Joe 'You Lie' Wilson Badgers Clinton About Not Appearing on Sunday Shows
Unlike another former presidential candidate who's showing up on those shows literally every other week because he apparently can't get enough of hearing himself talk in front of the cameras, we found out Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is not quite so fond of them during the hearings on Benghazi this Wednesday.
Apparently Clinton not appearing on the Sunday shows right after the attack in Benghazi was of great concern to wingnut Rep. "You Lie" Joe Wilson and here's how Clinton responded to him when asked about it: Clinton: Going On Sunday Shows ‘Is Not My Favorite Thing To Do’:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday conceded that going on the Sunday morning talk shows "is not my favorite thing to do." After the Benghazi attack in September 2012, UN Ambassador Susan Rice went on the Sunday programs to deliver the U.S. message.
"There are other things I prefer to do on Sunday mornings," Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee, adding that she hasn't appeared on a Sunday show in more than a year.
Wilson continued his line of questioning, reading from an op-ed written by a retired foreign service officer, William Boudreau last year. Clinton addressed the majority of the concerns addressed in the column and here's more on one of the many right wing memes being pushed in the article, which is that the White House and their national security team were supposedly watching the attacks in real time. They weren't and this article explains where that lie originated before the right wing blogs and Fox picked it up and ran with it: How a Real News Story Became the 'Obama Watched Them Die' Meme.
Clinton also discussed something I hadn't heard before on the issue of why they did not have Marines guarding the compound.
CLINTON: Because historically, Marine guards are at posts where there is classified information. Marine guards have not historically had the responsibility for protecting personnel. Their job is to protect, and if necessary, destroy classified material. At our compound, there was no classified material.
I have no doubt that no matter what Clinton said during these hearings, it won't satisfy the right who was just itching to take her down and who wanted to turn the tragedy in Benghazi into some grand conspiracy theory in the run up to the presidential election. I don't think the right did themselves any favors putting the likes of Wilson and his counterparts in the House, or flame throwers in the Senate like Ron Johnson and Rand Paul on display for all to see.
I will be surprised if we don't see another bump in her popularity ratings once some new polls come out following this fiasco. I'm not a big fan of Hillary Clinton, but I gained some new respect for her after watching the way she handled herself during these hearings. She's got a lot more patience than I would have had for these Republicans throwing every ounce of mud against the wall to see what would stick over this drummed up fake scandal they've been screaming about for months.
Transcript of the exchange below the fold.
