Hillary Chokes Up: ‘We have to walk and chew gum at the same time’

Dana Milbank Wash Post:  Her anger boiled over when rookie Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) demanded to know why she and her aides didn’t immediately call those evacuated from Benghazi to find out whether a protest had preceded the attack. Clinton replied that she didn’t want to interfere with the FBI’s investigation — which is almost certainly what Republicans would have accused her of doing.

“That’s a good excuse,” Johnson said, scornfully.

“Well, no, it’s a fact,” Clinton retorted, growing irritated. Waving her index finger, she pointed out that much of what happened in Libya on Sept. 11 remains unknown.

“No, no, no, no,” Johnson rejoined. “We were misled that there were supposedly protests and then something sprang out of that, an assault . . . and the American people could have known that within days.”

Clinton raised her voice. “With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans,” she shouted at the lawmaker. Waving her arms and then pounding the witness table with her fist, she continued: “Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?”

“Diversionary tactics.” NYP.  Why didn’t she do the Full Ginsberg on the Sunday spin shows instead of Susan Rice?  “Going on the Sunday shows is not my favorite thing to do.”  Huff Post.

Hillary Clinton Benghazi Hearing

Republican Senator Rand Paul: “Had I been president at the time and I found that you did not read the cables from Benghazi . . . I would have relieved you of your post. Their lives could’ve been saved.  I think it is good that you’re accepting responsibility because no one else is.”  Wash Post.

Hillary:  “Unsatisfactory leadership is not grounds for finding a breach of duty.”

Paul:  “They should’ve never been sent in there without military guard.  Someone needs to take leadership.”

Hillary:  “The reason I’m here today is to answer questions the best I can.  The failures sat at the assistant secretary level and below.  I believe in transparency.  I believe in taking accountability and I believe I have done so.”

When did we last hear Hillary utter the “walk and chew gum” line?  In 2011 “As a country with many complex interests, we’ll always have to walk and chew gum at the same time” and 2010.

Related:  Hillary’s “undiplomatic” loss of “cool.”  ”

UK Daily Mail story.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013 @ 11:20 AM


  • frannie

    I am watching it….she controlled the room…nice fireworks with John McCain and Rand Paul but make no mistake…. this bitch is large and in charge…she is an expert at this carp and began her campaign for President as a witness before congress today…….why do I suspect she will be the next president??? shady , she is very shady

    • http://chickaboomer.com/ Marty Davis

      Yup, you got it, Frannie! House hearing will be more hostile.

    • http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/ keyboard jockey

      It doesn’t need to be more hostile, there needs to be more sticking to the topic- 4 dead Americans on her watch.  The Senator from NM was praising her over her cook stove initiative  What do cook stoves have to do with what happened in Benghazi? 

      Rand Paul asked her straight up – were we running guns from Libyan stockpiles to other countries “Syria” comes to mind, using Turkey as our go between? 

      She didn’t answer him. 

    • http://chickaboomer.com/ Marty Davis

      Four dead Americans.  No suspects in the slammer.  No heads roll.  No testimony from survivors of massacre.

    • http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/ keyboard jockey

      “Give me a break, Senator Johnson. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen,” she added. END

      Isn’t that the same thing Bill Clinton said about Barack Obama’s foreign policy proposals when he was running for President in 2008? 

      What Bill Clinton had to say about Obama’s foreign policy in 2008 …Sep 5, 2012 … This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen.” … hear Bill Clinton deliver 
      a very different assessment of Barack Obama this evening.http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/09/05/what_bill_clinton_had_to_say_about_obamas_foreign_policy_in_2008

    • http://chickaboomer.com/ Marty Davis

      Yeah, she said “Turkey?”  rather condescendingly and dismissed Paul.

    • Sentinel

      Shady Hell! This beastly woman and her part-time mate have a higher body count than the 173rd Abn Bde in Afghanistan. Woe be unto this country if this is the next potentate!

    • http://chickaboomer.com/ Marty Davis

       Hillary and Bill’s veracity is questionable at best.

    • Sentinel

       Pretty easy to control the room when you’ve had 4 months to concoct your lies and get your story straight.  Couple that with the “Circle the wagons strategy” of the Democrats and the total cowardice of the Republicans and this is what you get – a hearing that wasn’t a hearing.  Nothing was learned.  This bitch needs to be waterboarded and then testify under oath.

    • http://chickaboomer.com/ Marty Davis

      It was a travesty. Hillary rolled over the posturing pols. Book closed on Benghazi. Via BlackBerry

  • http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/ keyboard jockey

    Chris Murphy (D) CT, accuses the republicans of politicizing Benghazi and turns around and accuses people of minimizing the deaths since 9-11 in the wars that were started under false pretenses  so he’s blaming Bush.  Check the blame Bush card played. 

    Chris Murphy minimizes the deaths of 4 Americans on the anniversary of 9-11, because it doesn’t meet his body count requirements?  Under who’s watch was an American Ambassador murdered? When was the last time an American Ambassador was murdered while carrying out his duties?  Chris Murphy minimizing the deaths of 4 Americans, because it didn’t happen on Bush’s watch.  Someone should let the ass kisser from CT know how creepy he’s coming off on national teevee. 

    • http://chickaboomer.com/ Marty Davis

      1989.  Ambassador Dubs.  Hillary never answered why she didn’t do the Full Ginsburg on the Sunday spin shows instead of Susan Rice.

  • http://chickaboomer.com/ Marty Davis

    What about the terrorists who orchestrated this massacre?  Why aren’t they in the slammer?  The one was sprung.

  • http://chickaboomer.com/ Marty Davis

    Chicago Sen. Dick Durbin is still camped out in Hillary’s anal cavity.  His fawning was over the top.

    • http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/ keyboard jockey

      This is almost exactly the same thing my husband said, watching the democrat law makers fawning over her. 

  • http://chickaboomer.com/ Marty Davis

    Did Hillary put Kennedy Kry-on-Q drops in her eyes before testifying?  Didn’t one of the fathers of a dead SEAL say Hillary was “cold” when she greeted him as his son’s casket was unloaded in the U.S. following the Benghazi horror?

    What were the immediate headlines? Hillary Tears Up. Hillary Nearly Tears Up. Hillary Gets Emotional.

  • http://chickaboomer.com/ Marty Davis

    Rush:  “It was a puke fest.  I’ve never seen groveling … sucking up. … she opened up crying which was part of the script.” 

    Rush’s “favorite part?”   When Hillary blew up with “What difference does it make?” when asked why the administration stuck to the video disinformation. 

  • Sentinel

    And the Oscar in the Political Category, “Lying Like a Motherfucker” goes to ……

  • Jaccharlot

    The thing that pisses me off is that our CIA was exposed.

    This may have hurt our efforts to fight terror in the coming years.

    The real failure here is, we have no plan going forward, that’s what matters now, this is where leadership comes in, so, looks like the bad guys will have it easy over the next 4 years.

  • gary

    These two sentences strike me as epic hypocrisy.   “The failures sat at the assistant secretary level and below.   I believe in taking accountability and I believe I have done so.”

  • Sentinel

    She looks more and more like George Soros each day.

  • LJ

    Between the fawning of the Senators and the arrogance of Hillary, I found it all difficult to watch.  I expect she left thinking that she really didn’t need to “phone in sick” last month.   Really, no questions were answered.  When a Senator asks for the answer to their question to be submitted in writing, is said written document ever released to the public or the press?? 

    • http://chickaboomer.com/ Marty Davis

      Questions were sidetracked by pols’ political posturing of which Hillary took advantage. Via BlackBerry

  • Jimbotalk

    If this is her opening speech of the 2016 campaign, she’d better hire a new speechwriter.

  • Dennis Argall

    This ‘walk and chew gum is surely a euphemistic ironic usage of what Lyndon Johnson said of Gerald Ford when both were in the congress and long before either became prrsident. Johnson’s aphorism was even in contemporary media morphed into something more genteel… what he really said was, I understand, that Ford could not chew gum and fart at the same time. Which is somewhat from the same territory as Dorothy Parker’s purported remark on hearing the news that a somewhat ineffective president had died in his sleep: how could they tell?
    Perhaps the challenges for US foreign policy involve more: not more chauvinistic howling after infinite power or past glory but fresh ways of engaging with the planet in less presumptive ways.