Are you for real, or is just bait? If it's real, explain exactly why she isn't qualified (despite having the resume that clearly says she is),and who are the "so many" others you feel are qualified.

I'm completely serious. Her academics are fine and she has a degree in communications. But how does that exactly qualify for an important job such as secretary of state? It doesn't. Her resume is rather short compared to John Kerry or Hillary Clinton.

This is more of a CIA problem, I'm starting to see that. But Obama's administration is the one in charge. Ultimately they are held responsible. But this is what McCain was attacking.

BOB SCHIEFFER: And joining us now, Susan Rice, the U.N. ambassador - our U.N. ambassador. Madam Ambassador, The [the Libyan president of the National Assembly] says that this is something that has been in the planning stages for months. I understand you had been saying that you think it was spontaneous? Are we not on the same page here?

SUSAN RICE: Well, Bob, let me tell you what we understand to be the assessment at present. First of all, very importantly, as you discussed with the president, there is an investigation that the United States government will launch, led by the FBI that has begun.

SCHIEFFER: But they are not there yet.

RICE: They are not on the ground yet but they have already begun looking at all sorts of evidence of various sorts already available to them and to us. And they will get on the ground and continue the investigation.

So we'll want to see the results of that investigation to draw any definitive conclusions. But based on the best information we have to date, what our assessment is as of the present is in fact what - it began spontaneously in Benghazi as a reaction to what had transpired some hours earlier in Cairo, where, of course, as you know, there was a violent protest outside of our embassy sparked by this hateful video.

But soon after that spontaneous protest began outside of our consulate in Benghazi, we believe that it looks like extremist elements, individuals, joined in that effort with heavy weapons of the sort that are, unfortunately, readily now available in Libya post-revolution. And that it spun from there into something much, much more violent.

SCHIEFFER: But you do not agree with him that this was something that had been plotted out several months ago?

RICE: We do not - we do not have information at present that leads us to conclude that this was premeditated or preplanned.

SCHIEFFER: Do you agree or disagree with him that al-Qaeda had some part in this?

RICE: Well, we'll have to find out that out. I mean, I think it's clear that there were extremist elements that joined in and escalated the violence. Whether they were al-Qaeda affiliates, whether they were Libyan-based extremists or al-Qaeda itself I think is one of the things we'll have to determine.

Current United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

Senior foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.

Served in the Clinton administration in various capacities:
National Security Council from 1993 to 1997;
Director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping from 1993 to 1995;
Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs from 1995 to 1997;
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1997-2001

M.Phil and D.Phil in international relations.

Awarded the Chatham House-British International Studies Association Prize for the most distinguished doctoral dissertation in the United Kingdom in the field of International Relations.


Any other questions?

That record reads like a State department veteran bureaucrat. On paper I'm sure she's fine for that Cabinet position. Whether she'll be good or not, who knows like anything else? Just opposing her just because Fox News blames her for Benghazi is quite mindless.

(One notable Secretary failed despite a good looking resume was Leslie Aspin, Clinton's first Secretary of Defense. He was the same guy who once scheduled a meeting with the JCS, forgot about it, and instead played Tennis. He lasted just over a year on the job.)

I totally agree.
If you look at the main duties of the Secretary of State, calling her unqualified after looking at her resume and education just isn't true.

She can have all the education and credentials in the world. Many politicians have degrees from top universities and have experience, yet still seem stupid at times.
Rice apparently lied, if she did, all the education and qualifications of hers are meaningless. Those people in embassy were begging for help, and that youtube video did not cause those deaths of Americans.

Are you for real? That's the most clueless comment I've read by far. So what did? Cause I was here and I can tell, there was nothing else causing these riots at that time.

Are you being sarcastic? Petraeus, and others, are now admitting it was planned attack. It was on 9/11, and ambassador had been asking for security for days. This has been covered on CNN past week, so it's not from a biased source.

Please give a link to a CNN article which says that Ambassador Stevens was asking for security for days.

Here is one from CNN blog

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/19/new-documents-show-security-concerns-in-benghazi/

Here are two links from CBS If you watch the news, most stations have been mentioning it.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57529226/new-details-of-u.s-ambassador-stevens-final-hours/


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-5...security-staff/

And yet none of these mention that Steven asked for more security for days, before the accident. Some of these mention most of the security was pulled back 6 months before the accident, or the rise of extremism in the region which is not limited to Libya. It's also happening in Egypt. Not to mention there was another embassy in Tripoli, Libya. He was the ambassador. Benghazi is not even the capital of Libya. If the security was thin and he felt unsafe days before, why not join those in Tripoli?

There's always a Quran burning, caricature publishing and this shit happens. Embassies weather out the mob, most often with no accidents. YouTube video did cause that accident. There was no way around it to say otherwise people would set fire to the embassy. That all being said, that building in Benghazi was not strong enough to last that riot. But that's what you get for cutting federal funds.

No. She didn't "apparently lie", and there's sworn testimony that she didn't. According to a member on the Intelligence Committee: "She did entirely the responsible thing in answering questions based on what was unclassified and agreed to by the entire intelligence community at the moment that she used those talking points. That is critically important to understand."

Afs do you actually believe it was the youtube video that caused the death of four Americans? This was a planned terroist attack

Yes, have you been reading my posts? Planned? Like that afternoon planed, as hey, Abuwhatever, grab that rocket launcher and let's go unleash hell to those infidels mocking our prophet? Then yes. Otherwise, no.

This is a country that had just been through a civil war. Everyone was armed. Stevens was really brave going over there. He knew the risks. He somewhat took it. Now I'm not sure why you have to brand them as Al-Qaeda, but pretty much most of the hardliners could have been potential terrorist that day. That movie was a huge deal out here. It made many people angry and out here, people can not be reasoned with that it was not the views of American government. They just don't get it, just as well that you don't get it how big a deal it was to them.

Good to see some Senators (Lieberman and Chambliss) actually recognize a witch hunt when they see one, there is no need for a select committee.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/18/joe-lieberman-committee-benghazi_n_2154728.html

They've been referred to not as Al Qaeda, but as Al Qaeda affiliated. I'm not sure what that means.

To me, it's just not wanting to get to the bottom of it, while they say they want to get to the bottom of it. You can ask Terry Jones who wanted to burn Quran, how many pleas from the secretary of state he received to not do that. They know once someone does this, it's their people's lives that goes on the line. And you don't hear from the casualties from the side that protests, it's so crazy, many of them die due to injuries caused by their comrades.

It seemed more like an opportunistic attack than something that took weeks to plan.

So can we get over the Rice "controversy" with the DNI reportedly scrubbing out the Al Qaeda reference from Rice's statements that got the GOP hot and bothered in the first place?

Whether or not she is better suited for the job than Kerry, I am betting Obama picks her just to stick it to the republicans.

And that would be a stupid reason. You pick the best person for the job, period.

^^^could not agree more

I've seen nothing that would suggest that Rice is not qualified for the job.

By the way, while some of the House Republicans are questioning the President's judgment in selecting an able Secretary of State, his previous selection for the office just helped broker a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel after eight days of violent bombings, and she may get home in time for some turkey and pumpkin pie.

I think Kerry would be great but from what I hear about Rice (didn't know about her til recently) she sounds really qualified as well. If the President does pick her the Rs will likely have a fit, but so be it.

Btw, does anyone else have a case of political burn-out? I find myself since the election NOT as glued to political stories. I think I'm taking a little break after all the tension. LOL



TIS

I certainly don't argue with his choice of Hillary Clinton. Shes done a fine job. I would just rather see John Kerry than Susan rice. Whether or not she was tied to the conflict she was the mouthpiece for it and Obama should know at this critical time within our government that's only going to piss of the republicans he's trying to work with

The selection of cabinet members is not made on the basis of appeasing certain members of the party that lost the election. Obama didn't garner 332 electoral votes to be told whom to appoint by some congressmen.

Republicans aren't demanding John Kerry's appointment because they think he'd be good at the job. In 2004 they called him a coward, and assailed his integrity. Make no mistake that they would like to see him out of the Senate with a potential seat available to a Republican.

The roles are clear. The President makes the appointment; the Senate votes whether to confirm.

And again, in light of what has been revealed and drawing all reasonable inferences, I see nothing to suggest that Rice is anything less than eminently qualified to fulfill the requirements of the Secretary of State position.

I'm going through election withdrawals. How long before the primaries?

Ha ha ha!! Well there are those talking about who's gonna run in 2016. Gee, only 4 more years. I can hardly wait.

TIS

I'm still going strong. Of course, my students require it.