MSNBC Guest: Benghazi Is a ‘Fake, Phony Scandal’

NewsBusters.org ^ | November 18, 2013 | Paul Bremmer

[Kaslin]

With the wheels coming off of ObamaCare, liberals are desperately searching for a way to go back on the attack against Republicans. On Saturday’s Weekends with Alex Witt, Zerlina Maxwell of TheGrio.com trotted out a months-old strategy: attack Republicans for pushing the supposedly “phony” Benghazi scandal.

Asked for her opinion on the Republicans’ investigation of the Benghazi attack, Maxwell spit out the liberal narrative that we heard a lot of earlier this year: [Video below. MP3 audio here.]

MSNBC Contributor: Benghazi Is a ‘Fake, Phony Scandal’

Well, I think that Benghazi is a tragedy but it's a fake, phony scandal. And so I think that they're probably just going to stroke -- really just divisiveness and try to continue this witch hunt which is really what it's been."

She ended her spiel by hurling an accusation at Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has been spearheading the recent round of investigations:

"And so Lindsey Graham is really just using Benghazi as an excuse to block appointments, Senate appointments."

That ought to get MSNBC viewers’ minds off of the ObamaCare train wreck, no? Fortunately, Republican strategist Susan Del Percio was there to dispute Maxwell’s classification of Benghazi. Del Percio responded, “Yeah, but if it's a fake, phony witch hunt why is the U.S. government, why is the State Department offering a $10 million reward for those who can provide information about the people who started this?”

Maxwell then attempted to clarify her position: “It was a tragedy. But the scandal -- the fact that it might have been a cover-up is phony.”

No doubt Maxwell would love to protect President Obama from another potential dagger to his presidency. But the Benghazi investigation is ongoing, and it’s important that we learn all the facts. It’s also important that we know why administration officials scrubbed the original talking points of any references to terrorism or al-Qaeda, instead blaming the attacks on a YouTube video.

Maxwell is not the first member of the Grio to try to dismiss Benghazi as a phony scandal. Back in May, the Grio’s managing editor, Joy-Ann Reid, attempted to sweep the scandal under the rug during a conversation with Alex Witt.

Below is a transcript of the segment:

MARA SCHIAVOCAMPO: Now let's turn to Benghazi, let’s quickly change topics. You know, we haven't heard much from Republicans after CBS News yanked its Benghazi report last week. Susan, what do you make of that given that Republicans touted this report so strongly coming out and then afterwards, we haven't heard much about it at all.

SUSAN DEL PERCIIO: Well, what the Republicans, specifically Lindsey Graham's been on is that they want to speak to the American survivors of the Benghazi attack. Yes, there was a lot of problems with CBS. But that's not at – what the core of the issue is right now for the Republicans. Even this week, the director of the FBI said he saw no problem with letting the members of Congress speak to these survivors. And I think that's a very valid point and that they should continue down that track. This is an ongoing investigation. And they should be allowed to speak to these folks.

SCHIAVOCAMPO: And Zerlina, where do you think the Republicans' investigation of Benghazi goes from here?

ZERLINA MAXWELL: Well, I think that Benghazi is a tragedy but it's a fake, phony scandal. And so I think that they're probably just going to stroke -- really just divisiveness and try to continue this witch hunt which is really what it's been because, to Susan's point about the information that they want from the families, the families themselves have said, we've been cooperating all along. And so Lindsey Graham is really just using Benghazi as an excuse to block appointments, Senate appointments.

DEL PERCIO: Yeah, but if it's a fake, phony witch hunt why is the U.S. government, why is the State Department offering a $10 million reward for those who can provide information about the people who started this? It's not phony. It's a very real thing. This –

MAXWELL: No, it was a tragedy. It was a tragedy. But the scandal -- the fact that it might have been a cover-up is phony.

[crosstalk]

DEL PERCIO: There was an action that was taken -- a terrorist action against Americans. There's no doubting that. The State Department –

MAXWELL: I’m agreeing – I agree with you.

DEL PERCIO: – so it’s not a make-believe scandal.

[a fool in paradise]

But I suppose there is nothing that they won't try to politicize.

"Bush KNEW!" - Senator Hillary Clinton from the floor of the Senate, February 2002 discussing the 9-11-2001 terrorist attacks.

[stevie_d_64]

Oh shoot, you beat me to it...

See I need to read before I post...

Kinda like I need to aim before I pull the trigger...It helps accuracy...

Ohhh, that’s good stuff, I need to write that one down, before I forgit’ it...;-)

[DemforBush]

“Zerlina” ?

[a fool in paradise]

Double negative negates the outcome, it is a “fake” phony scandal. The Democrats outrage that Benghazi is a phony scandal itself is fake.

[stevie_d_64]

Would you settle for depleted Uranium slugs from orbit???

Wait a sec...That gives me an idea...hmmmmmmmm, yep...I think we can get it to work...

Just got to git the math right...2 guzinta 4, 2 times...check...

;-)

[okie01]

But I suppose there is nothing that they won't try to politicize.

"Everything is political."
V.I. Lenin, 1912

[Kaslin]

Must have been

[Kaslin]

Something like that. Did someone die in there?

[Kaslin]

Hopefully soon

[Bender2]

Re: MSNBC Guest: Benghazi Is a ‘Fake, Phony Scandal’

When you consider that MSNBC has loyal viewers that only see the world through the Liberal Lens of Life where the government always knows best and must always have total control over everything and everyone, this type of stuff is not a surprise at all.

One of MSNBC’s hosts, Martin Bashir, just recently said some really filthy things about Sarah Palin and now has issued an abject apology. Yet what he said is still out there bring joy to those who believe MSNBC never does any wrong.

I could go on recalling MSMBC’s Ed Schultz calling Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut” and continue on into perpetuity with many, many, many more outrageous comments made by those on the MSNBC wavelength.

Yet, what can we do about it? Like the Soviet Union's Evil Empire Reagan spoke to, those at MSNBC will continue to say what every vile thing they wish and get away with it even if they do offer an ‘apology’ that has the net value of a million zeros divided by a dozen chicken necks.

So, having vented, I say this Benghazi Is a ‘Fake, Phony Scandal' crapola is much ado about nothing.

The truth will come out eventually.

We all need to just go out and work towards getting a solid majority of conservatives into the Congress, Courts and White House.

Then we can deal with the problem—

Of course, there is always what a character once said in fiction, "Yes, but we'll have to hang most of Congress and the Courts to get it done legally."*

Sad to say that fiction holds many of today's truths and many of us could live with that very solution...

* From Duty, Honor, Country a never produced screenplay by DC Lee

[Billthedrill]

It doesn't have to make sense. Send nitwits like Zerlina out there just to get the narrative out. Truth is irrelevant, if it's "our" narrative, then the scandal becomes "their" narrative. And all narratives are equally true.

Oh, and call anyone who challenges her a racist.

[Kaslin]

I just did a search. The name is Italian in origin and made up by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for the heroine of his opera Don Giovanni

Source

[castlegreyskull]

I thought it sound illogical before, but this makes it sound even more illogical.

[RichInOC]

I’ll believe it’s a fake scandal when they can produce Chris Stevens and the other guys alive and unharmed.

[dennisw]

She’s a Palov dog. She’s black so she’ll bark for her black messiah. No thought required, it gums up the works in the pea brain of this low information commentator

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

What is TheGrio.com and why should we pay any attention to it? Zerlina sounds like another leftwing wackjob, a “diverter” of subjects under discussion

In other words, a lying bitch, like Hillary, Napolitano, Sebelius, Pelosi, Boxer, Wasser-shit, etc.

[HarleyD]

Interesting how no one in the MSM knew that Obama and the Democrats were lying about people losing their insurance. What’s more important is that while the Republicans were telling the truth, no one in the MSM followed up on any “investigative reporting” to see what was the truth.

The MSM is all about propaganda and Obamacare shows it. It isn’t even worth listening to any longer.

[DemforBush]

That’s actually kind of awesome. I was thinking the origins were more Star Trek in nature.

[Venturer]

Exactly: There is nothing fake about 4 dead men. I wish this person could face those parents and family and tell them their loved one was a fake.

[Telepathic Intruder]

“Bush KNEW!” - Senator Hillary Clinton. And she got that directly from MoveOn.org, which is run by George Soros. There was a time shortly after 9/11 when just about every liberal thought it was Bush, not Islamic terrorists, that brought the towers down. They politicized it for their own agenda. Their pathetic rationalization that “fire can’t melt steel” allowed them to imagine whatever they wanted. Thermite bombs planted by government agents in the middle of the night.