Here’s the most cynical thing you’ll see on the Internet today. I’m tempted to call it stupid, but it’s not: The charge is stupid but it’s leveled in service to a clever goal, framing Rice’s prospective nomination as Secretary of State as a referendum on racism and sexism. McCain is the target for daring to suggest that she’s unqualified and maybe “not … very bright” for buying the White House’s early line on Benghazi, which required her to feed the public ridiculous disinformation about how “substantial” our nearly nonexistent security presence in Benghazi was. If you vote no at her confirmation hearing, it’s not because you want to send a message to O about not lying to Americans. It’s because you hate women and minorities. Republicans, in fact, have already started to tone down the attacks on her, whether because they don’t want to have to deal with this nonsense or because, more likely, they realize that Rice is a footnote to the larger Benghazi inquiry and they don’t want to get bogged down with her.

Two clips for you here, one of today’s press conference by House Democrats and one of Kirsten Powers (via the Daily Caller) demonstrating that not every liberal is willing to give the White House and its diplomatic corps a free pass to lie in the name of tolerance. She makes a good point in her op-ed today too: Why are liberals ignoring how badly Obama has treated Rice here? She had nothing to do with Benghazi, yet he plucked her from her post as ambassador to the UN, briefed her with defective intel, and then sent her out to do damage control as the face of the administration. Like I said yesterday, he could have sent Carney or Robert Gibbs or some other full-time flack but he chose Rice, I assume, because he wanted to leverage the extra gravitas of her position. She’s worked in diplomacy for years, yet now she’s famous chiefly for being the White House’s designated stooge in its biggest counterterrorism failure. Way to do right by a loyal deputy, champ. You’re a real feminist hero. Click the image to watch.