Tom Donilon's Out, Susan Rice In As National Security Advisor To POTUS

Wow, we should all feel safer already, don't-cha-know...breathe that collective progressive sight of relief, now that we have a real expert on the job, someone with impeccable credentials and the trust of everyone in the country. Not someone who would peddle a bogus story about some video as the cause of a terrorist attack on an embassy....

Oh, wait....

This also puts her in the White House, directly reporting to the President, and well under the umbrella of executive privilege afforded any president and his advisors, out of reach of those nasty senators and congressmen who might want to ask questions of her under oath....

And...she needs no Senate confirmation to serve in the post!

Sweeeeet!

This scandal will not go away, and the unanswered questions just keep stacking up.  Someone, somewhere in the White House is already talking with his/her lawyer about how to cover his/her backside while he/she tells the unvarnished truth, with the requisite documents (those that haven't been shredded yet) to corroborate the testimony. It's the way the world works. Someone decides they he/she has no taste for prison, or that last flicker on conscience begins to burn, and away we go...

It is only a matter of time...

The Articles Of Impeachment Filed Against Richard Nixon

The damage control machine is in full gear now, with this conversation between Dan Pfeiffer (White House shill-of-the-week), and George (I-owe-my-career-to-the-Clintons) Stephanapolous.

The quote of the day is: 'The law is irrelevant', followed by immediate back-tracking--that's ok, the message made it out there into the open air. There was also the vow to engage in a 'modified limited hang-out' mode (in Haldeman and Erlichmann mode). Followed by condescending language about the Republicans, saying that what they're really mad about is losing the election and that Obamacare still lives. He was at pains to protect Obamacare, no. matter. what. And that they owe Susan Rice an apology for pointing out that she spread falsehoods.

This White House, like the Nixon White House, has decided to brazen their way through it. Facts be damned, law be damned, truth be damned, the Constitution be especially damned, The President Is Above The Law And Don't You Forget It, How Dare You Ask Disrespectful Questions.

The frightening revelation, details aside, of the Nixon years, was that the re-election campaign of 1972 (run by an organization aptly named CREEP) involved the enlistment of much of the Federal Government as a tool to accomplish that goal. The IRS was involved. The Attorney General was involved, the CIA was involved...on it went. There was no line that separated the government from the political operation. It was frightening to contemplate, as we were on the road to a dictatorship.

Fast forward forty years, here we are again. This will not end well. Read below to understand why. The words below are in the historical record, the actual words used to recommend impeachment.

This will not end well. The individual scandals will break upon the administration like a hurricane. It will just keep raining, but this President will never resign his post. It is his only identity, his one life's quest. He will never surrender it, his strength of will puts Nixon and even Bill Clinton in the shade. He will play the race card, the class card, and eventually perhaps even a religion card or two.

This will not end well. OS fears the dots will connect, and lead directly to the President and his staff.


Here are the articles of impeachment passed by the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives which led to Nixon's eventual resignation on July 27 1974.

Article 2 is especially troubling:

Article 2

Using the powers of the office of President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in disregard of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has repeatedly engaged in conduct violating the constitutional rights of citizens, impairing the due and proper administration of justice and the conduct of lawful inquiries, or contravening the laws governing agencies of the executive branch and the purposed of these agencies.
This conduct has included one or more of the following:

1. He has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents, endeavoured to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information contained in income tax returns for purposed not authorized by law, and to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be intitiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.
2. He misused the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, and other executive personnel, in violation or disregard of the constitutional rights of citizens, by directing or authorizing such agencies or personnel to conduct or continue electronic surveillance or other investigations for purposes unrelated to national security, the enforcement of laws, or any other lawful function of his office; he did direct, authorize, or permit the use of information obtained thereby for purposes unrelated to national security, the enforcement of laws, or any other lawful function of his office; and he did direct the concealment of certain records made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of electronic surveillance.
3. He has, acting personally and through his subordinates and agents, in violation or disregard of the constitutional rights of citizens, authorized and permitted to be maintained a secret investigative unit within the office of the President, financed in part with money derived from campaign contributions, which unlawfully utilized the resources of the Central Intelligence Agency, engaged in covert and unlawful activities, and attempted to prejudice the constitutional right of an accused to a fair trial.
4. He has failed to take care that the laws were faithfully executed by failing to act when he knew or had reason to know that his close subordinates endeavoured to impede and frustrate lawful inquiries by duly constituted executive, judicial and legislative entities concerning the unlawful entry into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, and the cover-up thereof, and concerning other unlawful activities including those relating to the confirmation of Richard Kleindienst as Attorney General of the United States, the electronic surveillance of private citizens, the break-in into the offices of Dr. Lewis Fielding, and the campaign financing practices of the Committee to Re-elect the President.
5. In disregard of the rule of law, he knowingly misused the executive power by interfering with agencies of the executive branch, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Criminal Division, and the Office of Watergate Special Prosecution Force, of the Department of Justice, and the Central Intelligence Agency, in violation of his duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

In all of this, Richard M. Nixon has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.
Wherefore Richard M. Nixon, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office.
Adopted 28-10 by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives.

Vice Is Nice, But Incest Is Best: The Intermarriage Of ABC, CBS, CNN With The Obama Administration

The mainstream media's silence about tragedies such as Benghazi, the Fort Hood massacre, the development of Iran's nuclear program, the massive ammunition purchases by the Federal government, the use of the IRS to harass political dissenters, gun-running to Mexican cartels resulting in thousands of deaths--the litany stretches on--has seemed baffling. The 'news' is filled with anything and everything except, well, the news.

This little nugget of information helps to explain much.


"CBS News President David Rhodes and ABC News President Ben Sherwood, both of them have siblings that not only work at the White House, that not only work for President Obama, but they work at the NSC on foreign policy issues directly related to Benghazi."

So stated political consultant and media commentator Richard Grenell on Saturday's Fox News Watch.

RICHARD GRENELL: I think the media's becoming the story, let's face it. CBS News President David Rhodes and ABC News President Ben Sherwood, both of them have siblings that not only work at the White House, that not only work for President Obama, but they work at the NSC on foreign policy issues directly related to Benghazi. Let's call a spade a spade.
Let's also show you why CNN did not go very far in covering these hearings because the CNN deputy bureau chief, Virginia Moseley, is married to Hillary Clinton’s deputy, Tom Nides. It is time for the media to start asking questions why are they not covering this. It's a family matter for some of them.
JON SCOTT, HOST: So they don't want to bring embarrassment upon folks who, who they're close to?
GRENELL: Who directly are related to this story. Absolutely. They're covering for them. There's no question about it.

The coyotes are guarding the henhouse. We are in deep trouble.

Rand Paul Wiped The Smile From Madame Secretary Hilary's Face

It takes a lot to remove that smirk; that practiced, self-assured "I am soooo much smarter than anyone in the room" condescending smile that Madame Secretary pulls out when on public view, and which she especially employs upon anyone, anywhere, anytime that may question Herself about anything.

Rand Paul did just that. As you watch this video, notice as the camera cuts back to Madame Secretary. She's beaming at the beginning, she's scowling at the end.

Rand Paul did this by simply stating common-sense truth in Plain English. It's worth going to C-Span and listening to just a few minutes of Madame Secretary's tortured employ of the English language to declare she takes responsibility while dodging and evading any specific part of the responsibility.

Contrast that with this little clip, this little memorable moment of Plain-Spoken English in a public forum. It is refreshing to hear. It was devastating to the recipient, because she knew he was spot-on correct, and she knew that everyone listening knew the same thing.

Oh, to have been in the limo with her after the hearing, to hear her river of profanities directed at Senators Paul and Johnson, but especially Senator Paul.

'He's from ***@@@!!! Kentucky, !!!@@@!!!. He's a !!!@@@!!! rube!!!! How dare he!!!! Where's the dirt on him???!!!!???? No illegitimate children??!!!??? No patient groping???!!!???  Well, go invent them!!! Do what it takes!!!! Etc, Etc, Etc...'

Susan Rice Learns The True Cost Of Loyalty To The Winner Of The Nobel Peace Prize

Liberals become enraged when reminded that words have meaning, and that words spoken by government officials about serious matters really do have consequences.

OS has been amused to hear the name-calling at Outside The Beltway to just such assertions.

Susan Rice will never be Secretary of State. That's because she deliberately spread misinformation about the attacks on Benghazi on September 11, 2012. Not just one time, off-hand, but on five different networks, repeating the same disinformation--that the attacks were 'demonstrations' about a YouTube video that simply got out of hand.

That story was coming apart at the seams even as she was attempting to sell it.  She never refuted it, never returned to any of those networks to withdraw it. It was a case of loyalty trumping integrity, and she is shocked to find that the Senate wants a Secretary of State who is in the habit of telling the truth.
  
The Obama White House knew from the get-go that there never was a demonstration.

They knew it was al-Qaeda.

 Obama was too busy fund-raising to bother to rescue those poor people.

She says she was handed an intelligence briefing, one which the CIA later disavowed. Apparently, she didn't bother to ask questions before being sent out to take one for the team.

So, either she knew it was a lie (likely), or was just too lazy to ask questions (possible). In any case, she was completely willing to go out and try to sell the implausible story that a disorganized mob armed itself with mortars and instantly learned how to use them in a coordinated attack viewed real time by the White House situation room.

 It all fell apart, rapidly. She never went back to correct the record, and salvage her credibility.

Obama won his election, but just like Nixon, the odor of a major scandal lingers in the air.

And in dangerous times like these, the last thing this country needs is a replay of that soap opera.

The Benghazi Debacle, Explained In Detail

An interview in the Jerusalem Post with CIA operative Clare Lopez.

She makes a convincing case that the Obama Administration:

1. Hung those poor men out to dry, and deliberately let them die at that embassy, knowing all along it was an organized attack, not a riot gone out of control, because...

2. The Administration has been running guns to Al Qaeda from Libya...which are showing up in Gaza, Mali, and Syria.

3. Is intent on making certain we don't let numbers 1 and 2 sink in before next Tuesday.

'Never Mind...': This Week's Jobless Claims Report Was An Inaccurate Anomaly After All, Because...

California failed to report several trainloads of jobless claims in time to be included in the report.

If something appears too good to be true, it is because it is...too good to be true.

If something looks, walks and quacks like a duck...it's a duck!

If  a BLS report smells like last week's Limburger cheese left in a hot car....

To quote the late great Gilda Radner: 'Never mind...'
 

BTW, OS managed to watch the House hearings yesterday on the Bengahzi debacle, and actually heard the PersonInCharge of embassy security worldwide (a dumpy-looking lady of not-sparkling intellect) claim that they had sufficient resources in place to defend the ambassador and the compound, to which an incredulous panel of Reps kept asking, 'So, tell me--why did our people get killed?'

The dumpy-looking lady had actually watched the attack real-time on State Department screens, which must have been agonizing. She was asked if she had any opinion at the time, or even later, whether this event was an organized assault or just a demonstration of angry Muslims pissed about some obscure YouTube video. She stated she had none then, or now. It was an amazing performance, to say the least.

The two people who had been pleading with the dumpy-looking lady for months to beef up security lest a tragedy occur detailed how they had been repeatedly ignored and denied the resources needed.

They were sitting beside the the dumpy-looking lady. She kept telling the Reps that she had done her job, that she and her superiors (whose names she reluctantly gave up) hadn't been given notice that a potential problem was brewing. When asked if she had ever been to Libya, the answer was 'No'.

It was dark, dark theatre.

Only it wasn't theatre, it was reality. Our reality.

Presidential Press Secretary Jay Carney, Winner Of The Ron Zeigler Award

It's become completely a no-brainer, spike it in the end zone decision by OS's Awards Committee.

For those who don't remember Ron Zeigler, he was Richard Nixon's loyal-to-the-death press secretary. He would proclaim a lie one day, contradict the next day with another lie, and then finally admit that those first statements were lies, while assuring one and all that the country could believe today's pronouncements.

He did this with a completely straight face, day after day, never a moment's apology, as if the cognitive dissonance of replacing one lie with another and another never occurred to him. His only competitor in our time was Baghdad Bob, who claimed the Iraqi Army had crushed the invaders, as the US Marines were pulling up across the street behind him.

Some of Ron's most famous quotes--

"This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative." –April 17, 1973

"If my answers sound confusing, I think they are confusing because the questions are confusing and the situation is confusing."

"The president is aware of what is going on in Southeast Asia. That is not to say that there is anything going on in Southeast Asia." –1971, answering a question if the allied troops were preparing to invade Laos.

Jay Carney must be channeling Ron and Baghdad Bob this week--it's deja vu all over again.

It did not take a genius to see that the attack on the consulate in Benghazi was a planned and orchestrated affair. Ever seen a group of protesters show up will mortars, full-auto weapons, RPG's, and knowledge of the layout of the target?

Turns out, there were never any demonstrators at all...just attackers...

But the 'spontaneous demonstration that just got out of hand because of that terrible terrible awful disgusting YouTube video' story was the Administration's story, and Jay was sticking to it. Even after the Libyan Prime Minister stated flatly that it was a planned attack. And that they had warned the Administration days before. Even after attacks on British diplomats had occurred some days before. The Ambassador himself knew himself to be on an al-Queda hit list. Ni modo. It was all the fault of The Video! Couldn't possibly be al-Queda operation! We've killed 'em all, we've got them on the run!
Bin-Laden's dead and GM lives!

They sent Susan Rice, our UN Ambassador, to five Sunday talking heads shows to talk the White House line. They talked and talked, and ducked and ducked, and spun and spun, and lied and lied and lied. And lied.

Because to admit the truth is to admit that Obama and Hillary left their ambassador hung out to dry, and got him killed.

Here's the sequence.

Finally, today, Jay Carney does admit the obvious. But never an apology, never a moment's embarrassment, never a moment of consideration that this sort of behavior absolutely crushes what little sense of trust anyone may have in him or his boss. 

It was a Ziegler Moment. And Jay decided to 'fess up while in the air on Air Force One--with loud background noise, spoken sotto voce.

'This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative.'

'This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative.'

'This is the operative statement. The others are inoperative.'

It would be comic, except--this is how people get killed, wars get started, banks are allowed to blow up the economy, friends of the President are able to commit massive fraud and walk away scot-free, a thousand guns are put in the hands of drug cartels by the ATF and no one notices until the bodies pile up. Even then, no one can seem to locate anyone remotely responsible for the carnage.

Fire, Meet Gasoline: Peter van Buren Explains The Libya Tragedy

My, oh my...

Our leadership really is that feckless. They left the ambassador hung out to dry in an incredibly dangerous situation, had ample warning, and did nothing to protect him.

These people must be sent home, before they get us killed. If they'll do that to a career foreign officer, they'll do it to us.

OS Answers Your Questions: Hillary Really Is That Naive, Obama Really Is That Clueless, The Muslim Brotherhood Are Not Our Friends, And The Press Is Spending Its Energies Vilifying Romney

One question at a time, ya'll, cuz we have entered the Twilight Zone...

Hillary's statement after she found out that she had gotten her friend killed because she hung him out to drly in an unprotected building in Benghazi on September 11:

This is not easy. Today, many Americans are asking – indeed, I asked myself – how could this happen? How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicated and, at times, how confounding the world can be.

Huh? Complicated and confounding? How'z-about incredibly dangerous, with vast swathes of it occupied by really bad people who will take innocent life without a second thought?

This is the woman who would have been President, and is in charge of representing our interests to the rest of the world, which she finds 'complicated and confounding'.


#2: Obama Really Is That Clueless

This guy skips intelligence briefings--many many of them. Won't meet with Bebe Netanyahu about the NUKES in IRAN, but will certainly be on time to meet with Letterman. All campaign appearances going ahead on schedule. First things first, after all.

#3: Mubarak Was A Bad Dude, But Obama Kicked Him Under The Bus In Favor Of The Muslim Brotherhood

Holy Jimmy Carter, Batman! We've seen this all before...and are still living with the fallout of Jimmy Carter kicking the Shah under the bus. The thugs who deposed the Shah run the place, and are busily building nukes to aim at Israel, whose leader Obama won't meet with, 'cuz he's got a show with Letterman.

By the way, in 2009-2010 Obama could have thrown his support behind all those kids who so desperately tried to turn Iran toward sanity. Instead, he stood by silently while the Iranian regime crushed their hopes. Those kids were pro-Western, by all appearances. They hate the mullahs. Why would Obama do that, and then turn around and support the Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Egypt?

It makes no sense. His behavior makes no sense.

#4: See #3 and #1  

#5: Yep, you got it. The real outrage is aimed at Romney for suggesting that Obama is clueless and our foreign service is feckless.

You gotta love Obama's response--how did he have time to do that interview with the world burning down around him, btw?

Mr. Obama fired back later in the day, accusing his opponent of politicizing a national tragedy. “Governor Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later,” he told CBS News for its “60 Minutes” program. “And as president, one of the things I’ve learned is you can’t do that — that, you know, it’s important for you to make sure that the statements that you make are backed up by the facts, and that you’ve thought through the ramifications.” 

OK, let's go over this again--numbers 1 through 4--and compare that record of behaviour with Himself's critique of Romney....hmm....and the press's microscopic coverage of Romney vs their blind acceptance of anything Himself might utter.

And then, we have his 'encouraging words' to campaign volunteers in Las Vegas yesterday--no cancellations of campaign appearances--

Obama, during his talk with the volunteers, described his visit to the State Department today. “I had a chance to go to the State Dept. to comfort some of the friends and co-workers of the the folks who had fallen and I reminded them that as hard as things are sometimes, as difficult as change is that if we’re resolute, if we don’t give up, if we don’t give in, if we don’t become cynical, if we continue to be realistic about how hard change is but also keep in our hearts that sense of idealism and sense of purpose then over time good things happen,” he said.

That's an interesting word, 'Change'. 'Change' from what, to what? Never ever defined, but there has to be a goal in mind. One does not become President without having a goal in mind...