New Doll? Hide Me Hillary

[dazed&confused]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/15/opini ... .html?_r=0

No Shame

There are many unanswered questions about the vicious assault in Benghazi last month that killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. And Congress has a responsibility to raise them. But Republican lawmakers leading the charge on Capitol Hill seem more interested in attacking President Obama than in formulating an effective response.

It doesn’t take a partisan to draw that conclusion. The ugly truth is that the same people who are accusing the administration of not providing sufficient security for the American consulate in Benghazi have voted to cut the State Department budget, which includes financing for diplomatic security. The most self-righteous critics don’t seem to get the hypocrisy, or maybe they do and figure that if they hurl enough doubts and complaints at the administration, they will deflect attention from their own poor judgments on the State Department’s needs.

At a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last Wednesday, Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California and the committee’s chairman, talked of “examining security failures that led to the Benghazi tragedy.” He said lawmakers had an obligation to protect federal workers overseas. On Sunday, he said more should be spent on diplomatic security.

But as part of the Republican majority that has controlled the House the last two years, Mr. Issa joined in cutting nearly a half-billion dollars from the State Department’s two main security accounts. One covers things like security staffing, including local guards, armored vehicles and security technology; the other, embassy construction and upgrades. In 2011 and 2012, President Obama sought a total of $5 billion, and the House approved $4.5 billion. In 2009, Mr. Issa voted for an amendment that would have cut nearly 300 diplomatic security positions. And the draconian budgets proposed by Mitt Romney’s running mate, Representative Paul Ryan, would cut foreign affairs spending by 10 percent in 2013 and even more in 2016.

Since 9/11, the United States has spent millions of dollars building new embassies and consulates around the world and fortifying existing ones. But despite the investment, there is still a lot of work to do to bring all facilities into compliance with safety standards that were set in 1985 after the bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut in 1983 and then updated after the attacks on the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Maybe now Congress will see fit to provide more money to do it.

Clearly, there is much we don’t know about what happened in Benghazi or what changes could have saved the four Americans. The former security chief at the embassy in Tripoli has been critical of the administration and said he had requested more security from State Department officials. However, he also said that a higher wall or a half-dozen more security guards would not have been enough to respond to the attack. (In the last debate, Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. said of the consulate in Benghazi, “we did not know they wanted more security.”)

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has appointed a panel of outside experts to investigate. More spending on security improvements will certainly help, but there will still be threats and risks. America’s diplomats must be protected, but they cannot do their jobs and interact with the world if they operate only behind fortress walls. There will always have to be a balance. Ambassador Stevens knew that.

[Kentucky Trojan]

What a liberal rag the NYT is....read it for 2 years because I had to...

[dazed&confused]

What a liberal rag the NYT is....read it for 2 years because I had to...

Your one-sided hatred blinds you to others' points of view. It takes all kinds...even yours!

[Kentucky Trojan]

What a liberal rag the NYT is....read it for 2 years because I had to...

Your one-sided hatred blinds you to others' points of view. It takes all kinds...even yours!

No hatred here...why didn't you ask me why I call it a liberal rag? Why didn't you ask me why I had to read it for 2 years?

hmmmmmmmmm...

[dazed&confused]

What a liberal rag the NYT is....read it for 2 years because I had to...

Your one-sided hatred blinds you to others' points of view. It takes all kinds...even yours!

No hatred here...why didn't you ask me why I call it a liberal rag? Why didn't you ask me why I had to read it for 2 years?

hmmmmmmmmm...

What would you prefer...The Post? Oh yea, that's a balanced paper. Maybe something Murdoch publishes. I read the Wall Street Journal. Don't agree with everything in it but I'm open to others' ideas.

[Kentucky Trojan]

What would you prefer...The Post? Oh yea, that's a balanced paper. Maybe something Murdoch publishes. I read the Wall Street Journal. Don't agree with everything in it but I'm open to others' ideas.

...nevermind...

8)

[dazed&confused]

What would you prefer...The Post? Oh yea, that's a balanced paper. Maybe something Murdoch publishes. I read the Wall Street Journal. Don't agree with everything in it but I'm open to others' ideas.

...nevermind...

8)

ditto! 8)

[KVDW]

my guess is that enough waste and abuse could be found in the state dept. to properly fund the defense of every embassy we have if they were audited and investigated.

Same could be said of every govt. department.....imo

all those folks live high on the hog at our expense and the sad part is that nothing ever happens to any of those "big wigs" when they do get caught with their lavish parties, etc. they are just covered up and stonewalled for a while and eventually another episode comes along and the focus is on it and the old one is just forgotten about... it's never ending.

politicians are nothing more than narcissistic parasites....... BOTH sides.

[kantuckyII]

Thats good, fire a missile on our own embassy compound and maybe kill our own people.

No, both sides of the aisle are to blame on this one, not just 1 side or 1 person.

Security was not properly staffed and rent a cops are not the way. Local security, especially in these Muslim countries will not fight their own people to protect Americans.

As I said before, both sides of the aisle are to blame.

Come on, they weren't sitting in our embassy shooting straight up in the air lol think what you just said.

Again, the terrorist done it, secondly the administration failed to protect them in being proactive and reactive

If that's true that we can't trust them then why did Obama hire them?

The only two aisles guilty are the terrorist and this administration

[mister b]

Thats good, fire a missile on our own embassy compound and maybe kill our own people.

No, both sides of the aisle are to blame on this one, not just 1 side or 1 person.

Security was not properly staffed and rent a cops are not the way. Local security, especially in these Muslim countries will not fight their own people to protect Americans.

As I said before, both sides of the aisle are to blame.

Come on, they weren't sitting in our embassy shooting straight up in the air lol think what you just said.

Again, the terrorist done it, secondly the administration failed to protect them in being proactive and reactive

If that's true that we can't trust them then why did Obama hire them?

The only two aisles guilty are the terrorist and this administration

An American Embassy is American soil. You don't fire on American soil IF there remains a chance that Americans are still there. Think about it.

Everyome is to blame equally for these 4 deaths, regardless of your political leanings.

And yes, Clinton, as Sec. of State, should be made to testify.

[kantuckyII]

First, it wasn't actually an embassy. Secondly, they weren't on the American soil when they were firing a MORTAR down on our people.

No, the only one's responsible here are, first, the terrorist, secondly, those in charge who ignored their safety, ignored the warnings and then finally, ignored their pleas for help..that would be this current administration. Obama needs to be reminded, the buck stops with him.

[mister b]

First, it wasn't actually an embassy. Secondly, they weren't on the American soil when they were firing a MORTAR down on our people.

No, the only one's responsible here are, first, the terrorist, secondly, those in charge who ignored their safety, ignored the warnings and then finally, ignored their pleas for help..that would be this current administration. Obama needs to be reminded, the buck stops with him.

If it wasn't an actual embassy than it wasn't actually funded in the funding bill was it.

Anywhere the federal government flys the US flag is American soil.

As I said, the 4 deaths are on all the hands in Washington.

The President cannot override a funding bill and insert whatever funds he wants. That is why our government has checks and balances. The President cannot go to war, only the House and Senate can approve this, just like funding.

[mustang_lvr]

the buck didn't stop with bush and lied and 1000s died happened

[Kentucky Trojan]

I guess Hillary now has a blood clot to go with the concussion...

http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/Secr ... 36432.html

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Hospitalized for Blood Clot

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been admitted to a New York hospital after the discovery of a blood clot stemming from the concussion she sustained earlier this month.

Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines says her doctors discovered the clot during a follow-up exam Sunday.

Reines says Clinton is being treated with anti-coagulants. Clinton was admitted to New York-Presbyterian Hospital so doctors can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours.

Reines says doctors will continue to assess Clinton's condition, "including other issues associated with her concussion."

[kantuckyII]

Did someone do this to her? or is it just another fake story trying to keep her off the stand? She knows that if she appears to be questioned, it could once and for all end her bid for the presidency!

[kantuckyII]

the buck didn't stop with bush and lied and 1000s died happened

BUSH NEVER Lied, I swear to goodness...it's so exasperating reasoning with you people

[dazed&confused]

Did someone do this to her? or is it just another fake story trying to keep her off the stand? She knows that if she appears to be questioned, it could once and for all end her bid for the presidency!

Your conspiract theories are beyond the pale!

[kantuckyII]

And your naïveté is baffling, troubling and a common disturbing malady of those of your persuasion

[Kentucky Trojan]

And your naïveté is baffling, troubling and a common disturbing malady of those of your persuasion

Persuasion?

[dazed&confused]

And your naïveté is baffling, troubling and a common disturbing malady of those of your persuasion

...because I don't go along with any of your tirades?