GOP Senators Tune Attention of UN Ambassador Dr. Susan Rice to Focus on Benghazi

What?  No Press Conferences for Senator McCain following General Petraeus testimony this morning?  Looks like McCain finally figured out he might have been wrong and the fact he skipped the briefings yesterday to attend the press conference was not a good idea:

Even Sen. John McCain, who has been one of Rice’s chief critics in the Senate, was largely mum on the subject following the hearing, opting instead to lambast the Iraqi government for freeing Ali DaqDuq, a Hezbollah leader connected to multiple American deaths.

State Department requested additional dollars to beef up security at our embassies and consulates but the increase was rejected in the House, but it is still the fault of the State Department?   Guess the State Department was supposed to manufacture dollars to increase security.

Time for Republicans to quit their grandstanding.  I said the same thing after 9/11 about the Democrats when the initial cooperation wore off.  Sure miss the days of Democrat Senators Sam Nunn and David Boren  when they actually did work together with Republican Senators Don Nickles and Richard Lugar.  

IMHO there were changes made to the Federal Government intelligence/investigative structure in 2004 following 9/11 that should not have been implemented.  Putting more layers of management has not helped:

The CIA and its responsibilities changed markedly in 2004. Before December 2004, the CIA was the main intelligence organization of the U.S. government; it was responsible for coordinating the activities of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) as a whole. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 created the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), which took over management and leadership of the IC.

Republicans and Fox News have way overplayed their hand on Benghazi and it looks like from some comments they haven't learned their lesson.  Guess we should be happy Republicans have backed off US Ambassador Dr. Susan Rice but what they need to quit doing is trying to manufacture a political witch hunt which has been ongoing since the Benghazi attack.  The worst part is that members of the Intelligence Committee know better when it comes to CIA intelligence that when it comes in the fog of an attack, the scenario of what happened can change over time. 

Republicans Tone Down Attacks On Rice, But Keep Focus On Benghazi 

“Clearly the security measures were not adequate despite an overwhelming and growing amount of information showing the area of Benghazi was dangerous and particularly the date of Sept. 11,” says Rubio. 

Nov 16, 2012 1:35pm EST John Stanton BuzzFeed Staff posted a few minutes ago

Image by Alex Wong / Getty Images 

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans Friday appeared to shift positions on the assault on the American consulate in Benghazi, moving away from political attacks on Ambassador Susan Rice to calls for further inquiries into substantive issues relating to security and intelligence gathering. 

For weeks Republicans have hammered Rice for claiming the attack was in response to an anti-Islam Youtube video during a Sunday show appearance following the incident. 

Democrats have bitterly complained that the assault on Rice, who they say was just repeating a CIA briefing — and whom President Barack Obama appears dead set on nominating as Secretary of State. Her defenders call the attacks purely political in nature, pointing out that her comments have resulted in no policy changes and that she was working with the information provided by the intelligence community. 

"Increasingly the focus is going to be on the fact that despite a growing and significant amount of information being provided to the state Department about the growing risk in the Benghazi area, they did not take adequate enough security measures," Sen. Marco Rubio said bluntly after a closed-door hearing with former CIA chief Gen. David Petraeus. "I think that’s what the growing amount of inquiry should be about in the coming days.” 

(snip) 

Indeed, Chambliss acknowledged that, “the problem with what Susan Rice said was not whether she stuck with the talking points, were they correct. They were. “ 

However, Chambliss did take issue with Rice’s decision to also tout the administration’s efforts against Al Queada given the fact that intelligence seemed to show they were involved in some way with the attack. 

 (snip)

“In fact, what the UN Ambassador stated was the talking points that had been given, approved, declassified to the House Intelligence Committee and that’s what she, I am told, restated,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, a member of the community. 

“So much of this confusion has arisen because of the difference between what is classified and what is unclassified,” Sen. Kent Conrad said. “When people are talking in a classified setting, they can say much more than they can say in an unclassified setting, the notes that Ambassador Rice was speaking from were from an unclassified setting.” 

“She used the unclassified talking points that were signed off on by the entire intelligence community,” Conrad said.

Excerpt:  Read More at BuzzFeed

With only eight days since the election, politics as usual from the obstructionist Senate Republicans has started anew only much more bitter with the comments of Senators McCain and Graham.  They both sounded like the angry white man caricature on the TV sitcom, Archie Bunker.  That is all I could think of when they started spouting their hateful rhetoric against UN Ambassador Dr. Susan Rice.  McCain and Graham who demanded answers on Benghazi and a Watergate style investigation, held a press conference while McCain skipped the hearing on Benghazi that was providing more details.  They used the a press conference to attack UN Ambassador Dr. Susan Rice who they declared was a central player in Benghazi when she was not.  McCain went so far as to say he would filibuster her nomination to be Secretary of State.

These same two Senators defended President Bush's National Security Adviser, Condi Rice, for Secretary of State knowing full well she had lied about WMD's in Iraq and was intimately involved in the action to take out Saddam in Iraq.  Susan Rice was only a spokesman giving the information she was given by the intelligence community which as the investigation has proven was mostly correct.  Unlike these two bonehead Senators, former SoS Condi Rice has stood up for the Administration on the handling of Benghazi talking about how intelligence info on a situation like Benghazi is coming in from various sources and you use what you have that could change.  Wouldn't even bring up the support McCain and Graham of Condi Rice for Secretary or State and her knowledge of WMD's in Iraq if it was not for McCain and Graham acting like spoiled brats yesterday.  Found Condi Rice to be an outstanding Secretary of State. If I was guessing, she was lied to like then Secretary of State Colin Powell.  

It was obvious these two Senators cannot believe that Obama won the election.  They called for a Watergate style investigation into Benghazi, but even House Speaker Boehner along with Senate Majority Leader Reid threw cold water on that idea.  These two men are out of control with their attacks and need to chill.  They are adding to the vision of the Republican Party so many people have today of the Party of Angry White Men.  

Below are some articles about the attacks of McCain and Graham about UN Ambassador Susan Rice and Benghazi that I find disgusting that only Sen Susan Collins (R-ME) spoke out against them by saying  McCain didn't even attend the hearing on Benghazi.  Where were other Republicans to speak out against these attacks by McCain and Graham?  While I was writing this article, a new article has come out showing McCain, Graham, and Ayote are not speaking for all Republican Senators.  Glad to see that FL Senator Marco Rubio is standing up to McCain and Graham along with others:

GOP Senators Don’t Back McCain’s Plan To ‘Block’ Susan Rice’s Potential Nomination As Secretary Of State

By Hamed Aleaziz on Nov 15, 2012 at 11:43 am

Yesterday, Republican Senators John McCain (AZ) and Lindsey Graham (SC) said they would block the potential nomination of current U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice for Secretary of State. But not all of McCain and Graham’s Republican colleagues agree. Today Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said that he will not “pre-judge” Rice if President Obama nominates her for Secretary of State. Rubio added that “you can’t go in with your mind made up” on the nomination. Rubio’s moderate approach resembles that of other GOP members like Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), who echoed Rubio, saying that he’d like to wait “before I jump” and that he’d like to “do more examination.” And Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV) said on CNN today that he does “not blame” Rice for her comments on Sept. 16 that an anti-Islam film may have played a role in the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi. 

Update:  It looks like Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Rand Paul (R-KY) also disagree with McCain and Graham on this issue. Corker said yesterday to McClatchy that “you have to give someone a full hearing.” Paul told CNN today that he will not “pre-judge” Rice if President Obama does in fact nominate her for Secretary of State.  

Excerpt:  Read More at Think Progress

Agree 100% that the comments of McCain/Graham are 'Outrageous' and further believe they are hurting the Republican brand:

TPM Editor’s Blog‘Outrageous’
David Kurtz November 14, 2012, 2:41 PM 1670

During the presser, Obama took direct aim at Sens. McCain and Graham for their comments today about Susan Rice’s capabilities and truthfulness. 

Watch. 

Sen. Graham has already responded with a written statement that reads in part: “Mr. President, don’t think for one minute I don’t hold you ultimately responsible for Benghazi. I think you failed as Commander in Chief before, during, and after the attack.”

Senator Ayote (R-NH) made a huge mistake in throwing in with these two angry Senators when NH is turning more blue.  The people of NH cannot be happy to see her standing there with their attacks on Susan Rice looking like a puppet of McCain and Graham:

President Obama defends Susan Rice against criticism from John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly AyottePosted by Ed O'Keefe on November 14, 2012 at 1:28 pm 

President Obama strongly defended U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice against attacks Wednesday by a trio of Republican senators who said she is ill-qualified to serve as secretary of state because of how she explained the roots of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. 

Bristling with evident indignation during a news conference, Obama said Rice has “done exemplary work” with “skill, professionalism and toughness and grace.” 

He then made a pointedly and almost personal challenge to Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) who earlier Wednesday said Rice is unqualified to lead the State Department because she appeared either misinformed or ill-prepared to discuss the attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi,  on national political talk shows a few days after the attack. 

“If Sen. McCain and Sen. Graham and others want to go after somebody they should go after me,” Obama said. “For them to go after the UN ambassador who had nothing to do with Benghazi…to besmirch her reputation is outrageous.”

Obama said he hasn’t made any final decisions on who to nominate to Cabinet posts in his second term, but said that he would not hesitate to nominate Rice even in the face of Republican opposition. 

Graham responded to Obama’s comments by e-mail just as the press conference concluded. 

“Mr. President, don’t think for one minute I don’t hold you ultimately responsible for Benghazi,” Graham said in a statement. “I think you failed as Commander in Chief before, during, and after the attack.” 

Graham joined with McCain and Ayotte Wednesday to call for Watergate-style hearings on the Libya attack, while also saying they would block Rice’s nomination, if it occurs. 

“I am dead-set on making sure that we don’t promote anybody who was an essential player in the Benghazi debacle,” Graham told reporters. 

McCain added later that they would not rule out mounting a filibuster of the nomination. 

Excerpt:  Read More at the Washington Post

How can a sitting Senator like Graham make such a statement to the President of the United States?  Has he jumped the shark with the fact that McCain lost in 2008 and now Romney lost in 2012 to Barack Obama? Then there is this from Michael Tomasky of The Daily Beast which made me chuckle as he nailed what happened in the President's Press Conference:

Ya Think Susan Rice Is Happy Today?by Michael Tomasky Nov 14, 2012 2:31 PM EST 

Did you watch the press conference? Wowzie, zowie, that was quite a throw-down at McCain and Graham. Of course they've had that coming for a long time in my view. 

McCain thinks he was elected president. He is a bully, and he must be spoken to like a bully. Also, this nonsense of his about a "Watergate-style" committee on Benghazi is an outrage. As the journalist Michael Cohen just tweeted: "So did John McCain call for a Watergate-style commission after 3,000 Americans were killed on 9/11?" 

That language was as personal and direct and harsh as I've ever heard a president use about a couple of sitting senators. He is pissed. It'll be a bit of a letdown now if he doesn't nominate Rice to Foggy Bottom, which I'm still guessing he won't at the end of the day.

Here is the clincher to the whole McCain/Graham attacks about Benghazi as they held a press conference while McCain was skipping the Briefing on Benghazi in order to continue to grandstand.  McCain, when confronted about his absence, refused to answer:

McCain Skipped A Briefing On Benghazi To Hold A Press ConferenceBy Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress Security on Nov 15, 2012 at 10:51 am

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is demanding a special select committee to investigate the events leading up to the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya and has held around-the-clock television appearances pressing for a complete review of the incident. 

But all of the senator’s media interviews and press availabilities may be interfering with his ability to gather information about the event. On Thursday morning, CNN’s Dana Bash reported that McCain chose to hold a joint press conference with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) rather than attend a closed-door briefing about the attacks:

I have to tell you something that just happened on Capitol Hill, and that is our senate producer Ted Barrett just ran into John McCain and asked about something that we’re hearing from Democrats, which is John McCain is calling for more information to Congress, but he had a press conference yesterday instead of going to a closed briefing where administration officials were giving more information. Well, Ted Barrett asked John McCain about that, and it was apparently an intense very angry exchange and McCain simply would not comment on it at all. 

Excerpt:  Read More at Think Progress Security 

It did not go unnoticed by Maine Senator Susan Collins who was not happy at all with her fellow Republican Senator.  No wonder Sen Olympia Snowe (R-ME) is retiring.  Putting up with the Republican white male obstructionists like McCain/Graham in the Senate must have done her in completely.  Then there is Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) who has also been calling for more information on Benghazi who was also not at the Benghazi hearing.  Now it is confirmed that McCain puts being in front of the press to spout his attacks on UN Ambassador Susan Rice ahead of doing his job as a US Senator:

Republicans skip Benghazi hearing; complain about lack of information on Benghazi Posted By Josh Rogin Thursday, November 15, 2012 - 10:37 AM   

This week, a number of Republican senators have strongly criticized the administration for failing to properly explain the circumstances surrounding the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi. Some of those senators failed to show up for a briefing on the attack Wednesday.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been the leading congressional critic of the administration's handling of the Benghazi attack and what he sees as the administration's lack of candor with Congress on the matter. On Wednesday, he pledged to block the potential nomination of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton due to Rice's statements on the attack. That drew a sharp rebuke from President Barack Obama at Wednesday's press conference. 

But although McCain had time to speak on the Senate floor and on television about the lack of information provided to Congress about the attack, he didn't attend the classified briefing for senators Wednesday given to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, of which he is a member. 

Committee ranking Republican Susan Collins (R-ME) called out McCain for skipping the briefing and said his call for a special committee to investigate the Benghazi attack was not necessary because the Homeland Security committee could handle it. 

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), "who was there at briefing, and Senator McCain, who was not, are members of our committee, and I know they would play very important roles," Collins told Politico. 

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), another Homeland Security committee member who was on television complaining about the lack of Benghazi information, also did not show up for the Wednesday hearing. Paul did a CNN interview from the Capitol building Wednesday in which said he had questions about the anti-Islam video, the lack of Marines in Libya, and diplomatic security. At one point he says, "I don't know enough of the details." 

Excerpt:  Read More at The Cable 

Bottom Line is that it doesn't look like the Republicans in the Senate are any more willing to be reasonable then they have been for the last four years.  American people did not elect them to be obstructionists but to do the job of the American people.  Grandstanding before the media to attack the UN Ambassador Dr. Susan Rice with lies and innuendos to try and keep her from being Secretary of State doesn't say a lot about the character of McCain and Graham.  Are they tired of women as Secretary of State as only white males should be in power?  That is how they are coming across today.

In a press conference in the U.S. Capitol today, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., argued that Rice, currently the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, misled the American people when addressing the September 11 attacks in Libya, which resulted in the death of four Americans.

"Somebody has got to start paying a price around this place," said Graham. "I don't think she deserves to be promoted. There are a lot of qualified people in this country the president could pick, but I am dead-set on making sure we don't promote anybody that was an essential player in the Benghazi debacle."

There is even a more ominous signal coming out of these attacks on Rice.  Congressman James Clyburn from South Carolina spoke last night that he cannot believe that Senator Graham is part of this attack on Susan Rice because he considers him a friend.  Dr. Susan Rice comes from South Carolina as Clyburn knows her and her family well.  Is Graham playing to the bigotry of the GOP in South Carolina with his attacks on Rice?  If he is, then he has lost my full respect.  I hate to even think that but that is how this attacks.  I sincerely hope I am proven wrong.