Secretary of State Clinton tangled with the preening Republican arseholes in the Senate this morning and is right now confronting the unhinged yahoos in the House. I thought she was terrific this morning, from what I saw.
However, I think Steve M at No More Mr. Nice Blog has it right when he notes that, while we lefties perceived Madam Secretary deftly catching her interrogators’ self-serving slings and arrows and hurling them squarely back at her inquisitors’ junk, the right isn’t watching the same show. In response to Senator Johnson’s obsession with Ambassador Rice’s Sunday morning talk show talking points, Secretary Clinton said:
“With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans,” she said. “Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make? It’s our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator. Now, honestly, I will do my best to answer your questions about this. The fact is that people were trying, in real time, to get to the best information.”
Steve observes that the wingnuts have already pounced on the quote: “What difference does it make?” and notes:
They have what they want: a soundbite they can rip from context and use as a cudgel to beat the administration and Secretary Clinton with. I’m not sure if they really expect their efforts to color mainstream coverage of this story, but it’s clear that that’s what they’re hoping. They have a new “you didn’t build that,” a new “spread the wealth around,” and they’re going to wring everything they can out of it.
He’s right, I’m sure. But I’m betting they’ll meet with similar levels of success with their latest chew-toy. Which is to say, zero outside the wingnut echo chamber. Please proceed, Governor.
[X-posted at Rumproast]
taylormattd
Exactly.
Their bullshit quote-ripping will go nowhere, other than travel in a circle around the jerk.
Alison
She fucking rocked. I only wish she was in a position to be able to have followed that up with a hearty “Go fuck yourself”, but I like to think she was saying it in her head.
And I agree with you about the wingnuts pouncing on that statement, but fuck ’em – Clinton is crazy popular and they’re going to have a devil of a time trying to tear that down. The only people who will lap that stuff up are people who already hate her and wouldn’t vote for her because of Vince Foster or whatever.
pat
I had the same thought watching that exchange with Sen. Johnson (R-imbecile). She was justifiably angry and must have exercised remarkable restraint.
To think that asshole took Russ Feingold’s seat. The average IQ of the Senate sank another 50 points.
PeakVT
Least useful hearings ever.
ETA: Also, too, Hils is rocking those glasses. Perfect for lecturing a bunch of children.
Johnnybuck
It’s already happening. At lunch I caught the story on WSB channel two out of Atlanta. The only quote attributed to the Secretary was “what difference, at this point, does it make.” They show film of her giving testimony, but that’s the only thing the little shit-heel correspondent thinks is “news.”
Cue the organ grinder.
West of the Rockies
Totally putting on my amateur psychologist’s hat now: “What difference does it make?” does not sound to me like the words of someone who is equivocating. It sounds like a genuine exclamation of dismay that time and words and resources are being wasted on a Republican conspiracy theory.
raven
@Johnnybuck: What the fuck do you expect from “Welcome South Brother”? Boortz may be gone but the rest of the cracker ass mothefuckers haven’t.
pat
And the question from that jackass was so stupid… “Why didn’t you call the people who were there to find out what happened?” I honestly don’t know what is wrong with these jackasses.
Tone in DC
Madame Secretary is positively Hillacious.
As for the “what difference does it make?” question, these are the same wingnuts who went on about Sotomayor’s graduation speech (the “wise latina” reference) for literally hours on end.
The thing is, lately, it always seems to be women who get this particularly unhinged response from these teabaggers. Witness Sandra Fluke, Susan Rice, Michelle Obama, Candy Crowley and so many others.
Johnnybuck
@raven: I’ve lived here all my life hoss, it aint like I’m shocked. Fucker didn’t even have audio of the Secretary speaking.
dr. bloor
I don’t know how Madame Secretary kept herself from bursting into laughter when Rand Paul said he would have fired her if HE was the POTUS.
As if, you little weenie.
scav
They’re pretty much down to screaching at the choir, only they do tend to forget they’re doing it in public spaces other than church.
David Hunt
Do they think she’s going to run for President again or is this just the fact that she’s Hillary Clinton?
Ted & Hellen
Please don’t call yourself a LEFTY, Betty.
It’s embarrassing.
YellowJournalism
Is it wrong that I want to replace the pictures of my kids with this picture as my phone’s wallpaper? That look says it all to me and represents my general state of mind, lately.
sm*t cl*de
Rand Paul said he would have fired her if HE was the POTUS.
Goodness. Perhaps he should run for the presidency first.
Butch
People in the state of my birth not only retained Snotty Walker but threw out Feingold in favor of Ron Johnson? What on earth has happened to Wisconsin?
JPL
The local news (Atlanta) truncated who statement so it is not just wingnuts..
trollhattan
Had my doubts about Hillary before and during the ’08 campaign, but her stint as SOS has obliterated them. If she decides to run she has my unreserved support. (But please, Hill, take care of yourself first before even thinking about it.)
jheartney
Personally, “What difference does it make?” has always been my response to the lunatic Benghazi ravings. Seriously, what difference does it make if there was a demonstration or not, or if it was pre-planned or set off by that ridiculous video? In previous righty freakouts, there’s at least a core of something in their narrative that might be scandalous if true. Here it’s just baffling what they are even alleging.
eemom
breaking: Mickey Rourke has died. Snowboard accident. Damn.
Poopyman
@David Hunt: Yes.
quannlace
So, what was with all the wingnut panty-twisting when Clinton was hospitalized? “It’s al a fake! She’s just trying to get out of testifying on Benghazi !!”
Well, she’s testifying now, and they must have known at the time that she eventually would. Morons.
Scott S.
The problem with the wingnut echo chamber is that the media lives completely inside that echo chamber. So yeah, no one actually cares about this but the wingnuts, but the nightly news will devote 20 minutes to it tonight because the gibbering cthulhoids at American Thinker won’t shut up about it…
Betty Cracker
@dr. bloor: Rand Paul makes my skin crawl. Papa Doc has some extraordinarily disturbing associates and wildly unrealistic ideas about government, but he didn’t seem like an asshole as a person. Baby Doc comes off as an arrogant prick.
Mike G
I don’t get the whole Benghazi froofraw.
Repukes have spent the past decade telling us that all Arabs are an undifferentiated mass of foaming, violent thugs. Now we’re supposed to be all concerned because in the aftermath of a chaotic situation in a war-torn country the USGov concluded that our consulate was attacked by (from a Repuke viewpoint) one kind of violent Arab gang when it really turned out to be another kind of violent Arab gang?
It doesn’t make sense even in Fox-bubble world, except in an opportunistic up-is-down-today-if-it-means-we-can-attack-Obama way.
trollhattan
@eemom:
That is too bad–really liked The Wrestler and thought it opened a vast second career potential. If I came up with ten potential death scenarios for him, snowboarding would not have made the list. (Calling mister Bono.)
FlipYrWhig
@jheartney: They’re trying to say that the Obama admin/gov’t had a chance to prepare, and failed. (It’s 9/11 “I’m rubber, you’re glue”-ism.) They’re implicitly admitting that you can’t prepare for something that happens truly spontaneously, which is why it’s important to them that it not have happened spontaneously.
The Red Pen
#WhatDifferenceDoesItMake reportedly trending on twitter.
Freepers are a-twitter with it, too.
David Hunt
As if Hillary Clinton would have served as SecState for Rand Bleeping Paul. First, Republicans don’t ask Democrats to be in their cabinets. Only Democratic Presidents are expected to show any degree of bipartisanship in that regard. Second, I don’t believe that Hillary Clinton would stoop so low as to be the main person in charge of carrying out Rand Paul’s foreign policy.
Plus, of course all this speculation can only apply to the bizzaro fantasy world where Rand Paul could ever be President…
Robin G.
@eemom: S’okay. It’s not true.
trollhattan
@Mike G:
Have seldom seen a bigger nothingburger than the Ben Gazzara kerfuffle, and wrongly presumed it would vanish after the election. Pretty clear the Republicans lost their high-capacity clip and just have the one round in the chamber. A sad, cartoon bullet.
Scott S.
Y’all sure about that thing about Mickey Rourke? I’m not seeing anything about it on CNN or Google News…
YellowJournalism
@eemom: the fuck!
Laura
@jheartney:
That’s always been my reaction, too. Why does it matter what the reason is? Why are you so focused on this bit of distraction?
No one has been able to answer the question.
And given how much the previous administration lied to the American people, I’m a little offended that TELLING THE EXACT TRUTH is only now becoming important.
piratedan
yah, what difference does it make Senator that they elected not to “place a phone call” to someone who was in the hospital fighting for their life to get an accurate assessment. Remember when you were the same duplicitous asshats that cut the funding for my department? How about I take a hammer to your kneecaps and suggest that you get that taken care of and I’ll call you while you’re in the ER to have you evaluate that threat assessment statement…
nemesis
And tonight, MSNBC will cover her “slip up” because the rw media will be apoplectic over it. Not because its a bad thing she said but because the only way rw media gets noticed is by playing the alternate reality game. With everything. See Susan Rice. See Hillary’s testimony. See the 2012 election. Its all made up bullshit and we seem to have to play along. Fuck dat.
Seanly
Here’s the first sentence of CNN’s take on the hearings:
Sexist Faux News wannabes. I’d say more but I’m on my work ‘puter…
JPL
@YellowJournalism: Look at Robin @30… not true
Short Bus Bully
“What difference does it make?” Needs to be turned into a Progressive meme.
She hit the nail squarely on the head, and we need to make sure people know that all this gas-baggery from the right is a tempest in a teapot.
Was it a protest? Was it a terrorist attack? Which semantical differentiation correctly encapsulates the death of four Americans in Libya?
WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?
The right wingers are more interested in the wording of the talking points than what actually occurred. This is political posturing of the highest order, they need to get called on it. NOW.
Hoodie
The irony is that she’s saying what most people really feel. Most Americans do not watch Sunday news shows, don’t know who Susan Rice is, don’t give a shit what she said and don’t really care all that much about Benghazi because they rightly conclude that being in places like Libya is inherently dangerous, and those who are there pretty much signed up for the danger and shit happens. They want people to do their jobs, but they know they have no idea what that requires and will leave them to figure out what it is. If it happens multiple times, then maybe they’ll give a crap, but this incident doesn’t matter all that much in and of itself, much less what some lesser known administration official said about it shortly after it happened. I sure as hell hope no one was planning his or her day based on Susan Rice’s account of Benghazi.
About SteveM’s comments about worrying whether some dipshits think this is an issue they can flog, who gives a shit? Unfortunately, there is an annoying tendency of some liberals (David Kurtz at TPM, for example), to say crap like “of course, we need to know what happened in Benghazi, etc.” because they feel some reflexive obligation to acknowledge completely meretricious bullshit from the likes of McCain and Rand Paul. Do we, meaning the public at large, really need to know all that much? After all, does the public expect an after action report each time a squad in Kandahar gets lit up by the local Talibs? State Dept. people often go to dangerous places, most of the time they have sufficient intelligence and protection and nothing happens, once in a while someone gets killed. End of story unless it happens multiple times, which it hasn’t. It’s not like it was, god forbid, an intelligence failure that led to 3000 civilian deaths in the middle of NYC.
nemesis
You…as president? Bitch, please.
Amir Khalid
@eemom:
Not Mickey Rourke, but 23-year-old footballer Miki Roque, formerly of Liverpool FC. Roque has died of cancer.
David Hunt
@quannlace:
Yes, but now she’s only testifying because they absolutely made her cowardly self do it after they had to drag her out of hiding. After she was hospitalized, I don’t thing any wingnut of any significance will actually say that, but it will be an unspoken assumption (one of many) behind the contempt that she’s going to have heaped on her by the GOP.
YellowJournalism
@Robin G.: Should’ve known. I think freak snowboarding accidents have been the cause of death for Morgan Freeman, Jackie Chan, Sam Jackson, and the guy who played Bill from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
PJ
What difference does it make?
It makes none
But now you have gone
And your prejudice won’t keep you warm tonight
max
Putting aside my total agreement with this post, I have to say the thought balloon in the picture should be a dialog balloon with ‘Bite me.’ in it.
max
[‘Carry on.’]
Keith G
@eemom: I hope he didn’t hit face first, because it would be a shame if….nah….never mind.
rikyrah
I love the graphic
Maude
Clinton is advocating intervention by US in Africa.
nemesis
And lest we forget, the House just voted the debt limit increase/capitulation, so the Hillz testimony is the perfect backdrop for the media and the gop to downshift into the outrage du jour, leaving behind any faint reminders of gop asshattery related to the debt debacle. You see how they do it?
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@David Hunt:
What difference, at this point, does it make?
Wingnuts gonna wing’it.
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
I Googled him* and saw this in the listings:
The first time I went to the Wikipedia link it said he had died this date in some town in Switzerland, but there was nothing about it in the article. Went back to check just now and the death reference has been removed but still shows up in the Google search.
*because I am an ignorant old person and didn’t know who he is/was.
nemesis
What bad thing is it that Hillz said?
What difference does it make?
dr. bloor
@Robin G.: Perhaps it was Morgan Freeman or Wilfred Brimley. Again.
Emerald
Let ’em smear her. She’s got a graduate degree in dealing with these assholes.
Alison
What’s interesting about this whole thing too is – leaping on “what difference does it make” and on the admin/State dept supposedly not reacting properly, not doing the right thing before and after, etc etc, along with Romney’s bullshit to Obama about it in the debate, where Obama told him to STFU with his implications, is that they seem to be trying desperately to paint them as being these callous, hateful, nasty monsters who don’t care at all about their colleagues or employees or anyone basically. They want to show them as cold-blooded ogres who aren’t affected by it and who indeed are to blame for it.
But then they – the wingnuts – also spend so much time and energy saying that Democrats are total pussies, whiny liberal bleeding heart babies.
So…uhh…how do those two things co-exist? How can someone be both a giant softie pushover wuss and also a maniacal heartless uncaring murderer?
Republican world is weird.
different-church-lady
Because “You didn’t build that” worked so well for them.
Wile E. Political Party, Super Genius.
Keith G
@SiubhanDuinne: If you want a good laugh at the veracity of the innerwebs, type in “Mickey Rourke snow board”.
different-church-lady
@Tone in DC:
Chew toys are not easily abandoned.
eemom
oops. Sorry about that. Very glad it’s not true though.
You see, I’m so old I remember when Mickey Rourke was totally hot. See, e.g., Angel Heart. Mmm-mmmm.
Chris
@Hoodie:
That’s pretty much my dad’s position, and he’s career foreign service and has been in a couple places like that.
mir13
Also too, Obamaloney, nahn-nahn-nahn, and Ooops.
Morans.
Betty Cracker
@different-church-lady:
Perfect. Gonna have to steal that one.
Amir Khalid
@eemom:
He’s also done one or two movies for 1980s soft-porn auteur Zalman King, which is what I remember him for.
Gravenstone
@dr. bloor:
“That’s a lovely supposition, Senator. But why do you belive you’ll come any closer to the Office of President than your father has in repeated attempts?”
Chris
@nemesis:
The wingnut line is that Obama has been trying to claim victory over al-Qaeda and that it’s on the run and no longer worth worrying about (not true, but then he never claimed to be the Messiah, either). The fact that this is a terrorist attack proves that Obama was overconfident and premature in declaring victory and possibly criminally negligent.
If it had been a spontaneous protest, the line would have been “Obama was wrong to support the Arab Spring because now it’s set loose mobs that want to kill Americans.” It really doesn’t matter, in the sense that everything would be his fault no matter what, and if he had provided enough security (think Baghdad Green Zone) they’d be bitching that those fucking limp-dicked diplomats have it too good and shouldn’t be coddled when Our Brave Men In Uniform are out in the trenches (which is their default setting when it comes to State Department personnel).
FlipYrWhig
@PJ: That’s the only thing I can think of too. “The devil will find work for idle hands to do-o…”
FlipYrWhig
@eemom: That works for you? I always thought, even in his glory days (9 1/2 Weeks, Wild Orchid, Angel Heart), that he always looked like he was coated in grime. You’re supposed to be metaphorically dirty, not literally.
J.W. Hamner
Isn’t their problem in getting traction with voters on this issue precisely because nobody but them can figure out what difference it makes what Susan Rice said that particular Sunday?
aimai
@West of the Rockies:
I guess I thought she would have been better off preparing for this like for a debate. She must have known that this was the stupid point they were going to make, over and over, and been prepared with a brutal one line put down. I agree with Steve that the way we see it and the way they see it are completely different things.
Basically, in the Johnson exchange, I don’t think she should have been drawn into his framing which was that but for the seriousness of the situation they should have interviewed the wounded staff members and that their memory would have been dispositive.
I think she should have said “You must never have been involved in an armed melee–even the people involved, who by the way were in the hospital during the first few days and couldn’t be interviewed, did not necessarily have a full view of what happened outside the embassy.”
She was too polite, in my opinion, and let her demeanour speak for her instead of making the questioners as embarrassed by their questions as they should have been. She certainly displayed more respect for the SEnators, and diplomatic tact, than I would have if I’d been her. But I’m more than ever convinced that if she wants to run again for President I’d work my heart out for her.
Suffern ACE
@Alison:
Well, actually, its like, you’re such a wuss that the big bad muslims kill your dudes and you’re more upset by the fact that the muslims were mad than you are that your dudz are dead. That’s what the whole “appeezers!” charge was about.
But it does seem that there are only two possible responses in their mind. Simple constant outrage and direct threats and actual retailiation against everyone anywhere who might not be impressed by your nuclear missiles and treasonous wussitute from the enclaves.
Johnnybuck
@Alison: That and being unable in fact, to articulate what difference it indeed does make. Dead is dead. Talking about semantics doesn’t change that.
At the end of the day I don’t think they get much, if any, traction from this except among themselves. She could talk for hours and really, “what difference, at this point, would it make?”
truer words have never been spoken
West of the Rockies
@Alison: I absolutely agree with your last sentiment here (in particular). It seems to me that many rightwingers truly believe the stuff they say: Sarah Palin was picked on because she was smart and a woman; Rush is right; Romney was all about creating jobs… They declare with shaky, tearful voices that Obama is bowing to Islamists, that he’s a socialist…
There really ARE these people… but to what degree, I wonder, is the MSM responsible for this? There was a report on NPR yesterday featuring rightwingers in Texas. The reporter selected and gave a microphone to a real group of loons (one of whom noted that we’ve never “seen any of Obama’s college professors”. There certainly are some voices on the left who are not the most informed, articulate people around. Believe me, I’m not trying to make excuses for the far-right, but what do you’ll think? Are the majority of rightwinger collectively as whacky as they seem or — to some degree — is the MSM turning up the heat to sell copy?
Brachiator
@different-church-lady:
Ah, yes. The GOP are getting their dumbth questions from the ACME Testimony Company.
No wonder it’s blowing up in their faces.
Hoodie
@Chris: A bit of sad irony to share here. My cousin (AF) spent two tours in Afghanistan,including multiple forays out into the bush, and came back without a scratch. Nope, he got TBI (seizures, loss of balance, killer migraines, busted ear drums) from a mortar shell that landed smack dab in the middle of the Green Zone, volunteering to work with the State Dept. on a third tour.
Raven
@Hoodie: AF in the bush?
? Martin
@PeakVT:
You give too much credit to all other congressional hearings.
bemused
The Republicans make my skin crawl. I picture them rubbing their hands and drooling waiting for this hearing. They get off on bullying.
geg6
@eemom:
Seriously? He always creeped me out. In fact, I like him better now, battered and bad plastic surgery and all. He doesn’t seem nearly as creepy.
Chris
@Hoodie:
Damn. I am very sorry for your cousin.
Hoodie
@Raven: Not most of the time, but he was a meteorologist, and had to work with Army units in the field. From what he says, he also had to do weapons training while at Bagram, which involved going on motorized patrols from time to time.
The Dangerman
Of course they are going to clip it out of context; that’s why you don’t say it.
Unforced error.
The Kenosha Kid
What difference does it make?
It makes none. But now you have gone. And you must be looking very old tonight.
raven
@Hoodie: Cool, I know there is FO work done by AF dudes, didn’t know about weather.
Kilks
I have not been following the Benghazi nonsense, but I thought this quote was pretty amazing from Chris Murphy. I just imagine Joe Lieberman’s face at hearing this.
“I think if some people on this committee want to call the tragedy in Benghazi the worst since 9/11, it misunderstands the nature of 4,000 Americans plus lost over ten years of war in Iraq fought under false pretenses,” newly elected Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said in response.
(via digby)
Brachiator
@West of the Rockies:
Not responsible at all.
The only media that ever consistently showed love for Sarah Palin was Fox News and their acolytes.
The worst conservatives truly believe that Palin is as accomplished and knowledgeable as Secretary Clinton and President Obama combined, because they want to believe this. Not because of evidence or propaganda.
And even if the MSM were responsible? To quote Clinton, “What difference, at this point, does it make?”
Wingnuts are immune to logic and reason. This is one of the reasons why they scurry like rats to Limbaugh and Hannity and their ilk to have their deepest fears validated and their petty hatreds stoked.
They don’t need the MSM to start their feet moving.
aimai
@geg6:
He was so fantastic a billion years ago in that sexy thriller with Katharine what’s her name and that other guy.
Betty Cracker
@aimai: I’d work my ass off for her if she wants to run again too. I supported Obama over Clinton in 2008, mostly because he was right on Iraq, but I think she’s grown a lot since then. She’s not my Ideal Liberal Unicorn, but no one who is electable is. I could totally jump on her bandwagon if she runs, which I hope she does.
Betty Cracker
@Kilks: That was an awesome quote, and he said it right after than braying jackass Rand Paul called Benghazi the worst terrorist attack since 9/11. BOOM. Well done, Mr. Murphy.
Betsy
@David Hunt: Contempt from that quarter is praise indeed.
Also, the Republicans have been “praising” Hillary since 1991.
Another Halocene Human
@Tone in DC: Outspoken liberal women, not conservative ho-bags, make them lose their itty bitty patriarchal minds.
David in NY
What a day for Hillary. First, she gets second-guessed by a bunch of lamebrained US Senators, then she gets second-guessed by some of the commentariat at Balloon-Juice. Tough job.
JPL
Help..There was a request for more security on Aug. 16 and a response on August 23d from the State Dept. that had suggestions. After that, if I heard right, there were no further requests until after the attack… I am streaming so can’t go back and listen again but is that what she said?
@Kilks: He was after Rand Paul and what a contrast.
The Dangerman
In case you were curious, and it hasn’t been addressed above…
…and if you were curious WTF Rand Paul was talking about regarding Turkey…
…AND you didn’t get your Wingnut Decoder Ring in the mail, please, allow me to decipher it.
There are people on the Right that believe Obama (Marxist/Islamist) is funneling arms to Syria via Turkey and Libya. The purposes of those weapons isn’t to overthrow Assad, it is to kill Christians in Syria. Yup, people believe that shit.
Anyway, Rand Paul just got his campaign coffers at least partially filled from some of the whackos that got that dog whistle.
cckids
I particularly love the way she told McCain (and maybe others) that the answers to some of their questions was in the CLASSIFIED section of the ARB report. In other words, know your shit, Senator, I’m not about to blab US secrets on live TV.
Assclowns, all of them.
JPL
@David in NY: The second guessing should be for the news media since they are the ones taking things out of context.
GxB
@Butch: You don’t wanna know… Sorry all about that moron RoJo, we did our best, but we’re surrounded by ill informed and scared white (really white, bed sheet white) folk. Given the current climate he’ll be around for some time to come, BUT we did get Baldwin in there to cancel out some of the idiocy.
aimai
@The Dangerman:
Thanks for posting that. Its hard to keep up with the crazy. I usually know what these guys are alluding to but that one had escaped me.
geg6
@Kilks:
Okay, I’m officially in love.
Darkrose
@YellowJournalism: No. I was thinking about making it the desktop background on my 24″ display.
Bulworth
yeah I think that out of context quote will help the GOPTeabag cause about as much as all those Koch millions did during the recent campaign.
Suffern ACE
@The Dangerman: The fact that a year into a civil war and our most warlike can’t decide whether they want Assad destroyed (he hates the Jews! He sponsors Terrorists!) or saved (he protects the Christians!) isn’t really a problem for them. If you can’t decide which side to pick, invade and fight both sides.
Kilks
@Betty Cracker: I got too excited and forgot to include the context and as you note, it makes it even better.
Tone in DC
@Another Halocene Human:
LULz.
Very much so.
Chris
@The Dangerman:
It’s no dumber than the people who thought Obama supporting the government of Christian Uganda against Joseph Kony’s Sudanese-backed militia was in it to kill Christians, I suppose.
Dear God, why are so many people so fucking stupid?
JPL
OMG..Just in case you aren’t watching the hearings, Matt Salmon from Arizona just mentioned Eric Holder.
Pococurante
Paraphrasing, she’s a bitch. But she’s our bitch.
I was hoping she’d run the next time around. Seeming less likely. In a Churchillian sense this makes me sad.
West of the Rockies
@Brachiator: You may be correct, but I’d sure like to hear the MSM challenge the horse poop that comes flying out of the mouths of people like Palin. Instead, we get David Gregory nodding sagely and silently.
Suffern ACE
@JPL: Why? Did Fast and Furious Guns wind up in Libya as part of a deal to set up a manufacturing plant for Solyandra?
JPL
@Suffern ACE: Well Eric Holder lied so maybe she’s lying too or maybe the Arizona rep. is just confused.
geg6
@aimai:
“Body Heat.” But I preferred William Hurt in that film. He was super sexy.
My weird story about that film…
I had moved home from Pitt in my senior year to save some cash and be able to keep the fairly “cushy” job I had (as compared to bar tending, which was how I made my way through most of undergrad) in advertising. My dad had his first heart attack about a month after I moved home. My younger sister and I spent lots of time in the evenings with my mom, trying to keep her mind off the idea of my father dying while she still had two in college (it was a mild one). So one evening, we decided to put HBO on and “Body Heat” was playing. We had already seen it a while ago, but thought my mom would like the noir aspect. What we didn’t remember is the one scene of him and Kathleen Turner getting it on in a pretty (for the time) graphic way and not in the usual missionary position. My sister and I just kept looking at each other, blushing and feeling very weird about the whole thing. We simply couldn’t look at our mom. When the movie was over, she raved about how good it was, but we were too embarrassed to even discuss it with her.
gene108
@Hoodie:
You underestimate the power of the Right-wing Wurlitzer. Make enough noise, make the noise loud and repetitive and eventually some faint echo of what you are clammering about will filter through the ether and to be soaked up by the ear-drums of unsuspecting people.
Keep repeating “Benghazi is worse than Watergate (because at least with Watergate no one died)” and eventually the general public will want to know WTF happened with regards to Benghazi. Since the Left doesn’t have snappy retort to this charge, “Benghazi is worse than Watergate” will float in the ether and non-right wingers will start asking questions about what Obama knew and when he knew it.
rdldot
Did they do over the CIA? Or why Petraeus went over there? Anybody know?
jp7505a
Well according to one GOP congress dunce, Clinton has blood on her hands and should have know about the attack in advance. His reason – he has a bunch of phots with people waving black flags. He wantsd the people responsible FIRED! There has to be responsibility. Well with that standard Bush/Chaney/Rummy/Condi, et. al. all should have been fired. But its ok if your a republican.
Another critter wants to know why f16s were launched from Italy after all they have excellant crowd control capabilities.
The general tone from the GOP seems to be why didn’t the state department have the sensors and the transporter capability of the starship Enterprise.
Betty Cracker
@gene108: That’s definitely their strategy, but it looks like a big fail so far. Romney completely faceplanted in his attempts to make a big issue of it, both with his absurd press conference while the bodies were still warm and by stepping on his own pee-pee while attempting a “gotcha” in the presidential debate.
So you’re right — the wingnuts will keep humping Benghazi like the rabid little chihuahuas that they are, but I don’t see it gaining any traction with actual voters.
West of the Rockies
@geg6: It’s great to see your name among the posters. For what little it’s worth, please know we all wish you well.
Your story reminded me of a time when my mother (who was probably 70 at the time and had never seen an X-rated film) suggested I go out and rent one so that she and my father and I could see what the fuss was all about. Needless to say, I did not run out to rent Debbie Does Dallas (or anything else). My father looked pretty horrified at the thought, and he and I later chuckled about the suggestion. They passed away some years ago now. My sister later gave them a videocassette recording of said “Debbie Does Dallas”. I doubt they ever watched it.
Patricia Kayden
She’s looking good to me. She looks well rested and calm — not rattled at all by all the Rightwing accusations and slingshots. I don’t think the Wingnuts are going to get much out of this Benghazi “scandal”. People are still mourning their family members from 9/11/2001, where 3,000 Americans were killed in terrorist attacks under Shrub’s watch.
She’ll be alright.
trollhattan
@geg6:
Same era, I was visiting married friends out of town and his mom happened to be staying with them as well. My buddy and I went to the video store and picked out a couple movies, including one I extolled as “I heard this is reeeeally funny.”
Watched it back at the house, with mom, in total silence: “Pink Flamingos”
Steeplejack
@aimai:
Nice supporting role in Body Heat with Kathleen Turner and William Hurt.
gelfling545
@dr. bloor: I think it is unseemly for him to be indulging in his sick fantasies during a congressional hearing.
mir13
@gene108: After what we just saw last year I believe you overestimate the power of said Right-Wing Wurlitzer. Just ask President Money BooBoo See, it screams EVERYTHING, regardless of whether it’s stupid, unwise, or hurtful. And they can’t turn it off, unlike their brains. Benghazi is a loser, has been from the start, ‘cos the whiners on the Right haven’t given a good fuck about the 4 dead, and they aren’t good enough actors to fake it. Anyone who is not already an Obama-hater knows that this is only about two things: Hating on Obama, and avoiding doing anything on jobs like they said they would TWO FUCKING YEARS AGO!
patrick II
The whole you gotta say “terrorist” meme is just republicans trying to justify their use of torture, illegal wiretapping, starting one unjustified war and mishandling another. They need an excuse, so if if you say “terrorist” often enough it seems to them to increase the stakes high enough to justify the illegality. lies, poor judgement and the wasted lives of american servicemen caused by the Bush administration. It also implicates the Obama administration in being as unable to stop terrorist attacks as Bush was — as if Benghazi is somehow equivalent to 9/11 and the gross incompetence that led to it.
Hill Dweller
@Patricia Kayden: I also think the Clinton’s still have a lot of power in Washington, which they can wield in the media. The Republicans scapegoated Rice because they knew Clinton would chew them up and spit them out.
HRC will be fine going forward. She has handled herself very well today, while the wingnuts have looked stupid.
Hoodie
@jp7505a: She should tell one of these congressdolts that the Death Star is actually near completion. It will allow us to kill anyone carrying a black al Qaeda flag on the spot, but will also enable Emperor Obama to destroy the assault rifle arsenals of every freedom-loving patriot in your congressional district and to perform on-demand laser abortions anywhere in the world.
gene108
@mir13:
@Betty Cracker:
Eight years of Bush, Jr. and six years of Republican control of all three branches of government have cooled people, with regards to reacting to the Right-wing Wurlitzer, but that’s one of the few tools right-wingers have to influence opinion.
No one likes their policies or ideas.
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like nail.
The highwater mark for the Wurlitzer was during the 1990’s, when they got Whitewater on the cover of Time magazine and kept it in the news throughout the 1994 mid-term elections. Maybe Right-wingers are just hoping to relive their “glory days”, when their lies drove the news cycle.
So far it’s not working against President Obama, though they did manage to reek havoc in the 2010 elections.
Dave N.
@Alison:
Most of wing-nut “logic” is based on contradictions. They want to have more assault rifles to protect themselves against the tyrannical government, while demanding the tyrannical government have more money for weapon systems to use against them.
They want to ban abortions while at the same time pursing policies that will lead to an increase in the number of abortions.
And my favorite, Obama is both, at the very same time, an iron-fisted tyrannical dictator who masterminds every conspiracy in the book, while he is also so weak-willed and stupid he bows to terrorists and cannot give a speech without a teleprompter. He shows how weak he is by bowing to the Emperor of Japan, but snubs the Queen of England by not bowing to her.
IowaOldLady
The idea that Hillary Clinton was ever afraid to testify before congress is hilarious. She could kick their butts up and down the Mall without breaking a sweat.
Bob In Portland
Which reminds me of this:
The Devil will find work for idle hands to do.
hitchhiker
I think PPP should do a poll asking citizens to say which of the following is most important.
Fast and Furious Program
Solyandra Loan
Benghazi Coverup
Jobs for Middle Class
Gun Safety
Immigration Reform
This is the wingnut media working in our favor, again. People look at this and see the same old mouths foaming over something that seems not worthy of mouth-foaming. They’re screwing up right now by focusing their hearings on who knew what when instead of how can we help/what did we learn about the incident itself.
Thank you, Rs. You’re reminding normal people why they hate you. Please run with the quote for a few weeks; I’m sure it will be super effective.
Shana
@eemom: And “Diner.”
jp7505a
@Hoodie: Only thing that would worry these fools would be a laser lobotomy, assuming that the laser could find it’s target.
Congress alsways has to go thru these ritual witchhunts but at least they could ask an intelligent question or two. One dolt wanted to know why Hillary didn’t simply call the compound to find out what was happening. Another wanted to know why she hadn’t read one specific memo out of the thousands that come in every day. And a third knew that by looking at a bunch of photos the attack could have been predicted. I’m just sorry that we didnot get the chance to see the f16’s being used in crowd control.
Rathskeller
@eemom: not only is he not dead, it appears to be part of some regular fake news from a particular outfit.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/23/no-mickey-rourke-did-not-die-in-a-snowboarding-accident/
He was so amazing in Diner. Man, I just thought of a 15-year-old friend who is now old enough to see that.