Someone needs to sit down and explain the Benghazi attack and subsequent outrage to HBO‘s Bill Maher, because he just doesn’t get it.
The “Real Time with Bill Maher” host asked three panelists on his show Friday night to explain the controversy over the Benghazi attacks.
“I still don’t know what the scandal is,” he said, after discussing the conservative and liberal media portrayals of the 9/11 attack in Libya.
“Tell me what the scandal is,” he added. “I honestly want to know.”
The Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald explained to Maher that before the 2012 election both sides tried to spin the Benghazi attacks to protect their candidates. But he also added that because only six U.S. ambassadors have been killed during the country’s history — and the Obama administration spread information that wasn’t true — the attack deserves an investigation.
“The President went on the air — and other people did too — and they made statements that proved to be untrue about why the attack took place, that it was a reaction to this film,” Greenwald added. “That’s just a reality, whether they were lying or was in error, the statements they made — it was untrue.”
“It was a fluid situation,” Maher responded.
“No, but when the government goes on the air and says things that prove to be untrue, that is something that needs to be investigated,” Greenwald answered back. “And it was a place where President Obama and NATO had gone, and invaded and bombed and changed the regime.”
Like Maher, Miami Herald columnist Joy Reid tried to downplay the Benghazi attacks. Charles Cooke of The National Review argued that the media was simply siding with which party was in power.
“You don’t think that when a U.S. ambassador is killed and there are people within the State Department saying that they were asking for more help and not getting it and that the U.S. government went onto the world stage for a week and made claims about what happened that turned out not to be true that that doesn’t merit any investigation?” Greenwald asked.
“No I don’t,” Maher replied. He then ended the discussion — even though the panelists clearly had more to say — because he was “bored with it.”
Maybe if Maher wasn’t so “bored” with Benghazi he could actually see the scandal clearly.
Watch the clip at Real Clear Politics.
