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(Image source: The New York Times)
BY ZACH TOOMBS
What was meant to be a peace talk only stoked the fire for three Republican senators Tuesday,
as John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Kelly Ayotte met with U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to talk
about her handling of the Benghazi consulate attack and didn’t like what they heard.
MCCAIN: “We are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that
we didn’t get concerning evidence that was overwhelming.”
GRAHAM: “Bottom line: I’m more disturbed now than I was before.”
McCain and Graham have consistently criticized Rice for comments she made on various Sunday
shows in September, when she said the Benghazi consulate attack that killed four Americans
in Libya was a spontaneous protest.
The incident was later labeled a pre-planned attack, prompting critics to accuse Rice of
misrepresenting the facts — though she says her information evolved over time. Because
Rice is a frontrunner to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, several Republicans
say they’re determined to block her nomination.
[CBS:] “I don’t quite frankly trust her rendition of Benghazi, so I think Susan Rice
would have an incredibly difficult time getting through the Senate.”
Still, McCain seemed to be backing off his criticism of Rice this past Sunday, when he
said this:
“I would give everyone the benefit of explaining their position and the actions that they took.”
But after Tuesday’s meeting, it seems any progress that had been made to settle GOP
critics has been reversed. That’s what Megan Liberman and Michael Shear of The New York
Times had to say.
MEGAN LIBERMAN: “It does not sound like it went very well.”
MICHAEL SHEAR: “No, it really didn’t. You know, you expect that when you call one
of these meetings … you hope that you can sort of woo them and that you’ll come out
and that things will be at least somewhat better. Instead, it seems like it went worse.”
The White House has actively defended Rice. On Tuesday, Press Secretary Jay Carney said
this to reporters.
“Ambassador Rice has no responsibility for collecting, analyzing and providing intelligence.”
McCain and Graham would need a total of 40 votes in the Senate to block a hypothetical
Rice nomination. Although the GOP has 47 senators, lawmakers usually give the president some
leeway on shaping his own cabinet. And, of course, a pending political battle is entirely
dependent on whether Rice gets the nomination in the first place.