What Doesn't Matter to Hillary Clinton

Townhall.com ^ | January 24, 2013 | Debra J. Saunders

[Kaslin]

"With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they'd they go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?" Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a hearing on the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi, Libya, which left U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, Tyrone Woods, Sean Smith and Glen Doherty dead. "It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again."

It matters because a protest gone wild or Libyan guys out for a walk require a very different response -- better perimeter security -- than a planned armed terrorist attack. A premeditated attack would show that Foggy Bottom was blindsided. A premeditated attack would mean that the administration probably ought to change the way it thinks.

It matters because news reports place some of the Benghazi thugs in Algeria, where their corpses were found after an attack that left 38 hostages dead, including three Americans. The New York Times reports that Algeria captured three Egyptian militants who where involved in both attacks.

I agree with Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., who said, "Barack Obama was not responsible for the Benghazi attack any more than George W. Bush was responsible for the 9/11 attacks."

But if there is evidence that the overthrow of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi -- however well-deserved -- has destabilized North Africa to an extent that endangers America's national security, the Obama administration would do well to confront that possibility. Mayhap this administration should be more circumspect before further fertilizing the so-called Arab Spring.

The Senate and House hearings Wednesday were not particularly illuminating on that score. For the most part, Democrats fawned over Clinton, while Republicans bloviated when they should have been pressing for specific information.

Republicans resumed their tireless efforts to get the Obama administration to come clean about the thinking behind U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's appearance on "Meet the Press" and other Sunday shows Sept. 16. Rice said, "What happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, which were prompted" by an anti-Islam video. She also claimed there was no evidence the Benghazi attack was "preplanned."

It is clear today that the administration preferred to blame an American-made video rather than well-armed al-Qaida-inspired terrorists; the election was less than two months away.

Now the election is four years away. Still, Clinton refused to acknowledge that the video didn't cause the attack, one that clearly was planned by terrorists. "We don't know all the motivations."

So here's what matters. It matters if al-Qaida-inspired terrorists planned this attack. It matters if the same group was involved in the Algeria killings. It doesn't matter if a few guys angry about a video somehow found themselves in the company of armed militants intent on killing a U.S. ambassador.

[Political Junkie Too]

What difference, at this point, does it make?"

The key phrase is "at this point."

It really mattered before the election, but Obama and Clinton did everything in their power to delay the testimony until after Obama won, and Romney did everything in his power to avoid making this an issue.

-PJ

[Pecos]

I seriously doubt that a bunch of guys with guns in Benghazi accidentally found themselves near the American compound on 9/11 and decided to shoot up the place. Either the Secretary of State is incredibly stupid, or she thinks everyone else is.

So, I'm sorry, Madam Secretary, but given the fact that the Ambassador had been asking for more armed guards, and had been denied, and 9/11 is a somewhat important anniversary in the AQ world - I would have to say that the Administration and Department of State bear considerable blame for the outcome.

[Resolute Conservative]

Give her a break she is suffering from Houma withdraws.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

That is the M.O. of the left.

They do whatever they can (even create a crisis) to allow the media to cover something other than the pressing topic. Then, when time has passed, the left can look back and say, “that is old news. What difference does it make?”

This is also a part of their strategy best termed “projection.” In psychology, Projection is when you accuse others of wrongs and weaknesses you know to be true of yourself, thereby shifting focus from yourself to others.

In politics, the way the left plays this, they know they are doing something wrong or immoral, so they automatically accuse the other side of doing it. The secretaries in the state-run media run with the story attacking the Republicans or conservatives. This slams the enemies of the Left. The accused waste their time and money defending these baseless claims.

Six months or so later it comes out that it was the Left, the DNC, that was actually taking part in the illegal or immoral activity. But by this time, they can point back and say, “Look, the Republicans were doing this first. Everyone does it. It’s old news. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?”

Hillary, you ignorant slut.

The difference it makes is this: You, the affirmative-action president, Carney, and Rice all came out with a blitzkrieg soon after Benghazi and blamed it on a video that almost no one had seen. You did that to get the affirmative-action president through the elections.

Congratulations. Your lies and schemes succeeded and they stole the election fair-and-square.

But why it matters is because we now know that Obammie the Commie ordered those who could defend themselves to “stand down” (the only one with the ultimate authority to make that call), that you ignored their requests for help, that you allowed those four Americans to die.

So the question is this:

If it was not because of a video, what was the cause of the attack?

Is the Canadian Free Press correct that Benghazi was a gun-running operation to the Islamofascists in Syria?

Your lying and your fake moral outrage (you’ve come a long way, baby, from shying away fro Rick Lazio like a frightened little school girl to shaking your fist and pounding your high heel on the podium like Khrushchev) make it all the more important that there has been an cover-up of a magnitude that makes Watergate a game of whisper-down-the-lane in comparison.

You, Hillary(!) and everyone involved in this, know that you were gun-running to sworn enemies of America and that this is the very definition of Treason.

Four Americans did not die.

You allowed four Americans to be slaughtered to hide the truth and save your fat ass.

[Robert357]

It matters to me.....

I want to know if the people running this government are “playing” the public and creating propaganda to manipulate public opinion or if the people running this government can be trusted.

I would concur with Mr. Ryan. Hillary should have been fired and the current President thrown out of office. It really does matter.

It would be so nice to have someone ask that lady presidential debate moderator who corrected Romney on his obvious lack of knowledge about what the president said in regards to the killing of the Americans in Libya. I wonder if she feels used at all?

[dowcaet]

It doesn’t matter to the media either when it concerns a Democrat. You can bet your life savings the MSM won’t touch this if it means damaging Hillary in 2016. Their thinking is that we got a minority into the White House and next we need to get a (liberal) woman in there. We know the wimpy GOP won’t bring this up in 2016 but don’t you think someone like Andrew Coumo, Evan Bayh, or other “outsider” types running for the Democratic nomination would to paint Hillary as incompetent and not ready for prime time, such as she tried to do to the president in 2008 in the primaries. It seems to me that would be their only real chance to defeat her because we know the media and the big money Democratic donors will all line up behind Hillary.

[oldbrowser]

What difference, at this point, does it make?"

The difference it makes is that if this was a terrorist attack, then we should consider the SOS position something more than a ceremonial title whose duties are something more than traveling around the world and partying with the locals.

[Casie]

"Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they'd they go kill some Americans?"

The thing is, the attack was NOTHING like either of the two flippant things she said there. And it DOES matter that people died and our government shoved insulting lies down our throats in order to cover up their Fast and Furious II: Arming The Muslim Brotherhood Operation.

OMG it was a YouTube video! Darn our selfish right to free speech! Evil deadly YouTube! Ugly Americans and their first amendment right! Kill the YouTube video makers! The future should not belong to those who insult islam-a-lam-a-ding-dong!

Wasn't that what you said Shillary? When you knew the blood was caked on YOUR hands. Obama's hands.

You can go suck a lemon and may God have no mercy on your inky black soul.

[silverleaf]

“What difference does it make at this point?”

a startlingly stupid comment from the world’s so-called “smartest woman”

Can anyone look at that performance and think “POTUS 2016”?

[TexasCajun]

Next time we here Bush Lied!

We just repeat Hillary's self-righteous indignation:

What difference, at this point, does it make?"

[TexasCajun]

...hear.

[Servant of the Cross]

"What Doesn't Matter to Hillary Clinton"

That the truth of Benghazi should be told to the American people.

That a United States Ambassador died.

It is unbelievable that the lame excuse ... 'I didn't know' ... has now been used repeatedly by 0bama, Holder, Clinton, on multiple scandals of the highest scale - PEOPLE DIED! - and yet the State Run Media falls silent or talks about the 'courage' of the lying government official called to answer to the American people by answering reasonable questions posed by their representatives.

The press in this country is an utter disgrace.

Scott Pelley. Brian Williams. Diane Sawyer. Tom Brokaw. You're no better than Olberdork or Matthews.

If any one of these scandals had happened during the W administration, you would have been all over them like white on rice 24/7.

Hypocrites. Frauds. Your job is to report the truth. Lying bastards.

[NTHockey]

If it doesn’t matter, why was all the effort expended to convince us that it was a protest? And it certainly does matter to those who died, when help was refused. Everyone in the regime has blood on their hands.

Unfortunately, SWMNBN will skate on this, just as all RATs are given a free pass by BKM (Butt Kissing Media).

[originalbuckeye]

BEING A DEMOCRAT MEANS NEVER HAVING TO ADMIT YOU’RE GUILTY! Sorry for shouting but I am really fed up with these liars, cheaters and thieves.

[BusterBear]

When an administration appears to be engaged in a cover-up and repeatedly lies to the American people, then it matters. Hillary ought to know about that - she was a lawyer on the Watergate commission.

[Bon mots]

This evil shrew should be in federal prison.

[Inwoodian]

I’ve read that one month prior to the attack the Islamofascists blew a fifteen foot hole in the embassy wall. I think it matters because all involved failed to take any meaningful actions to prevent or defend against another attack. If this were a negligence case against a private defendant the dead and injured would be entitled to punitive damages based on a flagrant disregard for their safety.

[supremedoctrine]

You’re right to point one essential thing in that first sentence, that the attack had nothing to do with either of those scenarios. It’s a good example of the classic False Choice argument that the Left rhetorically employs to forever alter the terms of discourse, provide its supporters with handy talking points, and crush the objective search for truth. “Make sure it never happens again” also is one of those, since it totally skirts the real question and challenge to explain WHY it happened in the first place.
After all, whose job is it to see that these things never happen? We could have a virtually UNSTAFFED State Department, and ZERO officials in any capacity in Libya, and the result would’ve been the same. Four dead Americans.

[supremedoctrine]

You’re right to point one essential thing in that first sentence, that the attack had nothing to do with either of those scenarios. It’s a good example of the classic False Choice argument that the Left rhetorically employs to forever alter the terms of discourse, provide its supporters with handy talking points, and crush the objective search for truth. “Make sure it never happens again” also is one of those, since it totally skirts the real question and challenge to explain WHY it happened in the first place.
After all, whose job is it to see that these things never happen? We could have a virtually UNSTAFFED State Department, and ZERO officials in any capacity in Libya, and the result would’ve been the same. Four dead Americans.