Politics: The Benghazi Show

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Politics The Benghazi Show Republicans wanted to grill Hillary Clinton on the death of four Americans in Libya. They blew it. By David Weigel Posted Thursday, Jan 24, 2013, at 01:25 AM ET Republicans wanted answers about Benghazi. They wanted them yesterday. They wanted them now. "Why was security at the consulate so inadequate?" asked four Republican senators in an October op-ed. "Did anyone order U.S. military and intelligence personnel in Benghazi or nearby in the region who offered help to stand down?" One week ago, three of those senators published 14 more questions about the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed four Americans. Why was the FBI investigating an "act of terrorism?" Why wasn't a military response ready in a hurry, when the consulate came under attack? And "what were the secretary of State's activities during this time?" They were supposed to find out today. Hillary Clinton, who's leaving the State Department as soon as she can toss the baton to Sen. John Kerry, spent the morning with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the afternoon with the House. She would have come in December, but events got away from her: an unexplained illness, a pack of Republicans speculating that she had "Benghazi flu," the revelation that she'd had a blood clot, followed by some furtive Republican apologies. Still, Republicans would get their hearing. It wasn't the Joint Committee on Benghazi that Sen. John McCain wanted, but it would be a chance to break into cable programming, all day, and to put the magnifying glass on Barack Obama's foreign policy until it caught fire. And they'd have an extra month to come up with ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate The Benghazi Show Crapware Won't Crap Out How Obama Could Reduce the Risk of Nuclear War Right Now	Advertisement
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