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Has anyone noticed that to the 15 or 16 die hard fanatics out there who just won't let go of it, the word "Benghazi" is like a magic wand that can be waved to end any partisan debate. And to those determined to turn it into a scandal if it's the last thing they'll do, they'll find a way to shoehorn it into any discussion of politics.
"Hey, the ACA enrollment numbers are up. Some commentators are saying they may reach their goal for enrollments."
"Millions of insured people are nothing compared to fpur dead Americans in Benghazi."
"No, I guess not, but look. Three more States are considering expanding Medicaid coverage."
"Medicaid wouldn't have saved the lives of four dead Americans in Benghazi."
"I don't see how that applies, but I suppose it's a true enough statement. But hey, how about Chris Christie? I bet this whole George Washington Bridge thing is hurting his popularity."
"If you think I'm going to let some real scandal distract me from four dead Americans, you can Benghazi my Benghazi."
"What about Bob McDonnell? Looks like there's a lot of trouble brewing with the GOP right now."
"No cuz Benghazi."
"Or Dave Agema. So far the Republican Party has had a rough year."
"BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI BENGHAZI BENGHAZI!"
Edit:
On further reflection, I think "Reductio ad Benghazium" would have been a better title for this blog.
Second edit:
Another point that I wanted to make, but forgot to include in the original entry, is that I find the language these few true believers use to be very interesting. Whenever they talk about the attack, they always say "four dead Americans." Not "four innocent lives," or "four people died." It's as if the important part isn't that four people died. The important part is that 'Merica. One gets the impression that if the only people who died in the attack were, for instance, four Libyan groundskeepers, nobody would care. "They should have thought about that before being born in Libya," people might say.
Perhaps the Left should adopt this strategy, and instead of talking about "America being plunged into two wasteful, pointless wars based on a lie," they could instead talk about "6,795* Americans dead" in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
* Number obtained from figures at http://icasualties.org/
The reason why it won't go away is because it is a decently big deal. It's also one of Obama's failings that can be directly tied with Hillary Clinton - the supposed next Dem candidate. Everything else from the NSA to using the IRS as a blunt weapon against opposition to drone strikes on civilians are all things she can lay at Obama's feet and plead plausible deniability.
ReplyDeleteBut Benghazi was almost entirely on her. She was the Secretary of State that denied multiple requests from the American embassy in Libya for either aid or evacuation as things their were reaching critical mass. She ignored the reports and continued to deny their repeated pleas until the embassy was burned and 4 people were killed. She even dreamed up a far-fetched lie about how she didn't know there was an immediate threat, that there were no impending signs of one and that the whole thing was a spur of the moment riot cause by a trailer for a homemade movie on Youtube. And when the media actually did their job for once and dared to question her about it all, she belted out a defiant "What difference does it make?!"
Well, you fucked up royal, you soulless shrill harpy, and that's the difference it makes. But if, you'd like, we can totally start digging into how you and Billy Boy have made your last few millions. I'm sure it will be nothing at all reminiscent of Whitewater...
I've heard a number of people talk about multiple requests for aid or evacuation, but I haven't seen anything concrete to that effect. In my attempts to track down said requests, I came across a news article which states that Ambassador Stevens was approached twice and asked if he wanted additional security. In both cases, he said no.
DeleteThe pertinent article: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/14/191235/amb-stevens-twice-said-no-to-military.html
Whether this is true or not I won't speculate on at this time. I only wish to say that I was surprised when I saw this, as I hadn't heard anything like this before I went looking for specifics on Ambassador Steven's requests for aid.