The Screwtape Letters is a fictional story by C.S. Lewis. These are letters from Demon Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood, explaining how to undermine faith and promote sin. The letters reveal a secret strategy to distort and mislead. It is becoming obvious that the e-mails from the State Department to the CIA are the modern version, so I will refer to them as “The Shrewtape Letters.” Use your own imagination to identity the shrew
They should probably own up to the truth and throw somebody expendable under the bus. But instead they are trying to pretend that black is white and that Benghazi is just about over reach by hysterical republicans. As a result, they are still trying to cover-up the cover-up. Ultimately, the cover-up to cover up the cover-up will do more damage than the cover-up itself.
Jay Carney is still pretending that the White House and the State Department needed more time to understand who was behind the Benghazi attack:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/8/white-house-stands-its-benghazi-story-hearing-unfo/
“What I can tell you is that it was the assessment of our intelligence community that the attacks were participated in by extremists,” he told reporters at a regular daily briefing. “That’s what I’ve said. That’s what Ambassador Rice said. She said on that Sunday that extremists were involved. What we didn’t know is what their exact affiliation was.”
“As you know, with regard to this group, there was a claim of responsibility, then there was a disowning of responsibility. So anybody who pretends to have known all the facts instantly is just mistaken,” he continued. “And it is always the case that things like this require careful investigation.”
If this is the best they can do, they are in deep trouble. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Susan Rice and Jay Carney all said this was the result of a disgusting video. That was patently untrue. There was zero evidence that the video caused this problem. They didn’t just suppress the truth; they replaced the truth with a deliberate lie.
As a side note, there was only one demonstration remotely connected to that video on September 11, 2012, and that was in Cairo. The sympathy demonstrations all over the Middle East occurred after Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama went on their apology tours. One could argue that it was Clinton and Obama who lit the fuse that exploded across the Arab world later that week.
The State Department and the White House are just digging themselves a deeper hole. They are adding lies and distortions to cover up lies and distortions. The arrogance and stupidity of the Obama administration will keep this story alive.
The Benghazi story has gone to the next level. ABC ran a report showing 12 revisions to the CIA talking points and e-mails from the State Department requesting those changes. There are also e-mails from the White House to the CIA saying they needed to listen to the State Department. Even MSNBC is reporting on this.
NBC is reporting that they are getting calls from the State Department trying to discredit Gregory Hicks:
It is now clear that Republicans have lots of documents from whistle blowers. Some of these documents are classified. We are watching a classic cat and mouse game. Republicans are demanding copies of e-mails that they already have in their possession. But Democrats do not know what the Republicans do and do not have. If they refuse to release them, Republicans will eventually get them through subpoena or disclose them through witness testimony. The administration’s attempt to withhold these documents just increases their value. If they try to change them, they risk being exposed with copies of the originals. The White House and the State Department have walked into a mine field they set for themselves with their sloppy attempt to replace the obvious with the ridiculous.
Even MSNBC is covering this story and has broached the possibility of impeachment:
The best way to describe this panel is that they think the mean ole nasty Republicans who hate Barack Obama and hate Hillary Clinton just may have the kind of smoking guns necessary to remove Obama from office. This is an astonishing discussion, particularly on MSNBC. If you have any questions about how bad this is for Democrats, watch this video. When your supporters talk like this, you are in big trouble.
This story is going to escalate slowly, and that is the most dangerous type of story. It is what happened during Watergate.
TDM