Right-wing media push new Benghazi myths

[DonViejo]

Fox News and company have been ramping up the rhetoric in advance of the House committee open hearings Wednesday

BY JUSTIN BERRIER, HANNAH GROCH-BEGLEY, ERIC HANANOKI, ANDREW LAWRENCE AND ELLIE SANDMEYER

This article originally appeared in Media Matters for America.

Right-wing media are using a congressional hearing to push new myths about the Obama administration’s response to the September 11, 2012 attacks on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya. In fact, these myths are discredited by previous congressional reports and testimony, which show that the politicized nature of the hearings come from right-wing media and Congressional Republicans, that the military could not have rescued personnel from the second attack, that the administration was in constant communication at all levels during the attacks, and that the intelligence community believed there was a link to an anti-Islam video at the time of the attacks.

MYTH: Latest Benghazi Hearing Is Apolitical

Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade Attacks The Claim That Benghazi Hearings Are “Politically Driven.” On Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade claimed that because self-identified whistleblowers are testifying at congressional hearings on Benghazi at a time that elections are not being held, the hearings can’t be politically driven, saying “politics is out, and whistleblowers are in”:

KILMEADE: [A]nyone who says this is politically driven, or it’s against the president, that’s out the window. Because if there’s a non-political season in this world in American politics, it’s now. The mid-terms aren’t close –

STEVE DOOCY [co-host]: Sure.

KILMEADE: And the president is not running. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 5/7/13, via Media Matters]

FACT: Right-Wing Media And Congressional Republicans Have Politicized The Hearings

Fox News’ John Bolton: “I Hope [Benghazi] Is A Cover Up … If It Was Merely A Political Cover-Up Then There Can Be A Political Cost To Pay.” On Your World, Fox News contributor John Bolton said he hoped the hearings found that despite all evidence to the contrary, the Obama administration had engaged in a “political cover up” by altering CIA talking points to suggest that the attacks came in response to an anti-Islam video:

Full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/08/right_wing_media_push_new_benghazi_myths_partner/

[Buzz Clik]

1. Tip of the hat to the knuckledraggers who believe them.