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Jon Stewart ripped into Fox "News" and their continued hyping of the trumped up Benghazi "scandal" which they've been promising over and over is about to "have the lid blown off a giant coverup" at any moment now since the attacks first happened.

Stewart took his viewers back through some of Fox's coverage for the last few months now, whether it was the Greta hyping the Petraeus testimony, or Hannity ranting about the Clinton testimony, to Lindsey Graham promising that the hearing this week was "going to make you mad" and if not, well, they'll just keep having more of them until you are.

Stewart reminded his viewers that this Congress has had nine full hearings on Benghazi, but during the Bush administration there were fifty four attacks on diplomatic targets that killed thirteen Americans, but Congress only held three hearings total on embassy security back then with zero of the outrage we're seeing from Republicans now.

After asking what made things different this time around, Stewart went through the recent list of items that the wingnuts on the right believe are "worse than Watergate" and crazy GOP Rep. Steve King's remarks that Benghazi is "Watergate and Iran Contra together" and "multiplied by ten." Stewart put into perspective just what King was comparing the so-called Benghazi "coverup" to and asked, just what did President Obama do that Republicans believe is worse than some of Nixon and Reagan's worst scandals combined.

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Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman on Sunday clashed with Fox News host Greta Van Susteren after she asserted that President Barack Obama's administration was strangling small businesses with "laughable" regulations.

"No one's paying much attention to these small businesses," Van Susteren opined during an ABC panel discussion. "The regulations that are strangling them, some are laughable and silly, but they have profound impact on the job creators, those who are making jobs. They can't afford to hire people."

"There's been tons of work on this," Krugman pointed out. "And what's holding small business back is not regulation, it's the fact that they don't have sales. There's no correlation."

"Which parts of the economy do small businesses complain about regulation, which don't -- there's no correlation between that an actual job creation."

ABC host George Stephanopoulos suggested that the "one exception" could be Obama's health care reform law, which requires businesses with 50 or more employees to provide health insurance.

"Don't you see some firms cutting off at 49?" the ABC host wondered.

"There might be but you can't see that in the numbers," Krugman explained.

"Instead of looking at just numbers, why don't you sit down and talk to them?" Van Susteren interrupted. "And if you actually talk to these people, a lot of them are struggling with this. They don't understand a lot of the things that happen to them, they don't understand a lot of things that happen in Washington. They're very cautious because they see a dismal economy out there."

"I have talked to them, that's not what they're saying to me," Krugman shot back.

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You just gotta love Fox allowing the Budget Director for the administration that blew a mile wide hole in our debt and deficit to come on the air and fearmonger about how we're going to "become Greece" if we don't do something to get our spending under control, and talk about making "tough choices" to fix the mess he and his boss George W. Bush helped to create. But that's exactly what the viewers were treated to on this Tuesday evening's On the Record With Greta Van Susteren.

Portman was allowed to tell the lie that the Congress supposedly voted on President Obama's budget. They didn't as Media Matters explains here. He was also allowed the lie and claim that our current deficit is President Obama's fault, when, as we've explained here repeatedly and more times than I can keep track of, the deficit got as big as it did in recent years primarily due to George W. Bush's policies as this article explains.

He was also on there pushing for their latest proposal to kick the can down the road on the debt ceiling for a few months, and to withhold Congressional pay if the Senate doesn't pass a budget, which as TPM and others have noted, may not be Constitutional.

Par for the course for Fox, none of their viewers were made aware of Portman's background, the lies about Congress voting on the President's budget, or the real questions about whether their latest gimmick is even Constitutional. Instead, we were treated to more nonsense about how President Obama isn't "leading" unless he decides to gut our social safety nets and balances the budget on the backs of the working class, the elderly and the poor -- because God knows we can't do anything foolish like raising taxes or getting rid of any tax loopholes for those wealthy "job creators."

If there's anything you can count on over at Fox, it's someone being rewarded for governing badly and for them to make sure that their viewers have absolutely no reminder about anything that's happened in our recent history and that the Bush presidency is washed from their memories.

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You gotta love it. These wingnuts can't even wait to see what executive orders end up being issued on gun control before they start with the impeachment threats. I'm not quite sure what else remains on the list that Congressional Republicans can do to make themselves less popular than they are right now, but I'm pretty sure impeachment hearings would work out about as well for them as they did back in Clinton's days, which is not well at all.

GOP Rep. Threatens Impeachment If Obama Uses Executive Order On Guns:

The conservative discord in the wake of the Newtown, Conn. massacre went up another octave on Monday when Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) threatened to file articles of impeachment if President Obama uses an executive order to try to reduce gun violence.

“The White House’s recent announcement they will use executive orders and executive actions to infringe on our constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms is an unconstitutional and unconscionable attack on the very founding principles of this republic,” Stockman said in a statement. “I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary, including but not limited to eliminating funding for implementation, defunding the White House, and even filing articles of impeachment.”

Stockman showed up on Greta Van Susteren's show on Fox Tuesday night and reiterated his statement about impeachment being an option on the table and he threw this stink-bomb out there: Republican freshman to Fox News host: Obama reminds me of Saddam Hussein:

Republican Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas unfavorably compared President Barack Obama to Abraham Lincoln and Saddam Hussein on Tuesday night.

The Republican freshman appeared on Fox News’ On The Record with Greta Van Susteren to discuss how he would try impeach Obama if the President attempted to use an executive order to enact new gun control laws.

“He is saying he is going to issue 19 executive orders,” Stockman explained to Greta Van Susteren. “If it breaches his authority into legislation which impedes on the Constitution, we have the right to take different steps to counter that. A lot of people are frustrated with Republicans not fighting back, and I was too when I was on the sidelines. I got involved with Congress, I said enough is enough, and we need to stand up and fight. I said these kinds of tools are available to us, and we’re going to use every tool possible to fight an administration which wants to abrogate the Constitution.” [...]

At the end of the interview, Stockman awkwardly interjected that Obama was “even using children.”

“Reminds me of Saddam Hussein, when he used kids,” he said with a laugh.

“Well, I think that is just a little bit of a stretch,” Van Susteren replied.

I think this turd just figured out how to make sure he gets himself lots of airtime on Fox. Every time we get rid of one of these flamethrowers, another one comes along and takes their place.

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A Kentucky sheriff who refused to enforce any new gun laws that he deemed unconstitutional says that the Second Amendment is "like the Bible" because "you either believe it or you don't."

In a recent interview with The Lexington Herald-Leader, Jackson County Sheriff Denny Peyman said that he had a "moral obligation" to defy any new executive orders from President Barack Obama or laws passed by Congress if they restricted the Constitutional right to bear arms.

"I swore an oath to the Constitution," Peyman explained to Fox News host Greta Van Susteren on Monday. "And in the Constitution is the Second Amendment and that's what this country is based upon. How can I rightfully in my own mind and in my heart come in and take guns away from people when that is their protection?"

Susteren asked the sheriff, who is a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), how gun laws should be changed to prevent another mass shooting like the one that killed 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut.

"If you take out part -- it's kind of like the Bible -- either you believe it or you don't believe it," he insisted. "The Constitution, either you believe it or you don't. Either you live by it or you don't."

"If the people in the theater [in Aurora, Colorado], if there had been somebody in there or several people in there with a firearm, how many people would have got shot? In the school, how many people would have got shot?"

Susteren pressed Peyman on what he would do "put the lid on some of these incidents" if he were president.

"The Secondment Amendment, the way it was designed was to protect the people," he replied. "In protection, it's just like if I'm a bad guy and I'm going to go kick a door but I know that the guy behind that door has a gun, and I go to this other door where I know a guy doesn't have a gun, that's the door I'm going to kick."

"You're still going to have incidences, you're still going to have violence. You're not going to be able to curb that, but the innocent people are going to be able to protect themselves."

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Fox News host Greta Van Susteren on Sunday offered a defense of conservatives on her network who suggested that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could have been faking a concussion in order to delay testimony on attacks in Benghazi, saying that the conspiracy theories were put forth "before she was hospitalized" with a blood clot.

In December, Republicans like former Florida Rep. Allen West and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton — and numerous other Fox News personalities — had repeatedly mocked Clinton by suggesting that her illness was a manufactured “diplomatic illness” or “Benghazi allergy” to avoid testifying before lawmakers.

After the Daily Beast published an article which incorrectly said that Van Susteren was also peddling conspiracy theories about Clinton, the Fox News host took to her blog to demand that the website "CORRECT THIS PRONTO — and do so in a BIG WAY."

"Of course I will accept an apology but I’m more interested in the TRUTH getting out and that I did not make this crack about the Secretary of State," she wrote, stopping short of also calling on conservatives to apologize to Clinton.

On Sunday, ABC News host George Stephanopolous offered Van Susteren another chance to appeal for a retraction from West, Bolton, Laura Ingraham and others.

"I'm responsible for what I say, number one," Van Susteren explained. "Those were all very dated, before she was hospitalized. And there was not much information coming out of the State Department and very early on with those quotes."

"Look, not for one second did I doubt it," she added. "Once these people heard that she was seriously ill, that all changed. The secretary of state will have to -- should answer questions about Benghazi. There's a lot of mystery... I have nothing beyond to say to that."

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Sarah Palin, in an interview on Fox News, on President Obama being named "Person of the Year." Isn't she just adorable?

via PoliticalWire

SARAH PALIN: "Time magazine, I think there is some irrelevancy there, to tell you the truth. I mean consider their list of the most influential people in the country and the world, some who have made that list -- yours truly! That ought to tell you something right there regarding the credence we should give Time magazine and their list of people."

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South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Rep. Tim Scott appeared on Greta Van Susteren's show on Fox to discuss Haley's decision to appoint Scott to take Sen. Jim DeMint's place, who is off to collect his wingnut welfare over at The Heritage Foundation after his retirement.

Right out of the gate we had Scott promising to focus on getting that government spending, that they all hate when there's a Democratic in the White House so much under control and advocating for a flat tax. Haley heaped praise on Scott and said that "he earned" this appointment. I guess that's true if anyone thinks there's merit in being even more of an extremist than his predecessor and so far, that seems to be the case.

Here's more on that from Think Progress: Meet Sen. Tim Scott: The Tea Party Lawmaker Who Wanted To Impeach President Obama And Kick Kids Off Food Stamps:

Though DeMint left big, controversial shoes to fill for Republicans, few conservatives will be disappointed with Scott’s record. Elected to Congress just two years ago in the Tea Party wave, Scott has already garnered headlines for his plan to impeach President Obama, his legislation to cut off union members’ children from food stamps, and his defense of Big Oil.

Here’s a quick look at Scott’s record:

• Floated impeaching Obama over the debt ceiling. As the debt ceiling debate raged in the summer of 2011 because of the intransigence of Tea Party freshmen like Scott, the nation inched perilously close to defaulting on its obligations. One option discussed by some officials to avoid that scenario was for the president to assert that the debt ceiling itself was an unconstitutional infringement on the 14th Amendment. However, Tim Scott told a South Carolina Tea Party group that if Obama were to go this route, it would be an “impeachable act.”
• Proposed a bill to cut off food stamps for entire families if one member went on strike. One of the most anti-union members of Congress, Scott proposed a bill two months after entering Congress in 2011 to kick families off food stamps if one adult were participating in a strike. Scott’s legislation made no exception for children or other dependents.
• Wanted to spend an unlimited amount of money to display Ten Commandments outside county building. When Scott was on the Charleston County Council, one of his primary issues was displaying the Ten Commandments outside the Council building. According to the Augusta Chronicle, Scott said the display “would remind council members and speakers the moral absolutes they should follow.” When he was sued for violating the Constitution and a Circuit Judge’s orders, Scott was nonplussed: “Whatever it costs in the pursuit of this goal (of displaying the Commandments) is worth it.”
• Defended fairness of giving billions in subsidies to Big Oil. Scott and his Republican allies in Congress voted repeatedly last year to protect more than $50 billion in taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil corporations. When ThinkProgress asked Scott whether it was fair to do that, especially at a time when oil companies are earning tens of billions in profit every quarter, the Tea Party freshman defended the industry: “fair is a relative word,” said Scott.
• Helped slash South Carolina’s HIV/AIDS budget. As a state representative, Scott backed a proposal to cut the state’s entire HIV/AIDS budget, despite the fact that South Carolina ranks in the top-third of reported AIDS cases. The cuts were ultimately included in the state’s budget, impacting more than 2,000 HIV-positive South Carolinians who needed help paying for their medication.

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They just can't stop themselves. Even after Fox, John McCain and the right wing have been completely discredited with their fake outrage over what happened during the attacks in Benghazi back in September, they're just going to keep beating this horse long after it's dead. Case in point, here was Fox's Greta Van Susteren and the Quitta From Wasilla, Sarah Palin, with more over the top attacks against Rice.

As I noted in my other post, there are legitimate questions that she ought to be asked if she is nominated for Secretary of State, one being investments in the companies involved in the Keystone pipeline, and I've read some other articles questioning investments in firms with ties to Iran. If they want to ask her questions about what companies she and her husband are investing in and whether there are conflicts of interest there, by all means, have at it during the hearings. But this nonsense over these Benghazi attacks is so over the top, it's frankly just giving me a giant headache seeing them still going after her in this manner.

What was even more disgusting than the interview with Palin was the intro above, where they took footage of various members of Congress, and intentionally made them look like something out of a horror movie. Be afraid... be very afraid!!! Those evil, scary black women were standing up for Susan Rice and heaven forbid calling out Grandpa McGrumpy for the fact that racism and sexism might just possibly have something to do with his attacks on Susan Rice. The horror!

As to Van Susteren's interview with Palin, you can read more about that over at Mediaite, where, par for the course as we've come to expect from most of their posts where Fox "news" is involved, it was pretty well substance-free over whether Van Susteren or Palin had an ounce of legitimacy to their complaints (they don't), was just more of the same that we've already heard from McCain's carping to the media. He's got questions. They haven't been answered. When is the administration going to let everyone know who changed the talking points? But, as Rachel Maddow already pointed out this week, those questions for the most part, have already been answered.

The ones that haven't will be during the upcoming Congressional hearings and one hell of a lot faster than we ever got any answers, if any, about the attacks on 9/11 that happened on George W. Bush's watch, but don't dare bring that up to any Republicans, because they'll just dismiss any comparisons to how they reacted to terrorist attacks back when Bush was in office.

That's different, because Republican presidents and their administrations can do no wrong, as opposed to Democratic presidents, who they'll never even cede the least bit of respect or common courtesy to for holding the office, as long as they think it will score them cheap political points. You say something bad about one of their own though and of course that's akin to treason. Our first bi-racial Democratic president... not so much.

Video below the fold of the Palin interview and transcript of Rachel Maddow's points on McCain's similar madness from her show this Wednesday, debunking their continued, ridiculous over the top attacks over what happened in Benghazi.

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Of all the recent stupidity surrounding this drummed up conspiracy theory by the right wing that there's some massive coverup in regard to the attack on our embassy in Libya back in September, this has to be one of the more ridiculous ones I've heard. President Obama didn't want Amb. Susan Rice to admit the attacks were terrorism, because he doesn't want anyone to believe that radical Islamic terrorism exists.

I don't know what it's going to take to get the right wing politicians and the yappers over at Fox to back off of this story, but it's making my head hurt. Obviously facts don't seem to matter much to them, but then, when have they at Fox? These people just keep building up their own alternate reality apart from the rest of us and they've just gotten worse with looking like they've lost their damned minds since Romney lost the election.

Here was Rep. Dana Rohrabacher touting his conspiracy theories on Van Susteren's show on Fox this Thursday -- 'Breathtaking' lies and dishonesty by Obama and White House spark anger at Benghazi hearing:

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