And how does he do it? Does he use the left’s Alinsky-like tactics of demonization, name-calling (“Teabaggers, terrorists, bomb-throwers, comes to mind)? Nope.
He simply asks them, pointedly, in this press conference about the newly-formed House Benghazi Select Committee, a series of very specific questions, with the obvious implication that if the media doesn’t know the answer to these questions, they haven’t been doing their job because they remain unanswered 20 months after the terrorist attack.
Gowdy begins his powerful statement by immediately quoting, word-for-word, Obama’s promise to the nation following the attacks:
“We will not waiver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act in Benghazi. And make no mistake, justice will be done.” That was the President of the United States over a year ago. “We’re investigating exactly what happened, but my biggest priority now is bringing those folks to justice.” That was the President of the United States over a year ago.Gowdy points out that that both of Obama’s promises are broken as no one has been brought to justice, explaining that the Obama regime has prohibited witnesses from testifying about Benghazi. “No one has been brought to justice. We don’t even have access to witnesses,” Gowdy said.
Gowdy then went into his classic questioning mode, telling them that while he’s not trying to tell the media how to do their job, if they don’t know the answers to these questions, in regards to Benghazi, then he would leave them to draw their own conclusions:
I’m not telling you how to do your job, but I’m going to ask you some questions, and if you can’t answer these questions, then I’ll leave you to draw whatever conclusions you want to draw about whether the media has provided sufficient oversight:Gowdy then concludes his brief statement by blasting the press for not doing their job, while getting a last jab in at Obama, Hillary Clinton and Jay Carney:
- Can you tell me why [Ambassador] Chris Stevens was in Benghazi that he was killed? Do you know? Does it bother you whether or not you know why Chris Stevens was in Benghazi?
- Do you know why we were the last flag flying in Benghazi, after the British had left and the Red Cross had been bombed?
- Do you know why requests for additional security were denied? Do you know why an ambassador asking for more security, days and weeks before he was murdered and those requests went unheeded? Do you know the answer to why those requests went unheeded?
- Do you know why no assets were deployed during the siege? And I’ve heard the explanation, which defies logic, frankly, that we could not have gotten there in time. But you know they didn’t know when it was going to end, so how can you possibly cite that as an excuse?
- Do you know whether the president called any of our allies and said, can you help, we have men under attack? Can you answer that?
- Do any of you know why Susan Rice was picked [to go on five Sunday talk shows after the attacks]? The Secretary of State [Hillary Clinton] did not go. She says she doesn’t like Sunday talk shows. That’s the only media venue she does not like, if that’s true. Why was Susan Rice on the five Sunday talk shows?
- Do you know the origin of this mythology, that it was spawned as a spontaneous reaction to a video? Do you know where that started?
- Do you know where we got from no evidence on that, to that being the official position of the administration?
In conclusion, Congress is supposed to provide oversight, the voters are supposed to provide oversight, and you were supposed to provide oversight. That’s why you have special liberties and that’s why you have special protections.
I’m not surprised that the President of the United States called this a phony scandal. I’m not surprised that Secretary Clinton would ask what difference does it make. I’m not even surprised that Jay Carney said it happened a long time ago. I’m just surprised at how many people bought it.
