It should, though the GOP have treasured this hobby horse of their's and clutched it lovingly to their chests for 9 months.They'll give up their security blanket only very reluctantly. As I mentioned in my last piece, the trouble with scandals is that they're not about facts. Those of us who hope to deflate them are at a disadvantage. It's not that the facts are impotent-they're actually all we have, but, they can take a long time to cut through the media filter.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/05/washington-as-village-where-facts-dont.html
In any case, to the extent that facts matter, this should be over. The emails support the Administration claims and show mostly an attempt to get the State and CIA, etc. on the same page. To the extent that anything was "scrubbed" it was to protect classified information and this decision was pushed by the CIA as well as State.
"The Post’s overview of the email release last night gets right to the point, deflating the GOP charge of political intentions in the editing of the talking points:
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/05/washington-as-village-where-facts-dont.html
In any case, to the extent that facts matter, this should be over. The emails support the Administration claims and show mostly an attempt to get the State and CIA, etc. on the same page. To the extent that anything was "scrubbed" it was to protect classified information and this decision was pushed by the CIA as well as State.
"The Post’s overview of the email release last night gets right to the point, deflating the GOP charge of political intentions in the editing of the talking points:
The internal debate did not include political interference from the White House, according to the e-mails, which were provided to congressional intelligence committees several months ago.
"That’s pretty clear. Remember, Republicans claimed the administration would not release these emails because it may have been trying to hide a cover up."
"The Post also reports two other key nuggets from senior administration officials: CIA deputy director Mike Morell removed the reference to Ansar al-Sharia involvement in the attacks because the assessment was classified and because revealing the name could compromise the investigation. The New York Times adds that in so doing, Morell “acted on his own.” The administration has argued all along that the editing was driven by these concerns."
"Also: Morell reportedly agreed with State Department objections to including references to previous attacks — again showing the editing was mostly about getting multiple agencies on the same page. There’s just nothing here."
See also:
Even Susan Rice is exonerated-it's never been very clear what she's supposed to have lied about anyway-supposedly she blamed it all on the video.
"Also from the Post write up, there’s no evidence that Rice, in her appearances on Sunday shows, stepped outside of what the administration had decided was known at the time:
"White House officials have argued that Rice was using talking points that reflected the administration consensus at that time, and the e-mails appear to support that contention.
"Worth remembering that Rice’s TV appearances are what led Republicans to derail her nomination as Secretary of State."
So there's no issue. Still it lasted 9 months. The GOP has recognized these emails which Issa was insulting Eric Holder the other day at the hearing, claiming the White House would never release the emails as they were incriminating-by: raising more money off of Benghazi.
The trouble is that Benghazi is a huge money raiser for the GOP.
"A recent survey from the automated Public Policy Polling found that 41 percent of Republicans believe Benghazi is the worst scandal in American history. So it’s unclear whether Republican officials can put the Benghazi genie back in the bottle — or whether they even want to, given the utility of using it to rev up the base for 2014. Indeed, despite the release of the emails, which clearly back up the administration’s case, Republican officials continue to call for more investigations."
As Sargent says, the beloved "narrative" of the Beltway media may still be in tact even with Benghazi's unraveling, even though as Jonathan Chait points out, the only reason this whole narrative of the President under scandal was because doctored emails that ABC's Jonathan Karl presented; in fact he never had the emails just "summaries" put together, no doubt, by Republican Congressional staffers.
Still this is a very good development. Keep the faith, Liberal Bloggers-or as I like to say, Liberal Hacks.
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