Blowing whistles

HotAir claims there is new Benghazi testimony about to break:
Stevens’ mission in Benghazi, they will say, was to buy back Stinger missiles from al-Qaeda groups issued to them by the State Department, not by the CIA. Such a mission would usually be a CIA effort, but the intelligence agency had opposed the idea because of the high risk involved in arming “insurgents” with powerful weapons that endanger civilian aircraft. 
Hillary Clinton still wanted to proceed because, in part, as one of the diplomats said, she wanted “to overthrow Gaddafi on the cheap.”
Meanwhile, Jim Geraghty reports on a looming "Pinnochio" shortage in his piece entitled "Washington Post Forced to Begin Using Its Strategic Pinnochio Reserve," but sadly, the NRO site appears to be down for the moment.   Meanwhile, as a commenter I read yesterday noted, Disney is considering cracking down on copyright infringement in the widespread use of that meme, prompting the Washington Post to look around for another example of a lying puppet; he suggested "Jay Carney."

13 comments:

Ymar Sakar said...

The Left better bring up another Petraeus strategic bomb then. They'll need it to correct the damage via propaganda and special warfare tactics.

Ymar Sakar said...

Also, when I said the Left were allied with Islamic terror, that wasn't a joke. Just in case people liked to misunderstand short statements.

Miss Ladybug said...

Did Disney originate the story of Pinnochio? I don't think so... So, they could only claim infringement on their version of the puppet-boy...

E Hines said...

Did Disney originate the story of Pinnochio?

Of course they did. Collodi was an employee of Walt Disney when he wrote the tale. No, wait--Walt bought the rights from the Collodi family back in the early '20s, just before the rights were to expire, when he first thought about a movie.

Yeah. Yeah. Let's go with that.

Eric Hines

Gringo said...

Meanwhile, as a commenter I read yesterday noted, Disney is considering cracking down on copyright infringement in the widespread use of that meme, prompting the Washington Post to look around for another example of a lying puppet; he suggested "Jay Carney."

For all the water carriers for Obama that inhabit the press in the US, I am surprised at the rank incompetence of Robert Gibbs and Jay Carney, who have been Obama's press secretaries. Couldn't Obama have found someone competent to fill that position? The pool of Obama supporters in the press corps is rather large.

For all the negative press that President Bush had,he was able to find a very competent press secretary in Tony Snow. For example Tony Snow could hold his own with the likes of Helen Thomas. "Thank you for the Hezbollah position, Helen."

Cass said...

"Thank you for the Hezbollah position, Helen."

*snort*

I miss that man.

E Hines said...

Couldn't Obama have found someone competent to fill that position?

Obama is afraid of competence in his cotery. He's the one who said, for instance, that he's a better policy man then his policy staff, a better political director than his political director, a better speechwriter than his speechwriters.

I also disagree with the canard that Carney (and Gibbs) are in any way dishonest or incompetent (the above notwithstanding). Keep in mind that every thing Carney says, every paraphrase he makes, was written for him, vetted for him, or otherwise approved beforehand by his boss, Obama. It may be Carney's mouth talking, but it's Obama's words flowing.

Eric Hines

Cass said...

Plus it's not easy for Carney, covering an a$$ that big.

Sorry, Grim. Couldn't resist :)

Grim said...

I'll forgive you, Cass. :)

Texan99 said...

Eric, I don't think I understand you. Carney knows he's being paid to mouth his boss's lies. How is it a canard to say he's a liar? n honest man with self-respect would quit.

E Hines said...

T99, in a Nuremberg sort of way, you're right. However, he's a small enough bit that I don't think he'd be covered by that. Moreover, he is just parroting his boss' lies, he's not originating them.

Certainly an honorable man (and I draw a distinction; honest being only one factor in honor, perhaps a fool's distinction here), or one with self respect, would resign. But a man who's willing to play the puppet has neither honor nor self respect.

Eric Hines

Texan99 said...

The distinction I'd draw here is not between a liar and an honest man, but between an original liar and a merely subservient one.

If Carney didn't know they were lies, that would make him gullible until he found out, and dishonorable when he didn't resign afterwards. But that's the only scenario that absolves him of dishonesty for at least part of the time. The total lack of any change in his behavior at any point argues against the scenario in which he found out belatedly that he had been passing on someone else's lies in good faith.

That was what happened to (apparently some of) Clinton's cabinet. They didn't resign, either, which permanently tarnished their honor. If you find someone has sent you out to lie, you must resign.

E Hines said...

I don't disagree with that line of thought (dang--that's twice you've forced me to rethink a position...).

Another thing that will be interesting to me will be seeing who hires Carney after he's no longer Press Secretary (and who hires Obama).

On the other hand, this could be the making of Carney's career, in a fashion similar to Drefyus' character in The Goodbye Girl: anyone who could play Shakespeare's Richard III as a gay, hump-backed man can play anything.

Eric Hines