David Brock has a new book out with Ari Rabin-Havt and the Media Matters staff, The Benghazi Hoax. It is an e-book, but for just 99¢ it is probably worth checking out. I just read an excerpt from it on Huffington Post, The Benghazi Hoax. It is a great teaser, because it leaves the reader wanting more.
The book is about all the hoaxes that the right wing media have pushed trying to turn a tragic event into something they could beat up Obama with. But what was most interesting in the bit that I read was to learn about what actually happened in Benghazi. With all the misinformation that was spewed out, the story of what actually happened has only gotten out in the vaguest of ways. And the story itself is dramatic and heroic. Here’s just one example:
But the attackers outside poured out cans of gasoline and set raging fires around two buildings, including their sanctuary, creating an intolerable inferno of heat and smoke. The security officer was unable to extract the two men from the building; Smith was later found by US agents who got through in an armored vehicle, while Stevens was eventually taken to a hospital by Libyans but soon declared dead from smoke inhalation.
The feelings I have about this and the way that the Romney campaign used it are familiar. I remember it very well from the 2004 campaign. Remember the “swift boat” ads? That was a very big moment for me. I’m not big on the military. They do an unpleasant job that is unfortunately necessary. I think we have them do a lot of evil things we shouldn’t be doing. But I respect them even if I don’t think that every man who puts on a uniform is a hero. But the Republicans claim to love the military. Yet they were more than willing to shit all over the reputation of an American war hero just to gain a little advantage in an election. I’ve never had a good opinion of the Republican Party, but that was when I decided that it was an actively evil group.
So the Benghazi “scandal” was very much the same. But in that case, the conservative media and the Republican campaign were more than willing to shit all over the whole military to win that election. If it were the other way around, it wouldn’t be so bad. The Democrats certainly give a lot of lip service to the military. But they don’t bloviate about the military and our national “power” the way the Republicans do. The hypocrisy is stunning. And I would go so far as to say that this is not just about the elites. The base is more than willing to go along with this too. But we really need to do more to get out the word to the people who are not really into politics: don’t believe the nonsense about the Republicans caring about the military. All they care about is power and they will sacrifice anything for it.
Afterword
Here is a clip of the authors on Karen Finney’s show:
