of State Clinton and Defense Sec. Panetta stepping down, three of the major players in the Benghazi tragedy and ensuing cover-up will be gone. Is Obama cleaning house now that he's won re-election?
And GOD help us if anti-war John Kerry gets nominated and confirmed by the Senate as our next Sec. Def.
And then there's party hardliner, Susan Rice who did such a great job confusing the American people about Benghazi, that she'll likely be promoted to Sec. of State. Will Valerie Jarrett be our next UN ambassador??
What a wonderful world we live in, where deceit, corruption and anti American sentiments get rewarded.
My how we've allowed the country to change. Things certainly are different, but they're not any better and the new normal doesn't seem to me very normal at all.
fmm| 11.13.12 @ 11:40AM
"Love is strange and a man with the credentials of David Petraeus should not be prosecuted for anything short of murder." Such a statement does not belong on a supposedly thoughtful site and certainly demonstrates why we our society is in such dire straits today. No need to read further. Moral collapse is the beginning of all other kinds of collapse.
JP Jones| 11.13.12 @ 11:55AM
The difference is that these fine people are professional crooks and liars and the Nixon men were politicians who resorted to lying
Thats a big divide
Rhoetus| 11.13.12 @ 9:00PM
Yep
Occam's Tool| 11.13.12 @ 12:02PM
Read "Come Nineveh, Come Tyre." Allen Drury had it right. It will be islamists as opposed to Soviets, but it will come.
Lyneuss Fields | 11.13.12 @ 12:38PM
What evidence do you have that AG Holder had any knowledge of an ongoing FBI investigation. Hell, everybody knows FBI and Justice Department personnel aren't exactly comrades in arms. Did they have a legal duty to inform Mr. Holder during an ongoing investigation? In addition, aren't you assuming this isn't being monitored by aggressive journalism? Or, is your real beef with Mr. Holder about his race, that of America’s President? The logic in your posts is getting shoddier everyday Ben! As I stated after a previous illogical rant of yours, "You have ruined a precious image to many of us boomers, and you have now turned into an old, paranoid, “shrew”.
http://lyneussfields.blogspot......ative.html
ncatty| 11.13.12 @ 12:56PM
Ah, the race card. Well played sir.
Lyneuss Fields | 11.13.12 @ 1:32PM
All you Bozo beanbags have to do is read the rants of many of your fellows on this thread. The racism--up and down--directed against President Obama and his Administration is a smoking gun. Deny this all you want, but it's smeared all over your filthy rhetoric. All I'm doing is throwing it right back at Mr. Stein's kine.
TLP| 11.13.12 @ 1:16PM
FINALLY.
Somebody said it.
If a Tree falls in the Forest, and nobody hears it? Does it make a Sound?
There is no Watchdog Media when there's a Democrat in the White House. NONE.
They SAT on the RAPE CHARGES from Quanita Broderick. They SAT on the Monica Lewinski Affair. They SAT on The Blue Dress.
And, they Rallied around their guy - Bill Clinton - while Viciously Attacking Paula Jones, Kathleen Willy, and any other Woman who made allegations against this Serial Misogenyst.
CNN even went so far as to Run A Program on the Altruism of Lying in a Trial where Sexual Predatory Behavior is the Charge.
And, as bad as all that was?
There has been a Total News Blackout on this new guy's Marxist, White Hating, Jew Hating, America Hating, Far Left Associations during his entire Adult Life. As well as his Lies, Broken Promises, his Illegal Drilling Moratoriums, his GUN RUNNING to Mexican Drug Dealers, and his Outright Lies concerning the Attacks on our Diplomatic Missions and Personnel, in Cairo and Benghazi.
God help us.
Lyneuss Fields | 11.13.12 @ 3:06PM
For the record scumbag: in 1997 Quanita Broderick signed a sworn affidavit, in the presence of Paula Jones' attorney's stating the former President Clinton HAD NEVER raped her. (See Here)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juanita_Broaddrick
You maggots and your filthy slander stink!
ncatty| 11.13.12 @ 12:54PM
On the Diane Rehm show this morning one of the guests was critical of the FBI agent who revealed the story. Wasn't the celebrated Deep Throat of Watergate fame a senior FBI official?
Vic| 11.13.12 @ 12:59PM
Ben, I am not sure why they were protecting Petraeaus' job. But I am definitely saddened by the fact such an evidently upright person could be petty enough to succumb to among the worst human failings
Jim Adcox| 11.13.12 @ 1:05PM
Re: Libertas Americana's idea of Obama's "revenge." Lincoln said in his second inaugural: Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
So, I wonder if Obama sees himself as holding (perhaps a Holder of) a lash or a sword to make America pay for its past sins? Is Obama, like the Blues Brothers, "on a mission from God"?
And on a separate, yet somewhat related point: King Rehoboam, in ancient Israel, when asked what could be expected of his reign, the record in I Kings 12 states: And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him; And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. (vv. 13-14).
Just to say, to brighten our day.
Hardcard| 11.13.12 @ 1:13PM
Benny..... It's a set-up. It's about the Lybia murder and cover-up. It's about covert actions by the regime. It's not about this sexual smoke screen are you really this naive or are you onboard with the scheme?
gene| 11.13.12 @ 1:44PM
Purge?
Remember, when ALL these people are on the "Outside looking in"? They can still be subpoenaed and put under oath. This is just the beginning. If they lie under oath, they will need a "Presidential Pardon" to stay out of prison. OR, and this should make a certain "Hawaiian Native" have soiled undies, they can be granted Immunity just like Sammy The Bull Gravano as long as they tell EVERYTHING. Interesting times ahead. Even if the MSM pretend it does not exsit with their Sgt. Schultz/Chris Matthews reporting style. 0:-D
Paul A'Barge | 11.13.12 @ 3:03PM
Sir,
Holder is not better than the Nixon crew. Holder has the Main-stream Media in his pocket. Nixon had them chewing on his neck.
bison cookie| 11.13.12 @ 4:28PM
PETRAEUS SCANDAL: ‘WHAT ARE THE ODDS?’. During Tuesday’s broadcast, Glenn Beck delved into the developing sex scandal involving David Petraeus, former director of the CIA. The former four-star general resigned his CIA post last week after acknowledging an extramarital affair. However, the timing of his resignation — just days … READ MORE: http://bwcentral.org/2012/11/p.....-the-odds/
Mike in N.C.| 11.13.12 @ 8:15PM
C'mon Ben. The real story here is a randy FBI agent driven nuts by his schwooz receiving vaguely threatening emails. Eager to impress said schwooz, the FBI agent opens a can of worms not only by violating agency rules by compromising an investigation and the privacy of people under scrutiny but by playing politics by contacting Reichert who pass information to Cantor who sits on it.
This is the real cover up, Ben old boy.
Rhoetus| 11.13.12 @ 8:55PM
John Dean was behind the Watergate brake in. Nixon was only guilty of the cover up- due to his weakness of being loyal to his people. Now Clinton and Obama would have thrown them under the bus.
Mike in N.C.| 11.13.12 @ 10:59PM
I'll take your word about the brake in, but not the break in.
Ralph Novy| 11.18.12 @ 1:19AM
Not true.
Nixon authorized the break-in in the first place.
Factually verifiable.
Your points about what Clinton and Obama would have done under similar circumstances are inapposite and irrelevant.
Rhoetus| 11.13.12 @ 9:35PM
Rules for Conservatives @
http://www.saveamericanow.us.com
Tim.W| 11.13.12 @ 11:40PM
The republicans will be too busy playing golf with the Occupier in Chief to bother looking into this.
This Administration is the definition of incompetent and corrupt and 50 million Americans could care less.
I no longer believe the majority of our government can even tell the difference between right and wrong, let alone care about it.
MikeC| 11.14.12 @ 12:38AM
Both sides of the aisle in our current government make Al Capone and John Gotti look like choir boys. Neither Boehner, nor Issa, nor Holder, and especially Obama are sickened by the corruption occurring on their watch.
Rome meet America now your neighbor on the ash heap of history.
LindaF | 11.17.12 @ 6:50AM
I lived through those Watergate years, watching the Democrats go after Nixon and virtually everyone he was associated with. At the time, I WAS a Democrat, and believed in the investigation with all my pure-minded heart.
In fairness, I was a fairly naive kid.
Today, I see WORSE offenses brushed off as inconsequential. I am FURIOUS - but not FAST. People are demonstrably dying in these scandals. Where the blaze are our Congressional representatives?
I've only heard a few Congressmen step up to the plate. Shame on the others.
Ralph Novy| 11.18.12 @ 1:13AM
http://readersupportednews.org.....n-shuts-up
Now YOU shut up too, eh, Ben?
You stupidly nasty, smug, gullible fool, you.
Ralph Novy| 11.18.12 @ 1:16AM
When you said "This is a bad one," little did you know you were referring to your own post, eh?
LMAO.
Word to the unclean: Your comfortable life will not last. What goes around comes around. You should know that.
Kilgore Trout| 11.19.12 @ 12:42PM
David Schippers, the Chief Investigative Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee which was holding an inquiry on whether Clinton had committed impeachable offenses, stated that he believed Broaddrick filed the affidavit because of intimidation from Clinton, saying, "She was so terrified. And the reason she was terrified was because she saw what had happened to Kathleen Willey, Gennifer Flowers and all the rest of them."[5] Although Broaddrick claimed that no one had pressured her to file a false affidavit, she complained that she was being watched from parked cars, her home had been broken into, her pets released and her answering machine tape stolen while she and her husband were away briefly, during the House impeachment probe.[5]
In 1984, Broaddrick's nursing facility was adjudged the best in the state, which brought a congratulatory official letter from the governor. On the bottom was a handwritten note from Clinton, saying, "I admire you very much." She reputedly interpreted it as a "thank you" for her silence.[2] Broaddrick said that Clinton tried to apologize to her in 1991, and claimed he had changed. In response to his apologies, as she told the Washington Post, "I told him to go to hell, and I walked off".[6]
Five people have stated that Broaddrick told them about a rape shortly after it allegedly occurred.