Showing posts with label jonathan karl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jonathan karl. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

President Obama Signs Historic Iran Deal - GOP Throws Tantrum

photo IranDeal2.jpg

President Obama signed a historic agreement with Iran and other world leaders.

From CNN
"Today after two years of negotiation the United States together with the international community has achieved something that decades of animosity has not: a comprehensive long-term deal with Iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama said from the White House, with Vice President Joe Biden at his side.
"This deal is not built on trust. It's built on verification," Obama said Tuesday.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also praised the deal, speaking after Obama finished, as televisions in Iran broadcast the U.S. President's statement live, translated into Farsi.
"Negotiators have reached a good agreement and I announce to our people that our prayers have come true," Rouhani said in a live address to the nation following Obama.
The essential idea behind the deal is that in exchange for limits on its nuclear activities, Iran would get relief from sanctions while being allowed to continue its atomic program for peaceful purposes.

Complete Iran Deal Press Conference with President Obama 1-15-2015




ABC's Jon Karl, well-known GOP tool, tried to make it political and ask about Donald Trump, and Obama waved him off:



CBS News reporter Major Garrett tried to start a Benghazi-like controversy by asking whether the President even cared about hostages in Iran and he got a smackdown from the President.

"The notion that I'm 'content' as I celebrate, with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails? 
Major, that's nonsense. 
And you should know better."
~ President Obama



 Turns out, both Karl and Garret may have been asking about hostages because Trump brought the issue up on MSNBC's Morning Joe. He also said the President and John Kerry should have read his book, "The Art of the Deal."

Trump, Via RealClearPolitics
Well, they didn't read The Art of the Deal. Most people did, they didn't. It's a ridiculous deal. Even a thing like, you know, nuclear's so important and stopping nuclear proliferation, which just as likely will enhance, but so important.
But something like at the beginning when they were discussing it, we had three prisoners, we now have four prisoners.
Automatically you say, listen, not going to do you any good, release the prisoners would send a great signal to everybody.
You don't care about them, but we do, important for the United States. Just release the prisoners. Now, if that's deliver by the right messenger, they would have done it a long time ago. Amazingly, they -- I don't think that Kerry brought it up.



That GOP champion, Benjamin Netanyahu,is not a happy camper with the President either:





Senator Marco Rubio agrees with Bibi:





Mike Huckabee cries "Shame!" Apparently world peace bothers him more than his friends (like Josh Duggar) who molest little girls.



Lindsey Graham is just overwhelmed by the Iran Deal.



Jeb Bush sought to contrast his view with Hillary
using some "Presidential" looking graphics:





Ted Cruz fell back on the old "On Day One" promise.
(Which never worked for Mitt, but oh well...)



Chris Christie - It's a "dangerous game"



Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, May 1, 2014

#Benghazi is Back Because It Never Left ~ Jon Karl is Thrilled

photo conspiracy-theory-meme-300x300.jpg

Previous Related Posts:
Jon Karl Issues a Non-Apology Apology Over Fake Benghazi Emails
Jon Karl Gets Juiced by Fake Benghazi Leak
Lindsey Graham Blames Russian Aggression on #Benghazi
Lara Logan and the Bogus Benghazi Report
New York Times Debunks #Benghazi - POP Go the Tea Party Heads
The Benghazi Political Circus
The #Benghazi Witch Hunt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Well, Benghazi is back - but then it was never gone, and it will probably never be gone. When the last Tea Partier lays down his gun and rides into the Sunset, Benghazi!!!!! will be carved on his headstone, right next to Molon Labe.

A new document has been found in which a White House Aide tells Susan Rice to follow the CIA talking points, which we already know that she did. Yawn. None of this is really new, nor is it a smoking gun. It's the last gasp of a dying party, but hey, they got nothin' else. Besides, it changes the subject from Cliven Bundy and his racism, so Sean Hannity is heaving a sigh of relief.

This new thing is brought to you by Judicial Watch, a conservative "watchdog" group ~ yeah, they are going to be unbiased, right? Look at their tweet!



Oh, Look ~ Rep. Darrell Issa has started a new investigation!
Surprise!!! (NOT)






From Fox News
New emails indicate a White House adviser helped prep (UN Ambassador Susan) Rice for her Sunday show appearances and pushed the explanation linking the attack to an anti-Islamic film -- and now, the White House is facing credibility questions after having downplayed their role in Rice's "talking points."

. . . During a heated briefing with reporters Wednesday afternoon, Press Secretary Jay Carney repeatedly tried to claim that the so-called "prep call" with Rice -- as it was described in one email -- was not about Benghazi. The prep session, he said, was just about the demonstrations elsewhere in the Muslim world that week.
"It is not about Benghazi -- it is about the protests around the Muslim world," Carney claimed.

. . . the documents obtained and released by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, included a Sept. 14, 2012, email from White House aide Ben Rhodes, an assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.

The Rhodes email, with the subject line: "RE: PREP Call with Susan: Saturday at 4:00 pm ET," was sent to a dozen members of the administration's inner circle, including key members of the White House communications team such as Carney.
In the email, Rhodes specifically draws attention to the anti-Islam Internet video, without distinguishing whether the Benghazi attack was different from protests elsewhere.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

And who was in the "heated debate" with Press Secretary Jay Carney? None other than ABC's Benghazi Warrior, Jonathan Karl, who was once fooled by some fake emails about Benghazi. Why he gets to ask questions now is a mystery, because he has no credibility left as a reporter, and now merely shills for the Right. Someday his visage will hang in the Benghazi Hall of Fame, right next to Lindsey Graham and Darrell Issa.

It would be funnier if it wasn't such a boring waste of time!







And of course all the other Pundidiots and Politicians have to chime in.

UPDATE: Joe Scarborough Loses His Mind on Morning Joe, Transcript Via NewsMax

photo MorningJo2.png

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: So the email that you all are talking about is written by deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes. I think we flashed it up there. To then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. The email was sent two days before Ambassador Rice went on five Sunday talk shows and blamed an anti-Islamic video for the attack.

One of the goals listed in the email, "To underscore that these protests are rooted in an internet video and not a broader failure of policy." So they're trying to really clarify exactly what her focus is.

Republicans say the email is a smoking gun and should have been released with the rest of the Benghazi material, as we were talking about. But the White House disagrees, arguing that it was about broader Middle East policy and didn't have to be released.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Oh, that's ridiculous.

. . . DONNY DEUTSCH: I want to put up a warning for the Republicans because obviously the Republicans are seizing on this and jumping in. I think this is fools gold for 2016. I do not think the Benghazi – I think if they focus on this-

SCARBOROUGH: What about the cover-up for the White House? I got everybody here – I got everybody here apologizing for the White House.

DEUTSCH: I'm not.

SCARBOROUGH: What about a cover-up here, Donny?!

DEUTSCH: I am talking about political strategy. I think that-

SCARBOROUGH: Okay. But why are you jumping to political strategy instead of talking-

DEUTSCH: I'm just giving my point of view.

SCARBOROUGH: No, why aren't you talking about what Jay Carney did, the double speak?!

DEUTSCH: Because – it is double speak, but I'm talking politics. This is a political show.



SCARBOROUGH: So tell me, what's the politics of the White House lying about something that we all know they're lying about. When Jay Carney is saying it's not about Benghazi when you know it's about Benghazi! And we know it's about Benghazi.

DEUTSCH: If they're gonna run against Hillary Clinton on this, I think it's a bad political move.

SCARBOROUGH: And Chuck Todd knows it's about Benghazi. And he [pointing to Mike Barnicle] knows it's about – everybody watching knows it's about Benghazi. And you're talking about how the Republicans – you see the White House spokesperson lying on national television. You see an ABC News person shocked that he's lying and treating the press corps and Americans like their stupid, he's says it's not about Benghazi.

Republicans and conservatives have been called fools for a year now for saying this happened. They don't release it with the original documents that are released. They finally reluctantly are forced to release it. Then you have the White House lying about it yesterday saying it's not about Benghazi. And your only reaction is, "Hey, Republicans better not overreact to the cover-up."

DEUTSCH: My reaction is this, that we as voters understand both Republicans and Democrats are political animals and are going to manage a crisis in their situation to their favor. So what I am saying it's both-

SCARBOROUGH: So when Democrats cover something up, it's politics.

DEUTSCH: Joe, Joe, you know what?

SCARBOROUGH: When Republicans cover something up, it's a scandal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There you have it. Cold, hard evidence that a high-level White House aide instructed Ambassador Rice to blame Benghazi on a YouTube video.
~ Sean Hannity on Fox News, via Heritage Foundation

We now have the smoking document,” Krauthammer said, “which is the White House saying, ‘We’re pushing the video because we don’t want to blame it on the failure of our policies.’
~ Charles Krauthammer of Fox News, via Politico

Let’s be clear: The Rhodes memo certainly seems to confirm the allegations Republicans have been making for more than a year: the White House was intentionally spinning after the attack so as not to damage their reelection prospects. The White House denied this, and now there is evidence the critics were right. Isn’t the mainstream media the least bit curious about what happened?
~ Conservative Pundit, Jennifer Rubin, on Washington Post



















Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Jon Karl and Mitt ~ Obama is Weak Because Putin Does Stuff

photo e59a1a7d-08f0-455c-9cde-923af204e49d.png

Previous Related Posts:
Jonathan Karl Issues Non-Apology Apology Over Fake Benghazi Emails
ABC's Jon Karl Gets Juiced by Fake Benghazi Leak
3rd Debate 2012 ~ Horses and Bayonets
Romney - Most Awkward Candidate of All Time?
Republicans Predict Romney Landslide

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mitt just can't seem to go away. Yes, during the last Presidential debate he did sort-of predict that Vladimir Putin might cause trouble in the future. Duh. But when asked what he would do differently from President Obama about the invasion of Ukraine, he had nothing but sanctions and more sanctions, which is what is happening now. Then along comes White House Press Corps member Jonathan Karl riding posse for Mitt, asking the President to 'splain his Fail, and Obama was having none of it. Epic smackdown!

Transcript of CBS Face the Nation March 23, 2014
Good morning, Governor, and welcome back to FACE THE NATION. During the campaign, and I want to start with this, you took a lot of heat for saying that Russia was our greatest geopolitical foe. In the third debate, the President came down pretty hard on you about that.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (2012): A few months ago when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America you said Russia. Not al Qaeda, you said Russia. And the 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War has been over for twenty years.

BOB SCHIEFFER: I'm sure, Governor, you're tempted this morning to say, I told you so, but do you really believe that what happened in Ukraine had anything to do with what President Obama has or hasn't done?

MITT ROMNEY (2012 Republican Presidential Nominee): Well, there's no question, but that the-- the President's naivety with regards to-- to Russia and his faulty judgment about Russia's intentions and objectives has led to a number of foreign policy challenges that we face. And unfortunately not having anticipated Russia's intentions, the President wasn't able to shape the kinds of events that may have been able to prevent the kinds of circumstances that you're seeing in the Ukraine as well as the things that you're seeing in Syria.

. . . BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, we had put on some sanctions now, they don't seem to have done much good. You're saying if we had done it earlier, how-- how actually would we have done that? And-- and are the sanctions they put on now, do we need stronger sanctions?

MITT ROMNEY: Well, let's-- let's step back. I think effective leaders typically are able to see the future to a certain degree and then try and take actions to shape it in some way. And that's, of course, what this President has failed to do and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well. They thought resetting relations with Russia, handing out gifts to Russia would somehow make Russia change its objectives. Well, that certainly wasn't the case.
Had we from the very beginning of the demonstrations in Crimea, excuse me, in-- in Ukraine, had we worked with our allies and said, look, let's talk about the kinds of severe sanctions we would put in place if Russia were to decide to move and had we then communicated that to Russia beforehand, not put in place the sanctions, but communicate, look, Russia, stand down here. Don't you think about grabbing territory or these are the things that will have to happen. These are the actions we will take. And by the way, Russia, we're not going to interfere with your base in Sevastopol and so forth. Had we communicated those things there is always the potential that we could have kept them from invading a country and annexing it into their own?




Transcript Via RealClearPolitics
JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS: Mr. President, thank you. In China, in Syria, in Egypt, and now in Russia we've seen you make strong statements, issue warnings that have been ignored. Are you concerned that America's influence in the world -- that your influence in the world -- is on the decline? And in light of recent developments, do you think Mitt Romney had a point when he said that Russia is America's greatest geopolitical foe, if not Russia, who? And Mr. Prime Minister, do you think these sanctions will change Vladimir Putin's calculation? Or cause him to back down. Where do you see a Russian red line where if they go any further, into Eastern Ukraine, into Moldova, when would options beyond sanctions have to be considered?

BARACK OBAMA: I think if the premise of the question is that whenever the United States objects to an action and other countries don't immediately do what we want, that that's been the norm, that would pretty much erase most of twentieth century history.
. . . Russia is a regional power that is threatening some of its immediate neighbors, not out of strength but out of weakness...
. . . The fact that Russia felt compelled to go in militarily and lay bare these violations of international law indicates less influence, not more.





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




































Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Jonathan Karl Issues a Non-Apology Apology Over Fake Benghazi Emails

photo jonathan_karl2-620x4121.jpg

Previous Related Posts:
Jonathan Karl Gets Juiced by Fake Benghazi Leak
The Benghazi Political Circus

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From CNN:
Jonathan Karl, chief White House correspondent for ABC News, addressed criticism of his reporting on the Benghazi talking points controversy, saying in a statement to CNN that he regrets the inaccuracy of his report.
“Clearly, I regret the email was quoted incorrectly and I regret that it’s become a distraction from the story, which still entirely stands. I should have been clearer about the attribution. We updated our story immediately," he said in the statement to Howard Kurtz, host of CNN's "Reliable Sources."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


















































Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

ABC's Jonathan Karl Gets Juiced by Fake Benghazi Leak

photo DanAykroyd-BassOMatic.jpg

Previous Posts:
Issa Wrong-Splains the Difference Between "Act of Terror" and "Terrorist Attack"
The Benghazi Political Circus
Benghazi Been-There-Done-That

~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

From Obama Press Conference, April 30, 2013
Jonathan Karl of ABC: Mr. President, you are a hundred days into your second time. On the gun bill, it seems you put everything into it to try to get it passed. Obviously you didn’t. Congress has ignored your efforts to try to get them to undo these sequester cuts. There was even a bill that you threatened to veto that got 92 Democrats in the house voting yes. So my question to you is do you still have the juice to get the rest of your agenda through this Congress?

President Barack Obama: My, if you put it that way, Jon, maybe I should just pack up and go home. Golly.





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Media Matters for America ~ May 14, 2013
. . . CNN is challenging the accuracy of reporting on a supposed email from a White House aide that seemed to suggest an effort to provide political cover for the administration following the September attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The new revelations regarding the email comes after the allegedly flawed reporting has spread through the media.

The allegedly inaccurate characterizations of the Rhodes email by ABC News and The Weekly Standard were repeated in numerous media outlets, and a Republican research document.

. . . ABC News' alleged misquote of the Rhodes email -- filed by Jonathan Karl -- was cited and repeated in numerous outlets, including USA Today, Politico, The Daily Mail, National Review Online, and Fox News. During Special Report's panel discussion on May 10, contributor Charles Krauthammer cited the email to claim the White House was more interested in "political cover for all the agencies and not about the truth."

CNN host Jake Tapper reported today that a newly obtained email from White House aide Ben Rhodes about Benghazi "differs from how sources inaccurately quoted and paraphrased it in previous accounts to different media organizations." Tapper writes that the email shows that someone provided outlets like ABC News and The Weekly Standard with "inaccurate information" . . .


























Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, May 13, 2013

The Benghazi Political Circus

photo BenghaziJanBrady.jpeg
source: @Catballou


Previous Post:
Benghazi Been-There-Done-That

~~~~~~~~~~~~


Frankly, had I been in the job at the time, I think my decisions would have been just as theirs were. We don't have a ready force standing by in the Middle East, and so getting somebody there in a timely way would have been very difficult, if not impossible.
(he would not have) approved sending an aircraft, a single aircraft, over Benghazi under those circumstances.
. . . It's sort of a cartoonish impression of military capabilities and military forces. The one thing that our forces are noted for is planning and preparation before we send people in harm's way, and there just wasn't time to do that.
~ Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates

We've got a whole bunch of people in the State Department who consistently say, 'You know what, I'm willing to step up, I'm willing to put myself in harm's way because I think that this mission is important in terms of serving the United States and advancing our interests around the globe.' And so we dishonor them when we turn things like this into a political circus.
The whole thing defies logic, and the fact that this keeps getting churned out, frankly has a lot to do with political motivations.
. . . And suddenly, three days ago, this gets spun up as if there's something new to the story. There's no there there.
. . . Who executes some kind of cover up for three days?
~ President Obama


Dead and circuses: Clown-in-chief Obama calls Benghazi talking points a “sideshow"
~ Headline from Michelle Malkin












Hillary Clinton’s not a target. President Obama’s not a target. The target is how did we fail three different ways, fail to heed the warnings of an impending attack, fail to respond properly during the attack? At least-- we certainly could have done better and I think everyone knows that. And then failed to get the truth to the American people at a timely fashion.
~ Darrell Issa, R-CA, to David Gregory on Meet the Press, Sunday May 12

More from the Meet the Press Transcript:
GREGORY: And isn’t this Congress’s job to spend the money to beef up security?

REP. ISSA: David, I-- well, first of all, money is spent by the-- the secretary of state and her people. We appropriate the money. I have spent over 12 years both on the Intelligence Committee and on the Foreign Affairs Committee and now on the Oversight Committee. I visited countless embassies and consulates. I’ve seen both behind the scenes on the Intelligence Committee and the overt actions of what we do. And we do a great deal. And we do it well. But in areas of high risk, in areas like North Africa and for that matter, Sub-Saharan Africa, we’re not really prepared for the kind of-- of attacks we’re getting. We haven’t been since the-- the two bombings of our embassies and then the Cole. So can we do better? Yes. Must we do better? Yes.

(snip)

GREGORY: But do you need a select committee on-- on something like this? Something like (Unintelligible) or is your-- your investigation sufficient here?

REP. ISSA: You know, let’s not blow things out of proportion. This is a failure, it needs to be investigated. Our committee can investigate. Now, Ambassador Pickering, his people and he refused to come before our committee that…

AMB. THOMAS PICKERING (Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs/Chair, Accountability Review Board on Benghazi): That is not true.

GREGORY: All right. We’re-- we’re going to get to Ambassador Pickering.

REP. ISSA: We have-- we have it in-- we have it in writing, we have White House correspondence. It may not have been the Ambassador’s decision but it was the White House decision. That has been reversed. We’re inviting him on Monday along with Admiral Mullen to come, to go through, with his papers, a private deposition so we can get the facts in a nonpartisan way.

GREGORY: Right.

REP. ISSA: We’ll have Republicans and Democratic…

GREGORY: Well, all right. Ambassador Pickering, you-- you just jumped in here. You’re willing to appear?

AMB. PICKERING: Of course. I’ve said the day before the hearings, I was willing to appear to come to the very hearings that he disclu-- he excluded me from. The White House told me back that he said…

REP. ISSA: One second. Please-- please don’t tell me I excluded you.

AMB. PICKERING: Well, the-- the majority was-- we were told the majority said I was not welcomed at that hearing. I could come at some other time.

REP. ISSA: Well, as-- as the ambassador just said, the day before the hearing, if the White House said we’d like to have him, there’s a procedure. He could have been the Democratic witness. And we would have allowed him. The Democrats requested no witness. The fact is, we don’t want to have some sort of a stage show. We had fact witnesses. They testified. We have the Ambassador and-- and Admiral Mullen who conducted and oversaw the ARB. We’re inviting them on Monday. We’ll go through, not in front of the public but-- but in a nonpartisan way questions and answers and then obviously…

GREGORY: All right.

REP. ISSA: …a hearing to follow at an appropriate time. I’m delighted to have a long-serving career diplomat willing to come before us. I don’t think it was his decision to say no. But we were told no until just before the hearing


I’ve been watching it for the last four days getting bigger and bigger and even some of our liberal friends are sort of saying this is really bad. Between this (IRA scandal) and Benghazi, Benghazi — had this come out like this before the election, you could have had a different result.
~ Donald Trump

SCANDAL!!!
There will be hell toupee...
-Trump
~ John Q. Public on Politico

The IRS is the greatest scandal this nation has ever faced since Benghazi, which was the greatest scandal this nation had ever faced since Fast and Furious, which was the greatest scandal this nation had ever faced since.....choose your favorite right wing talking point.
~ Leftturn on Politico

Well since Trump has used up his entire vocabulary it must be legit. But seriously isn't this the exact same thing he said about finding evidence in Hawaii about Obama's birth certificate?
~ Billy on Politico

Why did Stevens take the 400-mile trip up to the tiny outpost in Benghazi, KNOWING it could not be defended, KNOWING there had been Al-Qaeda related activity there for months, KNOWING there was unrest in all Muslim countries, knowing he only had a couple mercenaries as a detail? Who decided that?
~ Wellstone on Politico

From the very beginning, Speaker Boehner has said that the American people deserve the truth about Benghazi, and that Congress has a responsibility to provide effective, vigorous and responsible oversight.
~ Ex-RNC Chairman Michael Steele

The truth shouldn't be hidden from the American people behind a White House firewall. Four Americans lost their lives in this terrorist attack. Congress will continue to investigate this issue, using all of the resources at our disposal.
~ House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio














In March, Boehner, according to a senior administration official, was invited to a White House-arranged briefing where the emails and other Benghazi-related material could be privately reviewed. Bohener did not attend; he sent staff, who attended with other House Republicans.
~ Mother Jones

So Congress has had the talking points and how they were changed and by whom for a couple months now, showing the revisions, showing how they happened.
ABC published them today for the public as if they were a smoking gun, and all the Republicans in Congress who already had these things and have had them for months reported to be outraged by what was in them, shocked, , impeach, impeach!
They have had them for two and a half months now, and they never said anything about them before. Just today they decided it was a smoking gun, even though this has been long answered.
~ Rachel Maddow, via The Political Carnival
.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)