The Libya narrative is unraveling at the speed of light.  The only question is whether this will happen in time to influence the election.  Newt Gingrich said that he was informed by a U.S. Senator that at least two media networks were given copies of e-mails from the office of the National Security Advisor ordering a counterterrorism team to cancel a rescue mission at the U.S. consulate and the CIA annex in Libya.

Following is a link to that story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJVLaLd_h-8

The key minute comes at the 9:59 minute mark.

Although Gingrich describes these as rumors, he is very specific with regard to what was on those e-mails.  I doubt that this was an accident.

The Hill, which is also not a right wing media outlet, is reporting on this:

http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/terrorism/265089-white-house-shoots-down-rumors-it-nixed-benghazi-intervention

The White House issued the following statement:

“Neither the President nor anyone in the White House denied any requests for assistance in Benghazi during the attack,” National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor told The Hill via email

That fact that the White House even responded to this report is significant.  It is proof that someone in the press is starting to demand answers.  There is almost no time before the election, but there is evidence that the main stream media is starting to pay serious attention to this issue.  Check out the following article from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-benghazi-questions-the-administration-must-answer/2012/10/30/02d02538-22e2-11e2-8448-81b1ce7d6978_story.html

David Ignatius has been providing cover for the White House with regard to Libya.  He argued that CIA documents supported Susan Rice’s description of the Benghazi attacks:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/benghazi-attack-becomes-political-ammunition/2012/10/19/e1ad82ae-1a2d-11e2-bd10-5ff056538b7c_story.html

Yet even Ignatius is acknowledging that the Fox News report by Jennifer Griffin:  has raised some questions about the attack that deserve a clearer answer from the Obama administration.

This is an admission by the Washington Post that Fox News has done some serious and credible reporting and that there are important questions that demand answers.  When someone like David Ignatius makes this kind of remark it is time to pay attention.

Fox News is reporting that they have a cable sent a month before the attack that clearly warns of the danger:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/31/exclusive-us-memo-warned-libya-consulate-couldnt-withstand-coordinated-attack/

“RSO (Regional Security Officer) expressed concerns with the ability to defend Post in the event of a coordinated attack due to limited manpower, security measures, weapons capabilities, host nation support, and the overall size of the compound,” the cable said.

According to a review of the cable addressed to the Office of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Emergency Action Committee was also briefed “on the location of approximately ten Islamist militias and AQ training camps within Benghazi … these groups ran the spectrum from Islamist militias, such as the QRF Brigade and Ansar al-Sharia, to ‘Takfirist thugs.’” Each U.S. mission has a so-called Emergency Action Committee that is responsible for security measures and emergency planning.

There is more.  Two major U.S. military commanders were recently removed from their commands.  General Ham suddenly decided to retire.  Admiral Gaouette was removed from command of a carrier group operating in the Middle East.  The odor of a system cover-up is overwhelming.

We already know Libya was bad.  We know there were requests for more security that were ignored.  We know the Obama administration lied to cover-up something.  We know that Obama’s foreign policy is in tatters.  What we already know is bad enough.  It is shameful that the main stream media continues to ignore this story.  If this is not important, what is important?  How bad, exactly, does it have to get before they wake up?  Is there not one single competent reporter in the main stream media who has figured this out?

TDM

General Carter F. Ham suddenly retired.  He was Command of the U.S. Africa Command.  Following is an article regarding this decision.  I have no way of knowing if this is accurate:

http://beforeitsnews.com/obama-birthplace-controversy/2012/10/general-ham-no-order-to-protect-benghazi-consulate-congressman-jason-chaffetz-interview-ham-over-africom-forces-available-but-no-order-to-use-them-given-2447844.html

It is definitely a fact that General Ham suddenly retired.  It sure looks like he was fired.  It is also a fact that Admiral Rear Admiral Charles Gaouette, was relieved of command of the US Aircraft Carrier the John S. Stennis because of questions regarding his leadership judgment.  Is that a coincidence too?

http://mynorthwest.com/646/1986835/Navy-Admiral-kicked-off-his-ship-sent-back-to-Bremerton-Why

There was a report that President Obama was in the situation room watching the live video from a drone on scene of the Libya attack.  That seems logical since this was 4:00 in the afternoon and he was in the White House.  He also is known to be fascinated with drones.  The bottom line is that he is the only one who could have given the order to intervene.

The only thing certain is that the whole situation stinks to high heaven.  I don’t think the main stream media is really, willing or even able to cover this story before the election.  However, if this was a Republican President the main stream media would be in full attack mode.  Unfortunately I doubt seriously that the American people will learn anything about this until after the election.  That is probably the greatest tragedy of all.

What is obviously true is obviously true.  At best, we have an incredibly incompetent administration.  At worst?

TDM

This major storm hitting the East Coast will have a major impact on the election.  The new media apparently thinks this will help Obama because he can look Presidential.  It won’t.  The reality is that he can do nothing to affect the impact of this storm.  That is up to the local Mayors and Governors.  Obama will make a big show of declaring a state of emergency, but in reality there is little he can do.

The labor department is hinting that they may not be able to release job numbers Friday.  If they do, I predict another miraculous reduction in the unemployment rate.  That would easy to do.  They can just correct it after the election, and blame the weather.  Who knows what these clowns will do.  The least likely outcome is a straightforward report, delivered on time, with accurate information.

This storm will devaste Obama’s re-election for one simple reason.  It is going to hit the most heavily Democratic part of the country.  There is no way that this won’t decrease voter turnout.  But it will impact Democrats more than Republicans.  Republicans are so anxious to vote Obama out of office that they will crawl two miles through broken glass on bloody knees if necessary.   Democrats not so much.   The Obama administration has to know this, so don’t be surprised if they try desperately to delay the election.  At a minimum, they will trying get an emergency injunction increasing the length of time when people can vote.   But the storm is hitting a week early and it will be long gone by next Tuesday.  The only thing certain is that this is going to be a big unprecedented mess.

Romney is now leading in all the credible polls, including in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.  The Obama adminstration is starting to show signs of panic.  You can bet your bottom dollar that after Obama loses this election he will blame his loss on this storm.  That is just the way liberals view the world.

The storm clouds over Libya are even more serious than the ones from Hurricane Sandy.   Fox News reported that Obama was in the White House and watched the attack on a live feed.  The same person said that Obama was the only one who could have authorized sending assistance.  If that story hits the main stream media, it will be beyond devastating for Obama.  No one is the main stream media is challenging the Fox News report, they are just refusing to cover the story.  My hunch is that they will bury the lede and say they were too focused on the big story, which is the hurricane.  They are clearly willing to do anything to avoid asking Obama tough questions about Libya or anything else.

I now think that Romney wins by a margin higher than anyone can even imagine.  I also predict that Republicans will do much better in the Senate elections than is currently predicted.  But the biggest loser is likely to be the main stream media.  The bias, the laziness and the arrogant incompetence is now too obvious for anyone to ignore.

Romney was already surging and he can only benefit from the storm surge.

TDM

If the following report is true, Hillary Clinton, at the urging of Bill Clinton, just threw President Obama completely under the bus.  According to Ed Klein, Hillary Clinton requested additional security for the Mission in Benghazi and that the request was turned down by President Obama.

http://nation.foxnews.com/hillary-clinton/2012/10/26/report-hillary-asked-more-security-benghazi-obama-said-no

This is from Joe Klein, who is the author of The Amateur.  The man has connections within both the Clinton and the Obama crowds.  This is coming out on the same day Fox News is reporting that the CIA agents in Benghazi were asking for assistance and were told to stand down.

If these stories are true, and they certainly look legitimate, it will eliminate any chance of Obama getting re-elected.  He was already on his way to defeat, but apparently the Clinton’s were unwilling to risk any chance of Obama winning.  Obama already tried to throw Hillary Clinton under the bus and if Obama was re-elected the truth may never have seen the light of day.  That would have left Hillary Clinton unelectable in 2016.  Ultimately, Hillary may go down too, but she will not leave Obama standing.

Hillary even dropped a hint that she wouldn’t mind being a Secretary of State under Mitt Romney.  Hillary knows that this will never happen.  What she was really saying is that Mitt Romney is acceptable as President.

Remember that a couple of days ago Bill Clinton skewered Obama when he said that he thought Obama was about to cry when talking to the black guy in the debate because he realized how badly he had let people down.

For those of you who doubted my War of the Roses theory, doubt no more.  It doesn’t get any worse than this.

TDM

Obama is in terrible trouble with regard to Libya.  He lied during the debate and has stepped into a huge hole.  Obama argued assertively that he had declared this an act of terrorism on September 12, 2012.  If one reads Obama’s full statement, he clearly blamed this on an over-reaction to this obscure video.  The Romney campaign will run video showing Obama saying the following, followed by a video of him denying this during the debate:

“Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.

But there is absolutely no justification for this type of senseless violence. None. The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts. Already many Libyans have joined us in doing so, and this attack will not break the bonds between the United States and Libya. Libyan security personnel fought back against the attackers alongside Americans. Libyans helped some of our diplomats find safety, and they carried Ambassador Stevens’ body to the hospital, where we tragically learned that he had tied.”

Later, he went on to say:

“No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for”

If President Obama really thought he was calling this an act of terrorism, he forgot to tell his spokesman, Jay Carney.  Carney was asked whether the attack was premeditated, and he responded with the following:

“It’s too early for us to make that judgment. I think — I know that this is being investigated, and we’re working with the Libyan government to investigate the incident. So I would not want to speculate on that at this time.”

On September 19^th, Jay Carney was still claiming that the official Obama administration position was that there was no evidence of a pre-meditated attack:

“What I can tell you is that, as I said last week, as our Ambassador to the United Nations said on Sunday and as I said the other day, based on what we know now and knew at the time, we have no evidence of a preplanned or premeditated attack. This, however, remains under investigation, and I made that clear last week, and Ambassador Rice made that clear on Sunday. And if more facts come to light that change our assessment of what transpired in Benghazi and why and how, we will welcome those facts and make you aware of them. But again, based on the information that we had at the time and have to this day, we do not have evidence that it was premeditated. It is a simple fact that there are, in post-revolution, post-war Libya, armed groups, there are bad actors hostile to the government, hostile to the West, hostile to the United States.”

This means that either Obama was lying during the debate when he said he considered it an act of terrorism on September 12, or he never informed his staff that he thought it was an act of terrorism, or the Obama administration deliberately lied about what happened.

Obviously, none of these are good answers.  This will come up in next week’s debate and Mitt Romney will be on it.  Obama needs a miracle.  He desperately needs to change the story.  So, wouldn’t it be convenient if the Obama administration found someone that they can claim was responsible and order a drone attack to take him out.  President Obama could go on national television, announce the death of the culprits, just like he did with Osama bin laden.  Then he could say he was sorry for the confusing information, but he was too focused on bringing the killers to justice to pay attention to such trivial matters.  It would be a win-win for Obama.  He gets to look powerful and presidential and he can attempt to intimidate Mitt Romney into dropping the entire subject.  If Mitt Romney continues to push the issue, Obama will accuse Romney of politicizing national security.

I have no way of knowing if this will happen.  First, the Obama administration needs to have some evidence that they know who did this.  Second, they need to find this person.  Third, they need to get them in a situation where they don’t have to kill too many civilians to pull this off.

My guess is that our Commander in Chief is already hunkering down over his kill sheet desperately looking for a target of opportunity.  If I were a terrorist who had even the slightest involvement in the Libya attack I would be afraid, very afraid.  It would be a really good idea to disappear for a while.  If you were advising President Obama, would you be overly concerned if they accidentally offed the wrong guy?  They can always apologize after the election.

We all hope that the President of the United States would be above pulling this kind of political stunt, particularly with regard to national security.  But we would also hope that a President of the United States would not lie the way Obama did during the debate.  We would also hope than an administration would not continue to send people out to say something they knew was not true. Bill Clinton bombed Iraq in the middle of his impeachment trial and the press was more than willing to believe this was just a coincidence.  If Obama does something similar no one in the main stream media will even question the timing and if a Republican dares question the timing they will become unglued.  I still remember when Ted Koppel reported on the bombing of Iraq, and he noted that it came at a convenient time for Bill Clinton and that one would be tempted to question the timing, but he couldn’t do so because that would be unthinkable.

Send in the drones.  I really hope I’m wrong.

TDM

Hillary Clinton accepted blame for the security at the Benghazi Consulate.  That may seem like she is taking Obama off the hook, but the opposite may be true.  There is no way that Hillary was going to avoid the blame for this anyway, since security decisions were made by the State Department.  But this is the ultimate poison pill for Obama.  It makes Hillary look strong and presidential and it makes Obama look weak and small.

Even in what appeared to be an attempt to help Obama, she stuck it to him:

“In the wake of an attack like this, in the fog of war, there’s always going to be confusion,” Clinton told CNN. “And I think it is absolutely fair to say that everyone had the same intelligence. Everyone who spoke tried to give the information that they had. As time has gone on, that information has changed. We’ve gotten more detail, but that’s not surprising. That always happens.”

Sometimes it’s not what you say; it’s what you don’t say.  She didn’t say she was confused, she offered this as an explanation as to why Obama may have been confused.  Hillary is already on record as saying that the State Department never considered this anything other than a terrorist attack, and they had the same information as the White House.  She also said that the State Department did not brief Susan Rice before she went on the lying tour.  By accepting responsibility for that which is undeniable, she shifted the focus directly back on Obama, just in time for tonight’s debate.

The press is already asking Obama if he blames Hillary for the lack of security in Benghazi.  If he says yes, he looks weak.  He will also infuriate all those liberal women who adore Hillary Clinton.  If he says no, then he is accepting responsibility himself.

Hillary looks strong, principled and focused.  The contrast with President Obama, just before the second debate, could not be starker.

This reminds me of Proverbs 25:21-22

²¹ “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
²² In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the LORD will reward you.”     

Hillary figured out she wasn’t going to dodge this bullet.  When you are obviously guilty, begging for mercy from the court of public opinion is the only option.  The Clintons have pulled this off before.  Bill Clinton was booed out of office after his first term as Governor.  He ran again by apologizing for doing a lousy job and asking voters for a second chance.  It worked.  He was re-elected to Governor.  He pulled the same stunt when Republicans ran the table on him during the 1994 election.  Bill Clinton said he realized the era of big government was over, and he reached across the aisle and started working with Republicans.  The public forgave him then too.

Hillary knows that President Obama is incapable of accepting responsibility for anything.  She also knows that while she is responsible for the State Department, the State Department reports to the President.  She just told the world that the President of the United States was not involved in critical decisions regarding his most important cabinet position.  I don’t know how you define that, but you don’t define that as strong leadership.

By apologizing for what is obviously true, Hillary Clinton just may have done the one thing that will restore her coveted political career.  By doing this now, she has stuck it to Obama at the worst possible time; in other words, she may have heaped coals of fire on his head with kindness.  Remember, the most vicious personal attacks are those done with a sweet smile.

One final note:  Susan Rice gave an interview where she said her statements she made on those morning news programs were based on intelligence reports and talking points.  The intelligence community never produces talking points, so Susan Rice pointed the responsibility straight at the White House.  Ouch!

TDM

Well, that didn’t take long.  The State Department is fighting back by stating that they never believed that this attack was in response to that video.  The following article describes what is going on:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2215431/Death-U-S-ambassador-Chris-Stevens-revealed-AK-47s-grenade-attacks-smoke-filled-safe-room.html

The Clintons are the all time masters at refusing to turn over embarrassing documents.  Remember how it took years before Hillary’s billing records at the Rose Law firm were “accidentally” discovered, in her White House office?  Hillary started out by trying to avoid releasing any documents regarding Libya until the full investigation was complete.  That, of course, meant after the election.

But suddenly Hillary released the confidential transcript of the State Department briefing last week.  The following paragraph explains why:

In a briefing on Tuesday, State Department officials said ‘others’ in the executive branch concluded initially that the attack was part of a protest against the film, which ridiculed the Prophet Muhammad. That was never the State Department’s conclusion, reporters were told

Hillary probably didn’t mind watching Joe Biden lie about this during the VP debate, until she realized that he was pointing the finger at her.  Then Jay Carney doubled down th enext morning.   Blaming a Clinton for anything is a declaration of war.

The next question is who will be first to throw Susan Rice under the bus.  Somebody told her to go on all those national TV shows and lie through her teeth.  Was it the State Department or the White House?  Since neither Clinton nor Obama is remotely capable of telling the truth, Susan Rice is probably destined to be left dangling in the breeze, all alone.  According to this story, Susan Rice was angling to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.  Hillary Clinton just told Susan Rice she was on her own.  That leaves her fate in the hands of Barack Obama.  If I were Susan Rice I would be very afraid.

This is quickly turning into a circular firing squad.  It is pretty obvious that there is plenty of blame to go around.  That’s the problem.  Both the State Department and the White House ran out of other people to blame so they started blaming each other.

A circular firing squad leaves no one unharmed.   Obama is quickly learning the cost of taking a shot at Hillary Clinton.  The first casualty of war is the truth.  This has never been more obvious.

This would be almost comical, if it wasn’t so serious.  Obama is President of the United States and a weak President threatens our national security.  We will be lucky if our enemies do not take advantage of this.

TDM

Sometimes members of the same family just can’t get along.  Between 1455 and 1485 the Lancaster and York branches of the House of Plantagenet fought for the throne of England.  This was called the “War of the Roses” because the symbol of the House of Lancaster was a red rose and the symbol of the House of York was a white rose.  The House of Lancaster won when Henry Tutor became King (Henry VII).  The infamous Henry VIII took over upon the death of his father in 1509.

We just may be seeing the start of a civil war within the top elements of the Democratic Party.  Bill Clinton had difficulty disguising his disdain of Barack Obama during the 2008 election.  He had enough of Obama getting a free pass from the main stream media and he referred to this as a “fairy tale.”  He soon backed down when he was accused of being racist.   Eventually Hillary accepted the post as Secretary of State and there was peace in the valley.  Clinton gave the big speech at the DNC and if there was any bounce out of the DNC, which is debatable, it was solely because of Clinton’s speech.  Clinton has also appeared in TV ads supporting Obama. 

That is, until during the VP debate last night, Joe Biden threw Hillary under the bus.  He said that “they weren’t told they wanted more security.  We did not know they wanted more security there.”  That statement put a bull’s-eye on Hillary Clinton’s back.

Jay Carney doubled down:

What is also the case is that requests from the hundreds of diplomatic facilities around the country for security personnel or other related matters are made to the State Department. They are not made to the White House. And that’s just a simple statement of fact.

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are still trying to delay any investigation of this story until after the election.  But that just isn’t going to happen.  This story is too hot and too serious to ignore.  The first question during the VP debate was about Libya. If either the State Department or the White House had a good explanation for this, we would have heard it by now.  They are both out of time and out of answers.

Both Clinton and Obama tried to blame the attack on that obscure video.  That didn’t work.  Then they both tried to blame the intelligence community. That didn’t work either.  Barack Obama even tried to blame Mitt Romney.  Even the liberal press didn’t buy that nonsense.  Now, they are running out of people to blame, and the cover-up is unraveling.  The gloves are off.  In desperation, Obama pointed the finger at Hillary.    

I’m guessing the Clintons are not very happy right now.  Getting blamed by anyone for anything is unacceptable for the Clintons.  Getting blamed by Obama has to be the ultimate insult.  In addition, Bill Clinton was really hoping for the Nobel Peace Prize this year.  After all, Jimmy Carter got one.  Barack Obama even got one for doing nothing.  This time Bill thought it was finally his turn.  Nope.  They gave it to the European Union.  THE EUROPEAN UNION!  He has to be pissed beyond recall.   

Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have proven themselves expert at avoiding responsibility for things they obviously did.  Remember how they wiggled out from under the Whitewater Scandal?  It would run against their characters to take one for the team, particularly “Team Obama.”  The pressure on Hillary is going to skyrocket.  I don’t know if even she can dodge this bullet.  The main stream media is totally in the tank for both of them, but enough is enough.  Plus, there are a lot of really bad facts.

The following article appears to confirm my suspicions.  I have no idea if this is accurate, but it certainly has the ugly odor of truth:

http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/12/the-clinton-obama-rift/

Ed Klein is admittedly a scum bag who has managed to get himself hated equally by the Clinton camp and the Obama camp.  He wrote a scathing book about Hillary titled:  “The Truth About Hilllary:  What She Knew, When She Knew It and How Far She’ll Go to Become President.”  Then he wrote a book about Obama, called the “Amateur.”   But no matter what you think of him, the man definitely has credible sources in both camps.    

At some point, Hillary is going to run out of excuses for not answering direct questions.  She is getting down to some really rotten choices.  I think the least likely outcome is for Hillary to resort to telling the truth.  It is even less likely that she will ever accept personal responsibility.  Based on past performances, when stalling tactics fail to work, I expect Hillary to start making human sacrifices.  But even that may not work.  Hillary Clinton has a serious problem because the President of the United States just said that the buck stops with Hillary.  Oh my! 

Does anyone know where to pick up some cheap roses?

TDM

On September 26, 1960 Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon participated in the first Presidential debate.  The New York Times declared that on “sound points of argument” Nixon took most of the honors.   They missed the point.  Kennedy won that debate and the results changed the course of that election and ultimately history.   The reason Kennedy won was because a picture is worth a 1000 words.  The words spoken in that debate are largely forgotten, but the image of a well-tanned and healthy Kennedy contrasted sharply with a pale and wobbly Nixon.  Nixon had just recovered from the flu and his makeup artist should have been fired on the spot.

The point is that the results of that debate weren’t obvious at first, but they were very significant.  I believe the same thing is true about last night’s debate.  Joe Biden and Paul Ryan were pretty equal in terms of the actual debate.  Biden actually did a remarkable job of trying to convince people that the Obama administration record is better than it looks.   Ryan did a great job on introducing himself to the American people and he more than held his own.  When the new guy can go toe to toe with the old pro, that is a big win for the new guy.  Everyone knows the old pro will just continue to get old, but the new guy will be a major player for a long time.   But the long term impact is likely to be devastating for both Biden and Obama.  That is because the image of this debate may linger longer than people expect and Joe Biden was just plain awful.  He acted like an immature 8^th grader caught on stage with an adult.  He constantly interrupted Ryan and spent much of the debate with this silly smirk on his face.  He frankly came across as an immature arrogant ass.

The moderator was obviously biased toward Biden.  That should be no surprise since Barack Obama attended her wedding and she apparently had dinner at Biden’s house earlier this year.  But ultimately, she hurt Biden by not reining him in.  She let Biden be Biden and that was awful for Biden.

Biden looked like he was off his meds.  That is why I have named this the grape debate.  One can only hope that Biden had a little too much to drink and that he is not really bi-polar.

Ultimately Biden was Biden and Ryan was Ryan and that is bad for Democrats.

TDM

I didn’t realize that the subscription button was so hard to use.  So, I added a new one.  If you just enter your e-mail, you will get notified of any new blogs.  Lucky you!

TDM