Fox News and GOP Debut Season Two of Prime Time Series "Benghazi" but The Khaleesi Rules

While many of us hit by Superstorm Sandy were still struggling to recover, Saturday Night Live opened with a dueling press conference by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, each accompanied by his personal ASL translator.  At one point, Fred Armesen, broke into some very Bloombergesque español and asked New York's Hispanic population to please be patient with white people who, with no electricity, internet, or cable have been missing Homeland, and missing Homeland is the worst thing that ever happened to them. 



Some people are simply so impatient for the new season of Homeland that they have launched a spin-off.  A huge hit during season one beginning last fall,  Benghazi returned to the Fox News Channel in prime time last week, and its fans cannot get enough.

During season one, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the Carrie Mathison figure, returning from an extensive trip to the South Pacific and Asia immediately had to respond to an attack on a US installation in northern Libya.

Her State Department had lost four good men.  Hillary took full responsibility for everything and assigned two top people, Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Admiral Mike Mullen to assemble an Accountability Review Board to investigate what had happened and what had gone wrong.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee clamored for her to appear before them.  She assured them that she would cooperate after the ARB had completed its investigation and submitted its report, but meanwhile assured them that she would gladly send State Department personnel to testify as requested and well as provide documents as requested, which she did.  In the course of the live telecast of the testimony, Rep. Jason Chaffetz,  ever petulant and dramatic, exposed the Benghazi installation not really to be a State Department operation at all but rather a CIA site under DOS cover, but never mind!

Meanwhile, Hillary attended to her myriad other duties as Secretary of State as well as President Obama's duties at the U.N. General Assembly through the end of September.

She traveled extensively in October and November Peru, Algeria, the Balkans, Australia, and one last swing through Asia with a sudden assignment to the Middle East.  In December,  finishing her last trip to the Czech Republic, NATO in Belgium, Ireland, and Northern Ireland she fell ill with a serious virus, fainted, and sustained a concussion.  Later a blood clot was found.

All of this time the HFAC clamored for her appearance, however, the ARB report had not as yet been completed, and Hillary was not going to testify until she had that report to read and submit.  Hillary as villainess in the Fox News series Benghazi was now being accused of faking her illness and injuries to avoid testifying.

Recovering at home, she received the completed report and sent it to Congress with a cover letter (see the sidebar for the links), but she was still under doctors' orders to remain at home, rest, and heal. December and Christmas passed, the New Year came in, and Hillary's people were all very worried about her condition while the Benghazi show on Fox insisted she was faking.

Season one of Behghazi ended when Hillary spent January 23 on Capitol Hill and testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee (videos of full testimony have been added to these links).  Like her confirmation hearing,  these testimonies together amounted to the equivalent of multiple dissertation defenses.

In the interim, the Republican Conference launched an investigation of the ARB investigation and issued a report in late April.  Missing from the committee assigned to the investigation was the House Appropriations Committee which, for the two years in a row since the election of Tea Party candidates to the Republican majority Congress,  had cut Hillary's budget for Embassy security by hundreds of millions of dollars. But never mind!

We have a basis for a new season of ... Benghazi!  Let's do it!

Season two opened last week to much fanfare regarding State Department "whistleblowers" testifying - now to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.   Covered exclusively by Fox, since they own Benghazi,  the season debut featured questions from Republican members, often delivered with great melodramatic flair (Jason Chaffetz, Trey Gowdy).   In this episode a great fuss was made regarding the ARB, the depth,  breadth, and nature of the investigation as well as personnel interviewed.

In a review of  season two/episode one last week, ARB co-chair Ambassador Thomas Pickering told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell that both he and his co-chair Admiral Mullen had offered their testimony to HOGR chair, Darryl Issa, prior to last week's hearing but they were declined.

Drama built as Pickering sat beside Issa on Meet the Press on Sunday. I will let you read the deliciousness here.

Things go Badly for Darrell Issa When David Gregory Fails to Be a GOP Shill

By: Sarah JonesMay. 12th, 2013Darrell Issa (R-CA) made a fool of himself on “Meet the Press” Sunday as he tried to defend his Benghazi conspiracy. David Gregory (R-TV) pushed back hard, even bringing up the GOP’s defunding of security.

Issa even accused General David Petraeus of lying for the administration. As soon as Gregory would call Issa on one thing, he’d say he was investigating something else. Issa accused Tom Pickering of refusing to testify when in fact, Issa had not invited him to speak and Pickering was told that the Republican majority did not want him there. Issa ended up backtracking on that one, too, and it was super awkward when it came out that Issa never asked for him to appear.

Read more >>>>

It was even better than any of the Fox coverage.  So in this week's episode, the previews show this coming.

Benghazi Depositions To Examine Hillary Clinton's Role In Response To Attacks

By DONNA CASSATA 05/13/13 05:02 PM ET EDT

WASHINGTON — House Republicans pushed ahead Monday with their investigation of the deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year as President Barack Obama asserted that GOP charges of a cover-up are baseless.

The latest Republican focus is the independent review that slammed the State Department for inadequate security at the installation before the twin nighttime attacks that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans on Sept. 11, 2012.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, asked the two authors of the investigation – veteran diplomat Thomas Pickering and retired Adm. Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – to meet privately with committee staff to answer questions about their review. Democrats countered that if Congress wants to talk to them, Issa should hold a full open hearing.

Read more >>>>

I have a feeling this season will not go well for Benghazi,  Issa or for Fox.

I can understand being frustrated between seasons of Homeland.  I am a fan myself.  Going to this extent seems an exaggeration, however.  There are alternatives.  While it is entirely based in fantasy, Game of Thrones, for example, could be very instructive viewing for Issa and his army.

They should become acquainted with Daenerys Targaryen .  I believe her character is based on Hillary Clinton.  Like Hillary, she is blonde, beautiful, smart, kind, and a gifted leader.  Princess of the Targaryen dynasty and widow of  Dothraki warlord,  Khal Drogo, she is the Khaleesi of the Dothraki people.   When faced with enemies, she buys their slaves to be her army and buys their female slaves, befriends them and makes them her close staff and guards.  She is very powerful.  Everyone adores her, and she has dragons.   Fierce dragons. Protective ones.
 
Speaking of dragons, Hillary also has fierce dragons.  We are legion.  We are everywhere, and even if they try to keep this Benghazi series going,  our Khaleesi will win in the end.

Hillary Clinton to Receive Public Service Award While Supporters Urge a Run and Issa Aims

Hillary Clinton will be in Beverly Hills this evening to receive another in a long string of awards and honors.

Chairman's Gala

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

U.S. Secretary of State (2009-2013)

May 8, 2013

BEVERLY WILSHIRE HOTEL | BEVERLY HILLS

Gala to honor Hillary Clinton May 2013 | Los Angeles
At a gala event on May 8, the Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver one of her first addresses on the west coast since stepping down as U.S. Secretary of State earlier this year. Secretary Clinton will accept the inaugural Warren Christopher Public Service Award from the Pacific Council on International Policy, conferred in recognition of her distinguished service to the country 

The Ready for Hillary Super PAC is planning a rally to greet her, as they have at previous events.
All of this pro-Hillary excitement unfolds against the backdrop of a flurry of anti-Hillary activity in the House of Representatives where today the Oversight and Government Reform Committee heard the testimony of three State Department employees called by Darryl Issa who is itching to pin a bogus cover-up or something else - whatever he can find - on the retired Secretary of State.

Largely ignored by cable outlets today (except Fox News, of course),  at least some of the testimony concerned issues that had been adequately addressed in the Accountability Review Board (ARB) report provided to the all interested Congress persons well prior to Secretary Clinton's January 23 testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

State  Department officials have repeatedly and consistently stated that under Secretary Clinton's leadership all 29 recommendations by the board had been implemented. Hillary Clinton unequivocally took responsibility for failures on the part of her department.

Andrea Mitchell today had Ambassador Thomas Pickering, who led the board with Admiral Mike Mullen,  on her show.  Pickering stated that Gregory Hicks, who was second in command to slain Ambassador Christopher Stevens, and remained in Tripoli the night of the attack, had done a fine job and had spent many hours being interviewed by the ARB.  He pointed out that the requests from Hicks for four special forces to be sent to Benghazi after the first attack and for a fly over in Benghazi were deemed impractical both by State and by the Department of Defense.

Pickering also stated that he offered to testify before the committee and Issa declined his offer. 

Sending the only four special forces out of Tripoli where classified documents are kept would have left the embassy vulnerable when embassies across the region were under siege.   There were no classified documents in Benghazi.  The primary responsibility of the special forces is protection of classified materials - not personnel.  No one could have predicted a second attack in Benghazi.  The planes requested for the flyover could not have refueled since there was no tanker in the Mediterranean that night. (See p. 37 of the report)



So, while Issa and company continue to aim at her and miss,  Hillary will be receiving a public service award and her fervent supporters will greet her with pleas for her to run in 2016.  Meanwhile, husband Bill says she is having a fine time doing what she wants and talk of 2016 is a waste of time.  Hillary does not have to do anything at all to get her name in the headers or on her husband's lips, but she has already done so much that regularly she is given awards and honors.

The Tea Party v. Hillary Clinton: It Never Ends

Resoundingly missing from the cover of the Interim Progress Report  on the Benghazi, Libya consulate attack published yesterday by the House Republican Conference is the name Harold Rogers (R-KY), chairman of the House Appropriations committee that twice slashed the State Department's diplomatic security budget.   That committee was apparently excused from reporting to the conference in the zealous crusade being waged by Tea Party Republicans,  led by Darryl Issa and Jason Chaffetz, to pin blame on then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Issa's name is listed as a co-author of the report while Media Matters reports that Chaffetz appeared with Megyn Kelly to discuss the report released to great hullabaloo in right-wing circles.

Fox's Kelly Interviews Rep. Chaffetz And Ignores His Hypocrisy Over Embassy Security

 ANDREW LAWRENCE

During the interview there was no mention of Rep. Chaffetz's own vote to cut funding to embassy security or reports that have undermined right-wing attacks on Clinton.
SNIP
Kelly provided Chaffetz with numerous opportunities to bash Clinton - asking if Clinton "blatantly lied" over requests being made for more security at the embassy, allowing Chaffetz to make claims that Clinton personally denied more security for the embassy, and speculating that there are documents being hidden from lawmakers that prove Clinton had direct knowledge regarding the lack of security at the embassy.
Read more >>>>

Oh!  So he is speculating!  Never mind that she accepted full responsibility for failures, provided State Department personnel to testify and documents for examination as requested, submitted the Accountability Review Board report in a timely fashion from home while recovering from a concussion and blood clot,  and went on to testify in person before committees in both the Senate  and the House as requested before she had fully recovered from her serious (and scary) health issues - never mind all of that.  Chaffetz and his Tea Partiers think documents are being hidden.   According to an article yesterday in The Hill,  the former secretary was not interviewed by the audit committee.

House Tea Party Members In Pursuit Of Hillary Clinton: Examine Your Own Role In Cutting Diplo Post Security

Reblogging this (from October 7, 2012) in dedication to Ileana Ros-Lehtinen who, despite Secretary Clinton's ill health stated the following as recounted in today's New York Times:

“Although I respect Bill (Burns) and Tom (Nides), we still don’t have information from the Obama administration on what went so tragically wrong in Benghazi,” she said in a statement. “This requires a public appearance by the secretary of state herself.”

This was in response to the news that due to illness and injury the secretary herself would be unable to testify this week and that the two deputy secretaries would testify in her place.

Representatives Darryl Issa and Jason Chaffetz of the House Oversight Committee, on October 2, sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a letter listing attacks in Libya  over the six months prior to the deadly September 11 attack on our Benghazi consulate.   In the letter, Issa and Chaffetz make the following request:

To help the Committee in its assessment of the security situation in Benghazi belbre (sic) Ambassador Stevens' murder please prepare a written response to the following no later than October 8, 2012, and make the appropriate officials from the Department available for a briefing for of the Committee by the same date:
l. Was State Department headquarters in Washington aware of all of the above incidents? If not, why not?
2. If so, what measures did the State Department take to match the level of security provided to the U.S. Mission in Libya to the level of threat?
3. Please detail any requests made by Embassy Tripoli to State Department headquarters for additional security. whether in general or in light of specific attacks mentioned above. How did the Department respond to each of those requests?
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee of the House of Representatives and may at "any time" investigate "any matter" as set forth in House Rule X. When producing documents to the Committee, please deliver production sets to the Majority Staff in Room 2157 of the Rayburn House Office Building and the Minority Staff in Room 2471 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The Committee prefers, if possible, to receive all documents in electronic format. If you have any questions about these requests, please contact Tom Alexander or Brien Beattie of the Committee staff at (202) 225-5074. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

The following day, in a press availability with the Foreign Minister of  Kazakhstan, Secretary made the following statements.

There are continuing questions about what exactly happened in Benghazi on that night three weeks ago. And we will not rest until we answer those questions and until we track down the terrorists who killed our people. Active efforts are also underway to determine who was responsible and bring them to justice.
We have already formed an Accountability Review Board to examine this attack and to explore how we can prevent anything like this from happening in the future. The board is beginning its work this week under the leadership of Ambassador Thomas Pickering. The board’s mandate is to determine whether our security systems and procedures in Benghazi were appropriate in light of the threat environment, whether those systems and procedures were properly implemented, and any lessons that may be relevant to our work around the world.
The men and women who serve this country as diplomats deserve no less than a full and accurate accounting, wherever that leads. And I am committed to seeking that for them and for those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation.
No one wants to determine what happened that night in Benghazi more than the President and I do. No one is more committed to ensuring it doesn’t happen again. And nobody will hold this Department more accountable than we hold ourselves, because we served with and we knew the four men we lost. They are not just names or profiles to us. They are our colleagues and our friends.
In our initial reviews over the past two weeks, we have worked closely with other agencies, and we have learned a number of things. We will continue to learn more in the days to come. We are committed to a process that is as transparent as possible while balancing the needs of the investigations underway. It will take time before we have a complete understanding of what actually did happen. But still, I am asking the board to move as quickly as possible without sacrificing diligence and accuracy. In the interim, we will continue to provide as much accurate information as we can to the public and to the Congress.
As I’ve been saying for four years, our diplomats and development experts are on the front lines, just like our troops. And the entire United States Government needs to work together to protect them. We will not retreat. We will keep leading, and we will stay engaged everywhere in the world, including in those hard places where America’s interests and security are at stake. That is the best way to honor those whom we have lost.

There are a few things that are clear and a few that are not moving ahead.
1. The written documentation and appropriate officials requested in the letter are to be available tomorrow.
2. The committee has left the determination of who those officials are to be up to the judgment of the department.  Nothing in the letter specifies that the secretary herself be among them.
3. The secretary has pledged full cooperation and stated compelling reasons why.
4. Any information provided to the committee tomorrow will be incomplete and preliminary.
The air is rife with speculation and accusation  only temporarily quelled by the media shift to the presidential debate over the past few days.   This week there will be a debate between  Joe Biden and Paul Ryan that may also absorb whatever light might have shone on the hearing Issa's committee has scheduled for Wednesday, October 10.  Whether the subject of the attack comes up in the debate is yet to be seen, and as of right now, we do not know for certain whether the Secretary of State herself will appear before the committee since her presence was not specifically requested in the letter.  Those of us who follow her work and know her level of dedication are prone to expect that she will and that she will do so eminently well-prepared.
We should bear in mind, however, that no matter what information the State Department headquarters in D.C. had,  ability to provide adequate security to embassies in high-risk locations is not completely in the hands of the department.

Benghazi attack followed deep cuts in State Department security budget

By Shaun Waterman
The Washington Times
Thursday, September 27, 2012

Investigators looking for lessons from the fatal terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi might want to start on Capitol Hill, where Congress slashed spending on diplomatic security and U.S. embassy construction over the past two years.
Since 2010, Congress cut $296 million from the State Department’s spending request for embassy security and construction, with additional cuts in other State Department security accounts, according to an analysis by a former appropriations committee staffer.

Read more >>>>

Clearly, a great deal of what the State Department could and could not do to increase security, if indeed headquarters was notified of such a need, rested not in the hands of the department itself, but rather in the hands of the same body that is now calling the secretary and her department to task,  the House of Representatives and specifically,  the Appropriations Committee.
Try as they might to somehow blame the Secretary of State for not adequately protecting her colleagues,  the Republican Tea Party House has blood on its hands and should be called to task  as well.  We should not forget their role in this going forward. 

Issa Flips The Coin And The Game Is On

Today was the first public session of the House Committee Oversight and Government Reform hearings on diplomatic security in Libya.  In closing today's more than four-hour long session,  chairman Darryl Issa noted that although this is an election year, his committee wants to find out what went wrong in Benghazi in order to prevent it from happening anywhere again.  If you buy that,  I have a bridge for sale.

His admonishing tone, suggesting members of the panel might have an election year agenda,  was startlingly inappropriate.  The panel consisted of Col. Andrew Wood,  who had been stationed in Libya earlier this year, Eric Nordstrom,  who was a regional security officer and had been in Libya earlier in 2012, Charlene Lamb, who is Deputy Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security, and Under Secretary of  State for Management Patrick Kennedy.

In the course of the four-hour testimony there were some obvious gaps in congressional knowledge of how embassy security operates.  As Victoria Nuland pointed out on September 17,  internal security (walls inward) is the task of the guest country, and external security (walls outward) is up to the host country,  Marine Embassy Security Guard (MESG) is posted at embassies (not usually at consulates) primarily to secure documents not personnel.   That task  falls under the purview of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security headed by Eric Boswell who testified in camera along with Secretary Kennedy yesterday to the same committee.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (center) and South Sudan Foreign Minister Nhial Deng Nhial (far left) walk to a vehicle escorted by members of her Diplomatic Security protective detail (third from left in striped tie, and right in sunglasses) upon her arrival for her first visit to South Sudan August 3, 2012, at Juba International Airport in Juba. (AP/ Wide World Photos)

---

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) is the security and law enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of State. DS is a world leader in international investigations, threat analysis, cyber security, counterterrorism, security technology, and protection of people, property, and information.

There were moments of contention, as could have been expected, and too much showcasing by some.  Of course, as Issa pointed out at the end, it is a general election year.  Directing that remark to the panel, however, appeared ignorant and was certainly arrogant.  Three of the four,  career Foreign Service officers,  are, as the Department of State is, apolitical.  They serve, and have served through multiple administrations of both parties and were not there to promote anybody's candidacy.  Perhaps the most bizarre moment came when Trey Gowdy (R  - SC)  appeared to accuse Kennedy of sending White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice forth with erroneous information.  (For the record, the under secretary cannot do that.)

So what was all this showmanship during a congressional recess weeks before a general election really all about given that both the FBI and a separate State Department Accountability Review Board  (ARB) have investigations ongoing?  Perhaps Brent Budowsky at The Hill got it right.

Issa targets Hillary: Big mistake

By Brent Budowsky - 2012-10-10 04:03:00 PM ET

Don't miss the story in The Hill "Issa closes in on Clinton" about Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) aiming at his biggest target yet, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The story is correct. The Issa strategy will backfire. It will prove to be a disaster. House Republicans, whose brand is not exactly soaring with voters, are making a huge mistake using congressional hearings as a partisan weapon to exploit a national tragedy to attack one of the most admired and respected public servants in the nation.

There is now an independent and nonpartisan investigation of exactly what happened in Libya. A partisan witch-hunt by Republicans using taxpayer money against Secretary Clinton, as a partisan weapon in the closing days of an election, to exploit a tragedy to score political points is exactly what the American people believe has gone wrong with Washington, and is exactly why the Republican brand is in such disrepute with many voters.

Read more >>>>

One thing is for certain. A national tragedy has now officially been turned into a political football by the party in power in the House of Representatives, the  same body that cut the State Department's security budget for two years in a row - coincidentally the two years following a Tea Party coup  in the House. 

Saying his will undoubtedly tee some people off.  Let me remind one and all,  this blog has been equally critical of Obama and received angry comments on that account as well.  We call them as we see them.

(If you have a burning desire to see your government  waste your money at work,  C-SPAN 1 will repeat the entire proceedings starting at nine tonight EDT.)

House Tea Party Members In Pursuit Of Hillary Clinton: Examine Your Own Role In Cutting Diplo Post Security

Representatives Darryl Issa and Jason Chaffetz of the House Oversight Committee, on October 2, sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a letter listing attacks in Libya  over the six months prior to the deadly September 11 attack on our Benghazi consulate.   In the letter, Issa and Chaffetz make the following request:

To help the Committee in its assessment of the security situation in Benghazi belbre (sic) Ambassador Stevens' murder please prepare a written response to the following no later than October 8, 2012, and make the appropriate officials from the Department available for a briefing for of the Committee by the same date:

l. Was State Department headquarters in Washington aware of all of the above incidents? If not, why not?
2. If so, what measures did the State Department take to match the level of security provided to the U.S. Mission in Libya to the level of threat?
3. Please detail any requests made by Embassy Tripoli to State Department headquarters for additional security. whether in general or in light of specific attacks mentioned above. How did the Department respond to each of those requests?

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight committee of the House of Representatives and may at "any time" investigate "any matter" as set forth in House Rule X. When producing documents to the Committee, please deliver production sets to the Majority Staff in Room 2157 of the Rayburn House Office Building and the Minority Staff in Room 2471 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The Committee prefers, if possible, to receive all documents in electronic format. If you have any questions about these requests, please contact Tom Alexander or Brien Beattie of the Committee staff at (202) 225-5074. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

The following day, in a press availability with the Foreign Minister of  Kazakhstan, Secretary made the following statements.

There are continuing questions about what exactly happened in Benghazi on that night three weeks ago. And we will not rest until we answer those questions and until we track down the terrorists who killed our people. Active efforts are also underway to determine who was responsible and bring them to justice.
We have already formed an Accountability Review Board to examine this attack and to explore how we can prevent anything like this from happening in the future. The board is beginning its work this week under the leadership of Ambassador Thomas Pickering. The board’s mandate is to determine whether our security systems and procedures in Benghazi were appropriate in light of the threat environment, whether those systems and procedures were properly implemented, and any lessons that may be relevant to our work around the world.
The men and women who serve this country as diplomats deserve no less than a full and accurate accounting, wherever that leads. And I am committed to seeking that for them and for those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation.
No one wants to determine what happened that night in Benghazi more than the President and I do. No one is more committed to ensuring it doesn’t happen again. And nobody will hold this Department more accountable than we hold ourselves, because we served with and we knew the four men we lost. They are not just names or profiles to us. They are our colleagues and our friends.
In our initial reviews over the past two weeks, we have worked closely with other agencies, and we have learned a number of things. We will continue to learn more in the days to come. We are committed to a process that is as transparent as possible while balancing the needs of the investigations underway. It will take time before we have a complete understanding of what actually did happen. But still, I am asking the board to move as quickly as possible without sacrificing diligence and accuracy. In the interim, we will continue to provide as much accurate information as we can to the public and to the Congress.
As I’ve been saying for four years, our diplomats and development experts are on the front lines, just like our troops. And the entire United States Government needs to work together to protect them. We will not retreat. We will keep leading, and we will stay engaged everywhere in the world, including in those hard places where America’s interests and security are at stake. That is the best way to honor those whom we have lost.

There are a few things that are clear and a few that are not moving ahead.

1. The written documentation and appropriate officials requested in the letter are to be available tomorrow.
2. The committee has left the determination of who those officials are to be up to the judgment of the department.  Nothing in the letter specifies that the secretary herself be among them.
3. The secretary has pledged full cooperation and stated compelling reasons why.
4. Any information provided to the committee tomorrow will be incomplete and preliminary.

The air is rife with speculation and accusation  only temporarily quelled by the media shift to the presidential debate over the past few days.   This week there will be a debate between  Joe Biden and Paul Ryan that may also absorb whatever light might have shone on the hearing Issa's committee has scheduled for Wednesday, October 10.  Whether the subject of the attack comes up in the debate is yet to be seen, and as of right now, we do not know for certain whether the Secretary of State herself will appear before the committee since her presence was not specifically requested in the letter.  Those of us who follow her work and know her level of dedication are prone to expect that she will and that she will do so eminently well-prepared.

We should bear in mind, however, that no matter what information the State Department headquarters in D.C. had,  ability to provide adequate security to embassies in high-risk locations is not completely in the hands of the department.

Benghazi attack followed deep cuts in State Department security budget

By Shaun Waterman
The Washington Times
Thursday, September 27, 2012

Investigators looking for lessons from the fatal terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi might want to start on Capitol Hill, where Congress slashed spending on diplomatic security and U.S. embassy construction over the past two years.
Since 2010, Congress cut $296 million from the State Department’s spending request for embassy security and construction, with additional cuts in other State Department security accounts, according to an analysis by a former appropriations committee staffer.

Read more >>>>

Clearly, a great deal of what the State Department could and could not do to increase security, if indeed headquarters was notified of such a need, rested not in the hands of the department itself, but rather in the hands of the same body that is now calling the secretary and her department to task,  the House of Representatives and specifically,  the Appropriations Committee.

Try as they might to somehow blame the Secretary of State for not adequately protecting her colleagues, the Republican Tea Party House has blood on its hands and should be called to task  as well.  We should not forget their role in this going forward.  Holding them accountable is up to us.  If any of these folks represent you,  you might want to make your voice heard on this issue and remind them that the ballot is yours to cast.

Of Cleavages and Cleavers

Let me catch my breath.  What the "hey" is going on?  I cannot figure out whether people are stupid, crazy, or just uninformed.

First, the interwebs are inundated with a picture I will not post here from Wednesday's event when Hillary Ciinton,  a laureate herself in October 2010,  celebrated this year's winners of the McGovern Award, David Novak and Christina Aguilera (who apparently did not consult with Reese Witherspoon about wardrobe recommendations when participating in State Department events).   The  picture and stories misrepresent what actually happened at that moment in that crowded little space behind the table bearing the (huge) awards and beside the podium.  In the video from  Wednesday, it is clear that Hillary is merely trying to move and was oogling no one and nothing, spectacularly exhibited cleavage notwithstanding.

Second, as if there were nothing else going on in the world, someone makes a meme of Hillary and Big Bird with a reference to a safe house (also not shared here since it would be counter-productive to the purpose of this post).  Yes, we all enjoy the Hillary memes, Hillary included, and everyone loves Big Bird.  We do want him and the Sesame Street residents, whom Mme. Secretary loves, to be safe from Mitt Romney and his big budget cleaver, but the buzz word here should set off bells and whistles.  Perhaps this is not the most appropriate time to posit jokes about safe houses. Think of the implications.

On October 10, next Wednesday,  Mme. Secretary is due on Capitol Hill to testify before Darryl Issa's House Oversight Committee on security in Libya in general and in Benghazi in particular in the months and weeks prior to the attack on our consulate there culminating with the murders of  Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others at a safe house in Benghazi. 

Get it? 

(I am sure Mme. Secretary saw the humor in both of these items, but in her videos today she appeared less bubbly than usual.  Prepping for Issa is taxing and the strain shows.   He and his Tea Party cronies are going after her.  We should keep that in mind going forward.  That "vast right-wing conspiracy"  exists, and they are going after our girl.)