UN Ambassador Susan Rice met today with her biggest Hill critics on Benghazi — Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) — in an attempt to stem furor over her potential nomination for secretary of State.
But her attempt to smooth waters didn’t seen to have the intended effect. “I’m more disturbed now than I was before,” Graham told reporters afterward.
Rice issued a statement after the meeting, which included Acting CIA Director Michael Morell, to discuss her Sept. 16 comments that blamed protests over an anti-Muhammad video for the deadly attack on the diplomatic facility.
“I appreciated the opportunity to discuss these issues directly and constructively with them,” Rice said. “In the course of the meeting, we explained that the talking points provided by the intelligence community, and the initial assessment upon which they were based, were incorrect in a key respect: there was no protest or demonstration in Benghazi.”
“While we certainly wish that we had had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved,” she continued. “We stressed that neither I nor anyone else in the Administration intended to mislead the American people at any stage in this process, and the Administration updated Congress and the American people as our assessments evolved.”
“In real time it was a statement disconnected from reality. If anybody had been looking at the threats coming out of Benghazi, Libya it was jump out at you, this was — an al-Qaeda storm in the making,” Graham said. “I’m very disappointed in our intelligence community. I think they failed in many ways. But with a little bit of inquiry and curiosity, I think it would be pretty clear that to explain this episode as related to a video that created a mob that turned into a riot was far afield.”
If the American people were given incorrect information five days after the attack, and more bad info by President Obama even after that, the senator continued, “Should they have been giving the information at all? If you can do nothing but give bad information, isn’t it better to give no information at all?”
“So my belief is not only is the information bad — and I’m more convinced than ever that it was bad — it was unjustified to give the scenario as presented by Ambassador Rice and President Obama three weeks before an election,” Graham said.
Ayotte said she was “more troubled today knowing… it’s certainly clear from the beginning that we knew that those with ties to al Qaeda were involved in the attack on the embassy.”
“Obviously the changes made to the unclassified talking points were misleading. But just to be clear, when you have a position where you’re ambassador to the United Nations, you go well beyond classified talking points in your daily preparation and responsibilities for that job,” Ayotte said. “And that’s troubling to me, as well, why she wouldn’t have asked.”
Graham said senators are “not even close to getting the basic answers” and promised they’d remind Democrats of their opposition to John Bolton if they fuss about a holdup of a Rice nomination.
“Our Democratic friends felt like that John Bolton didn’t have the information needed to make an informed decision about Ambassador Bolton’s qualifications, John Bolton to be ambassador,” he said. “And Democrats dug in their heels saying we’re not going to vote, we’re not going to consider this nomination until we get basic answers to our concerns.”
Waste of time.
Susan Rice is going to be jammed down the country’s throat. The angry incompetant boy king, supported by the gaggle of brain dead journalists and criminal politician will see to that.
Obama will be denied NOTHING in his 2nd term! Sen Grahamnesty is up for re-election 2014. The Rep etablishment elite have been castrated by the progressives ruthless race/class/gender based razor. Yet again, the hysterical cries os “racism/sexism” by the MSM, WILL vivisect any Republican opposition. Rice’s nomination for SOS is in the bag, just watch. Pitiful really. For now, “the man” is dead, politically.
Sure looks that way to me, at least in the short run.
I’m no fan of Sen. Graham, to put it mildly, but I have to say he is right on this issue.
Once it is possible to steal national elections with impunity (which includes both the POTUS/VP and the US Senate/House seats), we no longer live in a republic. That ship has already sailed.
The real question becomes: Can we reestablish an actual republic under the Constitution in any part of the US?
NO.
Obama has,
1. the military.
2. Drones.
3. a mandate.
4. The Police and their Unions.
5. the republicans by the balls.
6. the blessing of half the voters.
7. the entire education system and their unions.
8. The money.
9. The Chi-Town mob and the new Mau Mau.
10. Americans are too fat, dumb and happy to care about things like freedom, legal elections and the rights and constitution.
Senators are still de-Rice-ive?
In Washington, it always comes down to someone trying to protect their Rice bowl.
The intelligence people (Patraeus) said the intelligence brief said it was Al Qaeda. Clapper said his office changed the briefing to remove the Al Qaeda/Terrorist language. But there is still no one asking/saying where the demonstration out of control meme came from. It wasn’t the intelligent community, it wasn’t Clapper’s office. Where did it come from?
And who gave the orders to stand down? And failed to follow the President’s order to “do all we can to help those people”?
We are a long way from deciding if Rice is qualified for Sec State. As far as I’m concerned, there have been treasonous acts committed here, and those people should be prosecuted.
Keep in mind that absent a declaration of war or a status of forces agreement, it takes action by the president to permit use of force.
The CIA/Former SEALS were acting on their own initiative, having been told, apparently, to stand down. The AF C-130 gunship guys didn’t have that kind of initiative.
The President would have had to give the order to permit the AF to legally open fire. That didn’t happen, though communications were good enough to permit real time video!!! to be reviewed in the White House.
The CIA/Former SEALS were thus, legally, hung out to dry.
Why was the ambassador et al. sent to Benghazi, depite security holes that forced out the Red Cross and the British? I suspect that his job was to be captured (perhaps with his staff) by an Al Queda affiliate. The CIA/Former SEALS were not in on the deal.
That way, just before the election, the Obamanation could either decisively send in the cavalry, buffing up his national defense credentials. Any casualties, well, they probably would have voted (R) anyways.
After the CIA/Former SEALS waltzed in, killed a few tens of terrorists, and let the ambassador’s staff escape, the opportunity for a dramatic rescue was gone. Obama won even with out his set up for heroics, thanks to massive voter fraud.
from Politico:
“In the course of the meeting, we explained that the talking points provided by the intelligence community, and the initial assessment upon which they were based, were incorrect in a key respect: there was no protest or demonstration in Benghazi,” Rice said.
So why were so many steps taken to reinforce the “spontaneous demonstration and film” narrative?
The arrest and perp walk of the filmmaker
Hillary’s statement to one of the family’s that they would “get” the filmmaker
The $70,000 ad campaign refuting the film and free speech
Obama’s UN speech with numerous references to the film
If a diplomat is someone sent abroad “to lie for his country”, well, maybe she’s not *totally* unqualified to be SoS. But since the ability to persuade her counterparts to the US position is essential to her duties, she’s more than a bit deficient in the credibility department. Even WE here in the US aren’t buying her story. So why should anyone abroad believe anything she says?
Eice is obviously the worst kind of mindless political hack….someone who doesn’t think for herself. She does have a fantastic resume. Could this be because of affirmative action.
I think she will get the job even if not passed by the committee. Obama will just jam her through. However the alternative may be worse. John Kerry?
Susie is a useful idiot. Despite her academic credentials or perhaps because of them she never met a dictator she did not like.
I’m SO happy Graham brought up the point of John Bolton. There was no reason for Bolton’s nomination to be held up by Congress except for the fact that the Democrats didn’t like him. Well, it’s payback time, and Rice is going to be on the short end of the stick. And rightfully so. Either she out-and-out lied for the White House on those TV shows, or she was too lazy to do her own homework and look into the Benghazi attack further before going on the TV shows. There was plenty of intel right after the attack that said there was no riot because of the video, most of it coming from the State Department and the CIA. So if she didn’t look at this information or, worse, ignored it, then she certainly is guilty of not being prepared to represent the US as a diplomat. Either way, she is not qualified to become Secretary of State because of this. Either she is a liar or just a puppet for the White House sent out to parrot talking points. Neither is what we need in a Secretary of State.
Dems opposed Bolton’s UN ambassador nomination because they “didn’t like him”? That’s complete horse****. They opposed him because he was vocal about wanting to dissolve the UN. Pretty clear why some would oppose such a nomination. Get your facts straight.
Re:
“Dems opposed Bolton’s UN ambassador nomination because they “didn’t like him”?
That’s perfectly correct….the Democrats were very afraid, and rightfully so, of what the candid Bolton would say to those hypocritical “Nations United” against America. He proved them correct with his unique and much needed approach. Remember that nifty cartoon caption”…”Doesn’t play well with children”?
Bolton’s non-nonsense approach was very much against the passive/appeasing Democrat reverence for the horse*** of the U.N.
Forgot to add that even these good Republican Senators here have a low threshold for Rice’s B.S.
[The reason, I noted carefully on my shorthand notepad while I was leaning against that darkened back wall of the meeting room with my wide green eye-shade low over my eyes, was that they were pi**ed-off by Rice's transparently arrogant attitudinal BS. She's also playing the race/gender card as far as she can. She lost that round.]
Of course this won’t be getting dropped, Lindsay Graham isn’t out of the woods vis-a-vis a 2014 primary yet. The base doesn’t like Graham, but absolutely loves the Benghazi conspiracies (look around you). So Sen. Graham, being the clever politician that he is, will ride this story through every Sunday talk show and network interview that he can get himself booked for until the base loves him once again.
He doesn’t care about Susan Rice, nor does he actually think any wrong-doing was done, he just wants to get re-elected like any other politician. And – “Squirrel! Squirrel! South Carolina electorate” – he will be re-elected on the back of this non-story.
After watching the good people of Utah re-electing Orin Hatch after he voted FOR Holder as AG because “he likes President Obama and wants to help him”, I have no doubt the people of South Carolina will re-elect Sen Grahamnesty, because that’s what America does. We keep sending the same crooks and idiots back to D.C. no matter how bad they screw things up.
Florida sending Grayson back to the House is another prime example. Oh, and Jesse Jackson Jr re-elected by a landslide (like 90+%) while he’s in a mental institution and under indictment and facing prison.
In the town of Dogpatch where Lil’ Abner lived, the townsfolk always voted for their Senator, Good Ol’ Jack S. Fogbound, “There’s no Jack S. like our Jack S.”. They kept sending Ol’ Jack S. back to Washington just to keep him out of their lives. That’s probably going on in many places across America.
All of the repubics will fold.. spineless, dickless, gutless and useless.
The US has to be permitted to self destruct in order for it to rise out of the ashes many decades in the future, when I’m long dead and many of you. Think about that. Many of us have now been given a life sentence in a third world country.
The Rice nomination is just red-meat for the bubbas. McCain and Graham can act all manly while the real issue never even get close to being touched -what exactly was Ambassador Stevens and his CIA operatives doing in Bengahzi, and what was the President doing on the evening of 9/11/2012? Like good obedients puppies, McCain and Lindsay Graham are playing parts in a farce designed to avoid these real questions at all costs.
In the end, it doesn’t matter if Rice passes the nomination at all. As a matter of fact, Obama would like nothing more than some real life gender engineered drama to further defelct everyone’s attention away from the assault in Bengahzi. The fact that the GOP Senators will come off looking like a bunch of old misogynists racisit coots is gravy. Are Republicans really this dense? Or are they themselves complicit?
They really are this dense. They never miss an opportunity to throw the Dems into the briar patch.
HELP! TELL US THE TRUTH
Many who have looked into the Incident at Benghazi are disappointed in the congressional investigation so far. The most important question that needs to be asked and answered is, “Who gave the order to ‘stand down’ at Benghazi?” Once that question is answered, the rest of what went on there will fall into place. “According to a Fox News report by Jennifer Griffin, former Navy Seals Ty Woods and Glen Doherty…were ordered to stand down three times following calls during the attack. The first two times occurred soon after they heard initial shots fired…and (they) requested permission to go to the consulate to help out…(Forbes).” The Examiner.com claims “…former House speaker Newt Gingrich…was informed by a U. S. senator that at least two media networks have recently been given…evidence about the Sept. 11 Benghazi attacks that killed four Americans…The networks obtained e-mail evidence from…the office of National Security Advisor James Jones…ordering a counterterrorism team to cancel a rescue mission at the U. S. consulate and CIA annex in Libya. According to Gingrich…they were told explicitly by the White House ‘stand down and do nothing. This is not a terrorist action.’ If this is true, why haven’t those e-mails been made public or asked for by those investigating the Incident at Benghazi? A newspaper like the Chicago Tribune or the Washington Post has resources they can use to seek out an answer and obtain those e-mails. What if there were a robbery at your local bank? Would a reporter investigate the robbery by first flying off to New York and interviewing a senior bank manager, only to discover an adulterous relationship and then spend time reporting that? It would be better to interview the bank tellers, customers and witnesses to the robbery at the local branch first. Why hasn’t something similar been done about the Incident at Benghazi? The FBI was at Benghazi, but for only three hours. How many witnesses did they interview? What did they find out? The man who led the attack on our “mission” at Benghazi is reported giving interviews on Arabic TV! Why has no US reporter contacted him and asked him what happened? The Incident at Benghazi should not disappear off the front page of our newspapers until the stand down question is answered. We are asking the media and our elected representative for help. Tell us the truth. Who gave the order to stand down at Benghazi? If for no other reason, answer the question to set the minds of our men and women in the military service at ease. They want to be assured someone has their back.
Why?
Obama won that’s why.
When you get an affirmative action UN ambassador defending an affirmative action President, apparently even RINO’s aren’t fooled for long. It’s probably a little late though.
They are disturbed by ain’t gonna do jack shit about what happened anyway.