Great Moments In Fact-Checking

Inspird by the Biden-Ryan donnybrook the NY Times provides this fact-check on the situation in Libya:

Mr. Romney has criticized the Obama administration for initially playing down Al Qaeda’s possible connection to the attacks last month in Benghazi, but some of his own statements on the assault have been misleading.

In a major foreign policy address on Monday, Mr. Romney said the attack was “likely the work of forces affiliated with those that attacked our homeland on Sept. 11, 2001.”

This suggests that Al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan, which planned and carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was somehow responsible for the attack in Libya. That’s misleading. American intelligence analysts now believe that some of the militants involved in the attack were linked to groups affiliated with, or sympathetic to Al Qaeda’s franchise in North Africa, not the main Al Qaeda hierarchy.

Ah, well - our ambassador was killed by terrorists affiliated with terrorists affiliated with Al Qaeda, not by terrorists affiiated with A Qaeda. I feel safer already, and darn that Romney for trying to scare me.

Over at Foreign Affairs we are cautioned against slicing Al Qaeda too finely:

Still, most accounts of the progress of the war against al Qaeda contend that the organization is on the decline, pointing to its degraded capacity to carry out terrorist operations and depleted senior leadership as evidence that the group is at its weakest since 9/11. But such accounts treat the central al Qaeda organization separately from its subsidiaries and overlook its success in expanding its power and influence through them. These groups should not be ignored. All have attacked Western interests in their regions of operation. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has also long targeted the United States, but its efforts have moved beyond the execution stage only in the last two years, most recently with the foiled plot to bomb cargo planes in October 2010. And although al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has not yet attacked outside its region, al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) was reportedly involved in the June 2007 London and Glasgow bomb plots.

It is time for an updated conception of al Qaeda's organization that takes into account its relationships with its subsidiaries. A broader conceptual framework will allow for a greater understanding of how and to what degree it exercises command and control over its expanded structure, the goals driving its expansion strategy, and its tactics.

Well - while the Times is decrying vagueness, perhaps they can take on this claim by Obama from May 2012, while speaking about our effort in Afghanistan:

But over the last three years, the tide has turned. We broke the Taliban’s momentum. We’ve built strong Afghan security forces. We devastated al Qaeda’s leadership, taking out over 20 of their top 30 leaders. And one year ago, from a base here in Afghanistan, our troops launched the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. The goal that I set -- to defeat al Qaeda and deny it a chance to rebuild -- is now within our reach.

Hmm - does it count as "rebuilding" if Al Qaeda establishes affiliates in, just for example, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, and North Africa? Or was Obama preparing to declare "victory" over Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan and pretend it was a complete victory? Baffling, and I await clarity from the Times.

 

Comments

[daddy]

Behind as normal, but thought it worth mentioning that Sarah Palin was a geography moron because she said there were places in Alaska from where you could see Russia (which is true), and therefore we had to vote for Joe Biden who thinks Syria, (which is 5 times smaller than Libya) is bigger than Libya.

Libya Is 679,362 Square Miles, Syria Only 71,500

[maryrose]

JMH:
sadly I believe you are correct.My only comment would be; Is there no true American who knows the truth. who will step forward and say that Obama and Biden knew and did nothing. Also that the reason for doing nothing and spreading a false rumor about a video was to help reassure an electoral victory in November.Such truth would issure that person's rise into heaven. Too bad such courage is in such small supply these days.

[maryrose]

should br in sure.
I thought Biden looked and acted like a complete a--hole last night in the debate. Anyone watching with a modicum of intelligence would be appalled by that buffoon. Raddatz was also a dem tool on display. Her obvious partisanship should be a cautionary tale for future debate plans of the RNC.

[Danube of Thought]

Mike Lee at Breitbart:

"According to a McLaughlin & Associates poll that had an R+.02 sample, Romney leads Obama in Virginia 51%-44%.

"Among independents, Romney beats Obama by 11 points, 50%-39%. 
If these numbers hold for Romney, Romney could be free to expand the electoral map and more aggressively make plays for states like Michigan and Pennsylvania that were considered 'reaches' just two weeks ago. 

"In addition, this poll, which has Romney leading by double-digits among independents and has a sample that is more reflective of what the turnout will be in November than other polls, may be a more accurate snapshot of Virginia's electorate than other mainstream media polls. "

[Clarice]

Some guy: "This is where the wheels come off the Permanent Campaign bus.

Instead of taking the painful, but short-term hit of saying, ‘in the fog of events we made a mistake, and stated something that wasn’t true’, which would have left a mark, but would also have left it in September.

Now, they’ve attempted to throw the entire intelligence community and the Clinton machine under the bus. Awesometudinous skill that takes.'

YOU BETCHA.

Pissing on the wrong legs,

[Threadkiller]

Interesting comment over at Citizen Wells:

Jonah on October 12, 2012 at 2:21 pm Dean M. | October 12, 2012 at 11:20 am |

I always wondered why Obama would choose such a political clown and constant gaffer to be his VP? ====================================

Joe Biden on Oprah show, wife Jill said he was given choice of VP and Secretary of State.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXKsj3t-X2g&feature

Why would Biden be given a CHOICE of Vice President or Secretary of State in the Obama administration? Isn’t Joe Biden’s son, the Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, who issued an arrest warrant for Larry Sinclair, the man who did cocaine and had sexual encounters with Obama? Uh oh! Something sure smells fishy……..

http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/biden-ryan-debate-response-october-12-2012-citizen-wells-commenters-nail-it-joe-biden-and-obama-have-no-record-to-run-on-chicago-style-politics/#comments

Pay to play

[Clarice]

TK, you do have a talent of relying on the least credible of available sources.

[Danube of Thought]

Hot Air re Ohio:

"In an election for Ohio’s 18 vital electoral votes today, 10/09/12, one week after Buckeye voting began and 4 weeks till votes are counted, Barack Obama is at 45% to Mitt Romney’s 44%, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted for WCMH-TV, NBC4 in Columbus. Obama’s advantage is within the survey’s possible sources of error and may or may not be significant.

"It’s a dead heat, or at least it was earlier this week.  But an incumbent at 45% with four weeks to go in an election is in deep trouble, especially when the sample has a D+6 advantage.  The D/R/I on this poll is 39/33/25, which is defensible, but only if one thinks that the turnout model will come close to 2008′s 39/31/30.  The turnout in Ohio two years ago was 36/37/28 for an R+1, and there isn’t much evidence to declare that Democratic enthusiasm has returned to Ohio."

[Threadkiller]

Seems like just yesterday you were thanking me for linking the same source when it came to Obama's campaign finance troubles.

What to do? Maybe we can not trust, but verify:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2077817/posts

Maybe not...

[narciso]

I think JM, that with Lake taking the lead, Herridge pitching backup, and Gorman and Entous, with a few other players, we've gotten a fairly good overview of the players, the methods, and the timeline.

[Sharon jacobson]

An interesting question about this fiasco not yet explored, is what were those State Dept. morons doing while watching real time videos of the attack for 6 hrs.? According to a military friend, there are "assets" in the area, helicopter gunships, that could have been deployed to get those poor souls out of there. Did the morons just sit on their hands and took the decision not to contact the military on their own or with help from others?

[Captain Hate]

Sharon jacobson, you aren't the first person here to note the lack of response by individuals at State. If you take it another step, there are some very disturbing questions about just what was going on there that people are tip-toeing around.

[Melinda Romanoff]

JMH-

I believe that to be a constant, and now urgent, concern of Gen. Petraeus and loyal staff. They are professionals and I would expect no less.

That being said, political payback is coming from the less-than-professional. No doubts.

And thank you for that well thought out post.

[cathyf]

Some of the details of this are really squirrely. Wasn't it the Cairo embassy staff that FIRST brought up the video, as part of a stumblebum apology tour, when the Egyptian attackers were after the Blind Sheik? And we've got Walid Shoebat claiming that the "coptic christian filmmaker claiming to be an Israeli" is really a "Muslim Brotherhood parolee claiming to be a coptic christian filmmaker claiming to be an Israeli who is out on parole for running scams with Shoebat's cousin to raise funds for the Muslim Brotherhood"

Was the whole video thing some sort of CIA/whomever operation chaos false-flag operation where they were planning on ginning up Koran-flushing rage-bots in Egypt and thus disrupt the nutcases, and it was a too-clever-by-half plan that blew up their faces and they were just holding on to a runaway horse?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Colorado probably has the most and its not that large.

30 percent.

[pagar]

All the Obama Admin attacks on Americans aren't coming from State or the WH.

http://www.humanevents.com/2012/10/12/fast-and-furious-the-whistleblower-gets-canned/

He said he was “served his termination papers Tuesday in a Denny’s parking lot in South Lake Tahoe, California.”

The Obama Administration is vile.

[Barbara]

"...he was “served his termination papers Tuesday in a Denny’s parking lot in South Lake Tahoe, California.”

Now, that is just plain stupid. We're a few weeks away from a national election; the House has just heard testimony from whistleblowers in the Benghazi melt down, and the administration shines the light on what happens to those who come forward to tell the truth. Bad team, man.

[Sara]

to Al Qaeda’s franchise in North Africa, not the main Al Qaeda hierarchy

Isn't that kind of like saying the attack on xyz terrorist camp was carried out by an American unit, led by the Illinois/California/New York/Florida/Pennsylvania/Ohio/Massachusetts/New Hampshire/Virginia, or whatever National Guard, not the United States Army.

[Sara]

As somebody who has continually slattered Chris Wallace

CH: This is the 4th time within a couple of days you've used the word "slattered." What does it mean?

[Captain Hate]

Sara, it's an internet made up word that posters at another site have used that I thought was funny. Think of it as a deliberate misspelling of "slaughtered".

[Captain Hate]

He said he was “served his termination papers Tuesday in a Denny’s parking lot in South Lake Tahoe, California.”

Issa needs to talk to that man, assuming he hasn't already. Aren't there some anti-retaliation whistleblower laws that protected file clerk Plame and her obese husband?

[Sara]

Are you ready for this? Is Romney ready for this?

Romney Lands Lohan Endorsement, Actress Cites Need for New Economic Plan

Lohan said that the reason she was voting Romney was "employment." From The Blaze:

“I just think employment is really important right now,” the troubled star told E!, while at Mr. Pink’s Ginseng Drink event in Beverly Hills, California, on Thursday. “So, as of now, Mitt Romney. As of now.”

[Captain Hate]

Monkey Boy Gregory must've been given a stern talking to by Top Men because he seemed to be backing down from his criticism of Biden's histrionics last night to Brian "16 credits" Williams.

[Porchlight]

I actually think the Lohan endorsement is significant. Sure, she's a moron, but the Hollywood moron vote swings the votes of other morons.

I expect a drip drip drip of this and then a deluge. It just needs to be socially acceptable to vote Romney and then that's all she wrote.

[PD]

Behind as normal, but thought it worth mentioning that Sarah Palin was a geography moron because she said there were places in Alaska from where you could see Russia (which is true), and therefore we had to vote for Joe Biden who thinks Syria, (which is 5 times smaller than Libya) is bigger than Libya.

Libya Is 679,362 Square Miles, Syria Only 71,500

Yeah, but if you turn Libya into a tripartite state, Syria is probably 5 times smaller than one of those pieces.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Slat´ter
v. i. 1. To be careless, negligent, or aswkward, esp. with regard to dress and neatness; to be wasteful.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Slatter

[narciso]

Actually he was off by 'this much'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrenaica

[Neo]

Is it possible that Vice President Joe Biden was suffering from a gelastic seizure or gelastic epilepsy ?

The guy has had brain surgery before.

[PD]

You mean they forgot to put it back in?

[Sara]

Thank Chaco, but I already looked it up and can't figure out what CH is saying when he uses it.