Pick Your Scandal [VDH]

National Review ^ | 6/11/2013 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Servant of the Cross]

Violating Americans’ privacy while failing to identify the terrorists among us

All can agree that the Obama administration is mired in myriads of scandals, but as yet no one can quite figure out what they all mean and where they will lead.

Benghazi differs from all the other scandals — and from both Watergate and Iran-Contra — because in this case administration lapses led to the deaths of four Americans. Nine months later, the administration’s problems of damage control remain fourfold: (a) there was ample warning that American personnel were in danger in Libya, and yet requests for increased security were denied; (b) during the actual attack, the American tradition of sending in relief forces on the chance that fellow Americans could be saved was abrogated; (c) the president and his top officials knowingly advanced a narrative of a culpable filmmaker that they knew was not accurate; (d) a through c are best explained as resulting not from honest human error or the fog of war, but from a methodical effort to assure the public in the weeks before the election that “lead from behind” in Libya had been a successful venture and that the death of Osama bin Laden had made al-Qaeda–inspired terrorism rare. All other concerns became secondary, including the safety of Americans in Libya.

Until someone proves that the administration was not wrong in failing to beef up our posts, was not wrong in not ordering immediate succor, was not wrong in blaming the violence on a filmmaker, and was not wrong in covering up the truth by promoting a demonstrably false narrative, the scandal will not go away. Other questions remained unanswered. What role was the “consulate” actually playing? Who gave the stand-down order despite the calls for help? Who dreamed up the filmmaker-as-guilty-party yarn? Did General David Petraeus’s post-Benghazi testimony square with the CIA talking points, and were any of these events related to his post-election resignation? And does Jay Carney face any consequences for blatantly lying to the press corps when he asserted that the administration had made a single adjustment to its Benghazi talking points — when there were, in fact, twelve substantive revised drafts?

[Servant of the Cross]

The Liar-in-Chief needs to be held personally accountable for his administration's "reckless, unethical, and unlawful behavior."

[Servant of the Cross]

VDH ping.

[rarestia]

Benghazi is the only scandal that “got away” from Obama. Everything else, I believe, is managed in some “back channel” way. Since they were dealing with Islamist operators, the Benghazi incident declined quickly and left them looking incompetent and complicit in the deaths of 4 Americans.

The rest of these scandals, the timing of their release, everything points to a cover up of the original “big one” of Benghazi. Keep your eyes on the prize.

[Graewoulf]

Impeachment File on Benghazi Coward “B. Hussein Obama,” formerly known as Barry Soetoro, a legal citizen of the sovereign Nation of Indonesia.

[Pollster1]

I'm not convinced that Benghazi is a critical scandal. Yes, Americans died because we have an incompetent traitor in our White House. Yes, the lies to cover that up were silly - a negative movie review that got out of hand with mortars? Yes, the military could have responded if their Dear Leader had not been too busy raising funds. But the fact is those decisions were all more or less within the scope of the powers that Obama usurped.

I'm a whole lot more concerned about the IRS abuse of power, which matches one of the impeachment charges against Nixon. I'm a whole lot more concerned about the NSA monitoring Americans in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Violations of the Constitution should be treated as far more serious than Obama killing off a few people he never cared about to begin with.

[kidd]

a through c are best explained as resulting not from honest human error or the fog of war, but from a methodical effort to assure the public in the weeks before the election that “lead from behind” in Libya had been a successful venture and that the death of Osama bin Laden had made al-Qaeda–inspired terrorism rare.

I disagree with VDH.

Security could have been beefed up before the attack without making any waves whatsoever, or better yet the ambassador could have been kept out of Benghazi altogether. And VDH's explanation doesn't account for the fact that we still don't know the names of the survivors who were on the ground and stationed at the Annex.

The best explanation is that the ambassador was engaged in a weapons transfer program. I'm not sure if the ambassador was considered expendible or was purposely allowed to die so that the knowledge of the transfer would be eliminated. In either case, this is supported by eye-witness accounts and the meeting with the Saudis, as well as Obama's show of total indifference by going to Las Vegas the next morning.

Another explanation that has been offered is that the ambassador was to be deliberately kidnapped and exchanged for a terrorist in an American jail (the blind sheik has been suggested). This would supposedly make Obama look like a hero. This is supported by the unusual presence of the drone that took the live video.

[Travis McGee]

[Aevery_Freeman]

As in old-time Sci-Fi where the computer becomes sentient, our government has become a life force in its own right and now emulates all life forms through self-preservation, growth and reproduction.

The IRS was once viewed as a rapacious maw which kept the government fed, it is now rightly seen to be a rapacious maw with halitosis.

[KeyLargo]

‘Impeach Obama’ protest causes giant Southern California traffic jam (Photos)

TEA Party
June 9, 2013
By: Timothy Whiteman

http://www.examiner.com/article/impeach-obama-protest-causes-giant-southern-california-traffic-jam

[Vaduz]

The dems fear not for the MSM will have all the scandals white washed by November.

[neverdem]

Welcome to Orwell’s 1984.