Tag Archives: david petraeus

What’s John McCain bitter about today? Same thing as yesterday…

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Charlie Pierce explains McCain’s whole Benghazi / Susan Rice dilemma:

“This whole long con has passed now into the realm of pure McCarthyism: “We are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn’t get,” said McCain, an Arizona Republican. “It is clear the information that [Rice] gave the American people was incorrect when she said it was a spontaneous demonstration triggered by a hateful video. It was not, and there was compelling evidence at the time that that was certainly not the case.”

No details. Nothing specific. Just John McCain, being troubled, as he has been since the country declined to make him its president. What happened with Rice and the talking-points, and why it happened, has been explained at length by everyone closely involved in the episode, including David Petraeus… McCain and Graham — and the hapless Ayotte, who is clearly, and pathetically, looking past Rice all the way to the 2016 Iowa caucuses — have nothing. They want to beat up on Rice simply because they can’t beat up on the president, although McCain made a run at that over the weekend. And they came out of the meeting and ran their mouths about what went on because they knew Rice wasn’t going to go into details of that meeting in public. They are a pair of cowards, with a feckless rookie in train, and they are playing dangerous games with the country’s security. They hereafter should be ignored and, if Graham goes through with his threat of putting a hold on Rice’s nomination, Harry Reid should move his desk out onto Constitution Avenue, and no Democrat should cooperate with this clown ever again.”

Benghazi: Petraeus testifies, John McCain (finally) shuts up

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On Friday the Republican politicians who had so angrily demanded the testimony of David Petraeus about Benghazi got what they wanted – and what they deserved – when the former CIA director set forth the facts proving that their conspiracy theories and witch-hunts are dead wrong.

Appearing behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, Gen. Petraeus, recently resigned from the spy agency over his illicit affair with biographer Paula Broadwell, answered questions from legislators concerning the tragic Sept. 11 assault that left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other diplomatic personnel dead.

When the session concluded, Petraeus was spirited away. And Senator John McCain (R-AZ), whose criticism of the Obama administration over Benghazi has verged on hysterical, emerged from the hearing room with very little to say to the reporters waiting outside.

“General Petraeus’ briefing was comprehensive. I think it was important; it added to our ability to make judgments about what was clearly a failure of intelligence, and described his actions and that of his agency and their interactions with other agencies,” said McCain, adding, “I appreciate his service and his candor” before abruptly fleeing as reporters tried to question him.

— Joe Conason: Petraeus Testifies, McCain Shuts Up

McCain and Fox and the rest of the Benghazi Political Clown Show posse owe UN Ambassador Susan Rice a public apology. However that’s one press conference, maybe the only press conference, that John McCain will definitely not attend.

Who gets trapped in Drudge Bait?

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The endless scheming of the Romney campaign attempting to move the conversation away from Mitt’s tax returns.

POLITICO: “CIA director David Petraeus is knocking down suggestions that he might agree to serve as the vice presidential runningmate for likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. “Director Petraeus feels very privileged to be able to continue to serve our country in his current position and, as he has stated clearly numerous times before, he will not seek elected office,” CIA spokesman Preston Golson said Tuesday. The flutter of interest in a possible pick of the retired Army general as VP was triggered by a post on the Drudge Report, a conservative website known to have close ties to members of the Romney high command.”