Your thoughts? What happened to Chris Stevens was unacceptable and horrific. Why did the media kept this very quiet? We did not start hearing about this until Sept 12th, and not much....
She attached the following graphic from a right-wing blogger...
This was my response....
Oh, where to begin?
First off, the media that I follow was reporting the two main uprisings and unconfirmed reports of deaths in Libya mid-evening, my time. By 11:00 PM or so, I had read the confirmation of Ambassador Chris Stevens' death and the others. By my morning drive into work on the 12th, it was all that Bill Press and John Fugelsang (in for Stephanie Miller) were talking about. I don't think that the newspapers had much information when they went to press, so I can't fault them. I don't watch TV in the mornings, so I don't know how much they were covering.
With that said, let us analyze the claims made in the graphic that you shared with me....
I am familiar with "The Scarlett [sic] Sage's" posts. I accept nothing she posts without a thorough fact-check and I cannot recall a time that one of her posts has passed scrutiny. Creative spelling and grammar aside, her posts are big on right-wing, self righteous emotion and short on facts.
Paragraph One: This statement is entirely subjective and based on Bush administration spin released days after 9/11. The one absolute factual error is the "4 minute" claim. If you have seen the video of Bush's "The Pet Goat" moment, his inaction lasted nearly 15 minutes. In my entirely biased opinion, his "deer in the headlights" expression spoke volumes. We know that Bush ignored the famous August 6th briefing. It came to light just a few days before 9/11/2012 that he also ignored six other briefings that are still, currently, marked "Confidential."
Paragraph Two: It is arguable that there is any equivalence between 2001 and 2012. The attack in Libya was on our consulate, not an embassy. So, it was not "American soil" as the pundits are arguing.
The claim that "Obama skips 50% of his DIBs" has been soundly debunked. That claim was first made by former Bush speechwriter and Fox "News" contributer Marc Thiessen. In reality, Obama didn’t “attend” these meetings, because there were no meetings to attend: The oral briefings had been, mostly, replaced by daily exchanges in which Obama reads the materials and poses written questions and comments to intelligence officials. This is how it was done in the Clinton administration, before Bush decided he would prefer to read less. Bush’s results — Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, and the failure to find Osama bin Laden — suggest this was not an obvious improvement.
The next claim, that Obama had "received notice of a planned attack 48 hours in advance." I just spent 20 minutes trying to get to the bottom of this claim. (Really? Do I have time to do everyone else's homework for them? I guess that it is my lot in life!) Every single place that I found this claim was on right-wing blogs. While I have found no proof that it isn't true, the official White House statement denies this claim.
Let me digress, for a moment...
Both Obama and Romney had agreed to put politics aside on the anniversary of 9/11. According to reports, at about 10:00 PM EST, Mitt Romney gave a statement to the press, with an embargo preventing the press from releasing the statement before 12:01 AM, 9/12 and RNC chair Reince Priebus posting a tweet, also at 12:01 AM, before anyone had all of the facts. Obama waited until the morning of 9/12 to make his statement. IMHO, the appropriate thing to do.
On 9/12. Obama attended a fundraiser in Las Vegas. That is true. Romney also attended a fundraiser that night. They are both in the middle of a presidential campaign, for better or worse, driven by fundraisers.
When "...the flag draped coffins of murdered Americans arrive[d] home" President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton were there to meet their arrival and speak appropriately. As it should be.
"More U.S, Embassies come under attack..." Well, no. More U.S. embassies have seen protests. Not attacks.
There is no question in my mind that the protests were triggered by the odious anti-muslim video that was broadcast in countries where blasphemy against Mohammed is offensive and illegal. I am also confident that al Queda or some other Muslim extremist group took advantage of the unrest to attack our consulate in Libya.
It is also my opinion that President Obama responded as the leader of the free world should have. And that Romney's vile attempt to politicize the incident goes one step further to prove that he has no business dabbling in foreign affairs.
One more digression...
As much as I hate to admit it, about 25 years ago, when I was beginning my career, I worked on a film produced and directed by the scumbag that made the anti-muslim video in question. It was a soft-core porn film that was shown regularly on late night Cinemax. He still owes me money.
A quick comment directed to "The Scarlett Sage..."
Do you want to be taken seriously? Learn to spell your own fucking name.
On another note...
Today was, I am told, Constitution Day.
An evangelical, right-wing FotB, with a PhD in social studies and a professor at an evangelical university posted the following status...
HAPPY CONSTITUTION DAY!
The nation commemorates the United States Constitution and its foundation to our democracy each year on Sept. 17. This year marks the 225th anniversary of the document’s writing and signing in 1787. This would be a good day to pray for our country!!
Attention: Alanis Morisette, THAT is the definition of ironic!
To my FotB, In honor of Constitution Day, I will exercise my Constitutional, First Amendment right to NOT pray for my country. Thank you very much.
And, oh yeah. It also happens to be Rosh Hashanah for our Jewish Americans.
So, in the spirit of our Constitution's freedom of religion...
L'shana tova!
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