State Department in damage-control mode as Libya threatens Hillary’s legacy
But in reality, the fiasco appears to be largely — if not entirely — a State Department botch. It was the State Department that failed to provide its ambassador adequate security; it was the State Department that fled Benghazi in the aftermath of the attack, apparently failing to clear or secure the scene, leaving Stevens’ diary behind; and it was State that had taken the lead on the ground after the Libya intervention.
“When it comes to specific critiques about the attack, if either [the White House or State] should be getting blamed, it seems to me the primary one to be getting blamed should be State itself more than the [White House],” says one former State Department official with extensive experience in the region. “I mean if you take away the ‘buck stops here’ parsing of this stuff, if Stevens was issuing warning or expressing concerns he was doing so primarily through his own chain of command. The security on the ground belongs to State.”
And though the Department of State savaged CNN for reporting on the diary, BuzzFeed has learned that the department wasn’t even aware that Stevens’ personal diary existed before the cable channel told them about it.
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Huma Weiner.
batterup on September 23, 2012 at 11:31 PM
Just Libya threatens her legacy?
NotCoach on September 23, 2012 at 11:33 PM
The headline says so much. Who cares about some two-bit former First Lady’s pathetic legacy?
joekenha on September 23, 2012 at 11:38 PM
What rational person would be surprised by this? The lovely and gracious Hillary was not qualified to be a senator or Secretary of State. She couldn’t pass the DC bar, is a pathological liar like Bill, but hey she is a dem.
arnold ziffel on September 23, 2012 at 11:39 PM
As if working for President Downgrade wasn’t enough of a hit.
Difficultas_Est_Imperium on September 23, 2012 at 11:41 PM
Huma Weiner.
batterup on September 23, 2012 at 11:31 PM
It says Libya, NOT Labia!
Mitsouko on September 23, 2012 at 11:42 PM
May she go to Hades. She and Obama have blood on their hands.
Stevens’ family s/b demanding to know what happened, on TV, on-going.
It turns out she’d have been as good as Obama on the 3:00a.m. call. To hell with both, pronto.
Schadenfreude on September 23, 2012 at 11:42 PM
Hillary’s looks ever since this happened tell all.
She hates Obama with a purple passion.
The Clintons will vote for Romney.
Schadenfreude on September 23, 2012 at 11:43 PM
Buzzfeed: It was not the fault of our Dear Leader…
Who sent out Susan Rice to lie about what happened in Libya..?
d1carter on September 23, 2012 at 11:44 PM
The only thing keeping Obama from throwing Hillary under the bus is Bill Clinton. But Hillary won’t make it past the 2016 primary because of the Obama taint.
SAZMD on September 23, 2012 at 11:45 PM
An Ambassador is DEAD along with 3 other personnel to include 2x former US Navy SEALs and State is worried about her f*cking pantsuited legacy?????
ted c on September 23, 2012 at 11:46 PM
Legacy, Bill’s wife, junior senator and one term Secretary of State. Did she do any of these jobs well?
Cindy Munford on September 23, 2012 at 11:47 PM
this is such bullsh!t. the phone was ringing at 3 am and Obama was dreaming in his jammies while a US ambassador was dying from smoke inhalation and mortar rounds slamming into his building. Hillary had no idea what to do. You can’t make this stuff up. The “3AM” ad from a few years back has now come true. It was 3 AM and EVERYBODY was asleep at the effing switch……
**facepalm***
ted c on September 23, 2012 at 11:48 PM
How’s the underside of that bus look, Hillary?
Dead Hand Control on September 23, 2012 at 11:52 PM
Oh, the things she must know about Barackabama.
SouthernGent on September 23, 2012 at 11:55 PM
Do you really think they were asleep? This is just the latest lie they are telling the press. They were awake & knew what was happening, they were preparing the movie narrative.
and the compliant press plays along.
batterup on September 23, 2012 at 11:56 PM
What legacy is that? The Red Plastic Button and an awkward laugh to the Russian commies?..sucking up to Assad?..the fake outrage??..larding thick apologies to violent Islamist’s?..telling tall tales about helicopter landings and dodging snipers?..
Mimzey on September 24, 2012 at 12:02 AM
Hillary’s legacy is being handed positions for which she was not qualified and had no experience, merely because Bubba was her husband. If anything, this strengthens that legacy of fail.
Christien on September 24, 2012 at 12:08 AM
I would have thought her legacy was taking out that sniper that was trying to shoot the Muslim Bro mole of the state department in Tuzla.
So those grief stricken looks on Hillary were for her legacy now sodomized and lifeless.
BL@KBIRD on September 24, 2012 at 12:13 AM
There is no need for that, I’m sure she has extracted every penny of her commission from all the ” US Aid” she has been distributing to Huma’s gangstas. Her ” lrgacy” is safe, along with her husband’s .
burrata on September 24, 2012 at 12:19 AM
batterup on September 23, 2012 at 11:56 PM
Exactly! They were working feverishly through the night to prepare the smoke screen for roll out first thing in the morning. Blame the video (false!). Deflect attention to Romney (‘shoot first, aim later’). Doesn’t take much bait for the media to swallow the hook whole. What were they not doing? Securing the site.
dont taze me bro on September 24, 2012 at 12:24 AM
Keep your friends close, and your enemies close.
Barack Hussein Obama knew from the beginning that his foreign policy was going to blow up even bigger than every other aspect of his Presidency. And he wanted Hillary Clinton sitting right on top of the powderkeg.
logis on September 24, 2012 at 12:24 AM
Outlandish as it sounds, this whole fiasco is actually far worse than even people here seem to think.
A straight-up operational disaster involving loss of life and intelligence (as noted in the excerpt, a heavy State responsibility here). On the most important security red-flag day of the year. In a very unsettled post-revolutionary area known to be an al-Qaeda hotbed.
A jaw-dropping – even in the orwellian make-believe nightmare we’ve been entering for years – but revealing response by the Cairo post to a ludicrously unserious pretext for another 9/11-based anti-US orgy of ugliness. The message granting the seriousness of the ridiculous pretext (the video trailer) and heavily implying that the First Amendment was a problem.
The repetition of this outrageous, un-American, and inexcusable performance by main State in a follow-up, and also the WH in THEIR follow-up. An unsurprising – yet shocking and disgraceful – dispaly by people who have no business in any job above a GS-7, if that.
The truly orwellian “media” distortion of everything, blandly reporting the minimum on a disastrous and consequential day in the real world, while manufacturing out of thin air a “gaffe” by Romney, who merely correctly expressed outrage at the unbelievable disgrace of the embassy and administration. Equally orwellian – the “media” showing little excitement about the huge stories unfolding, as they clearly were disastrous for the unconcealably incompetent and overwhelmed WH and State.
And the toxic cherry on top of it all, an American clearly being harassed by federal and local govt. under a transparent pretext in essential compliance with the absurd and vile demands of alien and hostile foreign forces.
A gigantic landslide in November won’t even be a small start on what’s needed. Pretty hard to believe what one actually sees and hears any more. Where are the Americans in America?
IceCold on September 24, 2012 at 12:50 AM
IceCold on September 24, 2012 at 12:50 AM
Indeed. Very well said.
dont taze me bro on September 24, 2012 at 12:56 AM
Because she may very well run for POTUS again next cycle. Of course bammie will hang this around her neck, which is good because I do think she could win an election… actually shocked Bama beat her to begin with.
watertown on September 24, 2012 at 1:07 AM
Shopping and watching Idol.
Schadenfreude on September 24, 2012 at 1:19 AM
Time Cover: “Hillary Clinton & The Rise of Smart Power”
**Spits**
dont taze me bro on September 24, 2012 at 1:23 AM
Too late.
MeatHeadinCA on September 24, 2012 at 2:13 AM
I think Hillary is going to throw President Obama under the bus in the next couple of weeks. Remember she started the birther movement & she has a better chance of being president if she’s running against Romney in 2016.
borg on September 24, 2012 at 3:39 AM
Since when did Buzzfeed start practicing journalism?
Clink on September 24, 2012 at 3:52 AM
If it’s between him or her, you bet he’ll toss her under, and he’ll run back and forth several times for good measure. And that’s a good thing. She won’t be around for the next election cycle.
Red Creek on September 24, 2012 at 5:06 AM
It would be great if Hillary would like to add “Whistleblower” to her resume.
tims472 on September 24, 2012 at 5:36 AM
It should have stopped at “Travelgate”…
… but Noooooooo, we couldn’t have THAT now, could we?
Seven Percent Solution on September 24, 2012 at 5:57 AM
Nature abhors a vacuum.
BKennedy on September 24, 2012 at 6:56 AM
No matter what happens Hillary will not have code pink calling her a war criminal 4 years after she leaves office, so she can be cleansed.
tjexcite on September 24, 2012 at 7:16 AM
No she won’t. The party won’t nominate anybody who is not a loyal soldier. In any event she’s finished. She looks old and haggard now. She’s not getting any younger.
Basilsbest on September 24, 2012 at 7:18 AM
Her “Qualifications” again, please?
Del Dolemonte on September 24, 2012 at 7:28 AM
Downing shots. Smearing others — “a vast right wing conspiracy”. As unelected First Lady, driving her husband’s first 2 years’ agenda, with the disastrous “HillaryCare”. Hairstyles, pantsuits, cankles. I don’t know. Partners in power with Bill since the 1970s. Get two for the price of one, Bill would say.
Paul-Cincy on September 24, 2012 at 7:52 AM
Obama has been triangulated.
If Obama does not protect Hillary, then Bill Clinton is going to be really upset and not campaign for Obama. (Loose cannon…etc.)
If Obama does protect Hillary, then who is to blame for this fiasco? Obama?
albill on September 24, 2012 at 7:53 AM
It’s astonishing isn’t it, what passes for “qualifications” in the Dim party. Drudge had a story over the weekend about dingleBarry saying in a speech last week that Michelle Obama would make a great president. LOL.
Michelle didn’t make a great college student at Princeton (and admitted she would not have been admitted, since she lacked both the qualifying grades and SAT scores, had she not been black). Michelle didn’t make a great law student at Harvard (where she was probably also an AA admit, based on the poor writing and reasoning she displayed in her Princeton senior thesis).
Michelle didn’t make a great lawyer (took over a year after graduating from Harvard before she was admitted to the Illinois bar, even though she had a job working at Sidley & Austin during that time; the bar won’t confirm it, but it seems pretty obvious she flunked at least one bar exam). Lasted only a couple of years at Sidley & Austin, her one and only job ever practicing law before being shown the door (can one really be a “high-powered Harvard lawyer” with only a couple years of experience actually practicing law — especially when she reportedly did it badly?).
Every job Michelle Obama had after S & A was a non-lawyer, made-up, political patronage job specially created for her “unique” talents (i.e. being married to Barack Obama) and obtained for her by slumlord/political fixer Valerie Jarrett. Yet Dims will say, with a straight face, that this not-very-bright woman, with zero qualifications in anything, is qualified to be president (and the bobble-heads in the MSM lap it up). Amazing . . . and scary.
AZCoyote on September 24, 2012 at 8:20 AM
I thought this was all very obvious from the beginning- Hillary screwed up while performing her duties under the umbrella of “Arab Spring”, and given that Barry owes his potential for reelection to Bill Clinton, he had to back up Hillary’s dumb story. At that first presser in the Rose Garden where Hillary “escorted” Barry to the rose garden? Pretty sure she had a gun in her pocket. While they’re both excellent liars, Bill Clinton has a good poker face, but Hillary has a guilty face. They both need to be relieved of their “responsibilities”.
BettyRuth on September 24, 2012 at 8:26 AM
They know a lot about Bill and Hillary, too. That’s why it’s been pretty much a stalemate between the 2 camps since the Demo. primaries in ’08.
Qzsusy on September 24, 2012 at 8:39 AM
You can add Honduras and the famous Russian “reset” button to her list.
Qzsusy on September 24, 2012 at 8:41 AM
Who cares about her legacy? Billy Jeff’s is unbeatable. He conspired to pervert the course of justice, committed perjury, had literally several dozen people who could compromise him whacked, and decorated a cheap blue dress from Gap.
He was a redneck Al Capone with priapism.
Hillzilla can’t hold a candle to that.
CorporatePiggy on September 24, 2012 at 8:46 AM
But, but she spent all that time growing her hair out!
Qzsusy on September 24, 2012 at 8:46 AM
It sounds more like the White House is in damage-control mode and is throwing Hillary under the bus.
RedRedRice on September 24, 2012 at 8:50 AM
The “damage-control” is only doing more damage. We’re being offered nothing but ludicrous lies and blame shifting… and her so-called legacy continues to suffer with each passing day. If Hillary had a speck of decency and integrity she would have accepted the blame for the short-comings of the State Dept. in the matter of the embassy attack. A mea-culpa would have at least been a bit of something worthy of respect.
lynncgb on September 24, 2012 at 9:25 AM
Obama 2012
petefrt on September 24, 2012 at 10:07 AM