It comes as no surprise to progressives on Daily Kos that the Benghazi Congressional charade has purely political motivations, that finding the ‘truth’ does not matter to Republicans, only achieving political advantage over Democrats.
Kevin McCarthy’s crystal clear statement that the ‘investigation’ was/is/effectively always will be for the purpose of causing Hillary Clinton political damage opened a lot of eyes because of what it was - rare truth from a top-ranking Republican.
More below, but first, a word from our sponsor ...
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WTG, Kevin McCarthy! Here is how Laura Clawson diaried about his truthful gaffe.
(Placeholder box for picture of Kevin McCarthy I do not wish to see and do not plan to post.)
This came not too many hours before Ben Carson stepped in the same kind of truth-trap, as Shawn King explained so well.
(Placeholder box for picture of Ben Carson I do not wish to see and do not plan to post.)
And all of this comes after the 2012 presidential election when truth by the Republican candidate (the 47% gaffe) further undermined his campaign close to the election.
(Placeholder box for picture of that candidate I do not wish to see and do not plan to post.)
All of these gaffes (there have been many more, please post your favorites in the comments!) have one thing in common. They were not Republicans mis-speaking, not failing to accurately say what they intended. They were not cases in which Republicans were misinterpreted. They were situations in which top Republicans let their guard down and did the one thing they can least afford to do - EVER. Tell the truth.
Romney thought he was safe to speak openly in a super private environment. Thank goodness, he wasn’t. The American people were given an opportunity to see the contempt Republicans hold for us, and, yet, still nearly 61 million voted for him. (per wikipedia and elsewhere) And today millions of Republican voters are supporting McCarthy and Carson, despite the fact that the truths they’ve told undermine everything they stand for even more than the lies ever seem to.
In the Republican Party, the definition of gaffe is to speak the truth in public. Not a lie, not a warped, perverted view, not bigotry. Truth.
And, not coincidentally, truth is the only thing these arrogant jerks will ‘walk back.’ If they are caught in a lie, by Snopes or any non-partisan fact-checker, they never walk that back. On lies, even when caught, they DOUBLE DOWN. To them, it doesn’t matter whether it is true or not. The only criterion is that it is consistent with the warped narrative they are trying to push. They NEED it to be true. Even if it is 180º off from the real truth.
What does that say about them? And, worse, really, what does it say about the people who support them? Who vote for them?
The party for which truth is almost always a gaffe. Pretty sad.
To close I would like to post a picture of a Tweet that the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence posted on FB, an Aug. 5 tweet from @Blunderingidiom.
(It isn't just the ones at the top that have problems with the truth.)
On to tonight's comments! Thank you for the assembly of the tops, dear brillig! (Sure is nice to have you back!)
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From expatjourno:
In Geekwhisperer's The Shootings are not Senseless, M E C explains from personal experience with a “criminal hillbilly family” why “you’ve got to design society to work for idiots” and suggests how to start to do that.
From Jon Sitzman:
Brutally incisive takedown of style over substance in GOP image-crafting, by penelope pnortney. From Laura Clawson's Carly Fiorina padded her resume by 'chairing' a foundation that doesn't exist.
Top Mojo for yesterday, October 4th, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you
mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary
FAQing Top Mojo.
1) The easy answer is to adapt your language to by LaFeminista +145
2) Why should he "take the hit"? by journeyman +125
3) And to write it in crayon. The diarist is right... by dkmich +115
4) It often surprises me, by Otteray Scribe +108
5) Yes, boo hoo by aransdell +102
6) so much for the "unlikeable" meme by DerekJack30 +98
7) I would miss you.... by Christin +95
8) And it obviously took less than that by brn2bwild +79
9) The very Sheriff of Roseburg by Damnit Janet +74
10) Her comedic timing is impressive. And the Trump... by Buscuit +73
11) Thanks for being a responsible gun owner. by fisknp +71
11) Don't understand these diaries. by brooklynbadboy +71
13) NY Times Editorial: by LieparDestin +66
14) The real problem is that we all need government by merrywidow +65
15) OMG - this is so awful by Phoebe Loosinhouse +64
16) Some non MA news: by LieparDestin +63
17) Thanks for the link. by Colorado is the Shiznit +62
17) That was cool! by a2nite +62
19) #sekritarmy just needs to vent sometimes. by jwinIL14 +61
19) I lurked in your environmental diaries and found by elenacarlena +61
21) 1st Amendment doesn't cover threats of violence by Norm in Chicago +60
22) This sums up Bernie in the nut shell: by gooderservice +59
23) Scary Story: Iz A Tail Of Ultimate Woe... by leonard145b +57
23) LoL sometimes on Sunday by LieparDestin +57
23) You did an awesome job, by Raggedy Ann +57
26) Trump's got everyone beat on unlikeability by tekno2600 +56
27) Good Move By Hillary by FDRDemocrat +55
27) Gun sales were up Fri & Sat in Roseburg by Damnit Janet +55
29) Shootings Very Profitable For The Gun Industry by Hugh Jim Bissell +54
29) As a long time Bernie supporter by radical simplicity +54
29) Making Bernie Smile :) by OLinda +54
29) Yuck. by Smoh +54
29) Dude... by PivotalGuy +54
Top Pictures for yesterday, October 4th. Click any picture to be taken to the full comment. Thank you
jotter for the image magic!