Before the United States Senate foreign relations committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took "full responsibility" for the Benghazi security breach, which lead to four deaths, including US Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
While answering questions about what she knew, and why the failure of security which misjudged the attacks, from US Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), she then made a fool of herself, dismissing the concerns of lawmakers. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel provided the full transcript of Sec. of State Clinton's exchanges with Senator Johnson. In frustration, Clinton erupted at the committee:
With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they’d they go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator.
The whole point of the investigation is not just whether four members of the United States Diplomatic corps were killed, not just why they were killed, but whether Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her superior the President of the United States ignored frequent requests for more security, or whether they were trying to cover up their lack of security oversight in the matter.
Yes, Hillary, it makes a difference!
Victims of the terrorist attack have taken Clinton's meme, and excoriated her for her impassioned insouciance. Greg Hicks, one of the foreign diplomats, Deputy Chief of Missions in Libya,
Charles Wood, whose son Tyrone was killed during the attacks, shared with Sean Hannity his disgust with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
Sean, Hillary, she asked a question. If she asked that question of me, you know for six years, I was an administrative law judge, and credibility is the issue. I would say what difference does it make? Credibility because in a courtroom situation. We have a rule that says if a person's testimony is proven to be false in any part, the rest of their testimony is to be disregarded on that subject, and that's basically what we have here. The difference is credibility.
Yes, Hillary, it makes a difference!
Critics of this investigation will counter: Oh, that's Sean Hannity. He's a right-wing nut job (Yawn)
Just before the election, then US Senator John Kerry (also of Massachusetts) had circulated a bipartisan letter "accounting of the attacks against US missions in Egypt, Libya and Yemen", in effect requesting further information on the Benghazi attacks.
Yes, Hillary, it makes a difference!
More Democratic Congressmen are piling on the Obama administration. Liberal Democrat Stephen Lynch of South Boston, Massachusetts also discredited the Obama administration's talking points shortly after the attack:
They certainly weren't accurate. I don't know what the process was there. But absolutely, they were false and wrong. They were. There were no protests outside the Benghazi compound there. This was a deliberate and strategic attack on the consulate.
Lynch then repeated: It [the talking points report] was scrubbed. It was inaccurate.
Yes, Hillary, it makes a difference!
During Wednesday's House Oversight Hearing, the following testimony from Obama administration officials should shed further light on growing concerns.
Eric Nordstrom, the regional security officer posted in Libya when the U.S. Embassy, shared through his tears, that the investigation mattered for all who were harmed in the attack, the families of those who died, and the American people, so that they would know what happened.
Yes Hillary, it makes a difference!
Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Maryland), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, also acknowledged on last Sunday's "Face the Nation" that the facts as told by UN Ambassador Susan Rice were wrong. He then acknowledged that Congress needs to get the full story on the matter.
Yes Hillary, it makes a difference!
Following the hearings, Oversight Committee Chairman Darrel Issa on CBS News could not have been more compelling about the need to investigate the Benghazi attack, including the talking points, the sudden "scrubbings" or changes in the Obama administration's account, the lack of security at the compound, and even the draw-down for more forces at the US consulate:
"It matters because the truth matters, and the American People are entitled to the truth."
Yes indeed, Hillary, it makes a difference!