Semi-related to Bernard’s post on Petraeus below, I’m wondering if y’all can explain to me how this Obama conspiracy to blackmail Petraeus to give false testimony to Congress on Benghazi is supposed to work. The theory was put forth by Charles Krauthammer yesterday and eagerly taken up by the usual suspects today. Here are the underlying suppositions:
1. The Benghazi affair is more politically consequential than Watergate, Whitewater, Iran-Contra, Chappaquiddick, the Keating Five and the Teapot Dome scandals all rolled into one, and Romney totally would have won the election if it had been covered properly.
2. President Obama must’ve ignored warnings infinitely clearer than the 8/6/01 Presidential Daily Briefing entitled “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US,” which was obviously not worth investigating after 3K civilians were killed on Bush the Lesser’s watch.
3. The only way Obama could cover his ass in the Benghazi affair was to orchestrate a scandal to compromise the country’s most prominent general, and he fiendishly used a wingnut FBI agent’s obsession with a seemingly flaky Tampa socialite to kick off an investigation that would lead down paths those two pawns could not foresee.
4. Obama further used Jedi mind-tricks to silence noted political opportunist Eric Cantor after Cantor was briefed on the scandal before the election, thanks to the aforementioned wingnut FBI agent.
5. Petraeus is either, A) such a dummy that he was willing to lie to Congress on 9/13 to buy a short reprieve from the announcement of the scandal, which he knows will then engulf him and destroy his career, or B) such a dupe that he will keep lying about Benghazi even after Obama has betrayed him and destroyed his career.
I don’t believe wingnut conspiracy theories since I’m not deranged, but I can usually at least follow their logic down whichever rabbit holes it leads. Not this time. Am I missing something? In what universe does any of this shit make sense? I don’t get it.
[X-posted at Rumproast]
LittlePig
In the FoxNewsiverse, of course. The one where Rmoney is President and the U.N. is trying to shut down golf courses.
sharl
Because, FREEDOM! And, AMERICA!
WOLVERINES!
Dave S.
This makes perfect sense to a mindset that accepts every event as part of a conspiracy by shadowy (oh what a giveaway) forces.
matt
Turdhammer is just earning his paycheck.
ding dong
Because Fox news needs the eyeballs. Also they said so so there .
Roger Moore
I think you’re missing the part where he used his time machine to start the investigation long before the Benghazi attacks. I guess one of the dimensions in Obama’s 11 dimensional chess game is time, so that shouldn’t be a surprise. And I’m thinking that this all makes sense because the President is blah and also a Democrat.
LittlePig
There is a picture of FBI Agent Wingnut in the dictionary, in the entry for ‘Gang Aft Agley’.
Mike Goetz
Don’t even try. It’s the ravings of somebody suffering from shock. Let them work through it; only the passage of time will return them to coherence.
Waynski
A) It gives Congressional Rethugs temporary cover for their intransigence and constant efforts to delegitimize the Prez.
B) For Fox News, Rush, et al, it keeps the loonies and rubes on the reservation and gives them something to hope for — Obama impeachment! For A it’s about power, for B it’s about cash. It doesn’t have to make sense as long the KoolAid is consumed.
Bokonon
Who needs logic when you’ve got outrage?
Paula68154
GOP has a projection problem.
MattF
And Obama did all this fiendish plotting at the same time he was running his Presidential campaign. And I think Dr. Krauthammer should start self-prescribing something… calming…
Paula68154
GOP has a projection problem.
BerkeleyMom
Krauthammer is an ass. As long as he is putting forth this kind of BS speculation, I don’t feel so bad in passing on an old story about him. A good friend of mine was in intern in the Carter White House when Krauthammer was working for the president as well. Ever the gentleman, Charles offered my friend a ride home after a late night of work (he had a vehicle adapted for a wheelchair driver). Partway home, Krauthammer pulled over and lunged at my friend, trying to kiss her. When my grossed out friend protested, he said his wife wouldn’t mind. My horrified friend demanded to be taken home or she’d get out of the car. I cannot look at the sanctimonious prick without thinking of him jumping a 20 year old, 5 foot tall intern. Yuck.
cmorenc
Charles Krauthammer is the ultimate inside-beltway pundit whose polticial eyesight would be too blurry to see anything without coke-bottle political-ideological eyeglasses. Even the most famously wrong-way beltway wingnut pundit, Bill Kristol, manages to get an objective clue now and then. But not Krauthammer, whose view of this past election utterly fails to convince him there’s anything wrong with the Republican Party platform and message, except that (duh!) they need to be less obviously insulting to Latinos.
hep kitty
Sounds like everybody is overthinking this. Here’s how it went down:
1. Obama, as the devil’s apprentice, is naturally a master of the black arts (no pun intended);
2. Consequently, he was able to predict the Benghazi attack which he would so relish watching, cackling with delight over the carnage as it went down on the livestream.
3. Obama had both the time, motive, and special dark powers to force Petraeus, against his will, to put his pee pee in Broadwell’s hooha, a year before the attack was to take place.
Yutsano
@LittlePig: Is the picture shirtless? These things matter you know…
Frankensteinbeck
You are missing the core of conspiracy theory – the inability to grasp the idea of coincidence. If nothing is coincidental, then the more elaborate the theory is that finds tiny clues to tie in seemingly (and actually) unrelated issues, the more plausible that theory becomes.
Also, these people want a conspiracy really bad to blame Obama for, so they’re forcing themselves into this mindset.
Ann Rynd
And how hard was it for Obama to convince the FBI agent to go shirtless just to make it all seem so much more plausible?
Bernard Finel
You missed the part where we knew the attack was coming, but failed to react because we were too busy appeasing Muslim radicals and apologizing for the film and American policy.
Also too, that Obama watched the attack taking place in real time (presumably cackling the whole while) and called off armed aircraft that were in position to intervene.
And finally, that Obama was deliberately trying to suppress evidence that this was a terrorist attack, even though he refered to it as a act of terror the very next day.
Oh yeah, and Susan Rice… something something something. Burn the witch!
Richard
It all makes sense once you realize that Obama is a Muslim from Kenya who wants to turn the US into a communist country using abortion.
Ash Can
It never has to make any sense if it supports their anti-Obama/Dem/liberal sentiments. Those emotions rule everything; the only empirical evidence that truly exists is that which harmonizes with them.
hep kitty
@BerkeleyMom: Eeeeeewwwww! Somehow I have a feeling this was not an isolated event? Poor girl. Nobody should have to dodge Krauthammer lips. ((shudder))
(Oh no, now I have a mental image of Krauthammer’s puckering, slobbering lips, barf)
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: Remember, this is the man who placed fake newspaper notices of his own “birth”. His Time Lord nature is well established.
japa21
Actually, this all preliminary to discount whatever Petraeus might testify to if it doesn’t fit in with their theories. Obviously he is lying because the WH is blackmailing him about things which are already totally public. Therefore…you are right, there is no logical sequencing that can be followed here.
MattF
Can I ask a serious question? What the fuck is wrong with these people?
quannlace
Gaaah, just saw the promo’s for the remake of ‘Hey, Kids, lets put on a war!”
TenguPhule
Hark ye! THe Wingularity is Nigh! I can see the Peak Wingnut Horizon from my house!
Birthmarker
Impeachment?
Ash Can
BTW, and OT (maybe), the prez is holding his first post-election news conference today. I wonder if he’ll make any of the newsies cry.
blingee
Jesus titty fucking christ on a stick. Are you bloggers so desperate for something to write about that you are going to peddle this Faux Noise conspiracy bullshit?
Yea I know you are doing your typical point and laugh ha ha schtick but you are still talking about it and talking about is all they want you to do. How about just talking about how irrelevant Faux Noise is. One article…then move the fuck on to something that matters. Like getting back the house in 2014. Yea, it really is time to start talking about that. The other side isn’t backing off or giving it a rest.
Comrade Dread
I think you missed the part of the conspiracy where Obama personally tipped off Al-Qaeda to the location of the ambassador, laughed evilly as the security services called for help, then hypnotized Mitt Romney into making a stupid statement before Obama then retreated to his island volcano layer where he did lines off of a male hooker.
sab
@Birthmarker: Yep. This Benghazi stuff is just stage one of the impeachment of Obama. Senator Huck Graham of SC is already on board.
Betty Cracker
@Bernard Finel: Speaking of Susan Rice, I hope the president does nominate her to replace SoS Clinton when she leaves to start her own DYI home improvement show. The wingnut squeals will be deafening, and the hypocrisy of the Condi Rice-fluffing, Iraq WMD-believing poltroons in Congress criticizing Rice for giving an account of what was then conjectured about how the Benghazi thing when down on MTP will be something to behold…
Lolis
McCain has vowed to stop Susan Rice however he can in the senate, clearly implying filibuster. Political Wire has the story. He is such a fucking sore loser. Reid better get Dems in line for filibuster reform.
BlueNC
I have family members obsessed with this one. Most of our conversations go something like this:
Me: “What sort of vegetables should we have at Thanksgiving?”
Them: “Maybe Brussel sprouts? But Benghazi!!”
Me: “How many of us are will there be at Thanksgiving?”
Them: “BEN-GHA-ZI! BEN-GHA-ZI!”
It is bizarre.
Judas Escargot, Bringer of Loaves and Fish Sandwiches
That Time Machine on Mars must be in serious need of maintenance by now.
Comrade Dread
@TenguPhule: No such thing.
Even if the wingularity exists and you pass through it, you’ll simply enter an alternate universe where Rush Limbaugh is a serious philosophical voice and Ann Coulter is considered sexy.
PeakVT
What Am I Missing?
A loose screw. If you wish to actually have a loose screw, you need to watch 8 hours of Faux each day and up your intake of Cheetos or some other orange-dyed snack food.
quannlace
Isn’t Krauthammer the guy who bitched that the DNC should have known months before what the weather was going to be like during their convention?
Elizabelle
@blingee:
Agree with Blingee at comment 31.
Newsbusters and the odious Krauthammer are getting too much discussion.
Pointing and laughing distracts from doing more important things, like contacting the Senate about filibuster reform.
cmorenc
@Bernard Finel:
One point we have to grudgingly admit is that Susan Rice’s performance on weekend talkies immediately after the Benghazi incident was NOT a wise or smart tack to take: coming out so strongly on seeming to pronounce the attack as developing from a spontaneous demonstration, rather than a premeditated, organized assault. Given the already-known assortment of weapons that the attackers had on hand and used, it was already obvious that at the very least, a well-organized cell had done advance preparation for a potential assault on the American consulate, and they had seized the opportunity of a spontaneous demonstration to quickly hijack the moment to launch their prepared attack.
As a seasoned foreign policy hand, Susan Rice should have known better than to take the public tack she did so soon after the incident.
catclub
Why could it not be all to protect Holder from investigations of Solyndra and Fast and Furious? _THOSE_ investigations were just about to bear fruit that would sink the Obama admin.
Hill Dweller
@Lolis: Every time McCain has popped off, the President has smacked him down. I look forward to it happening again.
Rice did nothing but repeat what she was told during her CIA briefing. The wingnuts have nothin’.
Yutsano
@Betty Cracker: I am NOT cleaning up the mess this time. There is still goo on my walls from wingnut brains going asplodey over THAT ONE’S re-election.
Roger Moore
@MattF:
They’re a bunch of racist, sexist fuckwads who are stuck in the 1950s and aren’t willing to admit that the country has changed since then and are freaking out because reality isn’t letting them live in their delusions anymore.
cmorenc
@Betty Cracker:
Unfortunately, Susan Rice’s performance on MTP you refer to was an astonishingly stupid performance for a seasoned diplomat, when it was apparent to any thinking person that the attack was anything but the result of a spontaneous demonstration. In addition to being inevitably proven wrong, she needlessly gave fuel to the wingnuts to come after her and the Administration for the sort of incident the Bush Administration would have certainly been caught equally surprised and inadequately prepared.
Yutsano
@Betty Cracker: I am NOT cleaning up the mess this time. There is still goo on my walls from wingnut brains going asplodey over THAT ONE’S re-election.
Roger Moore
@MattF:
They’re a bunch of racist, sexist fuckwads who are stuck in the 1950s and aren’t willing to admit that the country has changed since then and are freaking out because reality isn’t letting them live in their delusions anymore.
cmorenc
@Betty Cracker:
Unfortunately, Susan Rice’s performance on MTP you refer to was an astonishingly stupid performance for a seasoned diplomat, when it was apparent to any thinking person that the attack was anything but the result of a spontaneous demonstration. In addition to being inevitably proven wrong, she needlessly gave fuel to the wingnuts to come after her and the Administration for the sort of incident the Bush Administration would have certainly been caught equally surprised and inadequately prepared.
Hill Dweller
@cmorenc: Rice was repeating what she was told in her CIA briefing. Maybe she should have been more skeptical, but she repeatedly said that was based on info they had at the time.
cmorenc
@Betty Cracker:
Unfortunately, Susan Rice’s performance on MTP you refer to was an astonishingly stupid performance for a seasoned diplomat, when it was apparent to any thinking person that the attack was anything but the result of a spontaneous demonstration. In addition to being inevitably proven wrong, she needlessly gave fuel to the wingnuts to come after her and the Administration for the sort of incident for which the Bush Administration would have certainly been caught equally surprised and inadequately prepared.
John Weiss
Charles Krauthammer is a nut. Why listen to a nut?
Poopyman
@hep kitty:
Wait. He has lips?
Bulworth
If only faithful conservative American patriots had a cable teevee news station or a ubiquitous, country-wide network of radio talk shows that could have covered this elaborate conspiracy.
John Weiss
Charles Krauthammer is a nut. Why listen to a nut?
trollhattan
Wingnuts have all been issued their Benghazi talking and by gawd, they’re going to use them. Mentioned yesterday in a dead thread that Friday’s Maher had SippyCupp who, after mostly behaving herself managed to become LOUD AND SCREECHY and the end when Benghazi came up. (Can’t recall if she, herself is the one who brought it up.) The hive mind doesn’t seem to have much else to cling to after the election, and they’re working Extra Special Hard to tie every possible thing to it.
As Betty notes, it’s the Most Important Thing To Ever Happen and We Mean It!
Aries Moon
Seems to me that Krauthammer is conveniently ignoring the fact that Cantor’s knowledge of the affair (who did he tell?), and subsequent call to the FBI director, is probably what sent Patraeus’s tenuous job situation past its tipping point.
John Weiss
Charles Krauthammer is a nut. Why listen to a nut?
Villago Delenda Est
As I’ve said in the past, Krauthammer needs to be taken out to the middle of the Mass Pike as it runs through Boston at rush hour, dumped out of his wheelchair, and told to fend for himself.
He’s one of the most utterly worthless of our fascist pundits.
Yutsano
FYWP. No really.
Suffern ACE
Perhaps Bengazi was Petraeus’ way to get back at Obama for investigating him.
Zifnab25
@cmorenc: But that’s where the “scandal” pretty much begins and ends. Ranking government official flubs messaging.
From that spindle of thread, we’re on to Obama Impeachment for tricking the CIA director into sexytiming his biographer while being illegally wiretapped by a rogue FBI agent.
I look forward to the GOP spending the next six months screaming about this like they screamed about Fast and Furious. It’s a political non-winner, so niche as to be totally irrelevant to the average voter. Perhaps they can spend their time endlessly subpoenaing Rice’s credit card statements and IM chat logs. That will likely be punishment enough for the poor woman.
Aries Moon
Seems to me that Krauthammer is conveniently ignoring the fact that Cantor’s knowledge of the affair (who did he tell?), and subsequent call to the FBI director, is probably what sent Patraeus’s tenuous job situation past its tipping point.
trollhattan
Wingnuts have all been issued their Benghazi talking and by gawd, they’re going to use them. Mentioned yesterday in a dead thread that Friday’s Maher had SippyCupp who, after mostly behaving herself managed to become LOUD AND SCREECHY and the end when Benghazi came up. (Can’t recall if she, herself is the one who brought it up.) The hive mind doesn’t seem to have much else to cling to after the election, and they’re working Extra Special Hard to tie every possible thing to it.
As Betty notes, it’s the Most Important Thing To Ever Happen and We Mean It!
John Weiss
Charles Krauthammer is a nut. Why listen to a nut?
GregB
Wait till it is found out that the attack in Benghazi was perpetrated by Kenyans working for Solyndra using fast and furious American guns taken from Mexican drug cartles.
Yutsano
FYWP. No really.
MomSense
@cmorenc
If you read the briefing Rice was provided by the CIA, she stuck to it closely.
Why did the CIA get the intelligence so wrong? Did the CIA knowingly mislead Rice and the Obama administration?
Given Petraeus’ history of being less than accurate in his reporting on security situations-I am siding with Rice on this one.
Aries Moon
Seems to me that Krauthammer is conveniently ignoring the fact that Cantor’s knowledge of the affair (who did he tell?), and subsequent call to the FBI director, is probably what sent Patraeus’s tenuous job situation past its tipping point.
John Weiss
Charles Krauthammer is a nut. Why listen to a nut?
GregB
Wait till it is found out that the attack in Benghazi was perpetrated by Kenyans working for Solyndra using fast and furious American guns taken from Mexican drug cartles.
Yutsano
FYWP. No really.
MomSense
@cmorenc
If you read the briefing Rice was provided by the CIA, she stuck to it closely.
Why did the CIA get the intelligence so wrong? Did the CIA knowingly mislead Rice and the Obama administration?
Given Petraeus’ history of being less than accurate in his reporting on security situations-I am siding with Rice on this one.
trollhattan
@trollhattan:
[Uh, “talking points”] and FYWP for snatching away my edit button.
John Weiss
Charles Krauthammer is a nut. Why listen to a nut?
Yutsano
FYWP. No really.
japa21
@cmorenc: Actually, as it has turned out, the attack was quite possibly a spontaneous respone to the film and this particular group, having a regular arsenal, used the demonstrations that were taking place as a cover for their attack. So it was, in actuality, a mixture of both a terrorist attack, although planned only a couple hours before, and a response to the film.
It is highly doubtful that the attack would have occured if the film had not existed.
demit
@Elizabelle: God forbid people should take any time out from anything to laugh. I mean, everybody knows how bad laughing is for your health.
PeakVT
I’ve heard and read the list of who is participating in Obamacare by creating health care exchanges, but this map nonetheless shocked me a bit. I guess at some level it will never cease to amaze me how much the Christianist South really hates its poor people.
SatanicPanic
Because conspiracists don’t need facts to be coherent or even not opposed to each other. They know something is wrong, therefore any bad thing that can be attributed to the bad actor in the conspiracy can be true.
Also, finding out why things are bad in the world requires both figuring who was responsible for the things that didn’t happen by chance and accepting those that did happen by chance (and what that means- the world’s not fair). Both of these are very difficult so people take the easy way.
Mandalay
@Elizabelle:
Me too.
trollhattan
@trollhattan:
That should read “talking points” and 2x on Yutsano’s FYWP-FYWP.
PeakVT
I’ve heard and read the list of who is participating in Obamacare by creating health care exchanges, but this map nonetheless shocked me a bit. I guess at some level it will never cease to amaze me how much the Christianist South really hates its poor people.
PreservedKillick
It would appear to me that the “We’re actually sane” period of the Republican’s post-election soul-searching has come to a close. Soon to follow, the end of the “We like women” and “The coloreds are people too” phases.
Excellent news for John McCain.
Just Some Fuckhead
IMPEACH!
Mnemosyne
@BerkeleyMom:
I would make a joke about the hand controls on Krauthammer’s car not functioning correctly, but I’m not sure enough people here would get it.
@Betty Cracker:
True story — I once won an online design contest for designing a new living room for Mrs. Clinton’s post-White House home in New York on a now-defunct website. Won myself a gift card that I used to buy a cute four-poster bed.
PeakVT
I’ve heard and read the list of who is participating in Obamacare Medicare expansion, but this map nonetheless shocked me a bit. I guess at some level it will never cease to amaze me how much the Christianist South really hates its poor people.
muddy
@cmorenc: I wondered at the time if they were holding back on the Sunday shows as part of the ongoing investigation, possible apprehension of terrorists etc. I don’t remember when it used to be standard for the WH/CIA to spill their details on tv in real time. Jeezum, on the cop shows on tv they always like to hold things back from the press, details that they don’t want the public knowing. So that’s great for tv drama, but when it is national security we must have 100% realtime transparency?
I had read already about the 2nd group with the mortars etc by the time she made those statements, and thought it was odd that she would be so definite, and not say that the investigation was ongoing. Then I thought maybe it was *meant* for tv, if the terrorists thought it was going to fly based on “a video”, they might not be as careful about themselves afterwords. It’s just mostly odd to me that she kept with the story when other details were already publicly available.
PeakVT
I’ve heard and read the list of who is participating in Obamacare Medicare expansion, but this map nonetheless shocked me a bit. I guess at some level it will never cease to amaze me how much the Christianist South really hates its poor people.
Yutsano
@trollhattan: WP is definitely in one of its moods. Will someone please give Tunch some tuna so he’ll stop fucking with us?
Mnemosyne
@BerkeleyMom:
I would make a joke about the hand controls on Krauthammer’s car not functioning correctly, but I’m not sure enough people here would get it.
@Betty Cracker:
True story — I once won an online design contest for designing a new living room for Mrs. Clinton’s post-White House home in New York on a now-defunct website. Won myself a gift card that I used to buy a cute four-poster bed.
PreservedKillick
Are the republicans seriously this stupid? Even if there was something there, which there isn’t, this is a political non-starter.
Of course, they’ll read my message as a liberal attempt to divert them from the scent, to which I say: “Onward!”
Yutsano
@trollhattan: WP is definitely in one of its moods. Will someone please give Tunch some tuna so he’ll stop fucking with us?
Tonybrown74
@trollhattan:
S.E. Cupp has to be one of the DUMBEST people to ever appear on television.
And that is saying a whole lot because there are so many. She just sounds stupid.
It wouldn’t even surprise me if it were to come out that those glasses she wears aren’t even prescription; worn only to make her look smart.
trollhattan
I think the server needs Roto-Rooter. Also, too, is Krauthammer not the modern embodiment of Dr. Strangelove? They guy always looks like he’s in the middle of the World’s Most Difficult Dump.
Surreal American
I still amazed that Obama managed to somehow stick Petraeus’ little soldier in Broadwell’s lady parts.
giltay
a) The president is black.
b) The president is a Democrat.
c) The president is in a position to get major things done this term that don’t just involve making rich folk richer.
d) The president is black.
Surreal American
I’m still amazed that Obama managed to somehow stick Petraeus’ little soldier in Broadwell’s lady parts.
PeakVT
@PeakVT and @PeakVT and @PeakVT and @PeakVT: I meant medicaid expansion. Thanks, FYWP, for allowing me to get that wrong four times.
The Golux
@blingee:
This. How do we convince the Obama campaign organization to pivot to this, and apply their awesome ground game to the only thing that matters? Perhaps they could infiltrate the Tea Party and encourage them to primary Republican incumbents, replacing them with unelectable halfwits.
Paul
I am assuming during the Benghazi hearings that the GOP will call witnesses to verify the horrendous impact after the GOP cut security at U.S. embassies:
Republicans have sought to cut hundreds of millions of dollars slated for security at U.S. embassies and consulates since gaining control of the House in 2011. Democrats are scrutinizing the GOP proposals in the wake of attacks on U.S. embassies and consulates in the Middle East, one of which saw Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans murdered. “This is a disturbing example of the Republicans’ meat-ax approach to cutting every aspect of the government, no matter how essential,” said Senate Democratic Policy Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.) in a statement to The Hill.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/250237-gop-embassy-security-cuts-draw-democrats-scrutiny
These folks really have no shame, do they…
Democrat Partisan Asshole
Somebody go buy some new hamsters, the site is fucked.
GregB
I think this scandal needs to be dubbed Obama is Worse Than Hitler-Gate
Roger Moore
@Yutsano:
You can say that again. Oh, wait; FYWP already did it for you!
Bokonon
The great thing about conspiracy theories is that they don’t have to be logical. You can just throw a bunch of facts and fictions together in a hat, mix them up, and … alakazam! Presto! Benghazi!
I mean … think about it.
NancyPelosiandislamicterroristvoterfraudBenghaziEricHolderKenyananticocialistblackhelicopterBenghazibetrayalNewBlackPantherChicagothuggeryACLUcoverupliestaxincreaseassaultrifleFastandFuriousnotvettedlamestreammediaSarahPalinrealityshowcancellation means TREASON!
Wake up, America!
cmorenc
@japa21:
…and that would have been a FAR more sensible line of explanation for Rice to have taken, since it doesn’t necessarily contradict the CIA’s assertion that the demonstration itself was (at least initially) spontaneous, yet would allow for the substantial possibility the moment was hijacked by a group which had already been making preparations for an assault at some unspecified moment when a suitable opportunity arose.
Roger Moore
@Yutsano:
FTFY.
Yutsano
@The Golux:
The teatards have a tendency of doing this on their own. Unfortunately some of those halfwits still manage to get elected. To wit: Michele Bachmann.
Paul
@PeakVT:
Or hate themselves. Republicans in the south would never keep getting elected without the support of people who would lose financially by voting for said Republicans. I have seen enough interviews on TV with lower middle class southern whites who are beside themselves in their hatred for the black guy in the White House.
? Martin
The squid-cloud of butthurt obscures all logic.
Southern Beale
What are you missing? Well, I imagine sometime around next year we’ll see a Krauthammer-authored book titled something like: Hopeless: The Truth About Obama & Benghazi, actually ghost-written by Jeff Gannon, but the GOP is supposed to pretend they don’t know him anymore, and available exclusively at WND (free with a trial subscription!)! Then he’ll do a round or two on the Wingnut Wurlitzer, and because Krauthammer is “serious” he will of course make a de rigeur appearance on this or that Sunday lap dance, etc. All in time for the media to begin preparing for the big midterm election boondoggle.
I mean, I dunno. Could happen.
? Martin
@trollhattan:
Not everyone paralyzed and in a wheelchair is an evil madman, if that’s what you mean.
(Does not exclude the possibility that Krauthammer is in fact an evil madman)
Mouse Tolliver
I could explain it to you, but it involves River Song and events that haven’t happened yet. Spoilers!
Hill Dweller
Andrea Mitchell and Tom Brokaw are teaming up on MSNBC to make this one of the stupidest lead-ins to a Presidential press conference I’ve ever seen.
Why is Brokaw so revered?
Now they bring on Cillizza.
Where is the Drano?
muddy
@Martin:
This is so delightfully apt, thank you.
Signifyingmnky
So President Obama is a Sith Lord…makes perfect sense. Don’t know how I missed it.
How do these people summon the mental faculties to tie their damn shoes in the morning?
gnomedad
@dmsilev:
He’s the love child of the Prophet and Amy Pond!
catclub
@Bokonon: you missed Solyndra
The Ancient Randonneur
Please recall that in the very same base Krauthammer is appealing to is a core group that believes the 6000 year old Earth was created one thousand years AFTER the Sumerians invented ink. These are also the same people who believed all the way up until about 2245 ET that Romney was going to win. Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Evolution. Climate change.
It just has to be true. Period.
Or maybe it’s the Underpants Gnomes of Foreigh Policy!
ETA: Or quite simply, nothing to be understood, only believed.
muddy
@PeakVT:
It seems so uncivilized viewed from the glorious soocialist republic of Vermont I have to say.
hep kitty
@Poopyman: Apparently, they come out of hiding in the presence of nubile young females. Urp.
catclub
@PeakVT: 1)Medicaid, not Medicare.
2) They say that now, but I suspect large amounts of money will appeal to hospitals and doctors, and they will become more flexible.
Suffern ACE
@Hill Dweller: I know. Sadly, you have to watch these things yourself. Either you wade through the MSM shit to watch the presser, our you drown in their shitty analysis afterwards and will therefore not know at all what was said. Shitty options both.
muddy
@The Ancient Randonneur:
It’s a religion to them, all received wisdom, taken on faith.
Ruckus
@Mike Goetz:
The average lifespan of a human is what 70-90 years? Most conservatives have already done that or a large portion of that. How can they gain that much cognitive thought in such a little time?
Most of them are going to take this to their graves unless it affects them directly, and probably not even then.
Niques
@MattF: I think they confuse religion with politics. They believe in the GOP. They, and they alone, are on the side of good . . . therefore Obama and all Democrats/Liberals must be spawns of Satan. And, of course, when Satan is involved, no conspiracy theory is too far fetched. Also, magic.
When it comes to religion, many believe in small “d” democratic rule . . . their church leaders must tell them what the majority want to hear, or those leaders are abandoned. Truth or facts be damned. Or Scripture.
It’s sad, really.
JPL
@GregB: That is so deep you should send it to all your friends and relatives. Once it reaches the tea party mail, your mission will be accomplished.
AA+ Bonds
Simple answer: Charles Krauthammer is a fraud who thinks lying is moral in pursuit of political ends.
He long ago figured out that more money flows to Rush Limbaugh than to George Will. He correspondingly adjusted his lies from George-Will-level to Rush-Limbaugh-level.
In fact, the topic of his column is usually gleaned from idiot radio the week before.
johnny aquitard
@Richard:
Using gay abortion.
There’s a huge difference. It’s what gives him his jedi-like mind powers, the ability to summon hordes of alinskyite black panther thug organizers, plus the mastery of time, space and dimension.
But not mastery over the teleprompter, of course.
AA+ Bonds
Drop a few bricks into his lap and roll that little Nazi’s wheelchair into the Potomac
It would barely be justice given how many American soldiers and Iraqi civilians he helped murder
blingee
@The Golux: Apparently that is EXACTLY what the Obama administration is planning on doing. Using their existing GOTV machine to start working towards 2014. Maybe even with Jim Messina still at the helm.
Watching MSNBC and Chuck fucking Todd now concern trolling Obama on Petraeus. Fuck you Todd!!!!!! You lost any credibility you ever had when you spewed your mittmentum bullshit. I can tell Obama is basically rolling his eyes just in the tone of his voice.
Whispers
Interesting argument.
Let me retort, if I may.
Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!
With all due respect to Joe Scarborough.
trollhattan
@? Martin:
Why yes, in fact I watch the Paralympics specifically to mock various wheelchair events. Mwa-ha-ha!
That said, Chuckie seems unique amongst paid teevee talking heads in exuding creepy vileness along with “thoughts,” all of which are sourced from the same half-bakery. That my local dead tree newspaper wastes op-ed space on him (alternating with Big Thinker Bowtie Boy George Frigging Will and Kathleen Goddamn Parker and [hangs head] Jenn I Heart Willard Ruben) is waaaaay too much Chuck in my diet.
JGabriel
Betty Cracker @ Top:
As TenguPhule notes, the Wingularity is nigh!
More specifically, these people do not exist in our. They exist in the Wingularity, beyond the Event Horizon, from with there is no return and all communication is noisy gibberish.
.
priscianusjr
Remember Whitewater? There was a scandal there, as there is here, but the part about how Bill and Hillary were supposed to be involved in it never made any sense and never got anywhere. And how many years did the wingnuts keep flogging that?
This one is probably even more convoluted. It seems like even the whistle blower had his own part in the scandal.
It’s hard for me to get very excited about it, because I don’t give a shit if Petraeus is head of the CIA or not, or if he has a chance at being the Republican presidential nominee or not. But if he has lost it, that just goes to show how off the rails this exposé has been from the very start.
priscianusjr
@The Golux:
Matt McIrvin
WordPress turns every discussion into a Philip Glass opera.
trollhattan
@Matt McIrvin:
Heh. “Nixon in a Blender”
WereBear
Good one!
To me, Krauthammer epitomizes the old saying, “You can’t choose the face you are born with, but you earn the face you die with.”
They tried to make Solyndra into a scandal, despite the fact it started during the Bush Admin. Ditto Fast & Furious. And, to be honest, it seems that the Petraeus affair started then, too?
WereBear
Whoops. Petraeus affair only started in 2011. Really? You couldn’t keep a secret that long, Mr CIA Director?
Berial
@PeakVT: What really sucks about that map is that in MS the head of the Health Dept. is all for it, and was ready to go forward, but the GOVERNOR decided he knew better what kind of medical care Mississippians need.
Lex
The one in which, out of all the participants, Eric Cantor is the one behaving most sanely. Which, I think, tells you all you need to know.
different-church-lady
You’re familiar with step 2 of the Underpants Gnome’s business plan? Same thing.
Alex
Try huffing paint thinner for a couple hours, in order to simulate the brain-functioning of these mouthbreathers, and then reconsider the Kraphammer thesis. It takes a ton of stoopid to make sense of this stuff.
Anna in PDX
LOL at the Philip Glass remark.
This entire thing is too much for my linear form of thinking to comprehend. I guess I need to take a class in quantum wingnut reasoning.
Mike G
If only the Repuke sewer rats had been this assiduous about investigating the immense disaster that was 9/11. If the Chimp was given a pass on air defenses over the northeastern US (after multiple warnings), how the fuck can you then turn around and hold the POTUS responsible for a ground attack on a consulate in a country in turmoil on the other side of the world?
But as always, the real name of their game is “Get the ni-CLANG, any excuse will do”.
aimai
@Frankensteinbeck:
This reminds me of the Azande, who I had to study when I was a graduate student. According to the ethnography of the Azande, they really didn’t believe in coincidence or accident at all. Everything was caused by something else, usually something malevolent or intentional in the way of witchcraft. They were quite sceptical in their own way, however, and had a “poison oracle” to determine what was the cause of any given thing in dispute. Say your house fell down you could go to a poison oracle and they would ask a question of a chicken, then poison it and if it died you had your answer. But you would ask the same question a different way and try it again so that the two anwers could confirm each other. Like if one answer was “yes” the other had to be worded so it was “no.” Well, it was all a very long time ago now and we will hope that is an accurate reflection of what I learned at the time.
aimai
sherparick
@Roger Moore: I was going to mention this since Ms. Kelly apparently called her friend, SA Shirtless, sometime in May and June about the anonymous e-mails telling her to keep her Housewives of Tampa Bay claws off a “Man Called Petraeus.” (See Atrios and Digby for more snark.) How devily clever of Kenyan Muslim Usurper to use his special mind control powers and a time machine to trigger all this 3 months before the Benghazi screw-up.
About a week ago, everyone in Faux News and the Republican Party were gobsmacked about the outcome of the election because they were believing their own con. And now hardly a week later, they are once again slinging on what Jon Stewwart has aptly called BS Mountain.
sherparick
Again, as we all know, Peak Wingnut is a myth.
LAC
@MattF:something that would induce a coma, for starts. I am sooooo freaking tired of Dr. Strangelove and his Kraken face.
LAC
@blingee: I wish someone would tell that chinless fuck that his days as a young gun of politics are ovah..,
Patricia Kayden
“Am I missing something?”
No, you’re just not crazy like a Bachmann.
BruceFromOhio
… and you kept reading it … why?
Chuck doesn’t do rabbit holes, he does septic tanks.
@Mike Goetz: This only prolongs speculation that there was coherence to be had.
Felonius Monk
Krauthammer and the ring-nuts he hangs out with remind me of a bunch of 2-yearolds. One of them drops a turd on the floor and the others just keep smearing it around.
These assholes must check their brains at the door when they come to work — I just can’t believe that they are this stupid.
AxelFoley
@giltay:
I think you forgot e) The president is black.
El Cid
That this whole thing has drawn immense attention to the individual government official involved in the most sensational bizarre cavalcade of reality TV tropes imaginable only proves what a shrewd puppet master the Obama administration is.
Clearly, they intended for this to look so nutty-silly on purpose so that everyone would only think it was, rather than the subtly planned and expertly executed coverup it is, was, and ever shall be.
Jeffery Bahr
Krauthammer is an intelligent man, a physician who supports many liberal and libertarian notions (e.g., death penalty, anti-creationism, et al). This makes it all the sadder when he goes off on one of these inane benders. Reading his bio in Wikipedia, it’s amazing to see the progression from Mondale Democrate to raving conservative in a few short decades.
befuggled
@The Ancient Randonneur: So the Sumerians used ink to write on clay? I think you need to rework that.
reggid
The most brilliant part of Obama’s fiendish plot to cover up Benghazi was to travel back in time to select Patreus’ biographer, then later travel back in time again to make Patreus have an affair with her, and then later travel back in time a third time to make sure Patreus was investigated.
Honestly are all right-wingers on drugs or something?
Nylund
My wife and I were just doing the same thing…trying to follow the conspiracy logic and we couldn’t figure it out. Wingnut conspiracy theories are always BS (Vince Foster!), but at least you can usually follow their baloney narrative. This one is has more than a few “underpants gnomes” gaps in the story:
Step 1: Bengazi
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Petraeus
Step 4: ???
Step 5: Impeach Obama!
Andrew Pulrang
Scandals, kerfuffles, and brouhahas are usually about one or more of three main things:
Ideas … Stuff that really matters and stuff related to what really matters.
Actions … Sometimes people in power do really immoral and / or really illegal things.
People … Specifically, weirdos, whose weirdness give the impression of something more, but there isn’t, they’re just weird,
That last one is what this one is about. Patreaus is weird. Broadwell is weird, The Tampa “socialite” is definitely weird. And this other guy appears to be a weirdo junior grade.
By tthe way … Watergate, that was a triple. Nixon was epically weird, personally. He did really immoral and illegal things, and it was all in service of corrupt ideas and assumptions.