“Senator Clinton has done an extraordinary job -- but she works for me. I'm the President, and I'm always responsible. And that's why nobody's more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I am. The day after the attack, governor, I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American people and the world that we are gonna find out exactly what happened; that this was an act of terror; and I also said that we're gonna hunt down those who committed this crime. And then a few days later, I was there greeting the caskets coming into Andrews Air Force Base, and grieving with the families. And the suggestion that anybody on my team -- the Secretary of State, the U.N. Ambassador -- would play politics or mislead when we lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. That's not what we do. That's not what I do as President; that's not what I do as Commander-in-Chief.”
—PRESIDENT OBAMA, taking responsibility for the assassination of the U.S. Ambassador in Libya.
Accountability.
“Republicans think by a 74/19 margin that Benghazi is a worse political scandal than Watergate, by a 74/12 margin that it’s worse than Teapot Dome, and by a 70/20 margin that it’s worse than Iran Contra.One interesting thing about the voters who think Benghazi is the biggest political scandal in American history is that 39% of them don’t actually know where it is.”
—Public Policy Polling
House Republicans, aiming for Obama, blow the CIA's cover in Libya
When House Republicans called a hearing in the middle of their long recess, you knew it would be something big, and indeed it was: They accidentally blew the CIA’s cover.
The purpose of Wednesday’s hearing of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee was to examine security lapses that led to the killing in Benghazi last month of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others. But in doing so, the lawmakers reminded us why “congressional intelligence” is an oxymoron.
Through their outbursts, cryptic language and boneheaded questioning of State Department officials, the committee members left little doubt that one of the two compounds at which the Americans were killed, described by the administration as a “consulate” and a nearby “annex,” was a CIA base. They did this, helpfully, in a televised public hearing.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was the first to unmask the spooks. “Point of order! Point of order!” he called out as a State Department security official, seated in front of an aerial photo of the U.S. facilities in Benghazi, described the chaotic night of the attack. “We’re getting into classified issues that deal with sources and methods that would be totally inappropriate in an open forum such as this.”
A State Department official assured him that the material was “entirely unclassified” and that the photo was from a commercial satellite. “I totally object to the use of that photo,” Chaffetz continued. He went on to say that “I was told specifically while I was in Libya I could not and should not ever talk about what you’re showing here today.”
Now that Chaffetz had alerted potential bad guys that something valuable was in the photo, the chairman, Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), attempted to lock the barn door through which the horse had just bolted. “I would direct that that chart be taken down,” he said, although it already had been on C-SPAN. “In this hearing room, we’re not going to point out details of what may still in fact be a facility of the United States government or more facilities.”
I am going to be furious if this is swept under the rug and ignored by the media. These guys screwed up bad, but it always seems like when something like this happens and the perpetrators are republicans the majority of the media and the public forgets about it in a few days and it gets dropped in favor of the next news cycle.
Or as one user on reddit put it,
“In short: Republicans once again fuck everything up. Democrats once again expected to be the adults and ignore it for the good of the nation.”
This really, REALLY needs to go viral.
How to deal with a mansplainer starring Hillary Clinton in gifs
feministing.comSometimes you don’t realize how #bawse somebody is, until you make it into a gif.
So after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smacked down the Senate and the House yesterday it occurred to me that what made it magical is that it is an instructional video on how to deal with a mansplainer. And of course, any good tutorial needs to be broken down into gifs for emphasis.
Ladies and gentlemen, “How to deal with a mansplainer starring Hillary Clinton”
Step 1: Raise your hands up like, “Whoa you guys you can’t be serious.”

Step 2: Make sure to emphasize your points by counting with your hands so that simple tea party Senator mansplainer understands. Mansplainers like visuals.

Step 3: No, seriously. Fuck this guy.

Step 4: Raise your hands up like, “What’s your point?” and clown the mansplainer for not having an actual relevant point.

Step 5: When Senator John McCain calls you combative and proceeds to rant endlessly, nod with a sly smile.

Step 6: Take the time McCain spends ranting to reorganize the pages in your binder.

Step 7: Rearrange all of the random crap on your desk. You can never be too organized when getting grilled by angry white dudes.

Step 8: When the rant continues on and on put look at the mansplainer with a *blank stare* and put your hand on your chin like, “Are you still talking?”

Step 9: Go home and do this.

