Preventable Tragedy Obama administration can’t spin its way out of blame for Benghazi The Columbus Dispatch, Oct 12, 2012
Testimony in a congressional hearing Wednesday on the Sept. 11 outrage against the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi fueled a growing suspicion: President Barack Obama’s administration was more concerned about projecting the image of improving stability in Libya, to bolster his re-election chances, than it was about ensuring the security of Americans on the ground there.
...Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charlene Lamb, who helps oversee diplomatic security, acknowledged in the hearing that she had told security officials at the U.S. Embassy in the capital city of Tripoli not to bother asking for more security help after the assignment of a supplemental security team ended in August.
Security officer Eric A. Nordstrom told Congress members he took Lamb’s refusal to mean “there was going to be too much political cost.”
Welcome back. This is a reminder to keep it civil, respectful to others, and keep to the subject because you have a habit of going nuclear like you did last March and your troll like outbursts were not a pretty sight. FB1 amongst others have spent considerable time and effort turning this thread into a platform for non-Bidenesque debate where your input about why you support Obama is more than welcome. This thread is not about President Bush nor the Iraq War, but about Obama.
Top 10 Bad Economic Signs For Obama By Human Events, 09/22/2012
Here are the top 10 economic indicators that Obama doesn’t want you to pay attention to:
1. Unemployment rate
Despite his promise that the nearly $1 trillion 2009 economic stimulus would get America working again, the unemployment rate has been above 8 percent for 43 straight months. The current 8.1 percent jobless rate woefully understates the reality of problem. When taking into account people working part-time who want a full-time job and those who have given up looking for work, the rate is over 15 percent. Add in recent college graduates working at McDonald’s at the rate tops 18 percent.
2. Job creation
At the Democratic convention, Obama was quick to praise himself for having presided over the creation of 4.5 million jobs “over the last three and a half years.” The only problem is that he doesn’t include the jobs lost in the recession earlier in his term. A true reading of job creation under Obama shows a net gain of only several hundred thousand and he has the worst record on growing employment of any president since World War II.
3. Economic growth
Remember the “recovery summer” that Joe Biden promised in 2010? Or how Obama’s stimulus package was going to get the economy moving with all those “shovel-ready” jobs? The latest GDP report showed anemic 1.7 percent growth in the second quarter as any short-term benefit from Obama’s fiscal shot-in-the-arm has faded and now the nation is facing the possibility of a double-dip recession.
4. Food stamps
The one area of growth that Obama has presided over is the explosive increase in food stamp participation. When he took office in January 2009, fewer than 31 million Americans received food stamps. After an aggressive effort by the Obama administration to expand the program, now one-out-of-seven Americans, over 46 million, are receiving federal food assistance, an increase of 44 percent during his administration.
5. Household income
Considering that consumer spending constitutes the bulk of the nation’s gross domestic product, the loss in household income bodes ill for future economic growth. In addition to being squeezed by higher prices, families have seen their average income drop from $54,916 to $50,969 during Obama’s presidency. Add in the housing crisis which damaged the net worth of many families, and there is little hope for a consumer-driven recovery.
6. Gas prices
In 2009, when Barack Obama was inaugurated president, the price of gasoline was $1.81 per gallon. Since then it has more than doubled, nearing $4 per gallon, and that was before the recent Middle East turmoil threatened to drive prices up. While such events are beyond the control of any president, Obama’s reluctance to fully develop domestic oil resources and the delay of the Keystone pipeline contribute to the supply-and-demand problem.
7. Work-force participation
The August unemployment report contained a somber statistic: some 581,000 Americans have dropped out of the work-force and stopped looking for a job. The same report showed only 91,000 jobs were created in the month. With the number of Americans in the workforce—either having a job or looking for one—falling to 63.5 percent, the lowest in over 30 years, that kind of job creation doesn’t come close to keep up with the nation’s population growth.
8. Manufacturing jobs
At the Democratic convention in Charlotte, Obama made the ridiculous pledge that he would create one million manufacturing jobs in a second term and double the nation’s exports. Of course, he didn’t say how he was going to do that or, if it was so easy, why he didn’t create some in his first term. On the contrary, the September jobs report from the Labor Department showed the nation losing 15,000 manufacturing jobs last month, continuing a streak of monthly losses.
9. Inflation
Don’t look now, but inflation is gearing up to come roaring back. The consumer price index rose 0.6 percent in August and with severe drought in many parts of the United States, food prices are likely to take a price hike. And with the Federal Reserve starting to pump many billions of dollars into the money supply through its QE3 plan, the value of the dollar will surely erode.
10. Poverty
One area of growth during the Obama Era is in the number of Americans who have fallen into poverty. Since Obama took office, the number of people officially living in poverty—defined as an annual income of $23,021 for a family of four—topped 15 percent and increased from 39.8 million to 46.6 million. Those numbers will likely grow in a second term since his policies are more aimed at giving handouts than creating a positive climate for job creation.
Mr. Malarkey, full of Baloney Mark LaRochelle, Oct 12, 2012
In his debate with Paul Ryan, Vice President made so many false statements that a fact-checker hardly knows where to begin. In the interest of brevity, here are Biden’s three biggest whoppers:
BIDEN: Asked about the administration’s denial of requests from the U.S. mission to Libya for increased security prior to the September 11 terrorist attack on the consulate in Benghazi — which resulted in the assassination of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans — Biden answered, “we weren’t told they wanted more security … We did not know they wanted more security.”
FACT: The U.S. Embassy in Libya requested “an increase in the number of our permanently assigned RSO [Resident Security Officer] staff,” as well as “five TDY DS [Temporary Duty Diplomatic Security] agents for 45-60 days rotations in Benghazi.”
According to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, “multiple U.S. federal government officials have confirmed to the Committee that, prior to the September 11 attack, the U.S. mission in Libya made repeated requests for increased security in Benghazi. The mission in Libya, however, was denied these resources by officials in Washington.”
Eric Nordstrom, top regional security officer in Libya, testified, “All of us at post were in sync that we wanted these resources.” Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, Utah national guardsman who led a security team: “We felt great frustration that those requests were ignored or just never met.” Charlene R. Lamb, a deputy assistant secretary for diplomatic security, admitted that she denied requests for more security in Benghazi, testifying, “Yes sir, I said personally I would not support it.
The White House spin seems to be that the State Department knew that the Libyan mission requested additional security, but that it didn’t inform the White House. If that’s true, expect Obama to fire Hillary – in hopes that the American people don’t fire him.
The White House spin seems to be that the State Department knew that the Libyan mission requested additional security, but that it didn’t inform the White House. If that’s true, expect Obama to fire Hillary – in hopes that the American people don’t fire him.
White House: Buck Stops With Hillary on Libya Ben Shapiro, Oct 12, 2012
Today, the White House finally revealed its policy on embassy security: keep President Obama out of the loop so he can claim plausible deniability and blame Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for any problems.
...In other words, Obama’s saying that the buck stops with Hillary Clinton. She’d best be prepared to feel the tire tread as she makes her way beneath the Obama campaign bus.
"Suffolk University pollster David Paleologos, whose polls are aggregated into mainstream averages to show where the presidential race stands in the swing states, said he’s finished polling in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia because President Obama has no shot of winning those states."
It is going to be interesting to watch how the Clinton machine reacts to Obama administration attempting to disavow itself of Benghazi-gate and blame it on Hillary Clinton's State Department. Hillary still has political ambitions so she MUST react to protect her future interests. This Chicago thug holed up in our White House knows no boundaries nor responsibility.
Obama turned on Bill Clinton in South Carolina in 2008 so there is no love there despite the hug fest at the DNC. The Clinton's need to turn on Obama for their very survival. Weasels all.
Tom, a whole bunch of folks in DC are at full sprint right now trying to stay one step ahead of the bus, which is gaining speed. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming days and weeks, especially with the election so close.
Here's a powerful story and unique perspective on all this that I stumbled into yesterday. It's a scathing indictment of the current WH admin from a man who's seen the inner workings with his own eyes:
quote:
Bongino: Clinton, Rice Must Resign Over Benghazi Tragedy Neil W. McCabe, Oct 12, 2012
The Maryland Republican candidate for U.S. Senate demanded on Oct. 11 that Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton and UN Ambassador Susan Rice resign for their roles in the Benghazi attacks.
“I take no comfort in this, but Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Rice must resign in light of the Benghazi tragedy. It was a tragic failure in leadership,” said Daniel Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and New York City police officer.
...Bongino, in calling for Clinton and Rice to resign, said he was speaking more as a former Secret Service agent than as a candidate for public office.
“It has been on my mind for a while to comment from a personal perspective — as well as a political one — I felt it was time to speak up,” he said. “I am not worried about the electoral ramifications, I really am not.”
...“It is pretty clear that even a rudimentary analysis of the threat environment of that area, dictated that not only was there a significant threat, there was a high-threat — yet, they were given from my professional experience not a high-threat mitigation security team, they were given practically no security at all,” he said.
“From what I am hearing, there may have been just a two-person detail, I cannot confirm that but, that is what I am hearing,” he said.
“A two-person detail? A two-person DSS detail, in our parlance that is not even for a low-level threat, that is a non-existent-threat detail,” he said. “To protect an ambassador in Benghazi with a two-person detail, you might as well put a bull’s eye on his back.”
...The Rice narrative has been withdrawn and the Obama administration now concedes there was no demonstration against a video, and that the attack on the Benghazi mission was a planned and complex attack.
“They just came out and lied — we are not even touching on that topic, I’m talking about specifically the political motivation and four deaths that occurred from that,” he said.
“Given all the information coming out, there are only two possible scenarios: it was stunning incompetence, literally tragic incompetence and tragic failure of leadership, or they were competent — they understood the threat environment and they ignored it for political reasons — unfortunately that seems to be the case,” he said.
...Bongino said he is inclined to believe political calculations drove the security decision making, including the notion held by people in the Obama administration that Americans are not welcome, so our presence anywhere would be a problem, so any increase in our security footprint would be increasingly offensive.
“They probably figured American boots-on-the-ground would give the wrong impression, and maybe the impression that there was a significant threat, which would have really run counter to the president’s narrative that al Qaeda had been conquered and there was a foreign policy success story in Libya,” he said.
“What they said was: ‘You guys may die, but that’s OK, because we don’t want to ruin the president’s political changes in an upcoming election,” he said.
“I’ve seen this before, where the concern is to make sure they get the optics right,” he said.
...In his experience, he has detected resentment among State Department personnel and White House staff towards Secret Service agents, and by extension, military personnel and other government security professionals, who raise objections or concerns about missions, he said.
In this way, they prefer private contractors and local nationals because they are more likely to follow instructions without discussion, he said.
Source and read much more, including hyperlinks and two Susan Rice videos, here (WARNING: Graphic photo of Ambassador Stevens' body being dragged through the streets of Benghazi, the photo that has been shown on quite a few other news sites since the attack on our consulate on 9/11): http://www.humanevents.com/2012/10/12/bongino-clin ton-rice-must-resign-over-benghazi-tragedy/
Former USS Cole Commander On Benghazi: Obama Only Cares About Power And Getting Reelected Posted by The Right Scoop on October 13th, 2012
Lt. General Tom McInerney told Judge Jeanine tonight that the only reason the Obama administration ordered the FBI to investigate the Benghazi attack is to stall it through the election. He says this was an act of war against the United States and if this had been assigned to the military we would have known 2 days later what happened. He adds that we know who they are and where they are and that we should have already attacked those people.
Former USS Cole Commander Kirk Lippold said that the parallels between this case and the attack on the USS Cole are absolutely striking in that the Cole attack was one month before an election and that Clinton delayed just as the Obama administration is delaying all for political purposes. He further states emphatically:
quote:
The Obama administration in this thing, just like the Clinton administration, does not care about what the American people think about this incident. They care about power and getting reelected.
Former CIA Chief Slams Biden for Blaming Intel Community for Libya Confusion Tony Lee, Oct 14, 2012
Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden on Friday said Vice President Joe Biden proved his leadership is "not the kind ... this country needs" when Biden threw the intelligence community under the bus during Thursday's vice presidential debate with Paul Ryan.
"During the Vice Presidential debate, we were disappointed to see Vice President Biden blame the intelligence community for the inconsistent and shifting response of the Obama Administration to the terrorist attacks in Benghazi," Hayden said in a joint statement with Michael Chertoff, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security.
Hayden said during and after the attacks on the U.S. consulate on Libya, it was "clear" that "any failure was not on the part of the intelligence community, but on the part of White House decision-makers who should have listened to, and acted on, available intelligence."
Ft_B, a followup to your second Project Veritas video posted just above: quote: Houston DNC Worker Fired After Being Exposed For Voter Fraud By Project Veritas Posted by The Right Scoop on October 14th, 2012
Chalk another one up for Project Veritas exposing Democrat voter fraud: [click link for 2:12 video report from KPRC News in Houston, Texas - FB]
Prolly the biggest thing to come out of this is that the story made the "mainstream" news. For that alone, it's important. Bit by bit America's "low-information" voters' eyes are being opened.
They were caught ON TAPE aiding voter fraud. There should be criminal charges.
Agree. Doubt it'll happen, and the cynic in me says they were FINO (fired in name only). I'm guessing this person gets reassigned and promoted, and will prolly get a personal call of thanks from the ch0sen 0ne himself. Heck, she'll prolly be invited to introduce him at his next campaign stop, and maybe a cabinet position if he gets reelected?
Personally, I hoping she's appointed as our next ambassador to Libya...
Ohio Coal Miners Rally Against Obama’s ‘Absolute Lies’
Young girl watches more 500 coal miners march to the Oct. 10 rally at the Beallsville, Ohio-based Century mine, operated by Murray Energy. At the rally, the miners released two open letters denouncing distortions by President Barack Obama and an Ohio Valley shock jock.
Neil W. McCabe, 10/13/2012
More than 500 Ohio coal miners rallied Oct. 10 against President Barack Obama’s ‘War on Coal” and the president’s charge they were coerced to support Republican W. Mitt Romney at an Aug. 14 rally.
“I have a couple of letters that I would like to address today, regarding Mr. Obama’s stand on coal, as well as the current media and how they have represented us the coal miners, here at Century Mine and the coal industry in general,” said Mitch Miracle, a coal miner at the Beallsville, Ohio Century Mine, operated by Murray Energy, a Pepper Pike, Ohio-based, privately-owned coal mining company.
Coal worker Mitch Miracle
“Standing behind me are proud Americans, proud coal miners proud citizens of this great country, proud members of the Ohio Valley, where we live in and I am damn proud of them,” he said.
“Proud Ohio Valley workers, as you all know the economy has been tough for all of us, this is a great profession, these are great workers and we are proud to be a part of it, part of Murray Energy and we support our owner 100 percent,” he said. “We ask that the media, lets embrace coal, embrace what it does for all of us.”
The first letter asked the president to stop running ads that claim miners were forced to attend the Romney rally and the second letter was addressed to David Bloomquist, a radio talk show host for Wheeling, W.V.’s WWVA, he said. Bloomquist claimed to various media outlets that miners told him they were pressured to attend the Aug. 14 Romney rally.
Reading from the letter to the president, Miracle said: “You have approved and are running television and campaign ads about the Mitt Romney event that was held at our Century coal mine. These ads state that we were forced to attend this rally and that is blatantly false. There are numerous false statements and absolute lies concerning our participation in this event, we the employees.”
Here is the Obama TV commercial:
Miracle said the false statements were mostly started by Bloomquist, but the president must be held responsible for his own ads.
“Since your approval is attached to these ads you may not wish to support these mistruths. Why would you lie about the 500 working miners who have signed this letter? We the employees of Century mine would request that you immediately stop these false ads,” he said.
Miracle next read from the letter to Bloomquist, which was cc:’d to the president, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D.-Ohio) and the Ohio and national Democratic parties.
In the middle of the reading, the coal miner looked up as if he was trying to find the West Virginia shock jock: “I don’t believe I see him here today,” he said.
From the letter he read, “We voluntarily and enthusiastically attended the event and take great offense to the disingenuous reporting of the event by you and other media outlets.”
Miracle said there were five points in the letter that needed to be acknowledged by media outlets, who have repeated the Obama narrative, and Bloomquist: 1. No workers were forced to attend the Romney rally, 2. No attendance records were kept at the rally for hourly employees, 3. There were no penalties or punishments for workers, who did not attend, 4. The Romney campaign advance requested list of names for security and transportation purposes.
“And number five: It was an honor to host this important event for Governor Romney,” he said.
Unlike Bloomquist’s unnamed sources, the miners at Century Mine signed their names and showed their faces, he said.
“You see Mr. Bloomquist there is a war on coal and we do want to protect our jobs. Mining jobs are being eliminated and coal fired power plants are being shut down from the President Obama’s actions and policies,” he said.
“This is our statement, our choices and our signatures,” he said.
“Mr. Blomquist, your shock jock tactics offend the undersigned and I have attached our employees and their signatures,” he said.
)
