Are Republicans Unfairly Targeting Susan Rice?

UN Ambassador in hot water over Benghazi comments

All John McCain (R-AZ) wants is for UN Ambassador Susan Rice to publicly say she was wrong. That, and for her to not be nominated to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, ever.

To achieve that, McCain has turned up the heat on Rice, repeatedly saying he'll oppose any attempt by President Barack Obama to place Rice into a cabinet postion. In McCain's words: "She has a lot of explaining to do."

He's not alone in that sentiment: Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Fox News Sunday that Rice will have to testify on the attacks eventually, whether behind closed doors or not.

The outrage over Rice's comments has Republican House members questioning whether she caused irreparable damage to her credibility.

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Republican attack on Rice is unfair, since Rice simply used the unclassified talking points provided to her, Reuters reports. As is now well-known, Rice's talking points incorrectly attributed the Benghazi tragedy's onset to public outrage over an anti-Muslim movie.

Via Reuters and Politico

Should Republicans continue to target Susan Rice, or are they being unfair?

[Hireman]

Yes, but not for what she's said. She was instructed to say what she did. They're going after the scapegoat.

[MBernard]

Yes and let's all be honest, all the attacks on Susan Rice is based on racism. Let's stop pretending the GOP is after her b/c of Benghazi.

[Hireman]

@MBernard The racism argument is tired and without merit. Remember the GOP had a Rice of their own. They didn't seem to try to run her out of town. In fact, they made her SOS.

[MBernard]

@Hireman And why don't you tell me why they're after this one, just to be spiteful? Right. Say nothing about Benghazi b/c I already debunk that argument.

[Hireman]

@MBernard Like I said. Rice is the scapegoat. The GOP is looking for anything to discredit the WH. The issue is the WH is doing this on its own. The GOP is focusing on the wrong person in Rice.

[MBernard]

@Hireman I still blame it on racism.

[RobertJHarsh]

No. I still want to see April Glaspie in front of a committee answering questions about how she lied to Saddam's face about the US allowing an invasion of Kuwait, baby's throw out of incubators that never happens and so forth. Susan Rice might be a tool, but she knows things. If this were hundred years ago, Rice would be in a jail cell answering questions.

[Jeff_Woehrle]

As the UN ambassador has no say over US embassy operation, one has to wonder why Hillary wasn't trotted out to make the case. Could it be that she didn't want to say things that were not true?

[woodtick57]

Seems the hyper-partisans are finally realizing they've got nothing on the benghazi issue, now they're grasping at straws...

[Jeff_Woehrle]

To the contrary, the gun is STILL smoking on this one.

This Iranian chick seems to have no problem lying to the American people. Why else would she be paraded out to make Barry's case about the Benghazi attack being just a few kids throwing rocks?

Hillary knew it was a lie and wanted no part of it. For that alone I give Hills a thumb up.

[woodtick57]

@Jeff_Woehrle Susan Rice is Iranian? Since when?

All you would need for that smoking un theory would be a gun...and some smoke. innuendo doesn't cut it....

[Jeff_Woehrle]

@woodtick57 Iranian, Black...like Barry, it appears liberals use whatever connection is convenient at the time.

The facts are becoming more and more clear by the day: This president changed the description to avoid dispelling the perception that he had 'solved' the terror problem. The CIA TPM in its original form would have harmed that perception.

The lies come swift and steady from this administration! And I'm loving every minute of it.

[woodtick57]

@Jeff_Woehrle "Iranian, black..." you do realize Iranians are Aryan, don't you?

facts don't really seem to matter to you much.

if you were aware of the facts, you would know that Obama himself had said previously that Al queada was still alive and well.

if you repeat media soundbytes, you should check to see if they are accurate first.

[Nat]

Exactly.

[bsking]

no it's not unfair to target Susan Rice she's a known liar. and I can hear the left right now "that's the information that was available to her at the time".
that's BS. she allowed herself to be a tool used to do see the American people and the world in order to further the agenda that Obama has in his heart and to completely disregard the United States Constitution in the process. we need less people like her in our government not more.

[woodtick57]

many people have been used like a tool on this issue...chasing things that are not there.

[blue_yahoo]

@woodtick57 Just wondering what "things" are not there?

[woodtick57]

@blue_yahoo Facts of any cover-up or anything to actually cover up in the first place...those kind of things.

[bsking]

@woodtick57 ask the mothers of those killed what 9 or 10 weeks ago now..". what was the cause of death of your loved 1?"

and they won't have an answer because our government , which is the most corrupt government we've ever had, is still formulating a story they can sell to the American people.

[blue_yahoo]

@bsking you mean the cover up of the total ineptness of some of our governments highest officials to secure the safety of our ambassador and others that they knew were in extreme danger and failed to respond to requests for more security and help in the weeks prior?

[Cool_voter]

Because republicans are always help responsible for what drops out of their mouths.
Give me a break, all they do is target people.
Maybe republicans should target the fools within their own party..

[charlesgreen]

No, the last time we had a Secretary of State that blindly followed the Administration's line, we got the war in Iraq. We need people that can think for themselves. There is a reason, Ms. Clinton did not appear on those Sunday shows. She is smarter than that. Ms. Rice is just not quaified for State.

[ctc]

Right over the cliff.

[jessejaymes]

People like Rice don't speak without direction. This is not Rice's faux pas. It's Obama's or whoever Rice got her information from. I recall Colin Powell being sent to the UN to blatantly lie for GW Bush. When it became obvious that he had been sent to carry the lie, Powell resigned. I wonder why Rice is so reluctant to identify her source?

[jessejaymes]

I would further state that I don't fault Rice for having bad information in the very early part of the investigation. I don't fault Rice for saying what she was told to say. What I fault Rice for is refusing to deal with how she came to that position.

[woodtick57]

Well, i wouldn't say Powell lied either. He went to the UN with the Admin.''s evidence of WMDs. it was a few grainy photos of what could have been a mobile chemical weapons factory or an RV...too close to call....Anyone with any sense coud have made a sdecision on whether thhe evidence Powell provided was enough to warrant an invasion.

Now when Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld all said they had ''proof" of WMDs, thatwas a bald-faced lie. They never had such proof.

[jessejaymes]

@woodtick57 No Powell carried the lie because he was told that the proof existed. Powell was not a conspirator to the lie. He was used as a pawn and he wouldn't accept that. Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/C. Rice are all American Traitors guilty of treason against this country. And the right is screaming about S.Rice getting a press conference wrong? I'd start by putting those 4 on trial if I was powerful and concerned about treason.

[woodtick57]

@jessejaymes No, Powell never said they had proof of WMDs. he gave the evidence they had, which was obviously weak.(which was why he looked so embarrassed) he never claimed this weak evidence constituted proof.

Bush etal. many times said they had "proof" Rummy even responded when asked point blank, are you sure you have proof? "yes, Bullseye proof" (whatever te hell bullseye proof is...) They never had that proof and they knew it. it was a bald-faced lie to the world and their fellow US citizens.

[vws]

She is just the most recent scape goat for the on-going problem of whitehouse "leadership".

[MRMacrum]

They are being unfair. What is the shame here is they are using a tragedy to further political objectives.

[woodtick57]

or as i like to put it...going after their fellow americans rather than the people who attacked us...

priorities, I guess...

[MRMacrum]

@woodtick57 - It does seem odd, doesn't it.

[DerivePI]

Is this intellectual dishonesty from blinders, eyepatch, hands over the eyes or just mental training?

[MRMacrum]

@DerivePI - I don't know. You seem to be the one wearing them.

[David944]

The limpness test for a black politician is clean and articulate = qualified?

[woodtick57]

"Limpness test"?!? if that is a pun off of litmus test, I do not get it...

[David944]

@woodtick57
Thank you I thought I had The wrong word. Spell check only tells me when the word is spelled wrong.

[jamie91]

@David944 Have you looked at her education? Her experience? Clean and articulate is all she is? Wow.

[David944]

@jamie91 That’s all required no need to look further. But what is her vast knowledge of foreign affairs and diplomacy that makes her qualified.

[Calfarm]

The answer is no. There should be every expectation from our elected and appointed officials to tell the truth, no matter who provide the talking points. If the points are not true or spun in a fashion to try and deceive the populace, the official has an obligation to correct the statements and be truthful.

[mimi57]

No, they're not being unfair at all. It was a cover up, she along with Hillary and Mr. Obama
were all involved in it, they know they were. The truth may come out some day, but this
administration is very good, pro's , actually, at cover ups. One has only to look at the
politics of the 'Chicago Political Machine', to know that Mr.Obama brought it with him,his
"Community Organizing" taught him well...the White House administration is just as corrupt as the Daley's who ran Chicago, and had mob dealings for decades...same thing
only now playing at the White House... Interesting.

[Bobolinsky]

All the Administration has to do is tell us which "White House appointee" decided that it was better to blame and attack the 1st Amendment instead of the terrorist group that preplanned this 9/11 anniversary attack.

When that happens, attention will be drawn away from Susan Rice's apparent willingness to go along with attacking the 1st Amendment. She would still have to explain her willingness to go along with attacking the Constitution if she wants to be Secretary of State but at least she would share the target with whoever the genius is who thinks the death of an ambassador and 3 others is a good opportunity to attack Free Speech.

[Bobolinsky]

Speaking of Free Speech. I found this article this morning. Apparently, Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy has done a switcheroo from wanting to protect the privacy of Americans from prying government eyes and now is sponsoring a bill that removes protections from prying government eyes... Like the need for a warrant to read our email.

Senate bill rewrite lets feds read your e-mail without warrants
Proposed law scheduled for a vote next week originally increased Americans' e-mail privacy. Then law enforcement complained. Now it increases government access to e-mail and other digital files.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57552225-38...

[woodtick57]

When did hte WH attack te 1st amendment? You'd think something like tat would have made the papers or the news...

did you hear somebody say this and repeat it without checking its veracity?

[Tralee]

@woodtick57 The WH violated the 1st Amendment when the arrested and threw in jail an idiot who made a stupid film. They perp-walked him for the cameras and the Islamists rioting and burning our flag and our president in effigy in about 4 other countries, NOT Libya BTW. Not only that but he's now in jail of a flimsy and very minor parole violation. Anyone else would be out and walking the streets. That was an abridgement of his 1st. Amendment right to free speech. And by words, along with these deeds, both Hillary and Barry in various speeches bemoaned that America has free speech and the government could do nothing about it. If nothing more, that was a total diss of the 1st. Amendment. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57521939/...

[woodtick57]

@Tralee the White House cannot arrest anybody ever. They do not have that power.

The maker of the film was arrested on parole violation. He is a felon, and part of his parole was the he couldn't use te internet unsupervised...ooops, kinda did that, didn't he? he also broke several other of his parole restrictions and THAT is why he was arrested.

If you bothered to read any articles about his arrest, you would have inown this.

[Kajai]

@woodtick57
If tralee would have read the article in her own link she would have learned that. Lol.

[Penn1699]

She's the fall guy. A pawn. I feel sorry for her.

[PNWest]

The GOP has been politicizing this tragedy since before the bodies were even cold. The facts don't matter to the GOP. Only the talking points do. Susan Rice is just the latest victim of GOP swiftboating.

[FollowTheMoney]

This is what politicians do. It is the game they play. Reps/ Dems who cares...really who cares? We all see these tactics used over and over, by both parties. What gets me is, we keep taking sides against each other in favor of one party or the other. When what we need to do is band together against the parties. The parties offer no solutions to the problems, they themselves, have created.

[Everyman]

No. She is a liar or stupid or both. Obama ruined her promising career by getting her to lie for him. That's why he acts so mad. He knows it's his fault. She's finished as a politician. Another discarded life to make Obama look good. It started by sacrificing Chris Stevens to win an election. Obama cut and ran, left Chris Stevens to die and then started the lying process. He's got lying down to a science. Pure garbage. And Americans suck it up like 5 year olds.... STUPID 5 year olds.

[Tralee]

Are R's unfairly targeting Susan Rice? No, they are not targeting her at all, they have questions about her performance on those 5 Sunday shows when the exact opposite was known by all. This "Targeting" meme is just more of Obama's spin, trying to continue his phony war on women. HE said she had nothing to do with Benghazie, so why send her around? HE said she said what he told her to say, that's a direct quote from his presser when he got faux angry that she was questioned at all. So if she was the Sargent Schultz of the Obama administration and simply said what he told her to say, why did he tell her to repeat a lie? He knew the truth within 24 hours, Gen. Petraous new it, the SD knew it and yet the only person in DC who could go on FIVE Sunday shows was the one person who had no working knowledge of it? That alone is strange, to say the least. He could just as well have sent the WH gardener at that point. The newest, same old DNC talking point, is that to oppose her is to be sexist or racist. Gotta hand it to the progressives, they sure know how to stop a conversation. In this case call the questioners sexist (explain that to me if you can) or even better call them racist OR better and better call them SEXIST RACISTS!!! That will stop them cold. Just once it would be pleasant for the left to hold a rational conversation without their usual conversation stoppers of playing the race card and now their new one, designed to put the other on the defensive {as in, I'm not a racist, sexist or whatever, totally running any conversation off the rail}, and have them talk truthfully without lies and spin and their usual "gotcha" type of bullet points. Just once, a fair and honest conversation on the facts.

[hflinsch]

S.Rice was acting upon information she was provided by CIA and it was in error. Bush, Cheney and C.Rice lied on the basis of bad info in order to achieve an ulterior purpose. Which is worse, Republican lies or Democratic mistakes? Rice would make a great SoS just as Clinton did and undoubtedly upgrade the quality of info she acts upon.