Libya - Romney, News Media Still in the Dark

by Columnist TRB - Quick - Who is more dumb, the GOP or the U.S. news media? Don't know? Don't feel bad; it is a mystery.

Try this one - who's more dumb, self-described "journalist" Chuck Todd of MSNBC or Mitt Romney? These are tough questions. One has to look at the news coverage of the recent terrorist attack on the (interm facility) embassy in Benghazi, Libya to even begin to understand how twisted the "facts" in this case have become - one suspects Todd of MSNBC and the GOP are using this occasion to poke holes in Obama's foreign policy achievements. They are not working together. It is just that Todd is inexperienced and the Republican Party thinks that's just great. Eventually they will hit a wall on this one. And here's why:

If you read the last paragraph, you noticed, I called the U.S. Embassy in Behghazi an "interm facility." It was not complete, still being built. The level of security at "interm facilitiy" embassies has always been "lock & key," no U.S. Marine detachment. Only security guards or local militia. Ambassador Chris Stevens, who had played such a big part in helping to put Libya back together again after its revolution was, according to friends and news media, a difficult man with personal security.

He did not not like it, so it is not a surprise that he had only two people with him on the night he was killed. Somehow Chris Todd and Mitt Romney would like to blame this on Obama. They would like to blame the entire situation in the Middle East on Obama. Imagine, Romney, who has zero foreign policy experience going after Obama on the subject.

It is laughable.

Todd goes after U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, suggesting that she was less than honest immediately following the attack in Behghazi, when she claimed on a news show that the attack was believed to be part of many such attacks on U.S. embassies which were occuring in the Middle East at that time. It was thought that the locals were upset over a sacrilegious video made in the U.S. and released throughout the Middle East. Here is a more obvious take on what really occurred and what most real journalists would have figured out before Todd.

The U.S. probably knew almost immediately following the Benghazi attack that it was terrorist in nature, that it was pre-planned and that Stevens was the target. But the U.S. had to keep what it really knew under wraps. Why? Because it did not want the terrorists to know how much it already knew.

The less the terrorists knew, the easier it would be to strike them. An attachment of Marines was immedialely dispatched to Benghazi. And who knows what else was sent? Seals? A Special Forces A Team or two? We don't know - for security reasons. These are same reasons I believe Rice responded the way she did on television.

Obama holds his cards very close to his chest.

That week the State Dept. announced that all of its personnel were coming home from Libya. The Rebublicans, who have been having problems ever since they chose a crash test dummy to run against Obama, openly talked about "cut and run," as if somehow the president who had helped put a bullet in bin Laden's head had become a coward.

When in truth, it has probably been unsafe in Benghazi because U.S. special combat troops are taking the place apart in their search for the killers of Chris Stevens.

There are basically two main types of journalism - opinion and news. There are others, sports, entertainment, finance, technology, etc. But opinion and news are on the main menu. I write opinion. It is my own opinion. That is why I don't feel bad about calling Mitt a crash test dummy or a guy who allows the department store Marshalls to dress him. But broadcast journalists like Chuch Todd, who go out of their way to polish the patina of objectivity and fairness are often in truth just right-wing hacks. You will find a lefty in there once in a blue moon.

The news media in the U.S. is not trusted by overwhelming numbers of U.S. citizens. The poll numbers supporting this are larger each year. They talk a good game about objectivity and fairness. But when the game whistle blows they hit the field wearing a team uniform - Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative. Their opinions have become not unlike those of the politicians they cover so badly.

Chuck Todd is just another conservative voice out there. You don't get the "news" from him. You get opinions.

His opinions.