{"id":512,"date":"2014-05-06T09:35:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T09:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/05\/what-is-truth-and-what-difference-at-this-point-does-it-make.html"},"modified":"2014-05-06T09:35:00","modified_gmt":"2014-05-06T09:35:00","slug":"what-is-truth-and-what-difference-at-this-point-does-it-make","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/05\/what-is-truth-and-what-difference-at-this-point-does-it-make.html","title":{"rendered":"“What is truth?” and “What difference at this point does it make?”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
So I was doing a bit of pre-work browsing, and read this piece by Kevin D. Williamson<\/a> at National Review on Benghazi.<\/div>\n

The whole story of Benghazi, as it\u2019s unfolding, is discouraging. \u00a0The bottom line is that the administration chose to blame the attack on the \u201cInnocence of Muslims\u201d video on youtube.com despite having solid information to the contrary, because of a fear that acknowledging that this was a planned and coordinated al-Qaeda attack would put into question the campaign narrative that Obama had al-Qaeda on the run. \u00a0The Williamson piece argues that the administration put out this lie because they had become habituated to lying, not because it was vitally important to the campaign strategy, since, after all, Americans well understand that the situation is complex and are not, and were not, fools enough to believe that, due to Obama, all Muslim extremists had laid down their arms.<\/p>\n

Other articles I\u2019d read recently, too, such as this piece by Ann Althouse<\/a>, point to a concerted Democratic strategy at this point to paint those who question the Administration\u2019s narrative on Benghazi as a bunch of crazy conspiracy theorists, and to move the narrative as reported in the media to, not just \u201cBenghazi must not be questioned,\u201d but, \u201cthe fact that Republicans question Benghazi means they\u2019re just as crazy as the Birthers.\u201d
We\u2019ve got legions of fact-checkers, but we seem, as a country, to have simply accepted that politicians will lie whenever it\u2019s convenient. <\/p>\n

Did Obama really oppose gay marriage initially, and only \u201cevolve\u201d later? \u00a0No one believes that. \u00a0Even his supporters are quite comfortable with the fact that he lied in the past, because it was a politically-expedient lie to improve his election prospects.<\/p>\n

Did the Illinois politicians, when they raised our income tax from 3.5% to 5%, really believe it was \u201ctemporary\u201d? \u00a0Did their supporters believe them? \u00a0I doubt it \u2014 but it was politically expedient.<\/p>\n

And the GOP is hardly exempt \u2014 I can\u2019t point off the top of my head to a similar instance when a GOP politician lied and rank-and-file supporters knew it was a lie but were happy for the political advantage, but, in the present day, on the comment sections of conservative websites, you\u2019ll find a general conviction that the top GOP leadership is more than happy to sign onto an immigration \u201creform\u201d bill if only they can maintain the fiction that the bill contains genuinely effective enforcement provisions that aren\u2019t dependent on the administration\u2019s willingness to implement them. \u00a0Which actually isn\u2019t a good example, because the Base is worried that their elected officials will deceive them, rather than happily being \u201cin\u201d on a lie.<\/p>\n

And then we come to Hillary Clinton: \u00a0\u201cWhat difference at this point does it make?\u201d \u00a0Politico <\/a>provides an extended transcript (more than just the paragraphs below):<\/p>\n

Clinton: Well, no, it\u2019s the fact. Number two, I would recommend highly you read both what the ARB said about it and the classified ARB because, even today, there are questions being raised. Now, we have no doubt they were terrorists, they were militants, they attacked us, they killed our people. But what was going on and why they were doing what they were doing is still unknown \u2014 \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Wisconsin Senator Ron) Johnson: No, again, we were misled that there were supposedly protests and that something sprang out of that \u2014 an assault sprang out of that \u2014 and that was easily ascertained that that was not the fact, and the American people could have known that within days and they didn\u2019t know that. \u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clinton: With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they\u2019d they go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator. Now, honestly, I will do my best to answer your questions about this, but the fact is that people were trying in real time to get to the best information. The IC has a process, I understand, going with the other committees to explain how these talking points came out. But you know, to be clear, it is, from my perspective, less important today looking backwards as to why these militants decided they did it than to find them and bring them to justice, and then maybe we\u2019ll figure out what was going on in the meantime.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reading this full exchange makes this more nonsensical than I had remembered: \u00a0strictly reading her words, Clinton simultaneously says that it doesn\u2019t matter whether the men died because of a protest or a coordinated attack, but then also says they are trying to figure out what happened, and that it does matter. \u00a0But Clinton\u2019s \u201cwhat difference\u201d line can only mean, \u201cit doesn\u2019t matter whether we deceived you earlier.\u201d <\/p>\n

Which, it being not to far from Easter, reminds me of the Pontius Pilate line,<\/a> when Jesus says he is testifying to the truth, \u201cWhat is truth?\u201d \u2014 which is understood to be exactly this sort of \u201cwho cares about the truth\u201d attitude. \u00a0The more things change, the more things stay the same, I guess.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I was doing a bit of pre-work browsing, and read this piece by Kevin D. Williamson at National Review on Benghazi. The whole story of Benghazi, as it\u2019s unfolding, is discouraging. \u00a0The bottom line is that the administration chose to blame the attack on the \u201cInnocence of Muslims\u201d video on youtube.com despite having solid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"What is truth?" and "What difference at this point does it make?"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So I was doing a bit of pre-work browsing, and read this piece by Kevin D. 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