The Weekly Standard captured a couple of significant quotes from this morning’s talking head shows.
Obama political adviser David Plouffe offered support for U.S .Ambassador Susan Rice despite the fact that she riffed all five Sunday talk shows with bad misstatements about what happened in Benghazi, Libya, on 9-11-12. Rice blamed the sacking of the U.S. consulate there, and the murders of four Americans, on a “spontaneous protest.” Plouffe appeared on Meet the Press today and backed Rice: ““Well, this is an event of great interest, obviously, to the public, to the news media. Information was being provided in real-time. Obviously, you’re going to know more two weeks after an event than a week after an event. And as Ambassador Rice was– that was the information from the intelligence community. It was the same information provided for Congress. The reason obviously we now have stipulated this is a terrorist attack is that came from the intelligence agencies. So as information has become available, as this investigation has continued, we’re obviously making that information known.”
We now know that the intelligence community was looking at the sacking as a pre-planned terrorist attack from the very first day.
But Obama adviser David Axelrod showed up on CNN and seemed to toss Ambassador Rice into the ample space underneath the Obama bus: “Well, first of all, Candy, as you know, the president called it an act of terror the day after it happened. But when you’re the responsible party, when you’re the administration and you have a responsibility to act on what you know and what the intelligence community believes. This is being thoroughly investigated because we need to bring to justice.”
Yes, President Obama did call it an act of terror on 9-12. Then he backtracked and, ever since, has refused to call it an act of terror. He has also consistently linked the Innocence of Muslims YouTube movie with the attacks despite the fact that the movie is at most an excuse to riot. His federal law enforcement apparatus found the man who allegedly made that film, rousted him out for “questioning” in the middle of the night, and now has that man in custody on alleged probation violations. But Obama is not calling Benghazi what it was, a terrorist attack by an al-Qaeda that may be resurgent thanks to the Muslim Brotherhood’s newfound power and influence.
The inconsistency about Benghazi is not limited to Susan Rice. It starts at the top, because Barack Obama is still trying to decide which way to land. He’ll land wherever he thinks the political advantage lies, not where the truth leads.
By the way, Axelrod stole a second base in that quote above. He claimed that Benghazi is being “thoroughly investigated.” How is that possible when the FBI still isn’t on the ground where the attack took place?
Also read:
Join the conversation as a VIP Member