Susan Rice Non-Scandal Resolved; Non-Susan Rice Scandal Not Resolved

Via Andrew Sullivan, Fightin’ John McCain (Fightin’, but not Thinkin’) admits that Susan Rice did nothing more than repeat talking points on the Bengazhi murders. In a statement issued Nov. 20, McCain acknowledged “that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was responsible for removing references to Al-Qaeda from the unclassified talking points about the Benghazi attack that Ambassador Susan Rice and other officials used in the early days after September 11, 2012.” And, since the DNI, Jim Clapper, is, well, a white dude, we may hear just a little less chatter about how reprehensible it all was, and more about how concern about issues of national security led to all the “caution” exercised by Rice and others.

Meanwhile, other questions, like why President Obama conducted an illegal war in Libya, why Congress sat on its hands, and on its ass, and let him do it, why Ambassador Stevens thought it was a good idea to leave the embassy on Sept. 11, what the CIA was doing in Benghazi—well, maybe they’ll get answered as well. But don’t hold your breath.

Afterwords
Susan Rice has been the recipient/subject of a number of “insider” columns by the likes of Maureen Dowd and Dana Milbank suggesting that she doesn’t play well with others—that she’s “ineffective,” which is the classic Washington putdown. “I have nothing against the guy, but he’s ineffective.” Is the opposition to Rice really racist? If she were a white guy, I think she’d be having an easier time of it. If she didn’t owe her position to her friendship with the President, that would help as well.