John Dickerson
Posted on 05/01/2014 2:37:13 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Lies, Damned Lies, and Garden-Variety Self-Deception - Why the new Benghazi emails aren’t a “smoking gun.”
Has the Benghazi “smoking gun” been found? Some White House critics believe that new documents wrestled from the White House by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, prove that the Obama administration concocted a cover-up: Political advisers pushed a false story that the murder of four Americans grew out of a protest against an anti-Islamic video in order to hide a policy failure that might hurt the president in an election year. The documents clearly show that the White House pushed the video story, but there’s also proof that the White House believed the story they were pushing.
Were White House officials desperate enough to make up a story? Or were they just embracing and pushing the most politically beneficial version? That is the heart of the matter, but it also raises a larger question about what we call a lie when we look at administration spin: What is willful deceit, what is willful blindness, and what is merely the tunnel vision that comes from constant partisan warfare?
The Obama administration’s story has never been straight on the Benghazi attack. Press Secretary Jay Carney once said the White House and State Department had only been involved in changing one word in crafting the first public response about the attack—the infamous Susan Rice talking points. Emails released in May showed that wasn’t the case. This new batch underscores the White House’s involvement in shaping the story. The Obama administration left the impression that everything related to the Benghazi attack had been released to the investigating committees months ago. That is also clearly false. There have been other instances where the White House line on Benghazi has also earned it Pinocchios.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
The lengths that liberals will go to twist and spin for this administration is boundless.
Read full article to see how much.
Amazing. And sickening.
“......Two years after the FBI first began investigating former CIA director David Petraeus, Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed to lawmakers that the case remains open — amid allegations it is being used as leverage to keep the former general quiet.
“All I can say is that this is an ongoing investigation,” Holder testified Tuesday, in response to a series of questions from Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who wrote to the Justice Department last month about the matter. “I’m really not in a position to say much more about it than that.”
Fox News was told there may be friction between the FBI — whose investigators are on the Petraeus case — and the Justice Department over how to proceed, though Holder dismissed that claim.
“I’ve been briefed on this matter, and I did not detect any friction in what is an ongoing investigation,” he said.
In March, Chaffetz wrote to Holder, asking why the probe remained open 16 months after Petraeus resigned as CIA director following an affair with his biographer. At the time, Chaffetz suggested it was kept open to keep Petraeus quiet on controversies like the Benghazi terror attack, telling Fox News: “If there is something serious and sinister, then let Congress know. If not, give this man’s reputation back. But I worry that the White House is just holding this over his head to keep him quiet.”............
I don’t know when, but at some point in our history the presidency took on attributes closer to the prerogatives of hereditary kings and the infallibility of Popes, than of a temporary chief executive of a republic.
Look at how the president is infallible! What he says is the accepted truth, and his actions are above reproach. He is without responsibility or effective accountability for his actions.
No free people can long endure such a charade. Why do most continue to pretend we still live in a republic?
Can someone find and post the picture of John Dickerson with his head up Obama’s a$$. I am sure there must be some floating around.
So let me get this straight. The CIA talking points were about Benghazi but didn’t say anything about a video. The WH talking points were about everywhere except Benghazi but did talk about a video and then apparently Rice, Clinton and Obama got confused and talked about the video causing Benghazi for at least 2 weeks without anyone correcting them. They are all criminals.
>>Perhaps, but there is also evidence in the documents for another explanation. The administration was practicing garden-variety self-deception: Administration officials, who came into office on a wave of skepticism about the quality of CIA intelligence, believed what their intelligence agency told them and what was in the president’s best political interest to believe. <<
Pigs could fly if they had wings. I believe that.
January 20, 2009.
most coherent point in the entire article is about how this will affect Hillary. Only reason it’s coherent is thats all he says about it.
Talk about "high crimes and misdemeanors"!
Even calculating in the massive voter fraud, without which I am sure “O” could never have been elected, the mass of “O” supporters have demonstrated for decades that they don’t know or CARE about a republic or anything necessary to maintain one.
The integrity, character and standing necessary to BE President of the United States of America are a dead letter to Liberals and these qualifications have been moot for a very long time.
That THIS ‘President’ has casually disregarded the clearly proscribed bounds of his legitimate powers, that he has arrogantly overstepped his authority, and does so routinely, is hardly noticed or challenged by them.
Shame on “O” supporters… and shame on the MSM in their failure to honor their duty to the American public. Never once do they remark on the constant and excessive violations committed by “O” and his administration.
Nice try.
“Lies, Damned Lies, and Garden-Variety Self-Deception - Why the new Benghazi emails aren’t a “smoking gun.”
The article then goes on to point out that everything the Repubs were saying was true and everything the RATS were saying was a LIE. The attitude is, yes they lied but that’s their job or its understandable.
“Clinton and Obama got confused and talked about the video causing Benghazi for at least 2 weeks without anyone correcting them.”
I can picture somebody saying to George Bush, “Excuse me, Mr. President, you misspoke about xyz.” And, Bush replying, “Thank you.” Can you picture anybody saying the same to anyone in the Obama administration? And, if you can, who would that brave, selfless soul be?
While the author strains to provide cover to the WH, this is the most objective and condemning article I’ve ever seen come from Slate.
If anyone wants to see why we as a country are doomed, go read the comments on articles like this. We conservatives have NOTHING, absolutely nothing in common with the left. They have no scruples. They have no morals. They have nothing but their love of the democratic party and their hatred of republicans. They don’t care about facts. They wouldn’t give a flying F if we could prove that obama and biliary ordered the attack on benghazi themselves. Those are their guys and they will support them to the end. Oh and, George bush sucks.
The difference between them and us is we can admit when “our guy” is or was wrong. We don’t blindly support any of our side cause we care more about our country than our F’in party. I have ZERO in common with any lefty and the only way our problems can be solved is to split the country in half so I can live on the side where the govt will leave me THE HELL ALONE and they can live in their socialist utopia. Or we can have another revolution and one side wipes out the other. The more i hear from the left, the more I despise them with every fiber in my body.
Morning rant complete.
So John Dickerson wants us to assume the Obama Administration wasn’t lying. They simply choose to “believe” the preposterous “video story” because it was to their advantage, and spread it wholesale, while ignoring actual facts and common sense. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
So rather than a cover-up, it was gross misjudgement and incompetence of the laughingstock kind, requiring immediate resignation and withdrawal from public life for all involved.
Thank you, Mr.Dickinson, for making the distinction so clear. I also “appreciate” the emphasis on the White House — wouldn’t want to see the name HILLARY CLINTON associated with Benghazi, no sirree. She’s a victim too, and suffers so much pain over it.
You are not alone in your thoughts. You are not alone.
While there are millions of us - there just aren’t enough.
As Rush said, “We’re outnumbered and losing ground.”
It’s over. With total collapse around the corner, that may be the only thing (apart from divine intervention) that will bring change......
Where was the little islamist, and what was he doing as our people were being murdered in Benghazi?
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