POLITICS Two-Month Gap in Hillary Clinton’s Emails Reportedly Coincides with Escalating Violence in Libya

A two-month gap in Hillary Clinton’s released private emails coincide with the escalating violence in Libya, as well as the hiring of close aide Huma Abedin, reports say.

Although the former Secretary of  State released around 2,000 emails from her private account, there are no emails between Clinton and her staff between May and June 2012. During that time, violence escalated in Libya, including a June attack on the Benghazi consulate prior to the fatal September 11 attack.

Abedin, Clinton’s top aide, was also hired during that time period — at both the State Department and the Clinton Foundation.

Speaking to the Daily Beast, a State Department official said that only emails related to the security of the Benghazi consulate or U.S. diplomats in Libya were released to the House committee that is still investigating the attacks on Benghazi. According to Fox News, if that’s true, than neither the Democratic frontrunner nor her staff communicated by email during that period — during which there were three attacks on international outposts in Benghazi, including one on the consulate. 

On May 22, an International Red Cross office was struck by rocket-propelled grenades.

“The attack on the International Red Cross was another attack that also involved us and threats to the compound there in Benghazi,” Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood, a senior State Department security chief in Libya, testified before the House Oversight Committee in October 2012.

Another attack, on June 6, prompted the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli to warn of the “fluid security situation in Libya,” after an improvised explosive devise detonated outside of the consulate. It was then that Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed a few months later in the September attack, told his superiors that “Islamic extremism appears to be on the rise in eastern Libya,” according to Fox News.

Five days later, two bodyguards were injured after a convoy carrying Britain’s ambassador to Libya was hit with rocket-propelled grenades.

During that time, Abedin was allowed to work both as a staff member for Clinton in the State Department and serve in a private role in Clinton and her husband’s foundation. In 2013, the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the records of how she was able to obtain her special employment status.

The Daily Beast reported that last week a federal judge gave State Department a final deadline of one week to fulfill the news organization’s request. Just before midnight on Tuesday, narrowly making the deadline, lawyer’s for the department submitted a declaration that identified almost 70 pages of “potentially responsive” documents.

According to the Daily Beast, this is the first time the State Department has acknowledged its two-year dispute with the Associated Press.

Via: The Blaze

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Benghazi Panel Chair: Clinton Was Issued Subpoena

(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Republican lawmakers investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, released a subpoena Wednesday issued to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, refuting her claims that she was never subpoenaed.

Clinton used a private email address and a home-based server during her time at the State Department (2009-2013), and investigators on the House Select Committee on Benghazi are trying to piece together what Clinton knew at the time of the attacks.

During an interview with CNN this week, Clinton said everything she did was "permitted," including deleting thousands of emails without turning them over to the government.

"I didn't have to turn over anything. I chose to turn over 55,000 pages because I wanted to go above and beyond what was expected of me," Clinton said. "Because I knew the vast majority of everything that was official already was in the State Department system. And now I think it's kind of fun, people get a real-time, behind-the-scenes look at what I was emailing about, and what I was communicating about."

On Wednesday, the Select Committee on Benghazi released a copy of one subpoena  sent to Clinton in March asking for all documents and records related to Libya from emails she sent in 2011 and 2012.

"The committee has issued several subpoenas, but I have not sought to make them public," committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said in an emailed statement.

"I would not make this one public now, but after Secretary Clinton falsely claimed the committee did not subpoena her, I have no choice in order to correct the inaccuracy. The committee immediately subpoenaed Clinton personally after learning the full extent of her unusual email arrangement with herself, and would have done so earlier if the State Department or Clinton had been forthcoming that State did not maintain custody of her records and only Secretary Clinton herself had her records when Congress first requested them.

Via: Newsmax

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ONE MORE MISSION: MARINE JIM WEBB TO TAKE ON HILLARY

AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

by RICH TUCKER2 Jul 2015256

He’s served as a Marine in Vietnam, a citizen as Secretary of the Navy, and as a Virginian in the U.S. Senate. Now Jim Webb wants to serve his country again — as a presidential candidate.

He will challenge Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, and Lincoln Chaffee in the Democratic primaries.

Webb admits it won’t be easy.

“I understand the odds, particularly in today’s political climate where fair debate is so often drowned out by huge sums of money. I know that more than one candidate in this process intends to raise at least a billion dollars – some estimates run as high as two billion dollars – in direct and indirect financial support,” he writes in a letter to supporters.

Webb vows to focus on restoring the military. He criticizes both of the last two administrations, saying he wouldn’t have intervened in Iraq (Bush) or Libya (Obama). “And today I would not be the President to sign an executive order establishing a long-tem relationship with Iran if it accepts Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons,” Webb adds. The Iran agreement could be signed later this month.

Webb also prescribes an aggressive domestic policy. “Let’s give our younger people a cause worth fighting for. Let’s clean out the manure-filled stables of a political system that has become characterized by greed,” he writes. “Let’s rebuild an educational system that gives everyone a fair chance. A democracy is only as strong as the promise it offers its young citizens through the public education system.”

He concludes his announcement with two promises:

The first is that every endeavor will be based on the premise that has been the foundation of our society from the day the United States Constitution was signed: that we are a nation of laws, not of specially privileged people, and that our greatest strength comes from the power of our multicultural heritage.

And the second is that I mean what I say, that if I make a promise I will keep it, and that outside my faith and my family, my greatest love will always be for this amazing country that for more than 200 years has given so many people the opportunity to have a good life, raise a family, live in freedom, and achieve their dreams.

Via: Breitbart

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Vicious Sid's State Department

The big find in the first dump of emails from Hillary Clinton's secret email server, aside from a few insulting comments about Cuban Floridians, is the fact that The New York Times was on to a much bigger story in May than it realized.

Sid Blumenthal, the former Clinton hatchet-man from the 1990s, was not just sending Secretary of State Clinton briefings about the situation in Libya, but was briefing her about nearly every corner of the globe. Though barred by President Obama's minders from any official job in the administration, vicious Sid had constant access to Clinton.

Blumenthal's sense of self-importance in these communiques is as absurd as his undue influence over Clinton is scandalous. Under the centered, all-caps header of "CONFIDENTIAL," he offers up one assessment after another of British, Iranian, Italian and Afghan affairs as if he were some kind of mobile CIA station chief.

At one point, he asked (or politely demanded) that the secretary expedite a hiring at State. He passed messages from former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, now the head of an African energy company, seeking access to America's chief diplomat for a business pitch. The emails also hint that he and Clinton had very frequent phone conversations. Who knows what sort of bad advice they contained? Was he the mastermind behind the botched reset with Russia?

The public learned from a New York Times report in May that Blumenthal had extensively advised Clinton on Libya, where he had financial interests that he now refuses to discuss. He would pass along often erroneous information. Clinton would remove his name and then pass his rumor-filled memos to senior officials at State as something from "a contact," as though they were credible.

Blumenthal was reliable as a friend, rather than as a source of information. He was loyal to Clinton, and in Clinton-world that's the golden ticket. He was put on the payroll of Clinton's family foundation, to the tune of $120,000 per year. George Stephanopoulos's donations apparently went to a good cause.

This international man of mystery schtick is a far cry from Blumenthal's real role in the life of the nation. He was a Clinton sycophant, brought into the White House in times of crisis, who would lie and defame freely to preserve the illusion of an ethical Clinton White House.

His greatest accomplishment came in the late 1990s, when he told reporters the lie that Monica Lewinsky was a slutty stalker who had demanded sex and even threatened (in the manner of Potiphar's wife and Joseph) to blackmail the poor, innocent President Clinton. He made the mistake of peddling this and his plans to smear alleged sexual assault victim Kathleen Willey, to the late Christopher Hitchens, who made the entire conversation part of the public record.

Via: Washington Examiner

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[VIDEO] Benghazi night call between Clinton and Obama withheld, documents show

New documents released by a federal court show President Obama called then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the night of the 2012 Benghazi attack -- but the contents are being withheld by the State Department. 

It had previously been disclosed that Clinton and Obama spoke the night of the terror attacks. But the documents offer additional information about the timing of the call -- after the initial attack on the U.S. consulate, but before the second wave where mortars hit the nearby CIA annex and killed former Navy Seals Ty Woods and Glen Doherty. 

The contents of the call, however, are being withheld, not because the information is classified but because the administration claims they represent internal deliberations about the 2012 terror assault. 

The claim comes as Clinton also faces accusations that she withheld Benghazi-related emails from her private server in the trove of emails handed over to the State Department. 

The contents of the call were only shared with Obama's and Clinton's closest aides. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes sent an email on the call to State Department officials Jake Sullivan and Philippe Reines, and National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan. 

The email was released as part of an ongoing lawsuit by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch. 

The email on the Obama-Clinton phone call bears the subject line, "Call." The text of the email says, "Readout of President's Call to Secretary Clinton," but the rest of the details are fully redacted. The State Department cited the so-called "B5" exception for internal deliberations. 

Via: Fox News

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How Hillary Politicized Benghazi

The 848 emails that were released last week are a small fraction of Hillary Clinton’s emails, but they are sufficient to paint a troubling picture of what Clinton knew about Benghazi, when she knew it, and how she politicized the tragedy. The emails show that within hours after the attacks on the Special Mission Compound (SMC) and Annex in Libya that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, Clinton received information from Sidney Blumenthal, a former associate and longtime friend, that offered a very different narrative from what the White House claimed were the cause of the attacks. Specifically, the Blumenthal September 12 and 13, 2012 emails report the attacks were planned and carried out by an Islamist militia group, Ansar al-Sharia, which is in sharp contrast to early White House claims that the attacks were a spontaneous reaction by enraged Muslims to an internet video that depicted the prophet Mohammed in an offensive manner. If Clinton had publicly disclosed the Blumenthal emails immediately however, she would have contradicted the White House’s version of events and increased the risk of political damage to President Obama’s bid for re-election. Faced with the choice of disclosing the Blumenthal emails or remaining silent for political reasons, Clinton chose the latter.

The following is an account of events that led to the murder of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi. With the exception of references to Clinton’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, all of the facts, dates and people presented below are based on information contained in the newly released emails.

Everyone knew that a U.S. presence in Libya was dangerous. In 2011, there was a continuing concern over the safety of American personnel in Libya. As early as April 2011, then-Special Envoy Christopher Stevens and his team remained in their hotel, “moving only for meetings as required.” By April 9, 2011, Clinton received an email that Stevens was doing a “phased checkout” and was considering leaving Benghazi. Clinton also received an email on April 24, 2011 that hotels were being targeted and that Stevens would be making a written request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for added security at the hotel and for better security-related coordination. 

Via: American Thinker

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Obama criticizes Republicans for focusing on Benghazi, Obamacare

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama chastised his Republican opponents on Monday for focusing criticism on the events surrounding the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, and on his signature healthcare law.

"The debate we're having now is about what, Benghazi? Obamacare? And it becomes this endless loop. It's not serious. It's not speaking to the real concerns that people have," Obama said.

He was speaking to more than 60 people at a fundraising dinner for Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives.

The event took place at a physician's home in the Washington suburb of Potomac, Maryland, as Obama seeks to persuade Democrats to organize for a voter turnout effort to prevent Republicans from ousting Democrats from control of the Senate and from building on their majority in the House.

Republicans in the House have begun a new investigation of the deaths of the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans during a militant attack on September 11, 2012.

The new probe was spawned by the disclosure of an email from Obama national security aide Ben Rhodes. Rhodes used the email to prepare Obama aide Susan Rice for television appearances, telling her to stress that the protests rocking the Muslim world at the time were not rooted "in a broader failure of policy."

Republicans have also directed election-year fire at Obama's Affordable Care Act, focusing on the rocky rollout of the law last October.

Via: Reuters

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O'Reilly Talking Points DEVASTATES The Obama Presidency

On Thursday's O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly criticized President Obama for failing to hold accountable those individuals who hold responsibility for the various scandals that have plagued the administration.
O'Reilly discussed the IRS targeting debacle, the September 11, 2012 attack on the United States' consulate in Benghazi, Libya, among other incidents:

Via: Fox News

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Kennedy: Libya Is Not Allowing U.S. Law Enforcement to Enter Country and Arrest People

Under Secretary of State Patrick Kennedy said the government of Libya is not allowing U.S. law enforcement into the country to arrest individuals connected with the Benghazi attack because the Libyan government “is not in control to that degree” Wednesday in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

Kennedy explained ever since the events of September 11, 2012 the country has taken a “serious turn for the worse.”

Journalists, according to Kennedy, still have access to the country but the Libyan government’s authority is so diminished it is incapable of allowing the United States in to arrest people:

REP. TED POE: But at the end of the day, here we are. Nobody has been taken out. Nobody is in custody. Nobody is in jail. Either on the side of the State Department, nobody is in jail, accountable for the murder. So whether it’s the people who were responsible for the killing or the people who may have made mistakes about the administration of this, nobody’s in custody.

Via: WFB

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Sources: US weapons stolen in Libya raids, fueling Special Forces pull-out

Highly sensitive U.S. military equipment stored in Libya was stolen over the summer by groups likely aligned and working with terrorist organizations, State Department sources told Fox News -- in raids that contributed to the decision to pull Special Forces personnel from the country. 

The stolen equipment had been used by U.S. Special Forces stationed in the country. Lost in the raids in late July and early August were dozens of M4 rifles, night-vision technology and lasers used as aiming devices that are mounted on guns and can only be seen with night-vision equipment. 

"This stuff is how we win wars. The enemy doesn't have that," one source said. 

The overnight raids happened at a military training camp run by American Special Forces on the outskirts of Tripoli, in the weeks before the team was pulled from the country in August. 

That U.S. team was funded by the Department of Defense Section 1208, which provides support to assist and stand up foreign counterterrorism forces in other countries. And in the case of Libya, the trainers were also tasked with hunting down the Benghazi attack suspects that killed four Americans one year ago. As Fox News previously reported, members of that team are leaving Libya. 

Via: Fox News

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SPECIAL FORCES VETERANS, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS DEMAND SPECIAL BENGHAZI INVESTIGATION

Several members of Congress joined representatives of the special forces military veterans and grassroots organizations on Tuesday to launch an effort to force the House to have a thorough, public investigation into the terrorist attack at Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012.

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) has introduced legislation to create a special select committee to investigate both the terrorist attack and subsequent actions by President Barack Obama’s administration and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s State Department. Wolf's bill has 161 co-sponsors. House GOP Leadership has not scheduled a vote on the bill. 

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) plans to harness the support for Wolf's bill into a "discharge petition" that would force a floor vote on the bill. The petition would need to be signed by 218 members of the House. 

“I’m going to describe what a discharge petition is because a lot of people have asked me questions exactly what it is,” Stockman said at the Tuesday press conference outside the U.S. Capitol building. “It’s to ask our leadership or actually demand from our leadership that we have a vote on Frank Wolf’s bill. [Wolf is] a congressman from Virginia who has a long history of being here and is articulate in demanding that we have an independent investigation.”

Stockman added, while gesturing to blown up photographs behind him of the four Americans murdered in Benghazi, “if Congress is silenced,” then “the blood of these folks behind us is on our hands.”

“We can’t be silent any more,” he said. “It’s been a year going by that we haven’t had justice. These folks demand justice. They cry out for justice. Silence is not an option any more. We’re going to challenge them. We’re going to have a discharge petition. I encourage you to contact your congressman to sign the discharge petition.” 

Via: Breitbart

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Hillary’s Benghazi Report (ARB) Blames Amb. Christopher Stevens (Part 3)

Click here for The Fix is in—Part I and Part II

When government officials like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton self- investigate themselves in ‘internal’ ‘independent’ reviews the truth is always covered up and buried. While you were sleeping on Tuesday night the Obama-Clinton regime did just that when they released a 39-page, unclassified report, an Accountability Review Board (ARB), on the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans: Ambassador Christopher Stevens, former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty, Tyrone Woods and Sean Smith, a computer expert.

Straight out of the Clinton era cover-up playbook, everyone except Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama, disgraced, philandering ex-CIA director David Petraeus (the mastermind of the failed, deadly COIN policy in Afghanistan), and Defense Chief Leon Panetta, are blamed including the deceased. In this case—Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

On page 6 and 34 of ARB, Hillary’s handpicked ARB Board, chaired by Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering with Admiral Michael Mullen as Vice Chairman determined:

“The Board found that Ambassador Stevens made the decision to travel to Benghazi independently of Washington, per standard practice. Timing for his trip was driven in part by commitments in Tripoli, as well as a staffing gap between principal officers in Benghazi. Plans for the Ambassador’s trip provided for minimal close protection security support and were not shared thoroughly with the Embassy’s country team, who were not fully aware of planned movements off compound. The Ambassador did not see a direct threat of an attack of this nature and scale on the U.S. Mission in the overall negative trendline of security incidents from spring to summer 2012. His status as the leading U.S. government advocate on Libya policy, and his expertise on Benghazi in particular, caused Washington to give unusual deference to his judgments.”

Via: Canada Free Press

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CBS News: Obama Never Convened Counterterrorism Task Force During Benghazi Terror Attack…

CBS News has learned that during the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, the Obama Administration did not convene its top interagency counterterrorism resource: the Counterterrorism Security Group, (CSG).

"The CSG is the one group that's supposed to know what resources every agency has. They know of multiple options and have the ability to coordinate counterterrorism assets across all the agencies," a high-ranking government official told CBS News. "They were not allowed to do their job. They were not called upon."

Information shared with CBS News from top counterterrorism sources in the government and military reveal keen frustration over the U.S. response on Sept. 11, the night ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 other Americans were killed in a coordinated attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya.

The circumstances of the attack, including the intelligence and security situation there, will be the subject of a Senate Intelligence Committee closed hearing on Nov. 15, with additional hearings to follow.

Counterterrorism sources and internal emails reviewed by CBS News express frustration that key responders were ready to deploy, but were not called upon to help in the attack.

CBS News has agreed not to quote directly from the emails, and to protect the identities of the sources who hold sensitive counterterrorism posts within the State Department, the US military and the Justice Department.

As to why the Counterterrorism Security Group was not convened, National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor told CBS News "From the moment the President was briefed on the Benghazi attack, the response effort was handled by the most senior national security officials in governments. Members of the CSG were of course involved in these meetings and discussions to support their bosses."

Exclusive: Classified cable warned consulate couldn't withstand 'coordinated attack'

The U.S. Mission in Benghazi convened an “emergency meeting” less than a month before the assault that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, because Al Qaeda had training camps in Benghazi and the consulate could not defend against a “coordinated attack,” according to a classified cable reviewed by Fox News.

Summarizing an Aug. 15 emergency meeting convened by the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, the Aug. 16 cable marked “SECRET” said that the State Department’s senior security officer, also known as the RSO, did not believe the consulate could be protected.

“RSO (Regional Security Officer) expressed concerns with the ability to defend Post in the event of a coordinated attack due to limited manpower, security measures, weapons capabilities, host nation support, and the overall size of the compound,” the cable said.

According to a review of the cable addressed to the Office of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Emergency Action Committee was also briefed "on the location of approximately ten Islamist militias and AQ training camps within Benghazi … these groups ran the spectrum from Islamist militias, such as the QRF Brigade and Ansar al-Sharia, to ‘Takfirist thugs.’” Each U.S. mission has a so-called Emergency Action Committee that is responsible for security measures and emergency planning.

The details in the cable seemed to foreshadow the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. compound, which was a coordinated, commando-style assault using direct and indirect fire. Al Qaeda in North Africa and Ansar al-Sharia, both mentioned in the cable, have since been implicated in the consulate attack.

In addition to describing the security situation in Benghazi as “trending negatively,” the cable said explicitly that the mission would ask for more help. “In light of the uncertain security environment, US Mission Benghazi will submit specific requests to US Embassy Tripoli for additional physical security upgrades and staffing needs by separate cover.”

As for specific threats against the U.S., the cable warned the intelligence was not clear on the issue, cautioning that the militias in Benghazi were not concerned with any significant retaliation from the Libyan government, which had apparently lost control in Benghazi. A briefer explained that they “did not have information suggesting that these entities were targeting Americans but did caveat that (there was not) a complete picture of their intentions yet. RSO (Regional Security Officer) noted that the Benghazi militias have become more brazen in their actions and have little fear of reprisal from the (government of Libya.)”

Via: Fox News

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Report: Obama Has Begun Suggesting To Field Organizers In Florida Their Time Would Be Better Spent In Ohio…

Does Mitt-Mentum Signal a Surge to a Romney Win?

At this stage of a tight presidential race, a refreshing transparency reveals itself to even the casual observer. How campaigns actually view the state of the race emerges in plain sight from the long-cloaked inner sanctum of polling, focus groups, and micro-targeting of voter preferences.

When President Obama suddenly rolls out a 20-page pamphlet summarizing his second-term agenda, voters know it was because the campaign discovered a hole in its data dug by GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s monthlong criticism. Presidents don’t dance to a challenger’s tune unless the polling data dictate they must. The same can be said for Obama’s aggressive, zinger-filled performance in the third debate. He needed to challenge Romney on facts and energize the slackers in his base.

Similarly during the last debate, Romney ran away from previous confrontations with Obama over the terrorist attack in Libya that killed four Americans—the reddest of red meat for conservatives right now. Instead, he spoke plaintively of “peace” and of war with Iran being the absolute “last resort,” because he knew he needed votes from nonaligned suburbanites—especially women. Romney also ignored Obama’s taunts because one-on-one jousting cost him in the second debate.

In short, Obama is acting like a slightly irked incumbent who needs to make up ground on a challenger he thought he had put away last summer. Romney is acting like a challenger who can’t afford to risk losing what he gained in the first debate, trying to siphon off voters still loosely attached to Obama.

The central question is whether Romney is surging to victory or merely merging into a lane of GOP support observable in previous presidential elections but insufficient to overcome Obama’s built-in demographic and ground-game advantages. The Romney campaign knows it will outperform John McCain’s turnout averages in all the vital swing states. Romney also knows that Republican voters outperformed Democratic voters in 10 swing states in 2004 (50.7 percent turnout to 48.3 percent). Republicans were competitive with Democrats in 2000 (47.9 percent to 48.4 percent). The blowout year was 2008, when Republicans lost the turnout contest to Democrats 45.6 percent to 52.9 percent,

Via: National Journal

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Barack Obama is a Liar

Calling someone a liar is a serious accusation. This is why, aside from the unwritten contract allowing for mutual prevarication, politicians are so reluctant to do it. And not just anyone is a liar. Legend has it that our first president said, "I cannot tell a lie," but, being only human, G.W. no doubt could and certainly did, at some point. A liar, however, is someone who lives and breathes the lie; someone who specializes in the art of artifice; someone to whom lying is his first recourse, not his last. Such a man is Barack Obama.

In four years, Obama has gone from "change you can believe in" to a man you simply cannot believe. And it's not just Benghazi-gate, although that's a good place to start. With the recently revealed emails showing that the White House was told a mere two hours after the attack that it was a terrorist act, no reasonable person can still conclude that the Obama administration was honest in its aftermath. And the claim that the violence was sparked by some anti-Islamic film wasn't just a lie - it was a liar's lie.

It was dumb.

It was obvious that it would eventually blow up in the administration's face and make Benghazi into the scandal it has now become. But such things are only obvious to the intellect; at issue here are instincts.

Of course, since the Obama administration had failed to provide requested security for our Libyan diplomats despite previous attacks on their consulate and the approach of 9/11's anniversary, the president had a vested political interest in suppressing the truth. This made the Benghazi-gate lie one of callousness and convenience, not malice. But then there is the matter of Hampton University in Virginia.

Via: American Thinker

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FOX EXCLUSIVE: E-mails Prove White House Knew Within Hours Al Qaeda-Linked Terrorists Claimed Responsibility for Benghazi Attack

Fox News

State Department emails from day of Libya attack show Al Qaeda-tied group on radar

 

By Chad Pergram | Published October 24, 2012 | FoxNews.com

A series of internal State Department emails obtained by Fox News shows some of the initial assessments of last month's deadly consulate attack in Libya, including one email within hours of the attack that noted the group Ansar al Sharia had claimed responsibility.

The emails provide some of the most detailed information to surface about what officials knew in the initial hours after the attack. And it again raises questions about why U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, apparently based on intelligence assessments, would claim five days after the attack that it was a 'spontaneous' reaction to protests over an anti-Islam film.

Ansar al Sharia has been declared by the State Department to be an Al Qaeda-affiliated group. A member of the group suspected of participating in the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi has been arrested and is being held in Tunisia.

The emails obtained by Fox News were sent by the State Department to a variety of national security platforms, whose addresses have been redacted, including the White House Situation Room, the Pentagon, the FBI and the Director of National Intelligence.

Fox News was told that an estimated 300 to 400 national security figures received these emails in real time almost as the raid was playing out and concluding. People who received these emails work directly under the nation’s top national security, military and diplomatic officials, Fox News was told.

The timestamps on the emails are all Eastern Time and often include the subheading SBU…which is shorthand for “Sensitive But Unclassified.”

The third email came at 6:07 p.m. ET and was sent to a different email list but still includes the White House Situation Room address and a subject line of “Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack (SBU).”

“Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli," the email reads.

Earlier emails did not go into who might have been responsible for the attack.

The first email indicates that U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and other personnel were “in the compound safe haven.” Officials later discovered that Stevens and three other Americans had died in the attack.

The first email was sent at 4:05 p.m. ET with the subject line “U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack (SBU).”

“The Regional Security Officer reports the diplomatic mission is under attack," the email reads. "Embassy Tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well. Ambassador Stevens, who is currently in Benghazi, and four COM personnel are in the compound safe haven. The 17^th of February militia is providing security support.

"The operations Center will provide updates as available.”

The second email came at 4:54 p.m. ET, with a subject line “Update 1: U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi (SBU)"

“Embassy Tripoli reports the firing at the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi has stopped and the compound has been cleared. A response team is on site attempting to locate COM personnel.”

Via: Fox News

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THE BIG FAIL: Fact Checking Obama At Debate #2: 13 Lies And Counting…

An Assortment Of Obama’s Lies During The Second Presidential Debate

 

LIE #1: OBAMA MISCHARACTERIZED HIS RESPONSE ON LIBYA

THE CLAIM: Obama: “The Day After The Attack, Governor, I Stood In The Rose Garden, And I Told The American People And The World That We Are Going To Find Out Exactly What Happened, That This Was An Act Of Terror.” OBAMA: “Secretary Clinton has done an extraordinary job. But she works for me. I’m the president. And I’m always responsible. And that’s why nobody is more interested in finding out exactly what happened than I did (sic). The day after the attack, Governor, I stood in the Rose Garden, and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror. And I also said that we’re going to hunt down those who committed this crime. And then a few days later, I was there greeting the caskets coming into Andrews Air Force Base and grieving with the families.” (President Barack Obama, Presidential Debate, Hempstead, N.Y., 10/16/12)

THE FACTS: The Washington Post ‘s Fact Checker: Obama Did Not Say “Terrorism” In The Rose Garden And “It Took The Administration Days To Concede That That It Was An ‘Act Of Terrorism’” Unrelated To The Video. “What did Obama say in the Rose Garden a day after the attack in Libya? ‘No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this nation,’ he said. But he did not say ‘terrorism’-and it took the administration days to concede that that it was an ‘act of terrorism’ that appears unrelated to initial reports of anger at a video that defamed the prophet Muhammad.” (Glenn Kessler, “Fact Check: Libya Attack,” The Washington Post’s The Fact Checker, 10/16/12)

THE FACTS: Politico ‘s Mike Allen: In The Rose Garden, Obama Said “Very Generally, We Will Not Let Acts Of Terror Go Unpunished.” POLITICO’s MIKE ALLEN: “There’s going to be a bunch of fact checks, but just to do a fact check here. When Governor Romney said that Obama had been slow in calling the Libya attack terrorism and the President said ‘oh wait a minute, in the Rose Garden, the day after, I referred to an act of terror’, Candy Crowley stepped in and said that he was right. It’s actually arguable. And I’m looking at the transcript of that White House event the day after and he started by referring to them as selfless acts, which is casted very differently than the sort of very planned action that we now have. Later toward the end, he makes a reference to 9/11 and he says, very generally, we will not let acts of terror go unpunished. So that’s going to be an arguable point.” (Presidential Debate Wrap-Up, Politico Live, 10/16/12)

Via: GOP.com

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