Democrats “absolutely must boycott this absurd, insane,
sickening, repulsive, shameful, and at the same time shame-less circus,” read
an article
at the Daily Beast last Wednesday.
While you may be forgiven for assuming that the author was referring to the
Obama administration, he actually was describing the upcoming hearings on the
Benghazi investigation, which the article bluntly calls “bullsh*t.” That’s
because progressives are rallying now in a desperate effort to dismiss Benghazi
as a joke and the hearings themselves as a waste of time.
From the beginning, when four Americans including Ambassador
Chris Stevens were killed in a terrorist assault in Libya in 2012, the
administration did its level best to downplay the attack and divert responsibility
for the murders to a scapegoated “Islamophobic” filmmaker and his hilariously
inept, obscure YouTube video dramatizing the life of Islam’s prophet Muhammad.
But unlike the lapdog media, the right refused to accept the
administration’s whitewashed narrative, so now that the left is feeling the
heat from hearings to be chaired by bulldog South Carolina Republican
Representative Trey Gowdy, they are naturally going on the offensive (when has
the left ever gone on the defensive?). That means reaching for the most
effective weapon in their arsenal: ridicule. Remember, this administration’s
guru Saul Alinsky counseled that “ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” It is
simultaneously a defensive and offensive strategy.
Political commentator and consultant Donna Brazile, for
example, mocked
on Twitter that “The Republicans are hyping the Benghazi hearings like they are
about to launch a new TV series: what should we call this?” One Twitter
respondent called her tweet “a horrifying display of arrogance and disrespect
for the dead.” Another jabbed back that the show should be called “Truth and Consequences.”
Missouri Democrat Representative Stacey Newman got into the
act, sending out the cutesy tweet
that she was “thinking of saying ‘Benghazi’ while debating tomorrow on the
House floor. Just to see what happens.” This is a woman who asserts in her Twitter
bio that she is most “obsessive” about “saving lives due to gun violence” – unless
they are American lives and Islamic guns, apparently. Then it’s just funny.
Mississippi Democrat congressional hopeful Trish Causey, another
candidate in a crowded field for the title of Least Classy Comedienne, tweeted
this hilarious nugget to her 1,325 social media followers: “As part of National
Masturbation Month, Republicans like screaming the name of their fluffer, Ben
Ghazi, when they orgasm.” It’s hard to imagine how anyone of any political
persuasion could take a candidate seriously after such a disgusting, flippant public
remark regarding American deaths, but then again, Causey admits on her website that she is “not a politician. I am an ActivistArtist
[sic].”
CNN contributor, Daily
Beast columnist, and now
would-be standup comedienne Sally Kohn tweeted this
smirky joke: “Little known fact: Monica Lewinsky is how Republicans pronounced
Benghazi in the 90s.” She’s actually trying to claim that the unanswered
massacre of Americans abroad, and the administration’s ensuing coverup is no
more consequential than what the left considered Clinton’s harmless sexual
indiscretion.
Here’s a little-known fact for you, Ms. Kohn: the Lewinsky
affair rightfully ended in Clinton’s impeachment, and if the Benghazi hearings
get to the truth, they could result in Obama’s. Kohn’s Twitter bio describes
her as someone who “works for justice” – except justice for the Benghazi
victims and their loved ones, because that might embarrass presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton, the woman who angrily shouted “What difference does it make?”
when questioned about the attack. The woman who looked the victims’ family
members in the eyes and promised
them that a lone anti-Islam filmmaker would be brought to justice.
But Eleanor Clift, yet another Daily Beast columnist, won the prize for diminishing Benghazi
Sunday when she stunned the other talking heads in an episode of The McLaughlin Report with the assertion
that Ambassador Chris Stevens “was not murdered. He died of smoke inhalation in
the safe room in that CIA installation” – as if his death were a mere workplace
accident and somehow completely unrelated to a terrorist attack. She too
insisted that the Muhammad video was responsible for everything, as did Jon
Stewart of The Daily Show, a program
built on satire and ridicule which has become a trusted news source for young
progressives. He dismissed the Benghazi controversy last week and asserted
ridiculously that “there is no dispute that this situation was spawned by the
release of a video. I don't think there's any question.” Stewart must be
confused, because there is actually no dispute that the “situation,” by which
he means the slaughter of American citizens, was not spawned by the release of a video.
Dismissing/joking about Benghazi is nothing new. A year ago
for example, former DNC chairman Howard Dean announced
in a televised discussion with RNC communications chairman Sean Spicer
that “Benghazi is a laughable joke.” When Spicer countered that “With all due
respect, governor, when four Americans die serving this country, that’s not a
joke, sir,” Dean interrupted with “Oh, stop it,” and proceeded to use the words
“ridiculous,” “silly” and “nonsense” in regard to the Republican pursuit of the
truth.
But this recent flurry of
irrational reactions confirms that Benghazi is not merely a minor incident of
workplace violence “that was, like, two years ago, dude,” to paraphrase
former White House spokesman Tommy
Vietor. After all, you draw the most fire when you’re directly over the
target. Benghazi is a potential Achilles heel for the left, and they are
acutely aware of it.
(This article originally appeared here on FrontPage Mag, 5/12/14)
