Sometimes it’s the dog that doesn’t bark that is interesting. The Benghazi attack talking points and their morphing from a discussion of Al Queda terrorism into a witch hunt against a dodgy film maker was designed to protect someone. The question is who? Who was worth embarrassing the US diplomatic and intelligence corps and discrediting us with the Libyan government who knew what was going on? The two popular figures are Barak Obama because, as President, he was in charge and Hillary Clinton because, as Secretary of state, she had responsibility over embassy security. But we all seem to be overlooking a third possibility. Vice President Biden was explicitly put on the ticket to give gravitas and experience to guide President Obama in sticky situations where he might not have experience. What if, 4 years into Obama’s presidency, Biden was still fulfilling that role and he took charge and completely blew it?
Obama would not want his continued reliance on Biden for urgent matters of national security to come out during his reelection campaign. Biden would be looking to bury the affair and dirty up his 2016 expected rival for the presidential nomination. Clinton would be the logical choice to spill the beans through anonymous leaks and cut outs. She hasn’t yet, which makes the theory less attractive but doesn’t knock it entirely out of consideration. She could have played out the scenario and not liked where it led for her own future regardless of whether it is true or not.
This is speculation but at least some of the media dogs chasing the story should have chased down this angle and asked the relevant questions. None seem to have done it.
You may refer to this entity as the Deep State.
It ain’t Biden.
Yeah, I don’t think it was Biden. Obama had a strong personal interest in burying the truth about Benghazi before the election. Mrs. Clinton didn’t necessarily want Obama to be reelected but has a strong interest in maintaining her viability as a presidential candidate. Occam’s razor probably applies. Also, regardless of media speculation it’s far from obvious that Biden has strong prospects as a presidential candidate, and he surely knows this.
I’ve retweeted Iowahawk’s take on the media WRT to Benghazi – “Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving.”
Incompetence and disregard for subordinates are both well know characteristics of both Clinton and Obama. Those of us who remember her previous foray into managing a large government entity, Hillarycare, are not surprised that crisis management is not among her talents. The only crisis she managed semi-successfully was Bill’s love life. She had had years of preparation for that.
Obama has had no experience at anything but talking from a TelePrompTer. He is good at it. It was interesting to read about the young man who writes those words.
Ben Rhodes, the president’s 30-something Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications and Speech writing.
Rhodes is well prepared for his role as Obama’s Deputy National Security Advisor and speech writer. He holds an MFA degree in fiction writing but you won’t see that mentioned in this NY Times puff piece. I wonder why ?
Nakoala is still in jail – held in solitary confinement to protect him from the people he insulted.
The story – that Nakoala created a video which by insulting the prophet caused all Moslems to rise up an attack America – falsely characterizes Moslems as unthinking, uncivilized, homocidal bigots. All untrue. Islam seeks only peace.
This story is a hate crime. and anybody – Obama, Clinton, newscasters, ambassadors, officials, Senators, Congressmen – anybody who treated the story that Muslims unthinkingly, violently reacted to a Nakoala movie are all guilty of a Hate Crime and must be brought to Justice.
Free Nakoala. Put the Haters in jail.
You are clutching at straws. You have nothing so the straws will have to do.
If you really think they left em’ there to die while they persecuted some brain dead idiot, then you share his problem.
Pengun, what’s your explanation?
The videomaker was a fall guy to cover up incompetence. Plain and simple. Maybe we should ask now why Petraeus’ affair was exposed when it was also. To get him to shut up about Benghazi?
I agree, Biden is an empty suit. My money is on Hillary as the protectee.
“Pengun, what’s your explanation?”
He knows me even when I forget. ;) Confusion and Stupidity, it’s nearly always the real reason.
You know the old saw: “never blame on malice what can be blamed on stupidity”. It’s no universal truth but a good rule to follow.
We really can blame pretty well all human problems on human stupidity.
Vice President Biden was explicitly put on the ticket to give gravitas and experience to guide President Obama in sticky situations where he might not have experience. What if, 4 years into Obama’s presidency, Biden was still fulfilling that role and he took charge and completely blew it?
I would hope that Obama was perspicacious enough to realize that Biden was a bloviating fool whose advice on anything- other than what restaurant to eat at- was worthless. My hopes will be dashed if Obama was damned fool enough to follow the advice of Slow Joe.
Those media dogs have been put to sleep by their masters.
On the point of whether they are covering for Biden; if anyone in a position of authority [and in this case it would have to be a delegation of authority by Buraq Hussein] placed Biden anywhere near making any decision on any crisis, they are liable for criminal negligence and abuse of the mentally deficient.
If nothing else, it points back to Buraq Hussein because if someone else had left the pooch walking as bowlegged as in the current situation; Obama by now would have placed them under the bus in self defense.
Subotai Bahadur
I would hope that Obama was perspicacious enough to realize that Biden was a bloviating fool whose advice on anything- other than what restaurant to eat at- was worthless.
It’s not Obama’s style to appoint anyone who might outshine him.
Subotai Bahadur:
If nothing else, it points back to Buraq Hussein because if someone else had left the pooch walking as bowlegged as in the current situation; Obama by now would have placed them under the bus in self defense.
Good point. If he can blame, he will.
While I’ve no particular knowledge of this case, I do know how State works.
The hierarchy has a complete allergy to approving texts written by those lower on the food chain without making some change, however trivial.
There’s just a complete lack of trust in underlings and a complete fear that, left to their own devices, those underlings will write or say something that will embarrass a higher-up.
Malice is not required, nor skullduggery. Tinkering to show one’s importance and irreplaceability is enough.
“You know the old saw: “never blame on malice what can be blamed on stupidity”. It’s no universal truth but a good rule to follow.”
I agree but Hillary usually has malice toward subordinates if they cause her trouble. The White House travel office learned this early.
Obama was preoccupied with election which took precedence over anything else in his mind. I don’t think malice applies to him as much as incompetence.
“What if, 4 years into Obama’s presidency, Biden was still fulfilling that role and he took charge and completely blew it? ”
Based on Woodward’s book, I think Biden is there to deal with Congress. Obama has no experience, talent or interest in that. I doubt he would get near foreign policy although Obama is not very interested in that either.
The fact that Obama’s foreign policy speeches are written by a kid with NO background except in fiction writing should be a hint.
The French have done pretty well since De Gaulle with a professional bureaucracy running the country but they are merit based, unlike our own bureaucracy. The French bureaucrats actually take competitive exams. Affirmative Action ended competitive exams in this country except in engineering and science which AA applicants shun.
Believe me. Biden was not in the room when it happened. They know he is a buffoon. They would not trust him with an important responsibility like developing political spin on an potentially dangerous topic. The Benghazhi flummery was the work of politicos. The White House and the State Department will point fingers at each other. But, that makes no difference. No one in this administration seems to be able to grasp the concept of executive responsibility. And we can be sure that the MSM won’t try to hold them to it.
One of the comment wags observed that, given our administration’s attitude toward the Bill of Rights, they were thinking of sprucing up their guest bedroom – clearly soon we will be quartering soldiers. I’m not sure if you have to be malicious to not care about the consequences of your actions and to think only of yourself – are narcissists malicious or merely sociopaths? The difference may be important somewhere, but I doubt even in the Great Assizes will it be easy to determine whether malice or a vain willfulness was the core.
People died; our sense of who we are both nationally and internationally appears in shambles; our history is misrepresented and our values re-defined by those who speak for us, the attorney general is making political correctness a national law on campuses across the country, Nokula is in jail, and those who spoke out at Tea Parties are clearly being harassed by their government. The guy who refused to prosecute the Black Panthers who intimidated voters is being nominated for a higher office by our President, who seems to view us as gullible banana republic types. Well, maybe we are. We re-elected him.
People are people – a culture that has lost the ideas that gave us power in the 18th century are still people that might, possibly, understand what institutions lead to an ordered life and which ones to a suppressed one. But maybe we have to learn the hard way.
I never imagined I would read “Biden” and “gravitas” in the same sentence.
The point of Bureaucracy is no one is responsible.
The responsibility is the President and after him Sec State.
Look if US MIL shows up in that situation especially with Air support it’s a lot of dead bodies. Bad visuals.
Also this requires fast, command decisions. These people are enshrine the academic objective decision process which is of course married to their style of consultant driven politics.
In short you have pretty boy academic politicians and marketing types, not SOB Command types.
Remember the [mythical] Academic Objective Decision making process is enshrined in their mythology, the ultimate example being the Cuban Missile Crisis Ex Con.
They don’t do fast decisions, remember the Afghan “surge”? Not that Bush was quite Mr Swifty on making tough decisions on Iraq. Sure, after he lost an election in 06 and the War was in the sh*tter. Let’s replace some people. You think?
This required quick – and frankly natural protective reactions – and they CAN’T do it.
And if this wasn’t obvious before, it is now, and will probably be exploited again.
They didn’t make a decision because THEY CAN’T.
Now how to fabricate a ridiculous and fatuous narrative and get it out there to the media – that they can and did do successfully.
Let’s remember all of this was known in all but the minute details within a week.
The Rebumblekins could have held these hearings in Oct 2012 and still lost the election – because you see they wanted to..also the important issue to the people is the next mouthful of corn.
The next mouthful of corn will be the dominant election issue for some time to come.
Q-What does Benghazi have in common with Joe Biden’s ass?
A-Joe couldn’t find either one with a map and a flashlight.
The fingerprints belong to Hillary and her coven.
For your amusement:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/2608103/Joe-Bidens-foreign-policy-skills-convinced-Barack-Obama-to-make-him-running-mate.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/25/biden-named-as-running-mate/?page=all
http://www.usnews.com/news/campaign-2008/articles/2008/08/25/biden-brings-long-foreign-policy-experience-to-obamas-presidential-bid
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93903313
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5637409&page=1#.UY81tSvt1Yk
http://freedomoutpost.com/2012/09/joe-biden-i-am-supposedly-an-expert-on-foreign-policy/
“Biden brings long foreign policy experience…”
Yeah, but from which he learned precisely nothing.
Well, ok, except for that thing about the US and France getting together to drive Hezbollah out of Lebanon; I’ll give him that.
I’m watching the ABC News Sunday show. Nobody seems to realize the worst damage inflicted by Susan Rice with her appearance and her lies. She directly contradicted and implied he was lying, the only moderate Muslim in the middle east. Mohammed Magariaf, the president of Libya’s new, post-Qaddafi General National Congress, said on the same program that the attack on the consulate was a terrorist attack and al qeada was involved.
Having insulted the country’s president, does anyone wonder why FBI agents had so much trouble getting permission to investigate the consulate ruins ?
Kirk Parker – I tend to be a bit negative on Biden too. Neither your opinion or mine matter in this case. The question is what is Obama’s opinion. Did he turn to Biden and effectively say “you’re the expert. I’m going to bed because I have a big day tomorrow” and then woke up to a mess? He probably would have done it in early 2009. Was Obama still deferring to Biden last year? Isn’t that a question at least worth chasing down?