But hey, what difference does it make?
White House press secretary Jay Carney on Wednesday defended Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s assertion that the administration’s initial claims the Benghazi attack was the result of a violent protest — rather than terrorism — made no “difference” in the big picture of the tragedy.
Carney, speaking to reporters at the White House daily briefing, said Clinton was referring to “an obvious political obsession over a series of talking points that again bears no relevance on the central issues” around the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Translation: “We’re incompetent and we’ve done nothing but lie about it, everybody knows it, and we have no excuse for it. So we’d really like you to shut up now.”
Things that definitely aren’t political obsessions: Binders full of women, Big Bird, “I can see Russia from my house,” Palin’s wardrobe budget, Valerie Plame, James O’Keefe’s misdemeanor, Andrew Breitbart’s cellphone having a picture that Anthony Weiner tweeted, and far too many more examples to list in a day.
Political obsession: Getting to the bottom of why Americans were murdered by Islamic terrorists on the anniversary of 9/11 after repeatedly requesting help, and why we weren’t told the truth about it.
One of the “central issues” around the Benghazi attack is that we were lied to about it. We were told, with great vehemence and absolute surety, that the attack was not planned by terrorists. Instead, it was a spontaneous reaction to a YouTube video mocking Islam:
This was a lie, and Hillary Clinton either knew it was a lie or is completely incompetent. It could be both, but it can’t be neither.
They got what they wanted. They were able to confuse the issue long enough to keep it from scuttling President Barack Obama‘s reelection. They fooled just enough people into thinking that his foreign policy isn’t a complete disaster. And now that he’s been rethroned, we’re told that it doesn’t matter because he won.
Hillary Clinton actually said it out loud: “What difference does it make?”
Ambassador Christopher Stevens could not be reached for comment.
P.S. Or, if “obsession” seems too harsh, you could always refer to it as a “fixation.”