Oh, my. The whack jobs really are off the leash lately, aren't they? A little drunk tweeting? I guarantee you this: Nothing Rohrabacher (famous war-loving chickenhawk) says will ever be bad enough to ban him from the Sunday talk shows -- because that's just how they roll!

The Kookville Express and its happy, wild-eyed conductor, Dana Rohrabacher, has shifted routes in yet another attempt for a cheap two-fer ticket: to derail President Barack Obama's second term and sabotage Hillary Clinton's potential future White House run.

Rohrabacher, Orange County's senior career politician and a man known for shameless self-promotion, has made it his mission for the last four months to prove Obama and Clinton masterminded something evil and pro-Islamic terrorist during the Sept. 11, 2012 lethal attack on Christopher Stevens, U.S. Ambassador to Libya.

First, the Costa Mesa Republican declared (without possessing any supportive facts) that the events of Benghazi were "worse" than the felony-rich Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon in 1974.

That absurd comparison didn't go far except with faithful Kookville passengers.

Stymied, Rohrabacher changed strategies.

Benghazi is apparently no longer worse than Watergate.

Now, he is trying to take sly advantage of massive, pre-Oscar publicity for Argo, Ben Affleck's film.
Rohrabacher claims Benghazi is like President Jimmy Carter's failed 1980 helicopter attempt to rescue American captives in Iran.

"Maybe Prez thought failed rescue = no re-election, like Carter in 1980," the congressman theorized on Twitter late Tuesday night.

In other words, according to Rohrabacher's mental machinations, Obama knowingly allowed Stevens to be murdered so that he could win re-election.

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Last night, Sen. James Inhofe did Fox News the favor of telling host Jeanine Pirro that Benghazi is “probably the greatest cover-up in my memory.” The predictable result was that the comment was re-played on Fox & Friends this morning (as it probably will be elsewhere on Fox) thus giving a boost to himself, Pirro’s not-very-prominent Saturday night show and, most of all, the Benghazi conspiracy theory that Fox clings to despite any and all facts disproving it.

The discussion started with a clip of Inhofe saying:

I have made a study of different cover-ups – the Pentagon Papers, Watergate and Iran-Contra. I’ve never seen anything like it. I think this is probably the greatest cover-up in my memory, anyway.

Of course, that’s ridiculous. Not even the Foxy Friends argued that was likely - though they studiously avoided saying one way or the other. As Karoli posted a few weeks ago, Rachel Maddow has demolished the whole cover-up conspiracy theory. So has The New York Times. And Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tom Ricks tried to tell Fox News but their widdle feewings were so hurt by his accusation that they were politicizing the tragedy that they booted him off the set before they could debunk it. But even if you believe that there are still some unanswered questions out there, the entire “conspiracy” boils down to Who Changed The Talking Points About Benghazi and was the danger of Al Qaeda downplayed to help President Obama win re-election?

Well, now that President Obama has been re-elected – despite Fox News’ best efforts – the “fair and balanced” network is turning its sights on Hillary Clinton, a likely nominee in 2016. I guess you need to allege a giant cover-up if you’re going to allege Clinton faked her concussion to avoid testifying about Benghazi. Even though there’s no question that she will testify later, as even host Clayton Morris acknowledged.

Morris pretended that questions about Benghazi are questions about the death of Americans: “At the heart of all of this, of course, is the four individuals who died during that tragedy. And the answers are still not being found, as our own Catherine Herridge reporting yesterday on our show.”

But rather than focus on what happened to those Americans, Morris immediately turned his attention to Clinton and kept it there. He said:

(M)ore questions emerging about who knew what when at the State Department and when these cables, these sort of desperate cables for security and security issues – a series of them – how far up the chain of command did they go? Did they go to Hillary Clinton’s office on the 7th floor? …At least one cable, according to Catherine Herridge’s reporting may have made its way to (Clinton’s) office. Did she look at it? Was there any actionable information on that? Why didn’t they ask for more security at the time? And Hillary Clinton, of course, still suffering from a concussion, or recovering from a concussion, so hasn’t been able to answer that but she will at testimony coming up.

Yet somehow with all those questions, nobody thought to point out, as Karoli did, that it was Secretary Clinton who ordered the review and the review was done. Furthermore, as the New York Times reported, “Mrs. Clinton accepted all of the panel’s 29 recommendations and has already begun to make changes.”

On This Week with Christiane Amanpour, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talks about leaving Iraq and warns Iran they shouldn't take it as a lack of U.S. commitment:

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Madam Secretary, thank you for joining us. Are you in Herman Cain's famously designated "Beki-beki-beki-bekistan"?

(LAUGHTER)

SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON: Well, you know, there's a zero-zero-zero chance I’m going to comment on Republican politics. But I am in Uzbekistan.

AMANPOUR: Let me turn to something more serious. You were actually in Libya earlier this week. And this week, we all saw the video of the bloodied and dazed Moammar Gadhafi. We saw him now lying in a freezer while Libyans take a look at him. What was your reaction to that video? Your gut reaction.

CLINTON: Well, Christiane, you know, obviously, no one wants to see any human being in that condition, yet I know what a great relief it was to millions of Libyans that the past was finished. And now they can move into a different future without fear and intimidation and try to make up for lost time of 42 years to develop a country that has so much natural wealth and deserves to have a democracy and prosperity.

You mean, oil and minerals for those multinational corps to gobble up at bargain prices? But I digress!

AMANPOUR: Do you think it was obvious that that was going to happen to him? Or do you think that he should have been treated any differently?

CLINTON: Well, I think everyone would hope that he could have been captured and brought to justice. And I am very pleased that the Transitional National Council has called for an independent investigation along with the United Nations.

I fully support that, because I think that the new Libya needs to start with accountability, the rule of law, a sense of unity and reconciliation in order to build an inclusive democracy so people who supported the former regime, unless they do have blood on their hands, should be safe and feel included in this new country.

AMANPOUR: What about the bomber of Pan Am 103, al-Megrahi, who was freed and brought back to Libya? Do you want to see him recaptured, reimprisoned? And if so, where? In Libya or in the United States or in Britain or Scotland?

CLINTON: Christiane, I never thought he should have been released in the first place. I raised this with the highest levels of the TNC. I will raise it with the new Libyan government. We want to see him returned to prison, preferably in Scotland, where he was serving the sentence. But if not, elsewhere, because we thought it was a miscarriage of justice that he was released from the sentence that had been imposed for the ghastly bombing of Pan Am 103.

AMANPOUR: Let’s turn to Iraq. President Obama, at the end of this week, has announced that all troops will be out by the end of the year. It’s well known that the military wanted to keep 20,000 to 30,000 in and that the Iraqi forces, while they’ve made progress, really still need American logistical help. Are you not concerned that some of the gains that have been made are at risk?

CLINTON: Well, Christiane, remember that it was President Bush who set the timetable in motion by agreeing with the Iraqis that all troops would be out by the end of this year. And, of course, President Obama promised the American people that the troops would be out by the end of this year. But we’re always open to discussing with partner countries what their needs are.

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