My Tuesday column covers the disparity between the Republican reaction to September 11, 2001 and September 11, 2012, and the growing conspiracy theories surrounding Benghazi.
When terrorists hit the consulate in Benghazi, Romney and the Republicans couldn’t muster the decency or discipline to wait until the disaster was over before they politicized it by attacking the president, even while the fires at the consulate were still burning. Imagine if the Democrats had reacted the same way during 9/11. They would’ve been tarred and feathered and driven out of Washington on a rail. Yet the Republicans did it with impunity. I remember quite distinctly how Bill Maher, on his ABC series Politically Incorrect, dared to agree with conservative fire-eater Dinesh D'Souza that the 9/11 terrorists weren't "cowardly." Maher was forced to publicly apologize; he was scolded by White House press secretary Ari Fleischer; and was fired from his show, all for one lone remark in agreement with D'Souza who's a conservative hero.
This says a lot about how Republicans too often comport themselves in the wake of a disaster -- these self-proclaimed “patriots” are merely fair-weather patriots, only willing to lend their unified support when the president is from their own party. As such, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Republicans, given the chance during a would-be second Obama term, tried to impeach the president for the Benghazi attack.
Actually, I'd love to see a study performed to determine the number of times Republican leaders condemned the terrorists who fired rockets at the Benghazi consulate versus the number of times Republican leaders condemned the president's response. I'd wager Mitt Romney has spent more time on the latter. [continued]