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Another Perspective
Why Attack Susan Rice?
Do Republicans have foreign policy proposals or political agendas?
Why should Susan Rice not be nominated to succeed Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State? The president trusts and admires her. Why should Republicans make an issue of her? Do they want to remind the American people once again they are sore losers?
The president has every reason to choose his own cabinet. What is he supposed to do — favor his opponents? Policy-making is inherently political, it grows out of political choices that voters approve or reject. So what is the problem? We get the government we deserve through a free and fair process that we claim other nations should emulate.
The opposition to Susan Rice is based on her alleged participation in the way the Administration handled the Benghazi affair. Are Republicans afraid to attack the president and his secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton? They would then have to explain what they think might have been done differently. Whose idea was it to bring a democratic revolution into the umma? Judging from the recent campaign, however, the Republicans are as clueless as the rest of us regarding what is going on in the dar al islam and what, if anything, we can do about it. So they take out their frustrations on an ambitious young lady who reportedly is smart (Oxford PhD), fast (basketball point guard), and rich as a one-percent person (personal fortune larger than some nations’ GNP.).
Unless we want to ax the entire foreign policy high command every time there is a debacle overseas, it is difficult to see why some mistakes of interpretation, which she has since retracted, should stymie Mrs. Rice’s career, particularly since all she did was to repeat was she was told to say. The president explained that she had nothing to do with what happened in Benghazi and could not have known, on her own, what went wrong.
Ours is not a parliamentary democracy and ministers — secretaries — do not resign the way they do in many other countries, as fall guys when something goes badly wrong. In certain cases the entire government falls because the failure is so egregious the parliament loses all confidence in its ability to govern. By attacking Mrs. Rice, do Republicans really think they are demonstrating wisdom and virtue in matters of governance greater than the Democrats’?
We sometimes accept the practice of asking secretaries or other high officials to resign because their conduct of policy or their personal behavior is so shabby that their mere presence in the stratosphere of government becomes a demoralizing liability. Mrs. Rice is no Sumner Welles or Walter Jenkins, though surely it says something about the times we live in that, diversity obligé, a Welles or a Jenkins today would not be forced to resign, though the same indulgence is not shown a David Petraeus. Well, who is better at the top of things in defending our Republic — David Petraeus or Susan Rice? If the Republicans cannot say, the bullying of Susan Rice makes them appear a bunch of sissies and prudes.
By various accounts, Amb. Rice, who was on the staff of the National Security Council in the first Clinton administration and served as Asst. Secretary of State for African Affairs in the second, in 1994 recommended against calling the mass murder of Tutsi in Rwanda a genocide because if it was in fact a genocide and the administration did not intervene, it would hurt the Democrats “in November.” They took a hit in the mid-terms anyway, as voters recoiled from their economic policies including a proposed national health service designed largely by Mrs. Clinton.
The Republicans, then led by the ebullient idea-a-minute Newt Gingrich, did not make the Rwandan horror an issue during those midterms. Are they in a position to criticize the alleged cynicism of a young staffer and her boss, the macho Sandy Berger whose career crashed when he admitted to unauthorized possession of state secrets? What did the Republicans do for Rwanda? Should Condoleezza Rice have been blocked in her appointment as Secretary of State because when she was on the NSC staff she did not, as far as anyone knows, stick her neck out for the Kurds in the aftermath of the first Gulf War?
A couple years after the Rwanda hands-off policy, Susan Rice, according to contemporary and retrospective accounts, argued against putting pressure on the government of Omar el-Bashir in Sudan to turn over their alleged guest, Osama Bin Laden, already known in international security circles as a bankroller and mastermind of revolutionary war against Western nations and allegedly apostate Arab regimes. Notwithstanding her vow to “go down in flames” to prevent another genocide, she seems to have come down against intervention in Sudan, and it fell to Mr. Clinton’s successor, G. W. Bush, to help extricate the south Sudanese from the depredations of the Khartoum regime by brokering the deal opening the way to an independent south. The Obama administration did not follow up with particularly notable efforts to help the fledgling country, apart from providing some military advisory missions growing out of long-term plans that were already in place. Nor did it make any progress, notwithstanding Mrs. Rice’s high position in the administration’s councils on Africa, in the rolling massacres in Darfur, Sudan’s western province, or eastern Congo.
This may be viewed as poor judgment. Why take out Moammar Gaddafi, as the Obama administration chose to do in 2011, reportedly with Susan Rice’s encouragement, but not Bashir? However, the Republicans did not say it was poor judgment.
Possibly Mrs. Rice, notwithstanding the lessons she drew from the Rwanda civil war, did not anticipate the consequences of enabling the Anglo-French in their campaign against the Tripolitan pirate. Perhaps knocking him off was worth the consequences; opinion was divided, with some Republicans and conservatives expressing reservations about the campaign and others, such as the latter-day Lydell Hart Max Boot, saying it would be easy (echoing the “cakewalk” comment on going into Iraq in 2003). But if memory serves, no one, pro or con, gave any thought to Mali and its neighbors.
If the Republicans have a problem with the President’s foreign policy, they should say so forthrightly and call him to accounts. During the campaign, they chose not make Mr. Obama’s foreign policy a campaign issue. The failure to anticipate the attack on our consulate at Benghazi, the incoherent explanations of what happened, the apparently total disregard for the consequences of our Libya policy on the countries of the Sahel, notably Mali — half of which was conquered by rebels assisted by jihadists who had recovered Gaddafi’s arsenals — all these questions and many more could have been raised in the wake of the failure at Benghazi.
The Republicans did not raise them, however. They have tried to raise issues of intellectual (or even moral) judgment, as Bret Stephens does, relying heavily on a critical examination of her Clinton period by Columbia professor Peter Rosenblum. He quotes Prof. Rosenblum to the effect that “Susan Rice seems not to have convinced colleagues that her real interest was Africa, or even foreign policy.” This is surely interesting, but, even if it is so, how does it disqualify her?
Instead of getting serious about foreign policy, Republicans are now complaining about Mrs. Rice’s investments in the oil industry. Are they envious that she is a true one percent lady, with a personal fortune between $23 million and $43 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a liberal think thank. If they think it is wrong to invest in the energy sector, why did they not mention it during the campaign? If they think it is okay, they could have criticized the president for campaigning against “the rich” while taking the advice of one of them in political and policy matters.
In the great lakes region of east Africa, it is said that when elephants fight, the grass is crushed. When Republicans are incoherent and flail about at the wrong targets, the American people are not well served.
About the Author
Roger Kaplan, a Washington-based writer, covers the Middle East and Africa (and tennis) for The American Spectator.
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John Navratil| 12.6.12 @ 6:45AM
Perhaps because she appears too willing to suborn objective truth to White House policy? Whomever is given this post will, no doubt, reflect Obama's world view so, perhaps, the choice is irrelevent.
Jack in Wi| 12.6.12 @ 7:37AM
I don't like Rice. I don't like Hillary Clinton. I don't usually like anything Roger Kaplan has to say about foreign policy. But he is right here. Obama won and he gets to pick his cabinet. The women is about the best you are going to get from Obama. I never could see what all the to do was about Bengazi. Everyday American troops and civilians are killed in Afganistan. For years the Republicans supported a war in Iraq based on lies. 5000 troops died and a lot of American civilians died there as well. It is time for the Republicans to get serious on foreign policy. It is time to end all foreign aid, foreign wars, and foreign entaglements. Then a Libya fiasco would never happen. The whole Middle East isn't worth one drop of American blood or one American dollar. It is time for the Republicans to go back to being the Party of Peace and prosperity.
Jeff Dorsai| 12.6.12 @ 7:48AM
Jack,
you are a liberal who lies about as well as Rice in this case ... you don't like Rice or Hillary ??? come one ...
Jack in Wi| 12.6.12 @ 8:11AM
I am a real conservative, not a neoconservative. I a sick of foreign aid and foreign wars. I am for America First period. Susan Rice is just another incompetent, affirmative action, Ivy League babe who is going to get confirmed. She won't be any worse then Hillary, maybe better.
Mike W| 12.6.12 @ 8:42AM
You are on target about Benghazi. As bad as letting 4 Americans die in that way was, it laughable when Republicans get high and mighty about considering the incredible loss of life and treasure in the Iraq war. A war based on massive lies and fraud.
Having said that, Rice is a lousy liberal and even worse, she has these hawkish fantasies. She liked Lybia and she wants other countries on her belt also. She is god awful and her nomination should be fought furiously.
KennesawJack| 12.6.12 @ 9:01AM
Mike, maybe, in the long run, we should let Obamarx have his Secretary of State. Why force someone competent on him then allow him to bask in the glow of someone else's good judgement. Give him what he wants and let him take the hit for what will inevitably follow, which will be a ME in flames.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 11:20AM
That's not the point.
How many GOOD PEOPLE, who were put up for Importent Positions by PRESIDENT George W. Bush, were told to GO FCK THEMSELVES, by the Harry Ried Senate?
How many Black Women, and Brown Men were DENIED a Seat on The Apellate Courts because THE DEMOCRATS deemed them Too Radical, Too Extreme, and Too Far out of The Mainstream?
I don't recall a Democrat EVER saying that a Republican President deserves to get the people he wants.
EVER!
I'm sick of the Double Standard.
Not only should they DENY her the Position. They should go after Her, Her Kids, Her Husband, and whatever else they can find to go after her on, just like these CCKSCKRS did when Sarah Palin was trying to get a Job in Washington.
Cry Havoc! And, let slip The Dogs of War.
NO MORE DOUBLE STANDARD.
Jack in Wi| 12.6.12 @ 9:22AM
She is a very liberal interventionist who has been in the pocket of the Israeli lobby her whole career. On that basis she should be opposed but not about Benghazi.
cuban pete| 12.6.12 @ 10:41AM
Ahhh, those pesky Jews.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 11:21AM
You sound like a Moron.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 11:22AM
That was for Jack Jew Hater.
Jack in Wi| 12.6.12 @ 1:38PM
The 3 harridans of the left Madaline Albright, Hillary Clinton, and now Rice have always all been firm lackeys of the Zionists. If you don't like the truth lump it.
Stan Redmond| 12.6.12 @ 2:52PM
Hillary? Lover and slave of the Jews? Really. The Arafat lickspittle Hillary Clinton?
KennesawJack| 12.6.12 @ 5:23PM
No one should kid themselves. Obamarx and Shillary would throw Israel to the wolves, if they could. Bet you a dollar to a dime Bibi was told he would get no more weapons from the U. S. if he attacked Iran before the election and is now being told he will get none if he attacks Iran at any time. This administration is repleat with anti-Semites and Israel haters. Kind of impressed, though, that they could find so many Kapos to work for them.
Jack in Wi| 12.6.12 @ 6:49PM
His administration is totally owned by the Zionists and always has been. They just are saner then the complete lunatics like Nutanyahu and the neoconservatives. Obama may not like being owned, like any house Negro, but he still follows the masters orders. After all they put him where he is and are going to get him at least 100 million when he retires, just like the Clintons and Gore.
patronanejo| 12.13.12 @ 1:49PM
I am a real conservative, not a neoconservative.
Oh yeah? Where's the racism?
Obama may not like being owned, like any house Negro, but he still follows the masters orders.
Okay...there it is.
Alan Brooks | 12.6.12 @ 10:35AM
"Jack,
you are a liberal..."
Next you'll write that Ike was a Communist.
Dai Alanye | 12.6.12 @ 6:46AM
Had Kaplan's apology for incompetence and corruption ended with, "Oh... never mind" it would have been even funnier.
It seems to be loaded with tongue-in-cheek lines, each one hinting at a reason to reject Susan Rice.
"The president trusts and admires her..."
"...some mistakes of interpretation"
"The president explained..."
"...better at the top of things in defending our Republic -- David Petraeus or Susan Rice?"
"recommended against calling the mass murder of Tutsi in Rwanda a genocide..."
"argued against... turn[ing] over their alleged guest, Osama Bin Laden..."
"If the Republicans have a problem with the President's foreign policy..."
I could go on but we can see where this is going. Kaplan 's effective use of irony makes clear that only a passel of idiots would vote for Susan Rice as Secretary of State. Well done, Roger!
spike59| 12.6.12 @ 6:52AM
because she's either:
a lying sack of crap who places partisan re-election efforts ahead of duty-as she also demonsrated while working for the Clinton regime
a clueless incompetent who failed to see the obvious
or both....
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:14PM
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Nancy in NC| 12.6.12 @ 7:26AM
Why attack Susan Rice? How about incompetency and spinelessness?
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 2:08PM
How about: CAUSE SHE'S THERE!
patronanejo| 12.13.12 @ 2:04PM
@Nancy in NC
Are you being ironical? : )
How about incompetency and spinelessness?
Incompetence is already a noun.
Hardcard| 12.6.12 @ 7:39AM
I think kaplan needs to be attacked. What a schmuck. She went to Oxford, so, a trained liar.
CJW| 12.6.12 @ 7:42AM
How about she lied about the death of four Americans, especially when Hillary and Panetta refused to do the Sunday morning dog and pony show?
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:14PM
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CJW| 12.6.12 @ 7:42AM
How about she lied about the death of four Americans, especially when Hillary and Panetta refused to do the Sunday morning dog and pony show?
Jeff Dorsai| 12.6.12 @ 7:46AM
Its because she is a politically motivated liar ...
it was the NRDC that brought up her investments not the GOP ...
Von Mises Jr| 12.6.12 @ 8:58AM
Speaking of the GOP, where were Boner, Cantor, McCarthy and McConnell during the Benghazi assassinations? Issa was about the only Republican shouting from the mountaintop about possible gun running to Al Qaeda rebels, black ops secret prisons and the whereabouts of Dear Leader for about seven hours while our nation was under attack.
But when it is time to talk about raising taxes, you can't keep the GOP Liberal Establishment from pushing each other out of the way to get in front of the camera and cave on defending American's property rights.
If you think clearly about it, the whole DC Ruling Class is broker than broke. They stole our Social Security Trust Fund monies, bankrupted Medicare probably taking the last $716B in Premiums to give to illegals, Muslims and drug addicts, and they are destroying our dollar in quantum speed. The truth of the matter is that they have nothing left to offer.
Reagan was right again. "Government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem."
loulou| 12.6.12 @ 10:37AM
What's this I hear about Amb. Stevens funneling weapons to the jihadis in Syria? (They are jihadis, not rebels)
Von Mises Jr| 12.6.12 @ 11:11AM
You probably saw this on Breitbart today: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-P.....s-funneled
But don't get too excited. None of the "Stupid" people will learn of it and the article states that this has been going on for years. So you guessed it, "It's Bush's Fault."
Von Mises Jr| 12.6.12 @ 11:15AM
Correction loulou.
The few liberals that can read may have seen it in the NYT. But while Obama and Clinton authorized the shipments, it is the fault of Qatar: http://www.theblaze.com/storie.....militants/
Amazing how that works.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 11:24AM
And, it's absolutely nothing like IranContra.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:14PM
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John786| 12.6.12 @ 7:50AM
Some translation:
Umma - the collective name for the early Muslim community.
Dar al Islam- the house of Islam, or more literally peace ( in a spiritual sense). This term does not appear in the Quran. But is a later invention.
I feel the author has used these terms pejoratively.
loulou| 12.6.12 @ 10:37AM
Uh oh--has a fatwa been issued?
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:14PM
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TLP| 12.6.12 @ 11:25AM
He shoulda just said HELLHOLE, and been done with it.
Pecos Pete| 12.6.12 @ 8:13AM
King O dictates, the Senate consents thereto.
Susan Rice is a clone of King O. He lies, she lies. Etc.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:15PM
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Louis Jenkins| 12.6.12 @ 8:45AM
Not just because Rice is a liar, but how about the way Democrats have attacted various Republican nominations? Remember when Bush (supposedily) lied about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? I am sure you do regardless in you stance about that episode. Turn about is fair play Mr. Kaplan. It just so happens that Mrs. Rice is a female and black. Had she been anyother race or creed, or sex, she is still a liar. I saw her on the talk shows and so did you. Four Americans dead, and she said it was due to a video?
SUBVET| 12.6.12 @ 12:36PM
Notice all blacks in bo's cabnet.....paybacks for all thoes years of the big put down. They do it so if anything is said your're a RASIST.
This whole black thing since bojangles got elected/reelected has gone to far. If I had a rasists thred in me before it has come full circle to equality/fairness can kiss my a@@.
done............
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:15PM
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bluecollarbytes| 12.6.12 @ 8:45AM
Obama will have the foreign policy he wants regardless who is fronting it. Other than getting a scalp, maybe there's no point in wasting the energy on Rice.
But, the "Administration handled the Benghazi affair" ? The administration created the 'Benghazi affair'.
c. j. acworth| 12.6.12 @ 9:13AM
Agree. It wil make no difference who Obama nominates. Hillary was so competent she couldn't even locate a translator who could spell "Reset" in Russian.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:15PM
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JP| 12.6.12 @ 8:48AM
The GOP is using Rice to cover up their own lack of curiousity concerning the evening of 9/11/2012. The President knows this and he himself is playing the game. After-all, the President has the most to lose. To this day, we have no idea what the President was doing the evening of the Benghazi assault. This is THE question as it would answer who actually ordered the stand-down which lead to the deaths of 2 CIA employees. And by answering that question new questions arise: What exactly was Stevens doing in Lybia in general, and Benghazi in particular?
But, no one in Congress wants to touch any of these questions. Hence, the pretence of congressional authority. Bullying a hapless Progressive bureaucrat makes the Republican lawmakers feel manly. But more importantly, it hides their own weakness.
Indy| 12.6.12 @ 9:33AM
I don't think it is a lack of curiousity, it is an intent to deceive the American people. Recall how progressives McCain and Graham have been leading the charge for the US to arm the "rebels"...here I go with a rare ref to the NYT via the blaze, is this a random act of journalism by the Times?
http://www.theblaze.com/storie.....militants/
Something is very wrong, both parties are lying to the public. The Media is complicit with few exceptions.
Indy| 12.6.12 @ 9:41AM
JP, you might find this two part series interesting, I'm not saying I agree with all if it but it does raise concerns. I agree, what was Stevens doing in Benghazi on 9/11, this appears to be a CIA operation, this was a rental place, not a consulate. We are arming our enemies, these "rebels" are no friends of the US. Where is the Left? crickets...of course, there guy is in charge and McCain / Graham are giving cover by ignoring this, I believe they know what is going on.
Benghazi explained: Interview with an “Intelligence Insider”
Part I and II http://www.canadafreepress.com.....icle/51346
http://www.canadafreepress.com.....icle/51400
JP| 12.6.12 @ 10:11AM
And, if I am not mistaken arming Al Qaida is a felony. Unless Congress covertly allowed such an op, the President and probably a dozen people could go to jail. Even if Congress allowed the operation, the political fallout would be enormous.
Indy| 12.6.12 @ 11:08AM
Bingo, so are there journalists with courage? Jennifer Griffin and Catherine Heridge are the only ones I can think of that could get to the bottom of this, they were well on the way but have gone a little quiet...
SUBVET| 12.6.12 @ 12:38PM
The big CLIFF is in the way.............
Hardcard| 12.6.12 @ 8:56AM
umma is also hillary's BFF the dishonoable mrs. a.weiner. An act of war is committed against th USA and a paid, highly placed US official (rice) lies and deceives the US public for political gain (the pending election). sounds like treason to me.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:16PM
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TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:18PM
You're gonna need it.
Sjccoach| 12.6.12 @ 8:58AM
More CINO logic from the American Spectator. Let's be nice to the enemy and they will like us. It is people like Mr. Kaplan who are killing the Republican party. He says give the President everything he wants and the people will like us. Why do you waste time publishing articles like this?
Stan Redmond| 12.6.12 @ 2:54PM
I have to say I find this article to be more of a tongue in cheek satire piece. But who knows? Maybe I'm wrong
Hardcard| 12.6.12 @ 9:02AM
a happless bureaucrat ? Ambassador to the UN !!
she's not a clerk in charlie rangels office. you are a useless libshitz a-hole, like kaplan,
KennesawJack| 12.6.12 @ 9:03AM
Which, in the context of the cult of Islam, they should be.
KennesawJack| 12.6.12 @ 9:04AM
Above in reply to John786 at 7:50AM.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:18PM
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Anthony| 12.6.12 @ 9:29AM
Well you're half right Mr. Kaplan, which I guess for a D.C. insider is pretty damn good.
Yes, Rice was set up as a patsy by Obozo and Clinton. Yes, she lied through her teeth for Obozo. Obozo would have sent up the Commissioner of Basketball to explain Benghazi if he could have gotten away with it, and the whores in the MSM would have probably let him.
The Rs punted on pushing Obozo and Hillary for answers, true, but that does not excuse Rice's lies and deliberate obfuscations.
She could have done the honorable thing and not lied for Obozo, but she's a much a fraud as Obozo and Hillary are, so I have no qualms with her taking the hit for this.
All of Washington is culpable for this disaster. The R party is a disgrace, they are cowards and feckless. Obozo and the Ds are just plain corrupt. Four decent and honorable Americans died because the politicians in Washington are morally and intellectually BANKRUPT.
Time to take a flamethrower to this place and start anew.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:19PM
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Goldwater Girl| 12.6.12 @ 9:43AM
Roger,
Isn't there a tennis match somewhere in the world that you should be covering?
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:19PM
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RAM| 12.6.12 @ 10:32AM
American voters also put the Members of Congress in office, presumably to do their best. Does that include rolling over for all stupid proposals and nominations sent over by the President? No doubt Obama wants his loyal flunkies in all key positions, regardless of any lack of normal qualifications, but we have a confirmation process to keep such urges reasonably in check. Those who would give Obama and his Executive Branch carte blanche to do their thing should explain why we have other branches of government.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:19PM
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holmegm| 12.6.12 @ 11:23AM
Is this a serious article? Or a parody?
Stormy| 12.6.12 @ 11:52AM
Rice's appearance on the Sunday talk shows and what she said is not important. It is just a small segment of a huge cover-up. The questions that should be asked are what was going on at that "consulate" that was not a consulate. It was a CIA operation to collect weapons in Libya and send to Sunni forces in Syria, including CHEMICAL WEAPONS. Questions need to be asked about who was involved in the attack...Iranian operatives? They questions to be asked any many, but Republicans and the media are not asking them, because they would find that our president and administration are involved in turning the Middle East over to the Mus Bros and Saudi Arabia. This would be bad enough if not for the fact that it is placing us on a track to have a war with Russia, Iran, and China. Think about that folks. I know it sounds crazy, but any crazier than the stories being peddled by this administration?
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:20PM
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Kingofthenet| 12.6.12 @ 12:38PM
Bravo Roger, apparently you didn't drink the FOX Kool-aid. When the intelligence community came out and flat out said, they TOLD the administration what to say, and what was said by the administration was what they told them, this line of inquiry SHOULD have been over. But why let Facts get in the way of a good story.
JP| 12.6.12 @ 1:25PM
Errr King,
The narrative falls apart if one considers the President had a front row seat to the massacre in Benghazi. Again, no one, absolutely no one is asking the one question, "Where was the President on the evening of 9/11/2012?".
For a few short days Issa and perhaps 3 reporters asked that very question. Other than that nobody has even come close. The entire thing concerning what did the CIA or FBI or DOD know is immaterial if the President had first hand knowledge of what went down. That small piece of information implicates him on the entire stand-down issue. And if one considers that from the time the last CIA operative was killed and the time it took for the WH to issue the "You Tube Alibi" was less than 8 hours, one has to strongly consider that the WH ran everything. Additionally, the WH declared the Bengahzi compound a "crime scene", which allowed the FBI to take indefinite custody of all of the drone footage, electronic communications, and inter-goverment intel and communications.
This makes the Watergate Cover-up pale in comparison.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 2:13PM
The better question would be: How could this MFer fly off to Vegas for a Fund Raiser, and Jay Z's house, for Champagne, even as these SCUMBAGS were dragging our Dead Ambassador's RAPED, DEAD BODY through the streets?
Hello?
Kingofthenet| 12.6.12 @ 3:32PM
Which is it?, EITHER he was glued to the monitor, 'Watching this go down' while snacking on chips OR he was off to Vegas. Well he was off to Vegas, nothing wrong with that, life goes on, he had an election to win.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:20PM
All of the above.
Ronsch| 12.6.12 @ 1:22PM
Gee Roger...I do not know as much as you, but is it too much to ask for a sitting POTUS to actually nominate people who are, umm, QUALIFIED, for the positions?
cicero| 12.6.12 @ 2:37PM
A hapless beaurocrat? How in the hell did a hapless beaurocrat manage to amass a $43 million fortune on a hapless beaurocrats salary? Oh yeah, she is a really good commodity trader. Where have we heard this before?
Anyone in the private sector would have been indicted by the justice department for insider trading with a record like hers. She was investing in alternative energy companies that were being funded by the government, and just managed to divest the stock before word leaked that they were actually bankrupt.
We have no accountability in Washington anymore, and can't expect the opposition party to call anyone to account, because they are all in it up to their elbows. As Harry Truman once famously said, "You show me a politition who comes out of office with more money than he came in with, and I'll show you a thief." We are being bankrupted by a den of thieves, and Roger tells us that we should keep them around, and put them in charge of our foreign policy so they can keep the merry go round spinning.
How patheetic are we as an electorate?
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:21PM
The Contest is up and running at Monday's Story - The Artist as Ethnographer.
You're gonna need the "Previously" Button, and the Contest runs until Saturday at 7pm.
Good Luck.
Joe D.| 12.6.12 @ 5:14PM
Give me a break, Roger. She knew what was going on and decided to lie to the American public before a major election. We want as moral and ethical people as we can get. And the president does no always get what he wants. The Senate is not his rubber stamp as we have been told many, many times.
TLP| 12.6.12 @ 5:21PM
The Contest is up and running at Monday's Story - The Artist as Ethnographer.
You're gonna need the "Previously" Button, and the Contest runs until Saturday at 7pm.
Good Luck.
Grzmlyk| 12.6.12 @ 6:33PM
This article is a JOKE. Or is this a guest liberal writing?
It's called P-O-L-I-T-I-C-S. Ever hear of it, Roger, old boy?
And since people like Roger Kaplan will obviously never lay a glove on Obama, the GOP is - admittedly ineptly, as they are inept at everything - trying to find the loose thread that will lead to Obama.
The point is that the the administration - and, last time I looked, the head of that administration was Obama - lied and people died.
Susan Rice is in the line of fire. C'est la guerre. Politics ain't beanbag.
And, by the way, I do hope the author was as bent out of shape when Scooter Libby was sacrificed on the altar of phony liberal outrage over Valerie Plame.
sdfhlk | 12.6.12 @ 8:03PM
who is willing to help someone who seems to be in need.
topcat52| 12.6.12 @ 9:05PM
I was going to lay out a number of reasons why Susan Rice should be disqualified for the office of Secretary of State, but you have given even better reasons than I could have so I won't bother. If this was a piece that was supposed to support her, you have failed miserably. I can only surmise that the title of the piece is an attempt at satire.
Anyone But Obama| 12.9.12 @ 11:05AM
One reason stands out, DOPE. She lied. She lied to all of us on national TV knowing what the truth really was. And it was a stupid lie. That's why, you stupid moron of a reporter. We need honest people representing us and we need reporters with a brain. That is you so go get another job idiot, like shoveling crap at a horse stable. That's about how smart you are.