[ See my earlier post below, "Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has Secretive Meeting at White House with President Obama" 5/29/30 about yesterday's not-so-secret Clinton-Obama lunch ]
SELECTIVE RELEASE OF PORTIONS OF HILLARY CLINTON’S NEW BOOK “HARD CHOICES” DAY AFTER HER “SECRET” WHITE HOUSE LUNCH WITH THE PRESIDENT IS NO MERE COINCIDENCE
After the events May 29th and 30th, 2014, both the responsible right-wing press and GOP congressional investigators need to focus part of their Benghazi inquiries or at least a few of their queries on what was said about Benghazi during former Secretary of State Clinton's and President Obama’s not-so-well-kept secret lunch at the White House Thursday.
A key Benghazi portion of Hillary Clinton's soon to be released memoir was given a strategic pre-release to Politico, also sometime this past Thursday. According to some normally pro-Hillary sources, a 34-page chapter entitled “Benghazi: Under Attack.” from her soon-to-be-released book, “Hard Choices,” is Hillary Clinton’s most complete account of the 9/11/12 attack on the U.S. Special Mission (sometimes referred to as "embassy" or "consulate") in Benghazi to date (See e.g., “Exclusive: Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi chapter” by Maggie Haberman, 5/30/14, Politico [http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/hillary-clintons-benghazi-chapter-107240.html?hp=t1]; see also “Hillary Clinton: I won’t play politics with Benghazi” by Anne Gearan & Philip Rucker, 5/30/14, Washington Post [http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/hillary-clinton-i-wont-play-politics-with-benghazi/2014/05/30/d99b8cdc-e803-11e3-afc6-a1dd9407abcf_story.html]). That particular chapter was a portion of her book that apparently had been released to Politico.
Ken Thomas of the Associated Press gives this take on the early-released portions of Clinton’s book: “Clinton takes responsibility for the loss of life in the attack but writes that there have been ‘a regrettable amount of misinformation, speculation and flat-out deceit’ by some in politics and the media. *** ‘I will not be a part of a political slugfest on the backs of dead Americans. It's just plain wrong, and it's unworthy of our great country,’ Clinton writes. ‘Those who insist on politicizing the tragedy will have to do so without me.’ *** Clinton's account of the Benghazi attack is one of the most anticipated sections of her forthcoming book, which will be released June 10 and will describe her four years at the State Department....” ( See “Report: Hillary Clinton defends response to Benghazi” by Ken Thomas, 5/30/14, Associated Press [http://www.benningtonbanner.com/ci_25862983/report-hillary-clinton-defends-response-benghazi]).
The post in Politico did not publish the entire chapter but quoted heavily from it. Reports indicate that sources close to Mrs. Clinton confirmed that Politicos’s report of the contents of the chapter are accurate. According to Maggie Haberman’s account in the Politico post cited above, Hillary Clinton says, “...the details of the Benghazi attacks have been clouded ‘in part because of continuing turmoil in Libya. And despite the best efforts of officials from across our government … there will never be perfect clarity on everything that happened. … But that should not be confused with a lack of effort to discover the truth or to share it with the American people.’...”
In addition to the apparent release of the “...Benghazi..” chapter of Hillary Clinton’s book, the Washington Post article made particular note that, “Democratic political operatives, Clinton supporters and foreign policy experts met Friday to coordinate strategy for discussing the Benghazi attacks as Clinton begins the rollout of her book. Longtime Clinton message manager Philippe Reines spoke to the group, which gathered for a “much broader focus on national security, because it has bubbled up as an issue,” according to a participant in the meeting. The participant spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the closed-door session.”
Thus, with the selective release of the main Benghazi part of Secretary Clinton’s book together with the coordinated gathering of Clinton supporters to go over Benghazi talking points today, it is virtually impossible that these matters were not discussed between Mrs. Clinton and President Obama at their lunch yesterday. It was no accident that the unscheduled lunch happened so close in time to the selective rollout of Hillary Clinton’s cleaned-up written version of her Benghazi recollections. It would test credulity for anybody to claim that nothing about Benghazi and what Hillary had written about it, and how that was to be discussed by her supporters, had been discussed over Hillary’s and the President’s luncheon courses.
[THIS POST UPDATED 5/31/14 3:49 AM EDT]
UPDATE & BACKFILL: THE “LET THE ‘SLUGFEST’ BEGIN” EDITION
ReplyDeleteHILLARY CRITICS SLAM FORMER SECRETARY CLINTON’S DOUBLE-DOWN ON THE SO-CALLED ANTI-ISLAM VIDEO — HILLARY’S AMEN CORNER SLAMS BACK
TO NOBODY'S SURPRISE, "...SLUGFEST ON THE BACKS OF DEAD AMERICANS..." BEGAN ALMOST IMMEDIATELY
Hillary Clinton’s latest version of her Benghazi story has been described by some in the main stream media as “defiant” (See “Hillary Clinton hits back at Benghazi critics in book chapter” by Jane C. Timm, 5/30/14, MSNBC/ Morning Joe [http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/hillary-clinton-benghazi-chapter-book]); or as “Hillary Clinton on offense”( See “Hillary Clinton on offense over Benghazi as book tour approaches” by Maeve Reston, 5/30/14, LA Times [http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-hillary-clinton-book-benghazi-20140530-story.html]); but somehow simultaneously she, her advisors and supporters, and even some in the supportive media think she can get away with this chestnut, “I will not be a part of a political slugfest on the backs of dead Americans...”; and that it might well be taken in good faith and at face value (See “Hillary Clinton Refuses To Take Part In 'Political Slugfest' Over Benghazi: Report” by AP/ Huffington Post, 5/30/14 [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/30/hillary-clinton-benghazi_n_5417150.html]). More likely, Hillary and her various allies and co-belligerents against the real and/or merely perceived onslaught from a “Vast Right-wing Conspiracy” in the media have tried to build a redoubt out of the corpses of the fallen — in much the same way as what had once upon a time been done at Roark’s Drift, as shown in the movie “Zulu.”
In any case, the issue was quickly joined by several prominent critics of the former First Lady/Secretary of State; and Hillary’s rapid-response team jumped right in to her defense. — Surprise ! (Or, should that be, to nobody’s surprise) Hillary’s so-called “...slugfest on the backs of dead Americans...” began almost immediately.
One of the things some of Hillary’s quickest critics jumped on was her repetition of the old story about the anti-Islamic video, which was part of her and the rest of the Obama Administrations’s original Benghazi narrative. The Heritage Foundation says it is “stunning” that Clinton continues to cite the video. “...Clinton still clings to the video story,” says Helle Dale of the Heritage Foundation, continuing, “It has been totally discredited and never had an ounce of truth to it....” (See “In Book, Hillary Clinton Defends Susan Rice on Benghazi, Blames Those ‘Who Exploit This Tragedy’” by Katrina Trinko, 5/30/14, Heritage Foundation/ The Foundry [http://blog.heritage.org/2014/05/30/book-hillary-clinton-defends-susan-rice-benghazi-blames-exploit-tragedy/]). Earlier on Friday, Fox News included a critique of Clinton’s return to the “anti-Islam” video as part of its generally negative view of the “intentionally leaked chapter”
from her book that previously had been given to Politico (See “Clinton leaks memoir chapter that unloads on critics of her Benghazi response” by Jake Gibson & James Rosen, Fox News [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/30/clinton-takes-on-critics-in-benghazi-chapter-says-wont-be-part-political/]).
Possibly part of coordinated defenses arranged by the Clinton media team, one of Hillary Clinton’s kennel of attack dog-defenders immediately jumped into the fray (See “Fox News Responds To Excerpt Of Hillary Clinton's Book With Rehashed Benghazi Lie” by Thomas Bishop, 5/30/14, MediaMatters for America [http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/05/30/fox-news-responds-to-excerpt-of-hillary-clinton/199518]). In addition to its apparent acceptance of the current Clinton reiteration of the connection of an anti-Islamic video to the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, this riposte by MediaMatters contained a lengthy exegesis of the whole anti-Islamic video cover story from its very beginning through some of its earlier acceptance by the mainstream media.
UPDATE: THE “TRUTH SHOULDN’T BE PARTISAN” EDITION
ReplyDeleteREPUBLICANS CHARGE HILLARY CLINTON WITH ‘PLAYING POLITICS’ BY HER EARLY RELEASE OF BENGHAZI CHAPTER OF HER BOOK
REINCE PRIEBUS AND TED CRUZ HIT SUNDAY MORNING SHOWS AND GO HEAD-ON AT SOME OF THE BENGHAZI MATERIAL FROM HILLARY’S BOOK — SAYING THE EARLY RELEASE WAS AN ATTEMPT TO DRUM-UP BOOK SALES AS WELL AS PLAY POLITICS ON THE BENGHAZI ISSUE
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday show says that the release of the “Benghazi Chapter” from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s new book by was an intentional attempt to defuse controversy over the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya ( See “Reince Priebus: Hillary Clinton 'Playing Politics' With Release Of Benghazi Chapter” by Huffington Post, 6/1/14 [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/01/hillary-clinton-benghazi-chapter_n_5427238.html]). Clinton’s organized response team quickly responded by way of a statement that it was the GOP that was being political and paranoid, and not addressing the issues. According to the report in the Huff Post, the National Press Secretary for the Democratic National Committee, Michael Czin, responded within minutes to Priebus' remarks. — Of course, the Democrat Party flack responded with a patently political statement of his own saying that “Today, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus sounded more like a conspiracy theorist than a leader of the Republican Party.... *** The fact is that there have already been 7 investigations into Benghazi, 25,000 documents have been provided and more than a dozen hearings held....”
CNN reported that Priebus had a slightly different line of attack on Hillary Clinton’s motivation for the selective release of the Benghazi material from her book — “...a strategic effort to make more money....” (See “Priebus: Book, Benghazi politics help Clinton make money” by Ashley Killough, 6/1/14, CNN/ politicalticker [http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/06/01/priebus-benghazi-politics-helps-clinton-make-money/]).
Appearing on ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Show on Sunday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz specifically addressed one of the most quoted passages from Hillary Clinton’s still-unreleased new book — her refusal to be “part of a political slugfest on the backs of dead Americans.” That often repeated quote was contained in the pre-publication material about the Benghazi attacks that was taken from Clinton’s book and intentionally released late in the past week. Cruz said, “You know, the sad thing with Secretary Clinton, it seems to be all politics, all the time.... From what we know about this book chapter, it’s pure political spam. And she’s more focused on blaming the vast right-wing conspiracy than the terrorists. The truth shouldn’t be partisan....”
(See “Cruz: With Hillary Clinton, It’s ‘All Politics, All The Time’ — Especially On Benghazi”
by Brendan Bordelon, 6/1/14, Daily Caller [http://dailycaller.com/2014/06/01/cruz-with-hillary-clinton-its-all-politics-all-the-time-especially-on-benghazi/]).