I'm working from the living room today because the televised Benghazi hearing has reeled me in.

Very interesting watching the dramatic politics between the parties and hearing the answers to some of the same old questions, along with some new ones in relation to email content.

Anyone else watching?

I'm watching. And following along on twitter. Still talking about Blumenthal.

Sen. Barbara Boxer ‏@SenatorBoxer · 2h2 hours ago
Two hours and counting and still nothing has changed the findings of the seven previous committees. #Benghazi

Hillary 2016 ‏@HlLLARY · 1h1 hour ago
Gowdy: This isn't about Sidney Blumenthal.
*2 mins later*
Just wait till we get back and I talk about Sidney Blumenthal! #BenghaziCommittee

Re the hearings re the deaths of 4 Americans in Benghazi. It would be nice if Congress devoted the same amount of time to the 9 deaths at Umpqua Community College and other mass shootings on American soil.
They should be ashamed of their priorities and unwillingness to ensure a safe path for all citizens to pursue life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is just another political stance and makes me want to vomit......

Just more

Clinton's facial wrinkles distract me. They are so well placed.

I haven't seen any of it yet but I'm hoping to catch some highlights later tonight.

I really want to read the Sidney Blumenthal congressional hearing transcript. What he said. His take. Seeing as Blumenthal emails are so important to the questioning of Clinton. Gowdy seems to resist that request. As do all the other GOP members on the select committee. I have to wonder why.

(10-22-2015, 05:25 PM)Duchess Wrote:

I haven't seen any of it yet but I'm hoping to catch some highlights later tonight.

Not much to highlight. They will probably show Cummings and Gowdy going at it, both raising their voices, a bit.

Clinton testifying what she knows, the tea party GOP making asses of themselves.

Time warp. It is like the tea party GOP has not been paying attention.

Same ole same ole

Wow! This stuff is great! Hillary testifying might be the best thing that could happen for her campaign. Hahaha. The Republicans questioning her look ridiculous.

They kept Hillary on that stand for nearly 11 hours. I have a poor opinion of both parties but without a doubt the Republicans take the cake. I've always thought they were on the dumb side but now I'm convinced of it. However, I would like to thank them for handing Hillary the Presidency.

It was very interesting watching this go down. Hillary was Presidential through it all. Many of the Republicans who were questioning her stopped just short of frothing at the mouth. I could hardly believe they would let themselves be viewed like that but apparently it was more important to them to try and trip her up rather than to have some decorum. The Republicans failed again and this morning they are a worldwide joke.

(10-22-2015, 07:43 PM)Duchess Wrote: Wow! This stuff is great! Hillary testifying might be the best thing that could happen for her campaign. Hahaha. The Republicans questioning her look ridiculous.

Practically every creditable news source is saying she owned the entire committee like a boss, and they couldn't possibly have done a more positive thing for her campaign if they'd tried. Between Gowdy obsessing on that Blumenthal guy, and accidentally calling the inquiry "a trial" more than once, and Hillary actually laughing out loud when they asked her if she was alone "the WHOLE night" when the attacks went down...if this was prison Gowdy would be washing her jockeys by now. There is one exchange in particular when they try to trap her into admitting some lapse by referencing another attack, and she spun it on its head into a list of attacks with worse results that Congress HADN'T used to attack the opposition but had worked with each other . Slapped them in the face with their own "gotcha" moment.

Did they ever figure out how the movie story came about?

(10-23-2015, 10:20 AM)Maggot Wrote: Did they ever figure out how the movie story came about?

I saw them begin to touch on that and it quickly escalated into the email bullshit again. Over and over about the emails instead of what they were actually there for. I don't care enough about it to go look for the conclusion and I'm not even so sure they reached one, if they did it got buried in the goddamn email crap.

Here's the testimony about the movie narrative.




Clinton basically claims that she alluded to the movie during her initial public statement because:

1. There was a lot of conflicting information coming in
2. Intelligence sources were looking at the movie motive
3. There was a protest over the video at the American embassy in Egypt and in other countries
4. A member of a terrorist group that initially claimed credit for the attacks cited the movie as a motive
5. She didn't ascribe motive for the Benghazi attack to the video, but said "some" people were trying to justify such attacks based on the content of the movie and that was her way of warning people and governments that there was no justification for them
6. There were likely a lot of different motivators among the group of attackers and she still believes the movie was one of them for some of the attackers

I believe all that was happening.

But, personally, I also believe that Clinton crafted her early public statements in a way that favored the Administration, and that she knowingly misled the victims' families 10 days later (based on their interviews).

But, unlike some of the Congresspersons at yesterday's hearing, I know that my holding that opinion doesn't make it fact.

I will just consider it another chapter in the Clinton archives filed with all the other shady things she has been involved in.

(10-23-2015, 01:20 PM)Maggot Wrote: I will just consider it another chapter in the Clinton archives filed with all the other shady things she has been involved in.

She may get nominated for an academy award.

I listened to portions. It was absurd when some congress woman kept grilling her about EXACTLY when she had contact with the survivors. A day? A week? When did you finally speak with "x" (names of survivors are not supposed to be publicized)? The CLEAR inference that Clinton is heartless and didn't give a shit (although she made contact with everyone when the FBI cleared them or they were released from the hospital etc). The next congressman slammed the questioner...pointing out EXACTLY what she was trying to do, noting it had NOTHING to do with a Benghazi investigation and just basically dragging the questioner under the bus. It was good entertainment. The general consensus coming out of yesterday was it was a waste of time, no smoking gun or startling new facts revealed and yeah, a big win for Clinton.

I thought yesterday's marathon hearing was a waste of time and money.

Clinton accepted responsibility for the insufficient security years ago since the security experts worked in the State Department. She implemented the recommended changes to minimize chances of something similar happening again.

The Administration handled the public communication after the incident poorly, whether they were confused or were intentionally misleading.

But, Hillary Clinton isn't culpable for the four deaths and I did think several of the Republican congresspersons were clearly on a mission to create their own narrative, save face, and attack Clinton's character/dedication rather than facilitating a fact-finding mission. They looked foolish, for the most part, in my opinion.

The Democratic Congresspersons were clearly on a mission to defend Clinton's character and paint the committee as biased and unnecessary.

Anyway, I found it to be an interesting watch/listen, but nothing new to see/hear. I agree with those who think yesterday's testimony helped Clinton more than it hurt her.

(10-23-2015, 05:03 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: I found it to be an interesting watch/listen

I was enthralled with some of it. There were a few lines of questioning where I'm pretty sure I snorted and there was a moment where I'm thinking "I thought this was supposed to be about Benghazi". The divide between Democrats & Republicans looks massive.

I loved how well Hillary did, loved it. I thought she did a great job and I could see her as the next POTUS. Can anyone see Donald as that?

(10-23-2015, 05:40 PM)Duchess Wrote:

(10-23-2015, 05:03 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: I found it to be an interesting watch/listen

I was enthralled with some of it. There were a few lines of questioning where I'm pretty sure I snorted and there was a moment where I'm thinking "I thought this was supposed to be about Benghazi". The divide between Democrats & Republicans looks massive.

I loved how well Hillary did, loved it. I thought she did a great job and I could see her as the next POTUS. Can anyone see Donald as that?

I don't want to see either as POTUS.