Megyn Kelly’s desperate attempt to keep the fake Benghazi scandal alive would be hilarious were it not such a dishonest attempt to make political hay out of a genuine tragedy.
After the real-life Benghazi “scandal” fizzled yesterday, Megyn Kelly did her best to pretend it actually sizzled. You really need to hear and see Kelly’s hammy theatrics to get the full effect but the transcript gives a good hint:
KELLY: Breaking tonight, stunning new evidence in the search for the truth about the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya which led to the first assassination of a U.S. ambassador in decades as well as the murder of three other Americans.
Right, stunning new evidence that Fox didn’t bother to cover and that even committee chairman Trey Gowdy didn’t think had been found.
KELLY: For years, Americans have demanded to know why security was so lax on our Benghazi consulate on the 9/11 anniversary. Whether our government did all it could to save those under attack that night. And whether the administration may have misled the nation about the reasons behind the assault. Now, after an exhaustive hearing featuring former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. We may be closer to answers. In particular, on whether the American people were misled by an administration fighting to win a second term.
Actually, these questions were answered by the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee report, issued less than a year ago, that exonerated the Obama administration. Kelly’s reference to “Americans demanding answers” about Benghazi is rather disingenuous. Most Americans are not interested in Benghazi. Heck, even Fox – the Benghazi wing of the GOP – couldn’t be bothered to air most of what brought us “closer to answers” yesterday.
But what the "scandal" lacked in substance, Kelly did her best to make up for with purple prose:
KELLY: It was September 11, 2012. Fifty six days before the presidential election. And 11 years to the day after the worst terror attack in our nation's history. America, once again, came under attack. This time, in a foreign city many have never heard of. But as day turned to night in Benghazi, Libya, a mob approached the U.S. consulate. At 9:40 p.m. local time, they attacked. An alarm sounded. And chaos ensued as our own Greg Palkot reported.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG PALKOT, FOX NEWS SENIOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The entire safe haven, which takes up part of the first floor of the main residence is black with fix smoke and fumes. Ambassador Stevens, Sean Smith, and David Ubben moved to a bathroom within the safe area which has a window. They try to open it, but it just doesn't help. There's just too much smoke. They drop to the floor trying to get air. But even though there, they can't breathe. Fighting the head and smoke, they find another window grill they can open.
This is the window that special agent Ubben -- opens and crawl out of but Stevens and Smith do not crawl out after him and so even though he can barely see, barely breath, he goes back in. In fact he goes back in and out several times, he can't find them.
Wow, could this have been any more breathless? Why, yes it could.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior along with the protests that took place at our embassy in Cairo yesterday as a response to inflammatory material posted on the internet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: It was a story Mrs. Clinton repeated two days later, just steps away from the bodies of the dead at a ceremony, state side.
The remains of Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods returned to the nation for which they died. And it was there that the family say, the administration officials including Hillary Clinton blamed the death of their loved ones on an out-of-control protest caused by that video.
Later, Kelly promoted an outright falsehood:
KELLY: The media investigated and the story began to fall apart. It was revealed that there were no protests in Benghazi that night. And this was, indeed, a pre-planned terrorist attack. Mrs. Clinton's State Department was investigated repeatedly. And while it became clear that the video was not to blame, no smoking gun proving deceit was ever found. And then it emerged that Mrs. Clinton had been withholding evidence. In all of the investigations, she never turned over her own e-mails. Not from her time of state, not from her days dealing with Benghazi.
The committee now investigating the Benghazi attack demanded those e- mails and her testimony. And today, for the first time, we heard Mrs. Clinton's truth at least in the hours right after the attack. What she really believed as she told the public a video was to blame. And the truth is that what Mrs. Clinton said publicly was very different from what she claimed privately she knew. That this attack had nothing to do with the video nor with a protests that it was a pre-planned terrorist attack and she said she knew it. Here is Secretary Clinton in her own words to the prime minister of Egypt hours after the attack.
"We know that the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. It was a planned attack. Not a protest." Those are her words. And she goes onto say, "Based on the information we saw today, we believe the group that claimed responsibility for this was affiliated with al Qaeda." We've never seen that e-mail before. So why did she tell the families and the public a different story?
The answer, which Kelly kinda sorta hinted at later in a discussion with Marc Thiessen, is that the intelligence was incomplete, piecemeal, conflicting and changing.
The fact is, no matter how good a performance Kelly mounts, there is and never was a Benghazi scandal. You don’t have to look any further than Fox’s own lack of coverage of yesterday’s hearing for proof. But one thing we did learn yesterday, when the actual news isn’t going Fox's way, they ditch it in order to make up their own version.
Watch Kelly’s Oscar-worthy performance below, from the October 22 The Kelly File.
The funny thing about the hearing is that you can see right away how badly it backfired on the GOP. Because the clips brought up on the various Fox News shows afterward wound up just being recaps of this or that GOP congressperson trying to Bogart the microphone and get their 15 minutes. Nothing of the supposed “gotcha” moments or “smoking guns” that the Fox News audience was eagerly hoping to see. Instead, they were treated to a spectacle of GOP congresspeople looking fairly incompetent while Clinton calmly stared them down, hour after hour.
This was not the Benghazi Hearing that the Fox News people were looking for…
Hint 1. I’ve been watching Fox News’ lead-in propaganda show for over an hour and the only mention – no, attempt to smear – of Hillary has nothing to do with Benghazi! No, the curvy couch bobble-heads are completely misrepresenting her views on the Veterans Administration (VA) scandal.
“Fox & Friends” is clearly lying claiming Hillary believes veterans dying due to VA incompetence is “no big deal.” Seriously, how desperate are the GOPTV™ clowns to smear Hillary. Answer: Pretty damn desperate!
Hint 2. Where’s Trey Gowdy? His red-faced screaming on his best Benghazi! hearings ever are a regular “Fox & Friends” fixture. We’ve all heard Trey’s boasting leading up the main event: Hillary’s testimony. Yet, all we’ve gotten post-hearing is Republican Gowdy surrogates which Salon has pointed out epically failed to mop up Trey’s mess on “Fox & Friends”:
http://www.salon.com/2015/10/23/fox_news_desperately_scrambles_to_find_a_flattering_angle_for_the_gops_benghazi_debacle/
Hint 3. Chris Wallace is doing his weekly promo on “Fox & Friends” for GOPTV™… errr… Fox News Sunday and all he’s talking about is his leading topic: Ben Carson’s lead in Iowa over The Donald.
While his show is hosting Republican Jim Jordan for a game of Benghazi! softball, no mention of this on “Fox & Friends” and Fox’s own commercial pimping the show puts the Benghazi! segment 2nd fiddle to the Carson segment.
Poor Fox News. All that effort put into Benghazi! to torpedo Hillary’s poll numbers – with great success! All ruined by Trey Gowdy’s kangaroo hearing. Thanks to Trey Hillary’s poll numbers are up. ;^)
Steve Doocy’s inbred ‘journalist’ son, Peter, is – with a straight face – doing a sanctimonious spew that evil, immoral Hillary dared smile and even laugh during the solemnity of the oh-so serious kangaroo Benghazi! hearing. Oh, and that’s not the end of Hillary’s sin.
Seriously – this really happened – the curvy couch bobble-heads smeared Hillary for the apparent immorality of only taking a day off to hit the campaign trail.
Plus, Anna Kooiman had to do the standard right-wing lie the “mainstream media” is doing their typical Clinton drooling love affair to get her elected. Because, of course, GOPTV™ is 100% straight news with no hint of partisan bias to see that she isn’t.
Just to prove how much above the partisan liberal mainstream media Fox News is, Peter Doocy (filling in for dad) is softballing some angry relative of a victim who starts off calling Hillary a “serial liar.” Naturally, Peter Doocy poses with an appropriately solemn façade while the guy obviously being exploited by GOPTV™ over his personal loss does a red-faced angry spew against Hillary. Unsurprisingly, a smattering of Twitter followers are venting on Peter for not letting the guy go on longer. Can’t get enough bile.
This isn’t an isolated example of partisan exploitation of relatives of the Benghazi fallen. “Fox & Friends” viewers witnessed Patricia Smith, mother of Sean Smith who died at Benghazi, emotions exploited by Brian Kilmeade yesterday. Separately yesterday, in a completely unbiased hard news report, Catherine Herridge was a water carrier for this conservative meme interviewing Charles Woods, father of fallen Ty Woods.
Don’t get fooled, though. This is nothing but a dead cat bounce of the right-wing Benghazi! bullshi† crashing and burning. Perfectly unbiased Fox News which has run over 1,000 hysterical Benghazi! hit pieces will keep up the mainstream media cover-up meme but only right-wingers who share their partisan obsessions are buying any of this nonsense.
A couple of cons have even smartened up like Fox News’ own Eric Erickson who belatedly realized his much trumpeted hero Trey Gowdy hasn’t lived up to his self-promoting hype to get the real truth unlike all the other investigations finding the uncomfortable truth exonerating Hillary. Alas, even Eric has tossed in the towel and calls the Trey Gowdy Edition™ of Benghazi! hearings “a waste of time.”
I’m still waiting for the right-wingers to realize their situation is actually worse. The transparently partisan Benghazi! hearings are tarnishing the Republican brand with everyone but their base. They need to let go or Benghazi! will backfire and keep Republicans out of the White House.
The Foxies remain certain to this day that this all had to do with Obama’s election— which is flat out ludicrous. Lou Dobbs intoned on his show this evening that it changed the results of the election— absolutely delusional.
Mitt Romney’s several face-plants on the subject of Benghazi— which is what started this whole Benghazi obsession on the right wing in the first place— certainly didn’t help him.
But the fact that the Foxies and their followers to this day can’t accept that the polls that showed him behind Obama consistently were accurate, is what drives them to so fervently believe that he would have won were it not for the admin’s (non-existent) “cover-up.” They can’t accept the reality that he was destined to lose even if Benghazi had never happened.
It’s all part of their desperate 7-year-long need to delegitimize Obama. Pathetic.