Benghazi and the Politicization of Intelligence

Accuracy in Media

 

"Mike Morell, then-head of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center (CTC), had the task of helping to prepare talking points for then-U.S. Ambassador to the UN "Susan Rice, who was slated to appear on five Sunday morning talk shows a few days later. Morell was personally responsible for “cutting some 50 percent of the text,” including all “references to Al Qaeda” and the many earlier terror attacks against U.S. and other Western targets in Benghazi....it was clear that Morell not only had misrepresented his own role, but also had been less than forthcoming about the close oversight role played by the White House in ensuring that all references to al-Qa’eda terrorism would be scrubbed. Morell also made sure to scrub from the talking points the honest assessment that “We cannot rule out that individuals had previously surveilled the U.S. facilities, also contributing to the efficacy of the attacks.' ”

....

"This is particularly damaging because there is the appearance of a coordinated cover-up staged to ensure the re-election of a President who’d staked his campaign on the repeated assertion that al-Qa’eda had been “decimated,” or was on “the path to defeat.' ”

Is Henninger Right about the 'Carterization' of Obama?

First, Mr. Henninger's WSJ piece:

Henninger: Putin Carterizes Obama, Totally ; The Democrats are vulnerable again on handling the world.

Candidate Reagan said of President Carter, "The response from the administration in Washington" to foreign threats, said Reagan, "has been one of weakness, inconsistency, vacillation and bluff."

"Our allies are losing confidence in us, and our adversaries no longer respect us," he said. Our partners "are confused by the lack of a coherent, principled policy from the Carter administration."

....

"...And in truth, Mr. Carter's team included sterner ballast in Defense Secretary Harold Brown and National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. Nothing similar exists today in the Obama administration. " (Emphasis added, TD)

....

"A realistic hope for peace, Reagan said, is possible only if the U.S. maintains "the vital margin of safety." The margin of safety wasn't about public threats of war. It is about the marginal advantage gained when an adversary negotiating with a strong U.S. believed we might act militarily. If friends and foes conclude no one in the U.S. believes this in 2014, the margin of safety is gone."

American Thinker  ... "In fact this theme, that Obama is as awful a president as Jimmy Carter, has been a thread woven through the narrative of many conservative writers (including yours truly) ever since BHO assumed the presidency.  And indeed, I believe that history will record these two naïve and unexpected presidents as among the absolutely most horrible of our chief executives. Moreover, that assessment will pertain to domestic as well as foreign policy."

Krauthammer: Arrogant Obama 'Semi-Delusional,' 'Radically Unaware' of His 'Failed Foreign Policy'    “ 'I think it’s a kind of arrogance,” Krauthammer said. “He thinks he has a good foreign policy. I think he is semi-delusional about the results of these five years. There is not a spot in the world you -- can go from Syria to Libya to Iran to China, to Russia to Ukraine where the United States is not worse off, less regarded, considered weak than it was five years ago. This is a completely failed foreign policy. And he seems radically unaware of that.' ” Via Lucianne

Video 

Another major Democrat sides with teachers unions against charter schools

 

Mona Charen; Mayor de Blasio: The defender of the powerless or of the teachers’ unions?   "Just try to envision the scene: A newly elected Republican mayor of a large American city takes steps to close down some of the best schools serving an almost exclusively minority population. You know how it would go. We’d be hearing that Republicans “hate” the poor. The words “cruel,” “vicious,” and “racist” would circle the new mayor like sharks."...

 

"It is, of course, the new Democratic mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, who is shutting down a number of highly successful public charter schools (his son attends a magnet school). Charters are public schools run by parents or others and are not constrained by the usual public-school rules, hours, or curricula." ...

 

"...it betrays the cold brutality of some Democrats who claim to speak for the poor."

 

De Blasio turning on friends in charter school, pre-K battles ... "The clarity extends to something else, too. There is no reason to believe de Blasio will limit his carpet-bombing approach to charters. New Yorkers are seeing how he intends to govern. It’s going to be a long four years." ...

UPDATED: Buildings Collapse After Explosion, Fire In East Harlem

UPDATE, 10:53 am, CDT:  Two dead and at least 17 injured in Manhattan apartment building explosion after residents reported smelling gas

 

CBS NY  "Two buildings have collapsed after an explosion Wednesday morning in East Harlem.

It happened around 9 a.m. on Park Avenue on 116th Street, the FDNY said. One of the buildings that collapsed had a piano repair shop with apartments above. The second building housed a church.

"It’s unclear if anyone was inside the buildings at the time of the explosion. Officials believe the buildings were both 5 stories tall.

Video from the scene shows heavy smoke rising from the area as hundreds of firefighters battle the blaze, which has been upgraded to five-alarms. Debris and rubble could be seen scattered all over the area."

 

Terrorists? Maybe, but why would they attack someplace other that a conspicuous major area?

This Story Is Guaranteed To Make Your Day: Patriotism Is Alive And Well In Texas

IJ Review  "This moving photo was captured during the pledge of allegiance and moment of silence that opened Friday’s school day at Cy-Fair High School. Groundskeeper Clayton Allen Jr. set aside his equipment to honor the moment and a teacher took a picture of him doing it.

You will need to scroll down a bit to pause Diane Feinstein's video to hear this one. The both begin playing together.