Revelations about White House emails connected to Susan Rice's infamous Benghazi talking points have put the issue back on the front pages. And there are major developments breaking today.
The White House and its Capitol Hill allies on are in full damage control mode. Even the liberal media are starting to turn on them.
CNN's Jake Tapper described the White House spin on the emails as "dissembling, obfuscating and insulting." National Journal's Ron Fournier said, "as someone who . . . wants to see my White House succeed, it was painful yesterday to watch that briefing and get 'Baghdad Bob' flashbacks. It was embarrassing."
On Fox News yesterday, Bret Baier had this exchange with Tommy Vietor, a former spokesman at the National Security Council:
BAIER: Did you also change 'attacks' to 'demonstrations' in the talking points?
VIETOR: Maybe. I don't really remember.
BAIER: You don't remember?
VIETOR: Dude, this was two years ago. We're still talking about the most mundane thing.
BAIER: Dude, it's what everybody is talking about.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi feigned outrage. In response to a reporter's question, Pelosi said, "… diversion, subterfuge. Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi. Why aren't we talking about something else?"
We're talking about Benghazi because four Americans died and government officials lied.
On Capitol Hill yesterday the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee heard from retired Air Force Brigadier General Robert Lovell. During the Benghazi attacks, Lovell was serving as Deputy Director for Intelligence for AFRICOM.
In response to intense questioning from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Lovell acknowledged that for the first time in his military career, he was prevented from doing what he was trained to do: "move to the sound of the guns." He sat frustrated as "discussions churned on" at the State Department about what to do.
While questions remain whether our forces could have successfully intervened, Lovell told the committee, "The point is we should have tried."
But we didn't try because, as the general said, "There was a lot of deference to the desires of the State Department about what they wanted us to do."
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