Patterico's Pontifications

1/23/2013

Hillary: What Difference Does It Make If We Lied?

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:18 pm



That’s not quite the way she put it, of course. But that’s my takeaway.

“What difference does it make”?! Followed by “it is our job to figure out what happened”?

He should have called her on that.

When you engage in righteously righteous outrage, sometimes you have to listen to what you’re actually saying as you pound on the table.

Via Hot Air.

After you watch that, you’ll be ready to watch Rand Paul rip her apart:

Also via Hot Air.

Look at the smirk on her face. He should have called her on that.

This isn’t funny, Ms. Clinton.

Still, good stuff. It’s satisfying to watch someone with nerve tear into her.

62 Responses to “Hillary: What Difference Does It Make If We Lied?”

  1. Just got through explaining to the daughter how politicians get out of difficult questions by pounding the table and acting outraged.

    She totally gets it.

    Patterico (8b3905)

  2. I cannot find her response to Sen Paul

    JD (b63a52)

  3. “the fact is we had four dead americans”

    I’ve yet to see anything what persuades me that had four different americans died in benghazi, and these four dead americans had lived, that they would have been anything but eagerly complicit in the politically motivated cover-up that transpired to shift the blame for the dead ones onto a youtube video.

    The whole organization was corrupt is what I think the facts show.

    happyfeet (ce327d)

  4. AQAP, tried a similar tactic in 2008, in Yemen,the next thing we hear they are directing the shooting up of a recruitment post in Little Rock, and planning the Underwear bomber plot, it’s remarkable
    how quickly things go from over there to here,

    narciso (3fec35)

  5. he doesn’t exactly lose me with the “worst tragedy since 9/11” thing but at best I don’t think it adds anything

    ok actually I think that’s just crazy talk

    this was so not the worst tragedy since 9/11

    I’d have to go with the indian ocean tsunami and the japanese tsunami if I had to pick

    happyfeet (ce327d)

  6. or the re-election of barack obama

    happyfeet (ce327d)

  7. Well tragedy is the wrong word, the murder of an American ambassador, the first one in more then 30 years, means something,

    narciso (3fec35)

  8. yes he should’ve worked that angle

    happyfeet (ce327d)

  9. ok actually I think that’s just crazy talk

    It is, but he’s on a roll. Throw him a bone.

    And in some legit ways, it is one of the most serious attacks on the USA since 9/11 (though still not the foremost).

    It’s amazing this did not become a huge issue in the election.

    Dustin (73fead)

  10. And then you have the intensely craven and cynical sort;

    http://news.yahoo.com/whats-behind-gops-fixation-benghazi-224512344.html

    narciso (3fec35)

  11. As per the other thread, I hope the House repubs prepare a first class legal interrogation that gets to the truth, or at least makes clear what isn’t the truth that has been claimed.

    But we will never get to the bottom of this unless some of the lower ranked witnesses come forth, or someone buckles under the pressure trying to keep it quiet.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  12. YOU ARE ALL MERE SUBJECTS. HOW DARE YOU QUESTION YOUR QUEEN.BOW BEFORE ME NOW.

    Bugg (b32862)

  13. MD–

    My money’s on Sharyl Atkisson(sp?). I think she wants this bad.

    elissa (3c4b57)

  14. Well she and Eli Lake, have at the forefront of this, while Howard Kurtz, reveals once again why the Daily Beast has gone digital, and mostly broke.
    Herridge and the other Fox investigative reporter also deserve kudos,

    narciso (3fec35)

  15. She told us back when she wouldn’t just stay home to bake cookies. Now she tells us that she can’t get involved in life or death security decisions as the head of State because it would interfere with all of the clusterfuck apparati.

    Sounds like a cookie baker response if you ask me.

    Dirty Old Man (0c7e45)

  16. I am just outraged that people died while I sat and ordered those sent to protect them to disengage.

    scrubone (e7e0ea)

  17. “the fact is we had four dead americans”

    Hillary, the reason why, at this point, it makes a difference is that more than four months later, the American public still does not have answers to critical questions about why it was allowed to happen, who did it, why the administration felt it was important to lie to the public about what happened, what the administration actually did during the attack, and what is being done to bring those to justice who killed our personnel.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  18. They were only Talking Points anyway.

    AZ Bob (28c32d)

  19. why it was allowed to happen, who did it, why the administration felt it was important to lie to the public about what happened, what the administration actually did during the attack, and what is being done to bring those to justice who killed our personnel.

    Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9)

    This reminded me that out of this whole mess, the only person facing justice right now is the guy who made that video.

    Dustin (73fead)

  20. I think an instapundit reader had it right:

    Hillary, to paraphrase:

    “Don’t ask me how and why these things happened. What difference does it make? Our job is to find out how and why these things happened!”

    Do these people even listen to themselves? Does the press?

    I also wonder why out conservative thought leaders missed this simple contradiction.

    Oh well.

    Ag80 (b2c81f)

  21. Was it kabuki or cartoons and melodrama? Beep beep, the Republicans chased after Hillary like Wile E Coyote goes after the Road Runner. It was a sideshow to entertain the suckers.

    Recall Slick’s Impeachment trial in the Senate, the fix was in before they even opened the doors.

    ropelight (aae05a)

  22. It is interesting that she absolutely declares that the requests from Stevens for enhanced security never got to her desk; but never divulges the name of the desk holder where the requests died.
    Which is to say where those four American lives died.
    The only way to cleanse the Department of State is with a legion of Flame-Throwers – hall by hall, office by office.

    askeptic (2bb434)

  23. Brett Baier (FoxNews Special Report) summed up that we now have five different conflicting stories of what was happening in the Affair Benghazi.
    My personal opinion is they are all lies.
    Whatever the truth is, it must be very damaging to Teh Won.

    askeptic (2bb434)

  24. Hey, isn’t that Winnie Cooper sitting behind the Senator from Kentucky?

    PC14 (7cfd34)

  25. What difference does it make? If you really want to find out why and how to prevent it from happening again it makes ALL the difference in the world

    Dennis D (b481af)

  26. Also, Rand should’ve called her out on her stupid statement “Our job is to find out how and why these things happened!” – Jeez buttercup, you’ve had over 4 months to do just that…

    Bob in VA (b16da0)

  27. “When we look at how our government has responded to the night of September 11 in Benghazi, Libya, we see there are truly no standards any more.

    If the decision making before, during, and after the Benghazi attack is insufficient to get anyone fired, what decision in government will ever warrant that consequence? If Democrats on Capitol Hill can’t take off their partisan blinders for one day to attempt to hold people accountable for decision-making that resulted in American deaths at the hands of extremists, and then lying to the public about it, then when will they ever? If Hillary Clinton can exclaim that it doesn’t matter that the administration spent five days talking about a video when the video had nothing to do with it, and everyone on her side applauds, why should she or anyone else ever respond to an accusation with anything but audacious defiance?

    This is it, folks. This is the government we have, and the lack of a public outcry about Benghazi ensures this is the government we will have for the foreseeable future.”

    Jim Geraghty

    To date NOBODY has been fired.

    Bugg (ba4ca9)

  28. They know exactly what happened and why it happened, they just don’t want you to find out, so the tap dance and double talk just keeps on comin’

    Barack Obama made the real-time decision to sacrifice the Americans in Benghazi, all 3 dozen or so of them, to keep a lid on his gun running operation. Gaddafi’s weapons plus much of the military equipment supplied by the West to Libyan rebels was being collected at the Benghazi annex and shipped to Turkey and then smuggled across the border to Al Qaeda fighters in Syria.

    With Fast-n-Furious still simmering on the back burner Obama couldn’t face another gun running scandal especially one which revealed he was in cahoots with the Muslim Brotherhood and with Al Qaeda just before the election. So, he made the decision to cut his losses, betray the CIA and State Department personnel doing his dirty work, and cover the whole thing up with a bullshit narrative manufactured from whole cloth.

    They have no choice now but to stick with the lies, ignore the contradictions till they have to tell more lies, try to run out the clock, and pretend they’re investigating while they wash the blood off each other’s hands.

    ropelight (cf9068)

  29. I thought several people were relieved of their positions, no?

    JD (4fbbe6)

  30. Only temporarily, JD, and with pay,

    narciso (3fec35)

  31. A reminder, how along with Rice and Power, they were the 3 Amigas on Libya,

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/01/24/Hillary-Loved-Going-On-Sunday-Shows-To-Do-Victory-Lap-On-Libya

    narciso (3fec35)

  32. Andrea Mitchell this AM named Hill the most popular SoS ever ahead of Colon. I’m pulling for phlebitis to drag her down.

    OT, today’s 5 year low in new unemployment claims includes 370K dropping out of the rolls ’cause they’ve been on too long, estimates of new claims from 3 states including Cali(where you can afford anything except service) and we still have 330K filing.

    Didn’t look for jobs created but certainly no better than 150K so with all the seasonal adjustments, happening in season and out, we’re still losing ground, big time.

    Yet all the quotes are “It’s getting better”.

    For oligochaetes, I suppose.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  33. Back in my civil trial practice days I’d been lied to so many times in depositions that I’d developed a thick skin about it. Lying still is personally offensive to me; but if you can catch someone in a lie and use it to hammer them later, well it doesn’t hurt so much.

    As for Shrillary’s “what difference does it make that I told another whopperoo”–well when she’s lied consistently throughout her miserable life, it may not make much difference to her.

    But it still does to me.

    Comanche Voter (29e1a6)

  34. The true answer probably is she knew there was no demonstration, and she knew the talking points and what Susan Rice was going to say were wrong, not just doubtful, (even though there was caveats that it’s preliminary i.e. based on the information we have at present and that the assessment may change.)

    Maybe her people even fought against the wording and won some points (particularly on the use of the word “consulate”) but she’s not going to skewer anybody’s nomination prospects or anything.

    And there may be other more important dysfunction and malfunction and misfeasance and malfeasance she’s protecting.

    Sammy Finkelman (728434)

  35. Sammy, are you saying Hillary did not answer the questions with the truth, to the best of her ability?

    Oh my stars.

    Dustin (73fead)

  36. She didn’t say what difference does it make if I lied, or even anybody else lied.

    Wasn’t this in answer to a question about what she knew – and therefore that she knew what Susan Rice was saying was wrong?

    Somewhere, on this board:

    He repeatedly asked her why she didn’t pick up the phone that day and find out the facts, to which Clinton eventually responded sharply, “With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. What difference, at this point, does it make?”

    That’s not saying it doesn’t make a difference if I lied. That’s not answering the question. A question about if she knew there was no demonstration in Benghazi before the assaults. (she never said that there was, and neither did anybody else in the State Department)

    In other words she said: “Why do you want to know? Isn’t the important thing that four Americans got killed? What does it matter now what I knew when?”

    Of course it matters as far as the functioning of the U.S. government is concerned, and if something is still very wrong. Like terrorist moles in the CIA or the CIA trusting the wrong sources over and above what people in the U.S. government with a contemporary acquaintanceship wwth the facts were telling them.

    This is actually an extremely important question – that’s why she dodged it in a kind of ridiculous way.

    And it’s not just important because maybe it might be personally embarrassing. It’s the other people who might be embarrassed, and worse, where the problem is.

    There’s something very significant here, and the Republicans probably don’t know what it is that is significant – and probably can’t even make a good guess.

    One value of her testimony is pointing out to people what it is that is important to follow up on. Hillary Clinton did not avoid answering every little question.

    Sammy Finkelman (728434)

  37. I love how he began by telling her he’s glad her health is improving.

    Elephant Stone (ecf115)

  38. We found bin Laden because of the questions that Khalid Sheik Muhammad, and another prisoner, did not give an honest answer to.

    (A couple of years later a CIA analyst noticed that there was a question – a seemingly minor question – that KSM and another person had both apparently lied about. She knew it was a lie because they gave different answers. The question was was such and such a person an al Qaeda courier. KSM said yes, he was, but he’s retired. And the other person said he never was. Now otherwise most of what they said about members of Al Qaeda was true. This person must be a very important person, she said. Ad he was. He was e contact person with Osama bin Laden. They didn’t have his name at that point, only a nickname or nom de guerre. But that was the key lead. They eventually found his family name, and then his full name and then eventually where he was going.)

    So when somebody dodges a question, or lies, and they are not doing that with everything, this may actually be very important.

    Sammy Finkelman (728434)

  39. I thought several people were relieved of their positions, no?

    “Relieved of your position” doesn’t mean fired; it means you lose one of your many titles within the department, but go on with your basic job, at the same pay.

    Milhouse (15b6fd)

  40. A refreshing change in this administration, and in most others, would be for the spokesholes to actually tell us the truth; and if that is not possible, to just SHUT UP!

    askeptic (b8ab92)

  41. The first person who gave up the name of the Courier, Al Kuwaiti, Ould Slahi according to Bowden, was one of those who nearly was released
    because of the lawyer’s bogus story, Quahtani, the next person in line, was the one that Durbin, cried
    ‘crocodile tears’ for, comparing his treatment to that of Nazis and Communists

    narciso (3fec35)

  42. How do you tell if Carney is lying ,his lips are moving,

    narciso (3fec35)

  43. The more I look at video of Hillary at yesterday’s hearings and notice both her physical appearance and her demeanor I think that there may be something really wrong with her–either from the fall, effects of concussion, heavy medication or something else.

    The admin was warned there would be no Kerry confirmation hearings unless Hillary testified first. They do seem very eager to get Kerry confirmed. In my opinion they did not appear to have helped or coached Hillary very much to prepare for her big moment. Yeah. The more I think about it I think yesterday was very strange.

    elissa (d983fa)

  44. No, it’s just her tried and true, tactic of misdirection;

    http://deathlessdialog.blogspot.com/2013/01/did-hillary-answer-gop-questions-on.html

    narciso (3fec35)

  45. 40. “spokesholes”

    Me likey.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  46. Kerry in his testimony this morning stated that he would carry on the brilliant programs initiated and carried-out by Hillary.

    As crappy a job as State usually does, we are truly doomed.

    But, he looks like a diplomat – insipid.

    askeptic (b8ab92)

  47. Same subject just not Ms. Cattle Futures:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-24/kansas-fed-joins-ny-philly-and-richmond-fed-contracting-employment-index-drops-2009-

    I am so relieved the Senate is going to pass a budget and we’re bound for Reconciliation.

    Peace in our Time.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  48. Comment by Dustin (73fead) — 1/24/2013 @ 8:50 am

    Sammy, are you saying Hillary did not answer the questions with the truth, to the best of her ability?

    What she basically did here is ask: “Why do you want to know?” or “Why should you care?”

    Of course it wouldn’t come out so good that way, so she said “What difference does it make?”

    She also said: “I personally was not focused on talking points. I was focused on keeping our people safe,

    Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-benghazi-testimony-2013-1#ixzz2IurYGxo6

    The talking points came later.

    On Sept. 11, 2012 actually she was focused a little bit on what to say and not just on keeping our people safe, because word came that Mitt Romney was about to release a statement (embargoed for midnight, so he wouldn’t be engaging in political sniping on Sept 11) complaining that the U.S. was apologizing for the video – this was only about Cairo, Mitt Romney didn’t know anything about the events going on in Benghazi. The only statement had been the tweet by the Cairo embassy and its later reaffirmation – so she (or somebody at the State Department) dropped what they were doing and rushed out a statement about Cairo, repudiating the tweet) at about 10:30 when people were still not safely out of Benghazi or even at the airport.

    Sammy Finkelman (728434)

  49. The State Department:
    Jellied Gasoline is the best disinfectant.

    askeptic (b8ab92)

  50. Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 1/24/2013 @ 9:22 am

    The first person who gave up the name of the Courier, Al Kuwaiti,

    It says that here:

    http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/11/09/u-s-road-to-bin-laden-began-with-interrogation-of-montreal-imam/

    He claimed al-Kuwaiti was dead, Mr. Bowden writes. He wasn’t. He was bin Laden’s courier and he would bring the CIA to the al-Qaeda leader.

    “That name [al-Kuwaiti] gradually assumed a greater significance as it came up more often,” Mr. Bowden said in a telephone interview this week.

    So everybody was lying about him, but telling different lies, not just KSM and one other guy, because this is a third story.

    Al Kuwaiti is a geographically based nickname.

    Of course they had the name when they asked KSM and the other guy about him. But all they knew was, what, – he was one of their courier. And KSM’s answer that he was retired, satisfied them for the time, or that’s all they could do. And when the other guy said he never was a courier hat was maybe the end of the questioning for him.

    They forced them not to remain silent but they didn’t have any idea who was lying or in what way.

    Ould Slahi according to Bowden, was one of those who nearly was released because of the lawyer’s bogus story,

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamedou_Ould_Slahi

    A judge ordered his release in 2010. This was later reversed on appeal. Wikipedia doesn’t seem to carry events beyond that.

    Slahi (or Salahi) claimed to have had nothing to do with al Qaeda (besides associating with some of its members) since 1992. He was suspected of being involved in the Millennium Plot because of his prior associations with al Qaeda in Germany and because he lead Ramadan prayers in the same mosque Ahmed Ressam attended, but he only arrived in Canada (for good) on November 26, 1999, although he obtained landed immigrant status in Sept. 1998, and had been seeking it since 1996 and at some point had gotten married to a Canadian citizen, so he maybe was there before November, 1999.

    He was interrogated in various places, including Canada, Mauritania, and Jordan, but seems to have co-operated in order to avoid torture or any physical pressure, or even detention if possible, rather than, like he claims, ever been physically abused by anyone.

    But he claimed in 2006 that everything he said connecting himself to really bad things was because of torture, so none of what he said could be used against him. He said a lot. He claimed that asking to recount all the things he’d told interrogators was like asking Charlie Sheen how many women he’d dated.

    Quahtani, the next person in line, was the one that Durbin, cried ‘crocodile tears’ for, comparing his treatment to that of Nazis and Communists

    Mohammed Manea Al Quahtani. I didn’t know Durbin’s comments referred to a specific individual.

    Discussed here: http://narcisoscorner.blogspot.com/2009/06/illusion-of-gitmo-innocent-detainee.html

    I didn’t know you had a blog.

    Quahtani is the so-called 20th Hijacker, the one who was stopped when he got off the plane in Florida, even though he had a visa, because the way he answered questions, and his whole attitude and everything, convinced someone that he was probably a “hit man” sent here to kill someone.

    Not to be confused with the other “20th hijacker” in Minnesota, Zacarias Moussaoui, who couldn’t pass his flight classes, and who seemed not to be interested in takeoffs and landings and whom, someone there suspected of wanting to crash an airplane into the World Trade Center. He would have been another pilot. He took so long KSM said he would have used him in a second round of attacks. He got arrested in Aug 2001, so he couldn’t be told to leave the country.

    And there was the other extra pilot from Yemen, Ramzi Binalshibh, who was denied a visa because he came from Yemen and not Saudi Arabia (Saudis did not have a record of overstaying visas)

    Someone else became the 4th pilot.

    Zacarias Moussaoui is in jail in federal prison – the other would-be participants in the Sept. 11th attacks are in Guantanamo Bay.

    Sammy Finkelman (728434)

  51. If the Brits stick to their knives and cricket bats maybe they can still pull out of the EU.

    Then they’d just have the problem of extricating themselves from Britain:

    http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/01/there-is-no-future-for-jews-in-england/

    Wish them luck.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  52. She was referring to the election, and she was correct.

    What difference did it make?

    A man believes what he wants to believe.

    Amphipolis (d3e04f)

  53. Peace in our Time.

    Ah, you misheard that I believe. It was:
    “Peas in our time”.

    I get a pea. You get a pea. A pea for every person in every household, courtesy The One and his tremendous “Noblesse Oblige” largess.

    Smock Puppet, 10th Dan Snark Master and Labeler of the Obama-Naut (98ae1f)

  54. As is so often the case, Ramirez has crafted a perfect cartoon–this time about Hillary’s “what difference does it make” line. I saw it over at Insty and it’s at other sites as well. Go look, if you haven’t seen it already.

    elissa (fa8810)

  55. Rand Paul hammered Sen HorseFace this morning.

    JD (b63a52)

  56. John Francoise is the perfect nominee for SecState:

    He wants to BE SecState to prove that he’s more successful than his father (as if marrying two rich women wasn’t enough), and he’s not smart enough to advance anything other than his master’s The President’s policies.

    That any Senator could vote to confirm this moron after the way he insulted the Congress, the Government, and the Country post-Vietnam is beyond me.

    askeptic (b8ab92)

  57. 44. Comment by elissa (d983fa) — 1/24/2013 @ 9:29 am

    The more I look at video of Hillary at yesterday’s hearings and notice both her physical appearance and her demeanor I think that there may be something really wrong with her–either from the fall, effects of concussion, heavy medication or something else. .

    Hillary Clinton’s left glasses has vertical lines, indicating a Fresnel prism, which means double vision.

    44.The more I look at video of Hillary at yesterday’s hearings and notice both her physical appearance and her demeanor I think that there may be something really wrong with her–either from the fall, effects of concussion, heavy medication or something else.

    The admin was warned there would be no Kerry confirmation hearings unless Hillary testified first. They do seem very eager to get Kerry confirmed. In my opinion they did not appear to have helped or coached Hillary very much to prepare for her big moment. Yeah. The more I think about it I think yesterday was very strange.

    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clintons-glasses-concussion-fashion/story?id=18313426

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2268073/Hillary-Clinton-Does-Secretary-State-double-vision-blood-clot-scare.html

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  58. 56. Any one else given pause with the “An attack on Israel is an attack on the US”?

    Beats Jebbie.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  59. Are there any doubts that if Iran dropped the big one on Israel that we wouldn’t/shouldn’t just start making rubble, and then bouncing it?
    I think there are more than a few of these treaties left over from the Cold War (WW-3) that proclaim that an attack on a country other than the U.S. is to be considered as an attack on the U.S., some of which I don’t think we really need to respond to, but Israel is not just special, but symbolic.

    askeptic (2bb434)

  60. the iranian peoples are mostly nice good people in a bad bad situation – for reals the vast majority of them are not animals like the nasty pigyptians

    happyfeet (ce327d)

  61. My New Years pledge is to repeatedly point out that anyone blaming this crap on the Reps or Dems is THE problem. Both groups f**k us repeatedly for their own benefit and laugh as half of America blames the other group. The only sensible vote is a vote for a third party – it really doesn’t matter which one. As soon as the big 2 parties have to negotiate with a third party to get a majority (this can happen with less than 5% third party in a chamber) things will start to change.

    Kirk (63d31f)


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