Via Twitchy, we learn that former CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson took the opportunity of the second anniversary of the Benghazi fiasco to tweet away about the amazing fact that we still do not know what President Obama was doing in real time as four American public servants were killed in Benghazi.
@AriFleischer @EricSteeleLive makes me recall how we still have no idea what commander in chief did Sept. 11, 2012.
— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) September 12, 2014
On the original 9/11, the scale of murder of American civilians was so high (presumed to be much higher than the actual toll of the lost) and the size of the ongoing threat was so uncertain that the media obsessed over President Bush's movements and kvetched (at least off air, as I heard in the White House briefing room on 9/12) about the slowness of his return to Washington that day.
The media's protective response toward Obama with just weeks before the election translated into a jaw-dropping incuriosity about what happened in real time. Months before, on May 3, 2012, Brian Williams narrated a gooey prime-time NBC interview celebrating the one-year anniversary of killing Osama bin Laden, where Williams obsessed over the food provided: “Is it true you ate Costco food, as to not draw any attention? And multiple pizzerias were contacted as to prevent any one large order from drawing attention to the gathering?...can you confirm those food details?"
But that was a positive narrative for Obama. When Williams aired a single question with the president about Benghazi on his low-audience prime-time show Rock Center on October 25, 2012, he could only ask "Have you been happy with the intelligence, especially in our post-9/11 world?" He didn't ask about where he was or what he was doing that night.
In a free democratic republic, what's the justification for leaders keeping secret what the elected commander in chief on the public's
— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) September 12, 2014
behalf while Americans were under attack on foreign soil? How can the White House photos taken that night--which belong to us--be withheld?
— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) September 12, 2014
Worst of all, perhaps, they haven't even bothered to provide justification for keeping this public information secret.
— Sharyl Attkisson (@SharylAttkisson) September 12, 2014
How can our "government watchdog" media not secure answers to the most basic questions about the government response to this attack on our consulate?
As The Daily Signal noted in June:
Retired Lt. Gen. Thomas G. McInerney said the president’s timeline matters because Obama is the only person qualified to give “cross-border authority.” In the case of Benghazi, he said, it’s extremely important to account for his whereabouts because “nothing was done” in response to the 8 1/2-hour firefight that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens....
According to former National Security Council spokesperson Tommy Vietor, Obama was not in the situation room that night, as he was the night Osama bin Laden was captured. Marc Thiessen wrote in the Washington Post that White House records show three men – Michael Donilon, David Ginsberg and Ron Klain – visited the president that night to prep him for his first debate with Mitt Romney.
