Republicans remain convinced that the Obama administration deliberately avoided labeling the attacks in Benghazi an act of terrorism. But that alleged “cover-up” has nothing on a recent characterization by Eleanor Clift.
The liberal Daily Beast columnist weighed-in Sunday on the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens in the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks. If there’s a more sure-fire way to troll conservatives on their biggest obsession, we probably haven’t heard it yet.
“This animates the right wing of the Republican Party and I would like to point out that Ambassador Stevens was not murdered,” Clift said on the “McLaughlin Group,” using air quotes around the word “murdered.”
“He died of smoke inhalation in the safe room in that CIA installation.”
Clift has been torched on the right for the comments. Pat Buchanan, who sat on the “McLaughlin Group” panel with Clift, said Tuesday he was “stunned cold” by the observation. Reports have indicated that Stevens did indeed die of asphyxiation from smoke, but Clift’s contention doesn’t seem to square with a common characterization of the other 9/11 attacks.
Is it fair to say that those who died of smoke inhalation in the Twin Towers were murdered?
When Newsmax’s Steve Malzberg posed that question to Clift on Tuesday, she didn’t give a clear answer. But the columnist said she had no interest in walking back her comments, telling Malzberg she’s going to stick with what she said.
“I was taking issue with the sort of glib use of the word ‘murdered’ and I think, you know, dying of smoke inhalation in the safe room of a CIA outpost has a slightly different feeling,” Clift told Malzberg. “My point is it was a very chaotic event. The CIA was involved, which is why there was a lot of confusion initially, and that all the questions that this special committee is raising have been asked and answered in previous investigations.”
Malzberg later asked Clift how she would describe the ambassador’s death.
“The way the word has been sort of tossed around, I think, leads a different image in people’s minds,” Clift said. “When you tell most people how the ambassador died, they appear not to have understood what happened.”
Clift did not respond to TPM’s request for comment.
If Steve Malzberg is asking the question, it is bound to be a stupid RWNJ “Gotcha” question like the kind that Limbaugh poses every day.
Not sure why Eleanor even gave this radical wingnut the airtime of day.
Stevens was not shot. He was not dragged through the streets by terrorists, raped and beheaded, as many on the fringe right insist. But he was most definitely murdered. When a fire is purposefully set or results from an incendiary device, people who die from it – whether burned alive or asphyxiated – are victims of murder. Unless Ms. Clift was trying to say that Stevens was a casualty of war, which are generally not classified as victims of murder.
I’ll bet 98% of wingers who yell ‘Benghazi’ every other minute think Steven’s body was dragged through the streets after he was tortured and murdered. The facts are very different and I’m glad someone is saying so if perhaps somewhat inelegantly. Sure, he was murdered, but rather indirectly.
Meh. I am willing to give her a break on this one. Clift has been dealing with these idiots on the talk shows for decades. Quite frankly I would have started trolling them LONG ago
Semantically she is probably right. He was “killed” in an attack on the embassy. To be “murdered” you will have to prove that the attackers specifically targeted him as in an assassination attempt. Did they?