Free Republic

Excerpted from The New Yorker: But the mere existence of the edits—whatever the motivation for them—seriously undermines the White House’s credibility on this issue. This past November (after Election Day), White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters that “The White House and the State Department have made clear that the single adjustment that was made to those talking points by either of those two institutions were changing the word ‘consulate’ to ‘diplomatic facility’ because ‘consulate’ was inaccurate.” Remarkably, Carney is sticking with that line even now. In his regular press briefing on Friday afternoon (a briefing that was delayed...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein says the talking points used on the Sunday news shows following the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, were wrong, adding that the administration should have been quicker in calling it a terrorist act. “I think the talking points were wrong,” the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday on NBC´s “Meet the Press.” “I think the talking points should not be written by the intelligence community.” “Unfortunately," she added, "the word extremist was used which isn’t not as crystal clear as terrorist.”

here is no escaping the fact that, where Benghazi is concerned, there is blood in the water and the mainstream media has (at long last) picked up the scent. Yesterday, the sharks representing the three major TV networks circled Press Secretary Jay Carney, bombarding him with questions that were uncharacteristically tough. ABC’s Jonathan Karl, who broke the story that the talking points underwent twelve revisions, had the aspect and attitude of a man scorned and determined to set the record straight as much to clear his own name as to ascertain the truth. When Carney attempted to weasel out of his claim...

The Talk Shows May 12th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Adam Smith, D-Wash.; Rep.-elect Mark Sanford, R-S.C.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.; Sen. Dianne Feinsweine, D-Calif.; former diplomat Thomas Pickering, who helped lead the State Department's review of the attack against the U.S. in Benghazi, Libya. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Pickering; former Defense Secretary Robert Gates; Sens. Da Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.THIS WEEK (ABC): Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Jack Reed, D-R.I. STATE OF THE...

Even though White House Press Secretary Jay Carney thinks “Benghazi happened a long time ago,” the four people killed in the attacks are just now being officially honored.

A national opinion poll indicates that former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is more popular than President Barack Obama and any other national political figure. The Quinnipiac University survey released Friday said Clinton has a 61 percent favorability rating among American voters, compared to President Obama's 51 percent favorability.

The White House has clarified Vice President Biden’s comment that he wasn’t aware of security requests, saying he was speaking for himself and President Obama, not the State Department. But they still haven’t explained Biden’s even more troubling claim that the intelligence community told the White House there were protesters outside the Benghazi embassy: MS. RADDATZ: What were you first told about the attack? Why were people talking about protests? When people in the consulate first saw armed men attacking with guns, there were no protesters. Why did that go on for weeks? VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: Because that’s exactly what...

The Obama campaign is struggling to respond to mounting criticism of Vice President Joe Biden's bizarre behavior during last night's debate with Rep. Paul Ryan. Biden not only interrupted Ryan frequently--82 times, according to Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus--but frequently laughed, smirked, and snorted at serious moments, showing contempt for his opponent and disturbing even friendly observers. A CNN poll conducted after the debate, which handed Ryan a narrow 48%-44% victory, also showed that Ryan had beaten Biden by an even wider margin when it came to "likeability." Viewers in the poll--with an admittedly small sample-- also said Ryan...

The article mentions that "Another person is seen checking the pulse of the victim." Unfortunately the video is not included in the story; however, I am including the link to an updated and slightly longer video which does indeed show a Libyan checking Ambassador Stevens pulse at the 1:16 mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRBl11SRtUk&feature=channel&list=UL&bpctr=1348039338

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich told a South Carolina town hall on Monday that as president he would block federal funds to any city that "declared itself a sanctuary" for illegal immigrants. Gingrich, fresh from a key endorsement from an influential New Hampshire newspaper, is on a three-day swing through South Carolina, an early primary state that his campaign has dubbed his "southern firewall." "No American president has the right to side with foreigners," Gingrich told a crowd of hundreds at the College of Charleston, after reciting a list of 16 countries that he said...

U.S. President Barack Obama was set to release Jonathan Pollard but his vice president thwarted the move, The New York Times has reported. According to the report, Vice President Joe Biden met last week with 15 rabbis in Boca Raton, Florida, when he was asked by one of them why Pollard, who was convicted in 1986, was still in prison. In response to the question Biden said, “President Obama was considering clemency, but I told him, ‘Over my dead body are we going to let him out before his time.’” He added, “If it were up to me, he would...

A video is being widely circulated showing a shirtless boy receiving secondary screening from a Transportation Security Officer (TSO). A passenger filmed the screening with their cell phone and posted the video on the web. Many are coming to their own conclusions about what's happening in the video which is now perched at the top of the Drudge report and being linked to in many other blogs and tweets. We looked into this to find out what happened. On November 19, a family was traveling through a TSA checkpoint at the Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC). Their son alarmed...

A Sestak Offer? Criminally Stupid, Not CriminalBy Michael Grunwald Thursday, May. 27, 2010 If it's true that the White House offered Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak a job to try to clear the Democratic Senate primary for incumbent Arlen Specter, that's disturbing. But not because anyone is "participating in the cover-up of a possible crime." This doesn't sound like a "potentially devastating accusation of political corruption," much less an "impeachable offense," no matter what nonsense Michael Steele or Sean Hannity are peddling. Republicans may be calling for a special prosecutor, and even Democratic Senator Dick Durbin wants to know what happened....

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's controversial ex-pastor, threw a hissy fit in a letter to an African aid group, claiming that the president "threw me under the bus" and the White House views him as "toxic." In a missive obtained by the Associated Press, Wright told Africa 6000 International that the Obama administration would likely ignore his efforts to release frozen funds for use in earthquake-stricken Haiti. "No one in the Obama administration will respond to me, listen to me, talk to me or read anything that I write to them. I am 'toxic' in terms of the Obama...

US admiral defends Obama's Japan bow (AFP) – 1 day ago WASHINGTON — The former top commander of US troops in Asia on Thursday strongly defended President Barack Obama against critics of his bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito, calling it a gesture of respect. Admiral Timothy Keating, who retired last month ...

President Obama stopped short of an apology to Sgt. James Crowley on Friday for saying he "acted stupidly" for arresting black Harvard scholar Henry Lewis Gates Jr., but said he should have chosen his words more carefully. At an impromptu appearance at the daily White House briefing, Obama said he spoke with Crowley over the phone, and said he wanted to share a beer with Crowley and Gates at the White House. "Because this has been ratcheting up and I helped contribute to ratcheting it up, I want to make clear that in my choice of words I unfortunately gave...

Florida Republican leaders hastily convened a top secret meeting this week to grapple with Sen. John McCain's sagging performance in this must-win state. Their fears were confirmed Wednesday when four new polls showed Sen. Barack Obama leading, a reversal from just a few weeks ago when McCain was opening up an advantage.... One of the concerns has been the relationship between grass roots volunteers across the state and far fewer paid campaign staffers. Complaints range from not getting yard signs quickly enough to knowing who will speak at events and overall manpower coordination.... McCain supporter and former Republican Party of...

CNN story. Apparently Obama sent a letter to his pastor but that has yet to be released.

The presidential contenders have had their share of supporters whose insensitive remarks forced the campaigns to issue disavowals. This week, it was Barack Obama’s turn. After a series of recorded sermons by Obama’s longtime pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. sparked controversy over Wright’s fiery views on race, America and the Sept. 11 attacks, Obama responded Friday by firmly repudiating Wrights’ views in lengthy written statement and a round of cable news interviews. The question is whether Obama’s response worked, or whether his connection to Wright will haunt the Democratic senator’s campaign and dampen his presidential hopes. In an interview...

Doctor Raoul learned this afternoon that the Berzerkistan (aka Berkeley) Chamber of Commerce is going to place a large thumb in the eye of the Revolutionary Communist Party and the Marxist Code Pink groups tomorrow, at the Chamber's annual Crab Feast fundraiser, by honoring the USMC recruiter in charge of the Berkeley recruiting center that has been targeted by these radical groups. On the Berkeley Chamber website it is evident that Chamber members and leaders are not at all happy with the City government's actions against our military: The Berkeley Chamber of Commerce supports the men and women of our...