Joe Hagan, "Hillary in Midair": A Gassy Balloon Awaiting a Pinprick

Notwithstanding the fact that there are another three and a half years until a bumbling Barack Obama vacates the White House, all eyes are already on Hillary. Might Hillary, every bit as narcissistic and incompetent as Obama - name one accomplishment during her tenure as secretary of state - decide, for the good of the nation, to forgo the race? Not a chance. Meanwhile, America's "progressive" media is already clearing the path.

In a New York Magazine article entitled "Hillary in Midair" (http://nymag.com/news/features/hillary-clinton-2013-9/index3.html), Joe Hagan attempts to paper over the Benghazi affair:

"Hillary might have left the State Department unsullied by controversy if not for the Benghazi episode, in which the ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three other consulate staffers were killed in an attack on the U.S. consulate. The NATO intervention in Libya was the most important foreign intervention of her tenure, and a seemingly successful one, but the lack of security in Benghazi and the confusion over how the incident occurred set off a heated Republican attack on Clinton’s handling of the disaster, and she was roasted on the cable-news spit for weeks. In January, she took responsibility for the deaths of the four Americans before Congress—while also questioning her inquisition, snapping at a Republican congressman, 'What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator.'"

Benghazi will be the go-to bludgeon for Republicans if and when Clinton tries using her experience at State to run for president. It is a reminder that Clinton, despite the cool, centrist façade she has developed in the past four years, is only a misstep away from being a target of partisan rage once again."

Hillary will be the "target of partisan rage once again"? Sorry, but let's have a look at exactly what was said by Hillary in her interchange with Senator Ron Johnson during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on January 23, 2013 (see: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/may/08/context-hillary-clintons-what-difference-does-it-m/):

Johnson: No, again, we were misled that there were supposedly protests and that something sprang out of that -- an assault sprang out of that -- and that was easily ascertained that that was not the fact, and the American people could have known that within days and they didn’t know that.

Clinton: With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they’d they go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator. Now, honestly, I will do my best to answer your questions about this, but the fact is that people were trying in real time to get to the best information. The IC has a process, I understand, going with the other committees to explain how these talking points came out. But you know, to be clear, it is, from my perspective, less important today looking backwards as to why these militants decided they did it than to find them and bring them to justice, and then maybe we’ll figure out what was going on in the meantime.

Well, for starters Hillary actively participated in the cover-up surrounding the circumstances involving this travesty. One need only listen to what the mother of Sean Smith, one of four Americans killed in the Benghazi attack, has to say about Hillary and friends.

"It is our job to figure out what happened"? Well, if that's the case, Hillary and Barack didn't do their jobs. A month and a half ago, we learned from CNN that there has been no serious effort by the US government to investigate the murders of Sean Smith, Ambassador Stevens and two other Americans (see: http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2013/07/31/ctw-benghazi-witness-damon.cnn#/video/world/2013/07/31/ctw-benghazi-witness-damon.cnn). CNN's Arwa Damon spoke freely, in public, at a hotel coffee shop for two hours with Ahmed Abu Khattala, a leader of Ansar al-Sharia, who witnessed, and may have directed, the Benghazi embassy attack. No one from the US government ever contacted him.

Moreover, how do you "figure out what happened" in Benghazi and prevent it from ever happening again if you refuse to ascertain whether the deaths stemmed from a spontaneous protest or a planned attack by an al-Qaeda affiliate? It makes a big difference. In fact, I would say that it makes all the difference in the world if you want to take smart, effective measures to bolster US embassy defense and "to prevent it from ever happening again."

"Partisan rage" against Hillary? As much as it would be nice to have a first female president of the US, left, right and center should rise up against Hillary's unscrupulous, self-serving antics.