“Dude! Benghazi Won’t Go Away Until We Get the Truth,” Jonathan S. Tobin writes at Commentary, responding to Obama shill Tommy “Duuuuuuude!” Vietor meltdown during his interview with Bret Baier yesterday:
What we have seen this week is not just the usual spin on events that you get from any White House. This administration has been acting as if no one, not Congress, the press, or the people, has the right to answers about its actions during and after the Benghazi attack. In a telling moment last night on Fox News, former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor, one of the people responsible for the famous talking points that claimed the attack was a case of film criticism run amok, had this exchange with Bret Baier:
BRET BAIER: According to the e-mails and the time line, the CIA circulates new talking points after they’ve removed the mention of al Qaeda and then at 6:21 the White House, you, add a line about the administration warning on September 10th of social media reports calling for demonstrations. True?
TOMMY VIETOR: I believe so.
BAIER: Did you also change attacks to demonstrations in the talking points? VIETOR: Maybe. I don’t really remember.
VIETOR: Dude, this was like two years ago. We’re still talking about the most mundane thing.
BAIER: Dude, it’s what everybody is talking about.
While Vietor is being rightly mocked for his cavalier and sophomoric attitude about a famous lie, it’s actually quite telling. Democrats are befuddled as to why the Benghazi story is still being discussed since they think there’s nothing to it and that we should have all moved on a year ago. But it won’t go away until they start telling the truth.
This exchange came on the heels of the delayed release of the shocking email from Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes and the repeated arrogant lies told about this communication by White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. This is more than mere fodder for conspiracy theorists and partisans who watch Fox News. They speak to an arrogant contempt for the public and the press that is rooted in a belief that this administration is above scrutiny and that anyone who wants to know the truth about the misleading talking points or anything else about this event should just shut up.
Though their performance on this issue may argue to the contrary, Republicans can walk and chew gum at the same time. They are perfectly capable of persisting in efforts to get to the bottom of Benghazi while holding the president accountable for what is happening in Ukraine, Syria, and the Middle East.
Hey, Harry Reid can walk and chew gum at the same time as well. He’s perfectly capable of denouncing GOP efforts at getting to the bottom of Benghazi and smearing the Koch brothers in the same press release:
Harry Reid’s statement on the Benghazi select committee has a Koch reference in the 2nd sentence. pic.twitter.com/llHsRqK5Ua
— Kate Nocera (@KateNocera) May 2, 2014
Vietor’s performance yesterday as a petulant teenager is magnified by Jay Carney’s performance as a petulant teenager every day. Or as Jonah Goldberg writes in his latest emailed G-File, “Carney actually seems shocked and, well, disappointed to the point of contemptuousness, when reporters won’t believe him. It’s like no one told him he doesn’t have Jedi mind tricks at his disposal:”
Carney is a very strange creature for Washington. He’s an extremely confident liar — we’ve got a lot of those! — but he’s not very convincing. Usually, confidence = convincing. As George Costanza (and in his own way Bill Clinton) liked to say, it’s not a lie if you believe it when you tell it. But with Carney, he lies in a way that makes it seem not so much like he believes it but that you’re an idiot for not believing it.
* * * * * * *
Carney actually seems shocked and, well, disappointed to the point of contemptuousness, when reporters won’t believe him. It’s like no one told him he doesn’t have Jedi mind tricks at his disposal.
Carney: These are not the droids you’re looking for, idiots.
Ed Henry, Fox News: But Jay, these look exactly like the droids we’ve been looking for. In fact, the serial numbers match.
Carney: Ed, I understand your network is deeply invested in finding a story here. But the simple fact is that these are in no way the droids you’re looking for. Move along.
Henry: One last follow-up, Jay. The golden droid on the right just said, “Excuse me sirs, but we are in fact exactly the droids you’ve been looking for. Thank goodness you found us.”
Carney: No, no they didn’t. And besides — I used to be a journalist as you know — and it’s common knowledge among real journalists [Carney winks to the non-Fox reporters in the room] that one should never believe what droids tell them.
Jonathan Karl, ABC: Jay, related question: Here is a photo of you from last month holding up a picture of these exact droids with the quote in the caption reading, ‘Carney vows the White House will not rest until these droids are found.’ Also, ABC News has obtained footage of you from this morning, hugging the two droids right there, with you saying ‘Thank Obama we found you!’ Can you explain that?
[Carney rolls his eyes and then desperately tries to telekinetically choke everyone in the room.]
Henry: Uh, Jay are you okay? Why are you squinting? What’s up with that hand gesture . . .
Here’s an artist’s recreation of the above apocryphal press conference:
Which is actually an insult to Sheldon, who makes his living searching for knowledge, rather than perverting it.
And has far better taste when it comes to interior decorating, as well.
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