Faux news show host Jon Stewart accused Republicans Wednesday of exaggerating the importance of the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi , Libya on Sept. 11, 2012 and embellishing on the odds that the Obama administration tried to cover up impropriety.
Stewart began his show Wednesday night with a segment on “The Big Benghazi Theory” that he claimed would be about the testimony of the so-called Benghazi whistleblowers who testified in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday afternoon. However, Stewart did not play a single clip on “The Daily Show” Wednesday from that day’s testimonies. Instead, he used the segment to make it appear as if Republicans were crying wolf about the impact the witnesses’ words could have on the investigation into what the State Department and the White House knew and when they knew it.
After noting that Congress had held nine full hearings on Benghazi, while it held only three hearings on the 54 attacks on U.S. embassies that occurred while President George W. Bush was in office and “zero outrage from FOX,” Stewart proceeded to make fun of Republican Representatives for escalating multiple Obama administration missteps to level Watergate and showed clips of Republicans asking where the media outrage was over Benghazi.
“You can’t understand why everyone else isn’t as outraged as you, when it’s because the rest of us aren’t sure if what you’re saying is true,” Stewart said, pointing out that this wouldn’t be the first time Republicans have blown President Obama’s actions out of proportion.
He also showed a video of retired Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters claiming that the Obama administration may not have sent additional reinforcements to Benghazi because it was worried about bringing what it saw as unnecessary attention to the attack just during President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.
“If what you’re saying is true, if the President let Americans die for political reasons, then by God, bring us the evidence, and we will grab the pitchforks and torches along with you, ” Stewart said after noting that conservatives still don’t know if there was a cover-up.
Stewart clearly missed the point of Republicans’ continued hearings on Benghazi. Before yesterday, Congress had not yet heard testimony from anyone who witnessed the attack. And it still hasn’t heard testimony from the White House.
At Wednesday’s hearing whistleblower Gregory Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. consulate in Libya and a witness of the terrorist attack, reiterated that neither a spontaneous protest nor a vulgar YouTube video were responsible for the attack that killed four Americans. He also confirmed that the State Department was aware of this information before Obama administration officials and President Obama repeatedly misinformed the American people.
Perhaps Stewart would have a better understanding of Republicans’ outrage over Benghazi if he had actually paid attention to Hicks’ testimony before the Oversight and Government Reform hearing earlier that day.
Watch the first half of Stewart’s Benghazi rant below. To watch the second half, jump to the 5 minute mark in the full episode of Wednedsay’s show.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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