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An act of terror is different than a terrorist attack.”


(graphic from article, not my own)

That’s Darrell Issa, Chief Inquisitor of the GOP Benghazi Witch Hunt. He’s supposed to be reasonably intelligent but this is quite possibly the dumbest line of attack conceivable. It’s not that I’m not sympathetic to the right; they really thought they had a winner before the election when they accused Obama of refusing to call the attack “terrorism.” That imploded as soon as liberals started playing the video of the president in the Rose Garden the very next day calling the attack an “act of terror.” The right gamely hung in there for a few days by insisting that it didn’t count because he didn’t actually say “terrorism.” That didn’t last long because the incredulous stares from non-crazy people were becoming uncomfortable.

Fast forward several months and the GOP is still flogging the dead horse of Benghazi as they sensationalize “new”information they had months ago. Almost like they were saving it for a rainy day. Supposedly, the word “terrorism” was scrubbed from several reports and the GOP once again leapt on the idea that Obama was trying to avoid calling the Benghazi attack “terrorism.” But there was that damn video of Obama in the Rose Garden less than 24 hours later calling it “an act of terror.”

What makes Issa’s claim so incredibly stupid is not just that it’s ridiculous on its face, it’s that the they already tried to sell this particular lie and it failed miserably. Why would this ridiculous semantic hairsplitting work now when the GOP was laughed out of the room the first time they tried it? I mean, it is key to their current conspiracy of the week that Obama tried to hide the fact that Benghazi was a terrorist act but Mitt Romney tried to pull that one over on the public during the presidential debates and it turned out to be one the greatest gaffes of all time.

While the rabid base of the right wing will absolutely eat up the idea that “act of terror” has nothing to do with the word “terrorism,” nobody else will. Then again, these are the same people that are convinced Obama is a Muslim that spent 20 years attending the church of a radicalized reverend so consistency is not really a concern.

It’s difficult to understand just how desperate the GOP has become to make Benghazi into a huge conspiracy. Sure, Republican voters are outraged, OUTRAGED! at Obama but they’re not entirely sure what it is they’re outraged about. They “know” he lied about something but they’re not really sure what. The rest of the public, on the other hand, just isn’t buying it.

It changes from week to week and from Republican to Republican, a clear sign that they’re using the kitchen sink method to see what line of attack will stick. Sometimes, this can be effective. Other times? Not so much.

Maybe Issa really does think it makes a difference. More likely, though, he, like the rest of the GOP, hold the American people in such contempt that he honestly believes we’re stupid enough to nod along with his language lessons a ten year old would scoff at. http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/05/15/republican-says-the-stupidest-
thin-ever-about-benghazi-controversy/

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