Jake Tapper peppered Jay Carney today with questions about last month's terror attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Tapper was trying to pin down Carney on why the attack was mischaracterized for so long as a spontaneous demonstration gone violent, when, as the government now admits, it was neither spontaneous or a demonstration. Carney tried to put things in perspective [emphasis mine]:
Again, this is a moving picture, and people who on the night of an attack or the day after claim they know all the facts without making clear that what we know is based on preliminary information aren’t being straight, and they’re in some cases trying to politicize a situation that should not be politicized. I think that’s what the president was getting at. And I think many other people felt the same way.
After some further back and forth, Tapper's questions concluded with this [again, emphasis mine]:
TAPPER: ...Democrats have talked about budgets being cut for embassy security. And I’m wondering if that’s something that the White House believes was a problem as well, that there was — there had something to do with money being withheld by House Republicans or whomever.
CARNEY: ...What is simply a matter of fact is that this president has fought for and put forward funding that he believes is necessary for our diplomatic personnel and diplomatic security around the world. And others have sought to reduce that funding over these past several years because of a — of an approach to our budget priorities that prioritizes tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. That’s just a fact...
Regarding politicization, Carney was channeling Groucho Marx: "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others."
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