“So maybe the GOP will drop its obsession with 19-month-old talking points and start asking what more can be done to the bad guys.” – Dana Milbank, Washington Post.
It’s the conclusion you would expect from Milbank, a water carrier for President Obama, following the testimony of Michael Morrell on the Sept. 11, 2012 Al Qaeda attack on our Benghazi, Libya compound.
Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank (examiner.com)
While Republicans want to learn how five months of attack warnings were ignored and who was responsible for providing false talking points for public consumption, both President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wanted to change the subject. The president calls it a “phony scandal” and falls back on the Pickering-Mullen review as case closed. And, Clinton asked, “what difference does it make?” in an effort to move on. Milbank seems more than willing to support them.
In my April 4, 2014 blog post, Obama, Clinton aided by Benghazi cover-up, I described how Morrell ignored the input of the CIA’s station chief in Libya and instead relied on analysts thousands of miles away in Langley, VA as he rewrote the infamous talking points. Talking points that an obliging Susan Rice used on news talk shows the following Sunday.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) put it on the line against Morrell. (politico.com)
Referring to the House hearing as “useless” may be correct since administrative officials continue to play word games or they take the fifth amendment, but Milbank went on to ridicule Republican attempts to get reasonable answers from Morrell. He criticized Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who had enough of Morrell’s “dancing.” Charging that Morrell changed the talking points for the White House, Bachmann said, “I believe that the totality of the information was obfuscated and there was an intentional misleading of the public.”
Compare the thoughts of former Attorney General Michael Mukasey with those of Milbank. Writing in the Wall Street Journal under the heading, More Obfuscation on Benghazi, Mukasey clearly understands Washington. Writing of the rigidity of the analysts, he said, “So analysts whose deductions put them at odds with those on the scene wouldn’t have considered, and apparently didn’t consider, simply ringing up those on the scene and getting their input. To the contrary, analysts deal only with information that comes in the prescribed way.”
Former attorney general Michael Mukasey (usatoday.com)
Mukasey also reminded us that it was President Obama and Hillary Clinton who invoked the You Tube video as the cause of the Benghazi attack while receiving of the bodies of the four Americans and addressing the grieving families. They knew better, and don’t forget it.
Mukasey pointed to the need for the appointment of a select committee to investigate Benghazi.
Kramerontheright will continue to press for answers.
