Monday, November 24, 2014

Ben There, Done That

obama, obama jokes, hope n' change, hope and change, stilton jarlsberg, political, humor, cartoon, benghazi, report, house, stevens, youtube, hillary clinton

Over the past couple of years, Hope n' Change has had a lot to say about the successful terrorist attack in Benghazi on the anniversary of 9/11. Which is why we think it is our duty to also comment about the newly-released report from the House intelligence committee (led by Republicans) which largely dismisses the many conspiracy theories which arose in the absence of White House transparency.

The report, which Hope n' Change is grudgingly willing to accept (while remaining mindful of Lindsey Graham's claim that it is "full of crap") says that there is no evidence of an intelligence failure, no evidence of a "stand down" order,  no failure to mount a timely rescue attempt, no evidence that the attack was related to secret arms sales, and that the White House narrative about the Youtube video was not deliberately intended to mislead.

So all of us on the Right owe great big apologies to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, right? Hardly.

We still don't know where Obama was or what he was doing during the attack. We do know that he didn't show much interest in it, that he didn't change his scheduled fundraising trip to Las Vegas the next morning, and that in his fundraising speech he compared his campaign volunteers to those who had given their lives in Benghazi.

We know that Barry and company stuck with the Youtube story much longer than can reasonably be justified, because they wanted it to be true in order to make the attack our fault. That's why Barry went to the United Nations and blamed not only the video but our Freedom of Speech for the attack. But according to the report, he wasn't lying - he was saying what he actually believed.

And Hillary? We now know with certainty that she doesn't really pay close attention to communications from the field in which people are begging for more security. In fact, she doesn't read a lot of her correspondence at all. And yes, it did "make a difference" whether the attack in Benghazi was a planned terrorist action or a spontaneous street demonstration. It just didn't make a difference to you, Hillary, because you were more interested in having your people comb through records in the State Department basement to try to salvage your presidential campaign.

In a nutshell, the report finds that nobody in the Obama administration went out of their way to deliberately make things worse - it was just partisan political "business as usual," screwing everything up at the expected and (sadly) accepted level.

Absent any stunning new revelations, Hope n' Change is therefore closing the books on the Benghazi tragedy. We're not fully satisfied with all the answers - but with so many other scandals and policy disasters to worry about, we're ready to "move on."

And may Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty rest in peace.

UPDATE: Here's an analysis worth reading about the report. It makes clear that the Lefties have very little to gloat about.

ADDITIONAL UPDATE:  After having 24 hours to review other material and think about it, Hope n' Change isn't actually quite so ready to "move on" after all. At the time of the original writing, we mistakenly assumed that the report included the results of Trey Gowdy's investigation, which substantially affected our opinion about the report's credibility.

But we were wrong - Gowdy's investigation is ongoing, and a lot of critical questions remain unanswered. So we will accept the GOP report as another piece of evidence, but won't make a final judgement until all the evidence is in.


33 comments:

Mike aka Proof said...

I suppose we should hardly be surprised. This is nothing new. Children burned to death and died of smoke inhalation at Waco and no one in the government could find any wrong doing, seeing as how evidence that may have pointed to culpability of government agents was destroyed and/or never pursued.

Nothing to see here! Move along!

Anonymous said...

OK, none of us were actually there. Yet somehow, the findings in the report don't add up.

I can still see Hillary screaming; "What difference does it make?" I'm still convinced that a coverup has taken place, a very good one.

You're right, that's it for now, but I don't think any of us are really satisfied and we're watching.

George in Houtx said...

@ Stilton: loved the "Clam Before the Storm" an old buddy of mine used to say ...."pity the poor dyslexic agnostic! he sits around wondering if there really is a DOG!"
regarding commrade fearless leader and his wonderful staff of 'yes men' .... and let's face it, that is the type of people he has in "advisory" positions. I am reminded of one of the Roman Caesars, who had an "adviser" whose sole duty was to walk by Caesars' side and remind him "you might be Emperor, but you are only mortal".
anyway, it looks like Obama will not run for a third term. he says that the American populace wants the "new car smell". I have 2 things to say about that. 1)he has more than enough time to change his mind. and 2) we don't just want the new car smell, we want a new car. I'm all for the House AND Senate to be limited to a MAX of 10 years. that is more than enough time for a Representative or Senator to ,not only find the cookie jar, but find a way to get his / her hand in there.

rickn8or said...

"And may Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty rest in peace."

More importantly, may they forgive us and the people that they placed their trust in...

REM1875 said...

Who gave the orders to stand down?

Geoff King said...

The newly released report was based mainly on testimony from former CIA head Mike Morell, who has previously been caught lying to congress:
http://m.weeklystandard.com/blogs/lawmakers-cia-2-lied-us-about-benghazi_782724.html
At the very least, the response to Benghazi was far less than it should have been. With the presidential election just weeks away, Øbama wanted the incident sweep under the rug so as not to appear his true lily-livered self to the American voters. Hence the total lie being concocted about the attack being caused by an anti-Islam video. That, and he did not want to admit that such an atrocious act could have been perpetrated by members of the "Religion of Peace".
So now we are to believe a known liar from the CIA who says that the CIA was not secretly transferring arms to the enemy. The same CIA that founded and trained that radical Islam group in the first place and still uses them to both cause division in the Middle East and to run the Afganistan Opium trade which the CIA distributes across the planet. Yep, no reason not to believe someone who made a profession out of covert operations and undercover deception.

Judi King said...

Oxymoron: House Intelligence Committee.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Proof- I certainly have lingering doubts about the whole fiasco. I'm not sure how accurate this report is, but I'm pretty sure it represents the end of official investigation into the matter.

@Anonymous- I think there were multiple coverups committed, large and small. But again, I think that behavior constitutes "business as usual" in Washington, and the committee may have found nothing striking about it.

@George in Houtx- I don't think Barry has one of those "you are only mortal" advisors.

@rickn8or- Amen to that.

@REM1875- According to the report, nobody gave a "stand down" order as such. There were delays in getting security forces deployed, though, at terrible cost.

@Geoff King- Great summary, and you've indeed pinpointed the biggest problem with the report. It relies on evidence from a known liar with an entire agency's ass to cover. And that ass-covering just happened to be politically expedient for Barry and Hillary.

I'm not accepting the report as "truth," but only as "as much truth as we're likely to get." But it would have been hypocritical of me to pretend that the report hadn't come out (and a lot of Lefties on the blogosphere are currently crowing about the "silence on the Right" about the report).

@Judi King- It does seem like they need another word other than "intelligence," doesn't it?

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Readers- Just to be (ahem) "transparent," I want to mention that I changed a few words in today's commentary to more accurately reflect my feelings about the report.

I'm not embracing the report's conclusions by any means - I'm simply accepting the idea that some of the disaster may owe more to standard government fustercluckery than active conspiracy, and also reluctantly accepting the idea that we're unlikely to get more or better answers anytime soon.

Bruce Bleu said...

"We still don't know where [lamont] was... during the attack"? The ONE GUY in the WORLD whose whereabouts is known EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF THE DAY? I'll tell you where he was... in the White House basement, playing "hide the chorizo" with Reggie Love! "Bathhouse Barry" has a history of "unconventional" behavior, just ask any reputable journalist, (yeah, I threw that in for the IRONY!)

Colby Muenster said...

Government fustercluckery is nothing new, but O'Liar and his pack of miscreants has completely redifined fustercluckery and raised the ineptitude bar to an expotentially higher level than it's even been.

Real leaders acknowledge their mistakes. Dirtbags like Billary can't even do that. I'd give my left nut to see her stand before the families of the slain and proclaim, "At this point, what does it matter?"

My thoughts and prayers go to the families who lost their loved ones in Banghazi. They will never taste justice, but I hope they can take small comfort that there are millions of us behind them.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Bruce Bleu- What we know with absolute certainty is that whatever Barry was doing during the attack, it would have looked and sounded bad if revealed to the American people.

That being the case, "hide the chorizo" remains an open option, as does just not giving a shit and/or meeting with his speechwriters to see how he could adjust his fundraising speech to use the ongoing deaths to his advantage.

@Colby Muenster- Obama will never, ever acknowledge a mistake (unless it's something backhanded like "I placed too much faith in the Republicans to do what's right.")

And yes, the hearts of millions are with the Benghazi families.

CenTexTim said...

Two quick comments:

(1) After stripping away all the rhetoric (from both sides), the conclusion from the report, summarized in the article at the link in Stilton's update, is telling and chilling:

"...Hillary Clinton’s State Department allowed the first American ambassador killed in the line of duty since 1979 to die as a result of negligence and bureaucratic incompetence."

(2) re: Stilton's conclusion - "...with so many other scandals and policy disasters to worry about, we're ready to 'move on.'"

That's a pretty good description of what I call scandal/policy disaster fatigue. The list of scandals and failures of the obama administration is so long and continuous that we've reached the point where we tune them out.

Putting it another way, our memory has reached its capacity, so that to acknowledge a new one means we have to delete an old one - kind of like when your aging PC runs out of room to store the latest Kim Kardashian nude photos, so you have to delete the Paris Hilton ones.

Geoff King said...

Yesterday, in a speech that is probably the least narcissistic moment of his life, Øblowme said that Americans may be getting a little tired of him and are looking for "that new car smell, and that Hitlery may be the one to provide that:
"http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-voters-will-want-a-new-car-smell-in-2016-2014-11
Continuing the used car analogy, he further said that after 6 years he has a few " dings" in him. I don't know why he would say that since he has only been driven to the golf course on Sundays, but at least it sounds as though he really does not want to be Emperor for Life.

John the Econ said...

"I'm simply accepting the idea that some of the disaster may owe more to standard government fustercluckery than active conspiracy..."

I wholeheartedly agree. What Benghazi is really about is standard government incompetence, and a "jay-vee" quality administration's reaction to it on an eve of an election. The fact that the entire meme of this administration was that Al Qaeda was no longer relevant and that "Government should run everything", the reality of Benghazi was decimating. Fundamental Islam was alive and well, and nobody in this administration is qualified to run a frozen banana stand.

As I've said here before, the real outrage of Benghazi wasn't that it happened, but how the Administration chose to deal with it, by blaming American values, specifically "free speech" as the culprit. It wasn't poor security due to a fundamental lack of competency or interest, or Islamic goons that caused this, but some schlub who posted a video on YouTube.

What's the logical solution to this problem? Clamping down on "offensive speech" (as they actively and openly have been doing on college campuses for decades now), and asserting control over the Internet, which the Progressives, UN, and this Administration are actively pursuing.

Unfortunately, that will be the real legacy of Benghazi.

John the Econ said...

Okay, I typically try to refrain from one-line snarks, but @Geoff King above forced my fingers:

America may indeed be looking for that "new car smell". Can't blame them, since we're all tired of what Obama's "choom gang" car smells like.

rickn8or said...

"Government fustercluckery is nothing new..."

But Malevolent Government fustercluckery is...

Cookie said...

This all just makes me sick! Am totally disappointed in the outcome of this so called investigation. Makes me wonder how much the so called committee were promised in return for this so called verdict. Am I a bit too calloused or too cynical? I just don't trust anyone in DC anymore. And I totally agree with Judi King's oxymoron.

Unknown said...

I still believe those who were interviewed about the goings-on that night in Benghazi were lying through their rotten teeth. Swearing to tell the truth under oath means nothing to many "folks" these days. I am surprised that with Trey Gowdy's leadership of this committee that the whole truth could not be discovered. He is a go-getter and a truth-monger, but in this case the truth slipped through the strainer once again. We have to move on and take all of this with the proverbial grain of salt and the sting it provokes on our open wounds (the lies we are told every day).

Colby Muenster said...

No matter how hard I twist my brain, "new car smell" is not what comes to mind when I think of Broke-a-hontas. "Hateful, self serving, murderous, back-stabbing, media whore" comes a lot closer, but I'll keep trying.

At least I'm glad that O'Liar is finally maybe coming to grips with the fact that he isn't exactly beloved by the masses anymore. Like Mr. Econ said, we're pretty sick of our car smelling like a giant blunt. Let's trade up to a new model, and this time NOT an import! And not little shitbox either. We need big, honkin' smoke belchin', 4x4 F350 with giant ass tires and a gun rack.

Anonymous said...

Ummm, what about the select committee that Gowdy is 'sposed to do?
Is it off?

OC

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@CenTexTim- Good summarization. I'll point out, though, that it's not only scandal fatigue giving me a "move on" attitude, it's also the notion that the most important battles to fight are the ones where we can still possibly make a difference.

@Geoff King- I haven't had time to play with the comedy gold of Obama declaring that he now lacks that "new car smell." The mind boggles...

@John the Econ- As usual, you don't leave much unsaid. So I'll just agree with you wholeheartedly.

And by the way, I'd guess if we took a great big lungful of Barry's "new car smell" on day one, we would have pronounced it "lemony"...

@rickn8or- On this scale, I've got to agree with you.

@Cookie- I'm disappointed and skeptical too. We haven't heard the final word from Trey Gowdy's investigation yet, so there still may be another shoe to drop.

But I don't think you (or any of us) are too calloused or cynical. We're just paying attention.

@Sandy Link- As I mentioned above, Trey Gowdy's Select Committee on Benghazi investigation is still underway - and this report does not represent his findings. It's entirely likely that I've jumped the gun by giving this much time and space to the report issued by the butt-covering House Intelligence Committee. Geez, maybe I am suffering from scandal fatigue...

@Colby Muenster- What I can't understand is how Barry survived the "Cash for Clunkers" purge?

@Anonymous OC- Nope, Gowdy's investigation is ongoing. And nothing would make me happier than eating my (barely) conciliatory words at the point his report comes out.

Geoff King said...

I personally think that Øbama smells like a '62 Plymouth Fury, but I may be mistaken.

REM1875 said...

Somehow I doubt 70 y/o cow hide will give prezzy Ø's former white hut a new car smell. Oh she smells alright, but will simply add to the stench Ø is leaving.

REM1875 said...

I have Irish Alzheimer's- we forget everthing but the grudges.
I won't forget and waco is not forgotten either.

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@Readers- I've just updated the front page to say that over the course of the past 24 hours, I've changed my mind. I'm not "moving on" after all - not until I've heard whatever Trey Gowdy's investigation turns up.

David in SoCal said...

Turns out Chairman Mike Rodgers may be a wee bit biased in his excuse making for Benghazi:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/lisa-pandone-benson/eyeoncongress-chairman-mike-rogers-retires-abrupty-why/10152019739572113

REM1875 said...

Thanks Doc, I do appreciate the update.I don't think we will ever know all but I sure would like some more answers.

Geoff King said...

WND also has problems with the House Intelligence Commitee's report:
http://mobile.wnd.com/2014/11/5-significant-problems-with-gops-new-benghazi-report/?cat_orig=world

John the Econ said...

Just tuned in to watch the morning news. A thug walking with an angry mob, shouting “This is what democracy looks like”.

I couldn't have said it better myself. “Democracy” is just the polite word for “mob rule”.

Last night as we were watching the inevitable, Mrs. Econ looked at me and said “You know who I feel sorry for? It’s all the young, black men who aren’t thugs. Their lives just get harder every time this kind of nonsense happens.” And as much as the race pimps and their collaborators in the media would like for us to believe that these people are the majority in the black community, I’d like to think that’s not true.

But this Thanksgiving week, there is one thing that I am thankful for: Within my lifetime, there was an age where authority figures could harass, beat, and even murder racial minorities at will with complete impunity. Fortunately, that age ended a long time ago. I’m thankful that I live in a country that treats its minorities so fairly that the racial provocateurs have to struggle by only being able to use the inevitable plight of obvious thugs as evidence of injustice.

Bruce Bleu said...

Geoff King said...

I personally think that Øbama smells like a '62 Plymouth Fury, but I may be mistaken.

Geoff King,
My family used to OWN a '62 Plymouth Belvedere, and I had a '65 Sport Fury, and I can assure you that unless there was a dog-turd under the seat, I can't imagine your hypothesis is correct.
In the same vein, I KNOW he doesn't smell like a '49 Studebaker, because it has "STUD" in the name, but I AM leaning toward a 1940 Hu[m]pmobile (for an allusion of what lamont is doing to our nation and the Constitution) with the caveat that it contains a rotting corpse, (not to be confused with Navy Corpsmen), of a lowland gorilla, (oops, now I'm getting confused with lamont's wedding reception).
In ANY event, a dead skunk hanging from the rear-view mirror would be a MARKED improvement to THIS stinker!

Pete (Detroit) said...

Don't sugar coat it Bruce, tell us how you REALLY feel.

David in SoCal, Mike Rodgers (he's from MI, and popular guest on some stations) announced over a year ago that he would not run for re-election, and he's got a radio host thing lined up. Kinda surprised he's involved in anything dodgy - he's always seemed pretty straight arrow to me. OTOH, if there was nothing he could do to stop / polish this turd, quick distance from it might be as good as he gets..

Stilton Jarlsberg said...

@REM1875 & Geoff King- Borrowing a phrase from Barry, let's say that my views on the report have "evolved" since my original commentary.

@John the Econ- Nicely expressed, as always. I'm old enough to remember real racism. Fire hoses, segregation, and drinking fountains just for the "coloreds." I was witness to the struggles and victories won at tremendous cost. And sadly, I also saw a bell curve as the "Great Society" programs destroyed the newly emergent black families and created a new subclass of permanent enslavement to the state.

I f*cking hate those who encourage and feed on racism for their own ends - whether they're white or black. I only hope I live long enough to see a new emancipation that will release black Americans from the bondage of the Left.

@Bruce Bleu- Years ago, HnC did a piece on a car powered by human excrement. I'm pretty sure that it would approximate Barry's "new car smell."

@Pete(Detroit)- Rodgers may indeed have enough of an insider's view to know that he just needs to run the other way.