What Benghazi Is about: Scandal Envy

[babylonsister]

http://prospect.org/article/what-benghazi-about-scandal-envy

What Benghazi Is about: Scandal Envy
Paul Waldman
November 15, 2012

Republicans are livid that Obama hasn't had his major scandal yet.


If you're looking at the Republican harumphing over Benghazi and asking yourself, "Why are we supposed to be so mad about this again?" you're not alone. Let's review: There was an attack on our consulate that killed four Americans, including our ambassador. Amid confusing and contradictory reports from the ground, President Obama waited too long to utter the magic incantation, "Terrorism, terrorists, terror!" that would have ... well, it would have done something, but it turns out that he did say "terror," so never mind that. But that's not the real scandal! The real scandal is that Susan Rice went on television soon after and amid all kinds of "based on the best information we have"s and "we'll have to see"s, said one thing that turned out not to be the case: that after the protests in Cairo, there was some kind of copycat protest in Benghazi, which was then "hijacked" by extremist elements using heavy weapons to stage an attack.

A sane person might say, OK, she was obviously given some incorrect information at that time, but it's not a particularly meaningful deception. As people have been pointing out for weeks now, it's not as though not using the word "terror" or saying there was a protest before the attack gave the White House some enormous political advantage. If you're going to have a cover-up, there has to be something you're covering up.

But now, some Republicans, particularly John McCain and Lindsay Graham, are essentially saying that this horrifying cover-up was quite possibly the greatest crime in the history of the United States government, and if we're going to get to the bottom of it nothing short of a select committee—a "Watergate-style committee," as it is being referred to by reporters—will do. Who knows what it might uncover? Were there CIA whistleblowers whose bodies are now lying at the bottom of the Potomac? Was David Petraeus being blackmailed? Are William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright involved? Did Susan Rice fly to Tripoli, have a steamy liaison with a clone of Ayman al-Zawahiri created in a secret underground laboratory, then go to Benghazi where she personally killed Ambassador Chris Stevens with a hat pin? We won't know unless we spin this out into a multi-week story!

So what's going on here? I can sum it up in two words: scandal envy. Republicans are indescribably frustrated by the fact that Barack Obama, whom they regard as both illegitimate and corrupt, went through an entire term without a major scandal. They tried with "Fast and Furious," but that turned out to be small potatoes. They tried with Solyndra, but that didn't produce the criminality they hoped for either. Obama even managed to dole out three-quarters of a trillion dollars in stimulus money without any graft or double-dealing to be found. Nixon had Watergate, Reagan had Iran-Contra, Clinton had Lewinsky, and Barack Obama has gotten off scott-free. This is making them absolutely livid, and they're going to keep trying to gin up a scandal, even if there's no there there. Benghazi may not be an actual scandal, but it's all they have handy.

[madaboutharry]

1. They're pissed off he behaves with dignity and doesn't cheat on his wife.

It is driving them crazy.

[mzteaze]

2. Great Read!

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

6. Hits the nail on the head....

There's nothing here, except a pack of gibbering Republicans desperate to make something out of it.

We were attacked, and now we're in the process of hunting down who did it. End Of Story. Given Obama's track record, we'll probably have the guilty parties in custody or at the bottom of the Indian Ocean any time now.

[Jennicut]

3. There really is nothing there...which is why McCain was laughed at by other Repubs.

A Watergate style committee requires an actual scandal.

[Dubster]

4. Spam deleted by gkhouston (MIR Team)

[David Zephyr]

5. Here's a "Yo" to babylonsister for a great read. K&R.

Thanks for posting this.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Good analysis; I think I'd add that a few DUers have 'conspiracy envy'

because they seem desperate to paint Petraeus's affair as linked in some way to Libya, and part of a 'coup' or 'false flag operation' (both descriptions used by longtime DUers, in popular threads they started).

[brush]

8. The real scandal is who funded the anti-muslim video.

Last edited Thu Nov 15, 2012, 09:57 PM - Edit history (1)

If the repugs dig too deeply into it they might find that that anti-muslim film which led to all the protests in many countries in the Middle East was produced by a mysterious ex-con who secured funding, equipment, production people, production location, actors, video translation to Arabic, video posting to YouTube, and the alerting of the Arab media of its existence online, done all within two months of the producer getting out of jail. All of that is just not possible for a just-out-of-jail ex-con without huge monetary backing by someone. And Romney held a press conference to bash the President before the smoke even cleared in Libya. Seems he had been primed to do this to gain electoral advantage because his little press conference (ending with a smirk on his face) came only two, I repeat, two minutes after Secretary Clinton went on the air to give the info that the State Department had on the on-going incident. Where did Romney get the information before the rest of the country? All this seems, including Romney's timing of his little smirking attack on the administration, too coordinated to just be coincidence. I say let them keep digging and they might find links to right wingers with SuperPac money who were so determined to win the election that anything was fair game in damaging the President, with a few deaths being just collateral damage. And that video producer, by the way, has been bum rushed back to jail on other charges. Seems someone doesn't want him available to investigative reporters. I wonder why?

[babylonsister]

10. Whoa! You just gave me a lot to think about;

never occurred to me that the gop would stoop that low, but we are talking about the gop... Thanks for this!

[ProudProgressiveNow]

9. Excellent!

K&R

[libdem4life]

11. What did Romney know and when did he know it? That's the question...and the scandal.

Offense.