Full of Sound and Fury

Now I have gone on about all the demagoguery being vented on our UN ambassador, Susan Rice, and about how it serves no useful purpose whatsoever to rake her over the coals because of her incomplete explanation of events at Benghazi.

 

I have gone on about how it only serves to minimize the deaths of hundreds and thousands of Americans in Afghanistan by magnifying the deaths of 4 foreign service individuals in Libya.

But what I have not gone on about, up to now at least, is why do individuals in the US Senate single out this one person for all of their vitriol on the evolution of our understanding of the events in Benghazi last September 11^th.

Why concentrate all the rhetoric on Susan Rice? Did Susan Rice have anything to do with the decisions that went into the state of the security forces in Libya before, during or after the terror attack? An ambassador to the UN? Really? Is that all they have? Do they really think that there is something to accomplish here?

Well obviously, they do. McCain and Graham, Republican senators who have mindlessly vented over what Susan Rice knew and when did she know it obviously have an agenda and events in Libya is the furthest thing from their minds

Susan Rice has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Secretary of State Clinton when she leaves office next year.  A woman vastly qualified for the role, just as Elizabeth Warren is a shoe-in member of the Senate Banking Committee. To deny President Obama of having an extremely effective Secretary of State would do damage to the presidency, and this, after all, is still the name of the game despite the fact that contrary to beliefs of the ultra-right fringe wingnuts, Barack Obama will not seek a 3^rd term.

Now the Senate, next year, will be composed of 55 Democrats or senators who caucus with Democrats, and 45 Republicans. Any attempt to deny Barack Obama his choice for Secretary of State is doomed in a confirmation.

Unless, of course, the roadblock is, as it has been in the past, the 60 percent vote needed to bring anything to the Senate floor for a vote.

Senate rules, decided on with a simple majority vote, sets this condition, and it can be unset since it is not a constitutionally mandated thing. My guess is that Democrats, to avoid the blockages of the past, will have to alter the rules, and my other guess is that Republicans, in rattling their swords so early in the game have decided to make the Democrats do just that.

To which I say “great.” Bring it on. Demographics are changing in this country and the Republican Party, the party of angry old white men, is slowly degrading into a regional party as we old white men transition back into dust.

The words of McCain and Graham are simply this: a tale told by an idiot.

And signify nothing.