Ed Henry of Fox News tried to use Susan Rice’s appointment to revive the Benghazi conspiracy, but was immediately smacked down White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.
Transcript:
Henry: You described (Rice) as one of the most qualified, experienced foreign policy experts in America. If that’s the case, how did she get the information on Benghazi so wrong five days after the attack?
Carney: Ed, I would welcome the opportunity to correct the record especially for some news outlets who persist in misrepresenting the facts. You have seen the so-called talking points. You have seen the testimony of the deputy director of the CIA and the documents that demonstrate that the central point that they made was drafted in the first instance and every instance thereafter.
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Henry: Then why did various intelligence officers say that they almost immediately knew that this was terror and if she’s so experienced why wouldn’t she see that as they saw it?
Carney: So you are suggesting that a senior member of the national security team should disagree with the assessments of the intelligence community because somebody appeared on Fox News and said something?
Why yes, that’s exactly what Ed Henry was suggesting. Henry and Fox News are following the orders of the conservative think tanks to the letter. They are going to try to turn everything into a connection to an Obama “scandal,” but as you can see Jay Carney wasn’t about to play along.
Carney was calling Henry out for floating a conspiracy theory with no proof. Henry’s antics did demonstrate that the Rice appointment is bringing out the sort of Pavlovian Benghazi response in Republicans that I suspect the White House was hoping for. The mainstream media hasn’t noticed this yet, but the Obama administration isn’t backing down on these scandals. The White House is not giving them credibility by getting defensive, but they are pushing back when pushed.
This isn’t a White House under siege. The Obama administration is dealing with the same conspiracy infested right wing gnats that have been annoying them for the last four plus years. This does not look like an administration rocked by scandal. Obama seems to want the Republicans to give into their paranoia. Fox News took the bait, and they are setting a narrative that could run the Republican Party right into the ground.
I have a hunch that President Obama and his team knew what they were doing when they appointed Rice, and they are getting exactly what they hoped for today.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
