Hastings emailed an excellent set of questions:
Why didn't the State Department search the consulate and find AMB Steven's diary first? What other potential valuable intelligence was left behind that could have been picked up by apparently anyone searching the grounds? Was any classified or top secret material also left? Do you still feel that there was adequate security at the compound, considering it was not only overrun but sensitive personal effects and possibly other intelligence remained out for anyone passing through to pick up? Your statement on CNN sounded pretty defensive--do you think it's the media's responsibility to help secure State Department assets overseas after they've been attacked?And Reines couldn't or wouldn't answer these questions. He continued those pretty defensive efforts to shift the focus to CNN. When Hastings pressed him, Reines resorted to "Fuck Off" and "Have a good life." Those nasty comebacks shouldn't be the story. They should direct us to the set of questions. Those are great questions, and the State Department will not answer them. Without answers, they feel like questions that answer themselves.
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Althouse wrote: Without answers, they feel like questions that answer themselves.
Brilliant! I'm this close to hitting the tip jar!
They were the right and only questions and politely asked. They were completely ignored by the State Dept. Rather stunning.
Nothing demonstrates the vacuity of the State Department like the spokesman's comments. A true credit to the US Department of State.
Those are great questions, and the State Department will not answer them. Without answers, they feel like questions that answer themselves.
Verily.
Phillipe will be in the WH Chief of Staff or Special Asst. to the POTUS in the 2nd term. We need a person like him to tell the reporters: F.O. If you as a reporter will not supper thte POTUS, we will treat you like a dirt bag.
Look there are many reporters, you can see we leak to NYT, NPR, PBS, HuffPost, WashPost, DailyBeast, etc. If you love us, you will be given leaks and dinner invites. If you even try to make us look bad, F.O. to you and to your family. F.O.
Claasic Clintonian tactic. If you don't like the story make the story something else.
That Ken Starr is kind of a pervert, huh?
Not to worry, Hillary's doing a heckuva job. Smartest woman in the world, some say.
In vaudeville, it was called flop sweat.
This administration is coming apart at the seams at just the right time.
PS Don't forget that Choom wants to release 55 hard core Gitmo types right before the election.
The old soldier in me wonders if the embassy personnel even had some sort of rehearsed contingency plan in such an event. Apparently not--and I also suspect embassy personnel are not in the least trained to police up a "crime" scene and secure classified documents and other evidence. But perhaps I am too suspicious in my old age.
I don't find it distracting.
I mean... I saw the headline here and what I thought wasn't "Wow, how unprofessional!", what I thought was, "Huh, wonder what set him off."
It's not a distraction from the unanswered questions, it's a pointer to the unanswered questions.
Hastings called this eve. and apologized. We in the campaign have accepted this apology. We will give him a leak and maybe invite to the POTUS event. All will be well.
Reporters want access and leaks in our 2nd term, we will give them. If you make a mistake, just apologize to us. Else, we will F.O. you and your family. You know we have to be ruthless, politics is a blood-sport.
Hush-hush, off the record.
The "Fuck off" is not just to the reporter. It is to the American people.
Don't spill our secrets. We don't need this kind of transparency. Oh, btw, fuck off.
Phillippe Reines = Shiloh!
Is there an Obama is like Nixon tag? Next they'll be saying "tit in a wringer."
Yeah, especially in the current circumstances, releasing inmates from Gitmo has to one of the dumbest things I can imagine Obama doing.
I mean, what's he trying to do? Buy some good will from the Arab Street?
What he'll buy is Islamist confidence in their ability to burn and murder their way to what they want.
But this is Obama/Clinton we're talking about. Dumb seems to be the new smart, at least from the oh-god-we-just-CAN'T-elect-a-Republican crowd.
Hillary seemed able to find whatever she needed to find in Vince Foster's office. Some of it even saw the light of day a few days later crumpled up on the bottom of Vince's briefcase. She should have cleaned up the ambassador's office herself.
Phillippe Reines = Shiloh!
Let the record show that JSF may be on to something.
{{{LOL}}} :-P
Is there an Obama is like Nixon tag?
Even his enemies conceded that Tricky Dick had a first-class brain. The only place there's overlap between Obama and Nixon is in their ethics.
We will promote him in the 2nd term. Hush-hush, off-the-record.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Reines
Actually the full quote is "Katie Graham's going to get her tit caught in a big, fat wringer if that's published." From the AG, ladies and gentlemen! Although of course John MItchell didn't actually kill any people, as far as I know.
It would be really, really, really nice if the press starts smelling blood.
Without answers, they feel like questions that answer themselves.
I agree they're good questions but you seem determined to fill in the blanks yourself.
Big on conspiracy theories now, Ann?
It's the Middle East - and mob violence - there's no room for other possibilities?
None?
Simply incredible,...
Why isn't anybody asking tough questions of Obama?
That was the dude who got the "reset" button translated wrong? They kept him? Really? AP, can't you guys find anyone competent that supports you?
Why isn't anybody asking tough questions of Obama?
He's above the fray.
And he's awesome!!!11!!
..it's a pointer to the unanswered questions.
No, its a tip of an iceberg ;)
-----The "Fuck off" is not just to the reporter. It is to the American people.
I hear this FO to me and my fellow citizens. Its pretty enraging. What I'd like to know is how any media person (who is charged with protecting me via the first amendment) would not make this a headline in every major paper in the country?
When I put this next along with Segway boy singing songs about a respected dead journalist (sorry to go local here) I want to puke about the storied, courageous press.
What duplicitous, cowardly slime.
pm317,
Why isn't anybody asking tough questions of Obama?
For the same reason nobody's asking - or demanding - tough questions of Romney:
You're all dishonest,...
Why didn't the State Department search the consulate and find AMB Steven's diary first? What other potential valuable intelligence was left behind that could have been picked up by apparently anyone searching the grounds? Was any classified or top secret material also left? Do you still feel that there was adequate security at the compound, considering it was not only overrun but sensitive personal effects and possibly other intelligence remained out for anyone passing through to pick up? Your statement on CNN sounded pretty defensive--do you think it's the media's responsibility to help secure State Department assets overseas after they've been attacked?
Those are good questions. Real questions. Rare.
Answer: There will be no intellectual curiosity in the age of Obama/Hillary celebrity.Fall in line like the rest of the hack media.
You AIN'T qualified to ask questions. Man, who are you? What do you think of your-self? We are the best and the greatest. We know what is best for the nation. We do not need you/Romney/GOP. This is our country - not yours! If you want to contribute, then join us. If you want to support, welcome then. BUT, DOn't play games. Or, we will F.O. you and your family.
I'm sorry, if I was in the State Dept. I'd fire that stupid fucking hothead Reines right now.
Rule #1 of politics is that you do not piss off people who are in a position to hurt you unless you absolutely have to!
Right now, if CNN gets its dander up and feels it's either its credibility or the State Dept.'s it will push its investigation on the Benghazi massacre until finally other media outlets will be forced to pick it up.
The Benghazi massacre was a major, major fuck-up that only now is starting to permeate the brains of the non-news junkies. If the MSM doesn't keep burying this story, it'll make Obama look like foreign policy lightweight who'll have to play defense at the debates.
Bad, bad move. Especially for a supposed diplomat!
Reines reacts like a person in an untenable position. He has been put in this position by his superior, Hillary Clinton, and she is the true object of his anger. He can't direct his anger where it belongs, so he vents it all at the first convenient target. On the plus side, Hastings got his answers-- maybe not to the questions he asked-- but Reines sure as hell gave him, and us, a window into the state of State.
Unprofessional from both of them. I guess that's what we're coming down to these days.
America's Politico said...
Hastings called this eve. and apologized. We in the campaign have accepted this apology. We will give him a leak...
But tell me, AP, will Reines take a leak?
The names of Libyans who had been co-operating with the Americans WERE left behind. How quickly people forget. That's the only truth that came out in the first day or two.
Word is out that Phillipe is the nominee for next U.S. ambassador to Libya.
Maybe Reines is irritated that Obama always has it easy. I think Hillary is being very subtly shoved under the bus here by Obama. He and his minions can't overtly do anything to damage her reputation like he does with everyone else, because he needs all the Hillary dems to vote for him and more because (wait for it!), she is more likeable than he is and going against her would only cost him votes among her loyalists.
Why isn't anybody asking tough questions of Obama?
He wont leave the green zone... 60 Minutes.. he was cought by surprise at some of the question by Univision..
I swear.. I think it was Steve Kroft... check this out.
KROFT: Mr. President, people are afraid for their jobs. I know you know that.
KROFT: Governor Romney has been portraying you as a nice guy.
KROFT: You've got stock market that's doing incredibly well, and yet you still got this unemployment.
KROFT: The jobs bill, you haven't been able to get it through Congress!
KROFT: How are you going to get the Republicans to agree to a tax increase?
KROFT: Do you still believe, after three years and this gridlock, that we have that somebody who claims to be an outsider can get things accomplished in Washington?
KROFT: How much pressure have you been getting from Prime Minister Netanyahu to make up your mind to use military force in Iran?
KROFT: You don't feel any pressure from Prime Minister Netanyahu in the middle of a campaign? You don't feel any pressure?
KROFT: Have recent events in the Middle East given you any pause about your support for the governments that have come to power following the Arab Spring?
KROFT: Where do you go to kind of sort things out on your own, and when do you find time to just be alone with your own thoughts?
A fucking love fest.
Funny -- when I read how CNN go the journal I said to myself "Mmmmpfh. Wonder why someone who was not a US employee found that? Where were they?"
The more it goes on the bigger the screw up appears tp be.
Doesn't the State Department have some kind of contingency plans in case of a breach of a consulate or emabassy? If so, why wasn't it followed.
If not? Well, I simply can't believe there isn't something ...
So maybe Hillary isn't competent to answer the phone at 3 AM either.
Why do I think Mitt Romney would run a much better ship?
Reines also said that his response to Hastings was in no way a "non-denial denial," as Hastings suggested at the end of his final email.
LOL. It was! It was a non-denial denial!
Lem,
Reporter: "Mr. Romney, you're the first member of the Mormon faith to have a real chance at the presidency - how do you feel about that?"
A fucking love fest.
Obama is at an all-time high on Intrade: 71%.
Did anyone ever think that Hillary would make a good Secretary of State?
Behold: Our unprofessional hack media.
They are questions that answer themselves. They were already answered when I encountered this item, and then I thought of you, naturally, "hey, this is the type of thing she picks up," it has just that scent of rottenness to it. My Belgians did that, went straight to the most interesting rotten thing, with complex scents, to check it out and that thought led to the photo of Obama's 10,000 yard stare and twice those french fries I suppose he's having seemed soooo good, that I put down what I was doing and made some on the spot, and it's incredibly satisfying knowing delicious hot greasy French fries are available on demand directly out of the freezer straight into hot oil, bang! French fries just like that.
And then sat there eating those fries, twice, thinking, yes, the answers to these disturbing questions are all dismal.
This stream of consciousness is brought to you by Ore-Ida, maker of delicious fries, crunchy tots, and other fluffy potato products.
So maybe Hillary isn't competent to answer the phone at 3 AM either.
No, sometimes you are only as competent as your boss is -- sort of like only as strong as the weakest link in the chain..
Obama is at an all-time high on Intrade: 71%.
Why does any Republican give Stephanopolous the time of day?
He is king of the hacks. George Stephanoplous should be laughed off the stage.
JAL,
Why do I think Mitt Romney would run a much better ship?
I have no idea. I mean, we ARE talking about a guy who couldn't even finesse, "Mr. Romney, what do you think of the Olympics?"
Charles Krauthammer:
“All Romney has to do, say nothing. It’s like a guy in the 100-meter dash. All he has to do is to finish, he doen’t have to win. And instead, he tackles the guy in the lane next to him and ends up disqualified. I don’t get it.”
I do:
You guys are dreaming,...
I also wonder if there are any Americans still missing. Be interesting to see how/if they'd answer that one, too.
I think I recognize Obama. he's that faculty lounge blowhard who is never going to get tenure, and opportunistically takes up any position to get him into the "in" crowd of solid leftists who do have tenure, so that, in his mind, he has a shot. The tenured leftists don't really like him but he's of the correct useful idiot class that they keep as pets. He's not a good speaker no matter how many times I am assured that he is; he's not particularly smart; and he's the openly vainest president I can remember.
m stone said...
Word is out that Phillipe is the nominee for next U.S. ambassador to Libya.
Good one.
I could not care less what bigoted "The Crack Emcee" thinks. The more he displays his depravity, the more I find his tedious obsession repulsive and train-wreck-like.
I do no share this because I think TCE will re-examine his bigotry and hatred but rather to mock his impotence and uselessness. He is officially a buffoon. He's a clownish, macabre warning to resist insanity no matter the cause.
DowntownLad, Cedarford and The Crack Emcee now share the same space. So hateful that he create their own inescapeable gravity. Black holes of putrescence, the lot.
Hey, go easy on Philippe. He's busy! (He's the guy in the bottom picture here.)
Obama. He lies.
The run down.
I wonder how Bill Clinton feels now about his Obama ass kissing convention speech. Poor Bill is all in for Obama and Barry just wiped the dog shit of a Middle-East foreign policy off his hands on to Hillary face. One wonders if the stench will wear off by 2016.
Birkel,
I could not care less what bigoted "The Crack Emcee" thinks. The more he displays his depravity, the more I find his tedious obsession repulsive and train-wreck-like.
Mitt Romney:
I don't know what I said, but I stand by it, whatever it was
My hero! Leader of the free world! A fucking genius!
Call me when Jesus makes it "back" to Missouri, will you?
People are missing the point of the nasty response when it's posted as him having responded 'F*ck off!' and 'Have a nice day!'
In reading his response what he wrote was 'Have a nice day by which I mean F*ck Off!'
And, YET AGAIN, it must be mentioned that if this had come from a Republican administration official this would be a 3 day headline and said official would be out on his ear with-in 48 hours.
Did that response help your point, or mine?
As I understand it, an Embassy is treated literally as a part of the country it represents. I'm not sure about consulates, but I'd have to assume that the country it represents at least owns the property.
The idea that the State Department left it open for pilfering is simply surreal. If this were a work of fiction, anyone reading would toss the book as being too stupid to read.
What's that old saying we were taught in Fed. Civ. Proc.? When the facts are against you, deny, deny, hurl profanities, and insult your audience. Yeah, that was it.
Don't let up, Ann. Don't let up.
I am beginning to wonder if Ambassador Stephens was or had been a CIA agent who had helped funnel arms to the insurgents and was whacked by the deposed ruling set? We had an ultra small footprint there, but the guy had no security? Something doesn't add up. Maybe the administrations tight lippedness has something to do with what he had been doing. (Do not read this as he had it coming. I see him as a hero that was hung out to dry)
"For the same reason nobody's asking - or demanding - tough questions of Romney:"
I think that "tough questions" is the wrong way for "journalists" to go about it. Revealing questions, how about that?
How do you feel about having a chance to be the first Mormon president isn't a tough question, but it's not a revealing question either. It's an obscuring question and it's not doing Romney a favor by being "nice."
Ask about Bain. People want to know about that. It's not *easy* questions. But it's probably not going to end up making Romney look bad either. Ask about Romney Care in Mass... only maybe that wouldn't make him look bad to swing voters either.
Ask about Romney Care in Mass... only maybe that wouldn't make him look bad to swing voters either.
Or worse, it would damage the image of the loony-toon weird-pajama-wearing hyper-conservative plutocrat that is being peddled. It would make him seem like a *gasp* RINO that a reasonable liberal could vote for.
Everyone knows this year is about turnout. There are only so many dead Democrats that can march to the polls. So anyone squishy has to be scared silly of the Massachusetts Mormon. That's the play.
4 more years of Ob ama and we will see Obama tax hikes, deeper recession, higher un-employment, and dwindling money to the treasury (Obama doesn't care about tax fairness/only punitive tax damage)
..more tax payer dollars up in smoke, and no shovel ready jobs to show for it. No bridges and dams and schools. Just more graft and power grabbing all layered with leftwing media lies. More of your hard earned money will end up in the hands of Obama’s wealthy donors and bundlers. To top it off we will have to endure an insufferable fawning unprofessional joke media. Ignoring Rome while it burns.
With 4 more years - Homelessness will continue to increase, wages will decrease, taxes will increase and money to the US treasury will decrease. More middle class will slip into lower classes and foodstamps. That’s the plan.
To paraphrase Ring Lardner, "'F*** off,' he explained."
Obama and crew think that it's in the bag already and so the media, and everybody else for that matter, can just fuck off. Five more weeks.
WE OWN THE WH TILL JANUARY OF 2017.
We know it. The Press (esp. NYT) know it. The voters know it. Only the GOP and Romney do not know it.
There is NOT A THING you can do. Just expect us to be in POWER. WE know what we are doing. We are what the public wants. We are the best. The best.
Synova,
Ask about Bain. People want to know about that.
Why? Bain hasn't been fully picked over, in my opinion, but most people's eyes would glaze.
Ask him about Jesus coming back to Missouri - that'll make him squirm - and it's fair game after he said Obama would make America a less Christian nation.
Since his "religion" is based on prophets having revelations from God (which they do with surprising frequency) ask him why he told a reporter God has spoken to anyone in about 2,000 years - wouldn't that mean Mormon prophets are liars?
Ask him why his wife, who sits on a board for MS, uses quack treatments, and why he sells supplements that have repeatedly been found useless to the average person's health?
There's so much low-hanging fruit out there, I'd be hitting him from so many angles - that he couldn't answer coherently - any paper I worked for would look like The Washington Post hunting Nixon.
THAT'S what journalism, and an election, is supposed to be about.
Nixon to Dan Rather after Rather got applause from his fellow journalists:
"Are you running for something?"
Dan Rather to Nixon:
"No, Mr. President, are you?"
Fuck this self-elected protection racket these fools have set up, calling themselves engaged citizens:
In the old days politicians used to duel,...
he told a reporter God has NOT spoken to anyone in about 2,000 years
Fuck all this speculation, I want to see what these guys look like thrown OFF their game:
THEN you'll know what kind of president they'll make,...
I'm thinking Hillary will soon resign to have more time to spend with family. Especially if Chelsea were preggers. Fake doting gramma. Hill out.
Wait -- those questions came from Buzz Feed?
Ok, I'm impressed.
Ooh. I really like "All the best," It's like "Bless his heart," but in email sign off form!
Reines moonlights as Segway Jeremy?? Another disorderly conduct charge, coming up!
Hmmm. Don't know why that link didn't work.
Stephens in keeping an insecure diary showed all the respect for classified information that Sandy Berger displayed so publicly.
Other times and places other people have been punished for such things.
Is this disregard for rules that apply to little people a common problem for the intelligentsia that work for either Clinton?
It's a pity the National Enquirer doesn't have a Benghazi office.
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