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A reporter at a press conference in D.C. with Grumpy John McCain, who still wants to rant about Benghazi even after it's become clear there's nobody out there on that lawn, asked a perfectly sensible question yesterday:

Q: Do you think there was potentially a greater national-security threat in apparently thousands of pages of classified documents ending up on the personal computer of a Tampa socialite who may have been a friend of the head of the CIA, of secret covert e-mail accounts involving the head of the CIA, and a top general in Afghanistan, and the fact that the FBI agent who was complained to stepped out of the chain of command and apparently went to a House Republican leader, rather than anybody upstairs. Do you think that there's potential -- you put all that together -- do you think that's a greater potential national security threat than what you're talking about?

You could watch the veins begin to bulge on Grumpy's neck and forehead as this question went along, and so naturally he burst like a festering pustule when it was done:

MCCAIN: Well, I say with great respect, that’s one of the dumbest questions I’ve ever heard. -- I’m answering your question. Do you want me to answer your question or do you want to interrupt? Which do you want? -- There are four dead Americans. The lives of other Americans were put in jeopardy.

This is a matter of four dead Americans. I think that the other issue raised is very serious, and I think it deserves a thorough and complete investigation — but it does not rise to the level of an attack on an American consulate that took four American lives.

OK, just so we're clear: Potential security threat created that exposes possible Republican chicanery? Never an issue. Tragic incident in which intelligence details remain unclear, so it can be endlessly exploited? Yeh, that's what gets Grumpy's attention.

John McCain's attacks on Susan Rice have been utterly bizarre. They go beyond all rational thought, and now Senators Collins and Corker have joined the parade.

The thing is, they're a lot of nothing about nothing. All noise, no signal. These senators are behaving like idiots over the possible nomination of Susan Rice to replace Hillary Clinton, without any rational basis. Rice used talking points on Sunday shows that didn't line up with what Senator McGrumpy's gut told him? Maybe someone should have told him not to eat spicy food before meeting with her!

As Rachel notes, it gets stupider and stupider by the day, but it is confirming her conspiracy theory. And mine.

I've long believed this was really to try and force President Obama into abandoning her nomination and nominating John Kerry instead, so that Scott Brown could run for Kerry's seat and come back to the Senate. Rachel thinks so, too.

Senator McGrumpy recently said Scott Brown is the one he most wants in the Senate. Susan Collins did the bus tour in Massachusetts for Scott Brown's re-election campaign, Susan Collins campaigned for Kelly Ayotte, and both of them love Scotty Brown.

As Rachel says, guess who's doing all of the dirty work to make sure that Massachusetts Senate seat opens up? That's right. The same folks who weren't too Republican-toxic to campaign for Scott Brown.

Doesn't seem so crazy to me.

I'm perfectly happy to call out the Obama administration when I think they deserve it, but this whole Susan Rice "controversy" is nothing but one in a long line of Republican faux outrages. What I find appalling is how this worthless, bootlicking American media helpfully blows this up and fans the flames when the Republican whack jobs roll out of their clown car:

WASHINGTON — Susan E. Rice may have hoped that paying a conciliatory call on three hostile Senate Republicans on Tuesday would smooth over a festering dispute about the deadly attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, and clear a roadblock to her nomination as secretary of state.

But the senators seemed anything but mollified, signaling instead that they would still oppose Ms. Rice, the ambassador to the United Nations, if she is nominated by President Obama, even after she conceded errors in the account of the assault she gave on Sunday morning television programs shortly after it occurred in September.

Two of the Republicans, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, said they would seek to block Ms. Rice, who according to administration officials remains Mr. Obama’s preferred choice to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The third Republican, Senator John McCain of Arizona, said on Fox that he would be “very hard-pressed” to support Ms. Rice.

“Bottom line, I’m more disturbed than I was before,” Mr. Graham said after the tense, closed-door meeting.

The continued criticism of Ms. Rice, 48, a diplomat with close ties to Mr. Obama, deepens an already bitter and unusually personal feud between the White House and Republicans over Libya. Responding to a question about criticism of Ms. Rice at a news conference two weeks ago, Mr. Obama said, “If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me.”

If Rice is who Obama wants as his Secretary of State, then he should make her a recess appointment and be done with it -- you know, like Bush the elder did with Lawrence Eagleburger.

At the first presidential press conference held in months and after President Obama's re-election, a wide range of topics was covered, but none generated the passion and anger like the question about Susan Rice and Republicans' attacks on her this morning, particularly Lindsey Graham and John McCain.

As background, Susan Rice went on the Sunday shows the week of the Benghazi attacks and repeated what she had been given through intelligence reports, which included the claim that the attacks were the result of Muslim objections to an anti-Islam video put up on YouTube. We all know now this is not the case; however, that has not stopped them from going after Susan Rice with vicious intensity.

The president was angry as he responded to the question. Here's what he said, via Washington Post:

“If Sen. McCain and Sen. Graham and others want to go after somebody they should go after me,” Obama said. “For them to go after the UN ambassador who had nothing to do with Benghazi…to besmirch her reputation is outrageous.”

Lindsey Graham shot this back just after that moment:

Graham responded to Obama’s comments by e-mail just as the press conference concluded. “Mr. President, don’t think for one minute I don’t hold you ultimately responsible for Benghazi,” Graham said in a statement. “I think you failed as Commander in Chief before, during, and after the attack.”

Graham, McCain and Kelly Ayotte are threatening to hold Watergate-style hearings on the whole Benghazi attack. Evidently they saw a new memo that said it's perfectly all right to criticize our leaders here at home and abroad while in the middle of sensitive diplomacy when it's the other guy.

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Update: Just for some memory refreshes, here is McCain and Graham's vigorous defense of Condoleeza Rice and her false claim that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

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Well. This is interesting. Fox News launched a full-scale assault on Susan Rice this morning, calling for her to be fired as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Former Bushie Richard Grenell led the charge on Megyn Kelly's show this morning after posting an op-ed on the Fox News website calling for her to step down.

As far as I can tell, Grenell's reasons are as follows:

• She isn't strong enough.
• She isn't effective enough.
• She didn't speak out against the violence in Syria soon enough.
• She (allegedly) skipped Security Council meetings when "Israel needed defending."
• She didn't show up at first two UN Security Council meetings "on the unfolding Arab revolution."
• She hasn't passed enough resolutions on Iran.

All of this seems to be a proxy war on President Obama over differences of opinion between the neocons and the President on the subject of Iran. Fox News has been a key player in the "stoke fears over Iran" story unfolding this year, spending a minimum of an hour per day on it across daytime and nighttime TV. Back in November, Grenell launched this shot over the bow, via the Wall Street Journal:

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Even if this was the right decision (I suspect it wasn't, but we won't know for a while), why did the administration start bombing Libya without approval from Congress? I could have sworn Candidate Obama had a problem with that kind of use of executive power. Why, you'd think since this the first day's bombing cost $62 million, they'd want to get approval from the Republicans aka Tea Party!

UPDATE: Now the Arab League is criticizing the airstrikes, saying they wanted protection for civilians.

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama's decision to undertake military action in Libya to enforce a no-fly zone was the product of an administration debate with unlikely bedfellows.

Initially, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was skeptical of the U.S. joining a military coalition. But senior U.S. officials said advances last weekend made by forces loyal to Gadhafi in retaking rebel strongholds in the east, which opened up the possibility of thousands more being killed, convinced her action was necessary.

Additionally, a statement by the Arab League calling for the United Nations to enforce a no-fly zone, Clinton told reporters Saturday, "changed the diplomatic landscape."

As Britain and France pushed for a quick U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing a no-fly zone, officials said Clinton teamed up with Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in creating the conditions for a resolution with the broadest possible authority and the largest international support.

Clinton made the case that U.S. support for a no-fly zone was conditioned on Arab participation and leadership. In Paris Clinton met with her counterparts in town for a meeting of the Group of 8 foreign ministers and with Abdullah bin Zayed, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates. Even as she criticized the UAE for its recent decision to send forces to quell a rebellion in Bahrain, Clinton pressed him to send planes to Libya.

As Clinton traveled to Cairo and Tunisia seeking Arab buy-in for the resolution, officials said Rice built support in New York for the resolution. Samantha Power, an adviser to Obama on the National Security Council and a human rights activist, was also urging the president to intervene.

Clinton's alliance with Rice and Power in pushing for intervention put her at odds with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who had publicly argued against a no-fly zone. Sources said Vice President Joe Biden was also more cautious, arguing for the smallest possible U.S. involvement in any military action.

What's a Sunday without another Bobble Head session.

Meet the Press: "White House senior adviser David Axelrod will discuss President Barack Obama's agenda with host David Gregory. From the other side of the aisle will be former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

ABC's "This Week," David Axelrod along with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a major player in the health care debate from his perch as ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.

"Face the Nation" Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour gives his first Sunday interview since succeeding Sanford as chairman of the Republican Governors Association last week. Also, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, will sit down to provide her perspective on Iran, Iraq, North Korea and Afghanistan.

"Fox News Sunday." Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) debate health care reform. Army Gen. Ray Odierno, will give an assessment as American forces prepare to withdraw from major cities.

State of the Union" Gen. Ray Odierno along with Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) and BP Capital CEO T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman who's been pushing wind and natural gas as major power sources.

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On "This Week", George Stephanopoulos asks Susan Rice, our U.N. Ambassador, about which avenues the U.S. will pursue after North Korea's missile launch:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Is the United States prepared to pressure China?

RICE: We're working very closely with China. China shares the same goal that we do, which is a de-nuclearized Korean Peninsula. China also is very proximate, on the border with North Korea, and shares our desire not to see this situation escalate, and to ensure that we can achieve, George, the long-term goal, which is de- nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through the six-party talk process.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But because China is right on the border of North Korea, they've been reluctant to really pressure North Korea. They're afraid that if you turn the screws too hard on North Korea, the regime is going to collapse and there's going to be chaos.

And is that why they are not going along with tougher sanctions?

RICE: Well, I think they have multiple concerns. They are looking at the large long-term goal of ensuring that we don't have a nuclearized Korean Peninsula. There have been times when we have differed as to the best means of achieving that.

But we are unified with China and others in the six parties towards the goal, George, of ensuring that we roll back this nuclear program that North Korea is pursuing.

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(h/t Heather)

Barack Obama's Senior Foreign Policy Advisor Susan Rice appeared on Friday's Morning Joe to discuss foreign policy, and more specifically North Korea's destruction of a long-defunct nuclear cooling tower yesterday. The Scar thought this was a huge diplomatic victory for George Bush, but Rice sets him straight, reminding him that North Korea's nuclear program expanded by leaps and bounds under Bush's watch and that if he would have opened negotiations years earlier, much of this could have been avoided in the first place.

Joe pretends to be a middle of the road kind of guy, but when he gets punked, especially by a Democrat, it drives him crazy and his true, far-right colors always come through. As Rice goes down the laundry list of Bush failures, Joe gets snippy with her, and even stoops so low as to hurl an insult at Jimmy Carter in the process. NBC's David Gregory chimes in at the end of the segment and drops a question on Rice that was pulled directly from Karl Rove's playbook:

Gregory: "Hello, Susan. While we are talking about the prospect of nuclear terrorism, which is what is behind the concerns of North Korea and Iran. I have a broader question for you and really for Senator Obama. Why is it, does he believe that America has not been attacked in this country by terrorists since 9/11? And does George W. Bush, President Bush deserve credit for that?"

Rice: "I think what we have to acknowledge, David, that we haven't been attacked but we are nonetheless less safe as a sequence of the policies of this administration has pursued. Our standing in the world is at an all-time low. Al Qaeda is more dangerous now in Afghanistan and Pakistan than it has been. Our intelligence community is warning they are reconstituting and more deadly to U.S. forces than Iraq."

Of course, Gregory is incorrect, there HAS been a deadly terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9/11 -- the anthrax attacks that killed 5 Americans ring a bell to you? It's interesting that so many seem to forget this factoid. Speaking of anthrax and Bush failures, you'll be happy to learn that $5.8 million of your tax dollars were just awarded to Steven Hatfill in his lawsuit against the Bush Justice Department. Hatfill is an Army scientist who was deemed a "Person of Interest" in the anthrax attacks, but was eventually ruled out as a suspect in the Bush administration's botched investigation. Hatfill's lawyer placed partial blame on the media for not questioning the Bush administration's motives in targeting him and for reporting leaked disinformation they could not substantiate.

All eyes will be on the official breaking of the Obama Watch clock with Barack Obama's appearance on FOX News Sunday. Personally, I think it's a bad idea legitimizing FOX News this way, but hey, no one on his campaign asked me. Other than that, it looks like your typical Sunday morning full of bobbleheads:

ABC's "This Week" - Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; former Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D.; Reps. Artur Davis, D-Ala., and Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - David Axelrod, campaign adviser for Barack Obama; Howard Wolfson, campaign adviser for Hillary Rodham Clinton; Roger Mudd, author of a book on CBS news.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

CNN's "Late Edition" - Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y; Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich.; Steve Coll, author of a book on the bin Laden family; James Rubin, a Clinton campaign adviser; Susan Rice, an Obama campaign adviser.

"Fox News Sunday" - Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

What's catching your eye this morning?

By the way, we seem to be having intermittent problems with our movie server. Our tech gurus are working on the problem, but in the meantime, we'll try to upload the videos to YouTube as well as the regular downloads.