The Issue: Hillary Clinton’s testimony at a congressional hearing about the Benghazi attacks.
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Give Secretary of State Hillary Clinton credit for a classic performance before a packed house, with a nod to her finger-wagging husband (“Answer: It Makes a Difference in Hunting Terrorists,” John Podhoretz, Jan. 24).
It was short on facts, long on obfuscation and distraction, with a little table-banging for emphasis.
Clinton asked: “What difference does it make?” The difference is that four brave Americans are still dead and their families and country deserve answers.
Why was the story of a video being responsible perpetuated by the administration long after it was debunked?
Why was nothing done to save these four souls? What was the timeline? Who gave the order to stand down?
The difference is whether the lives of four Americans were more important than winning an election.
Regrettably, we all know the answer to that. She should be ashamed of herself.
Joe Alloy
Wayne, NJ
According to Clinton’s “what difference does it make?” logic, whatever Condoleezza Rice and George W. Bush knew about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and when they knew it had no bearing on the prior administration’s trustworthiness.
It sure didn’t seem that way while Rice was being batted around like a pinata by her detractors. Perhaps Clinton believes some questionable narratives should be accepted, while others should be dissected.
Clinton accepted responsibility for the Benghazi debacle, but she laid the blame at the feet of underlings who had read the ambassador’s alarming requests for enhanced security, which she had not.
Deniability, plausible or not, is the last refuge of politicians.
Ray Arroyo
Westwood, NJ
It was the “Hillary Clinton Show: Lies, Cries and Alibis.”
She said she takes full responsibility for everything. What were her consequences?
She received no punishment for her lack of action; she kept her job and didn’t lose any pay.
What was gained in this Democratic love-fest? The American public expected some answers.
Democrats didn’t ask any pertinent questions — they were there to support her. The questions asked by Republicans were not answered.
She omitted, lied and told us nothing that was not already said for months.
What a disgrace.
James Hanrahan
Farmingville
Clinton doesn’t think it makes a difference that we find out why our Libyan ambassador and three Americans were killed.
She sure thought it made a difference enough for Ambassador Susan Rice to be sent out to lie to the American people that the attack was an Islamist reaction to a film.
She thought it made a difference enough to stand by the president while he perpetrated that lie, not only to the families of the dead, but to the entire world at the United Nations.
The administration thought it made a difference enough to incarcerate that filmmaker while the real perpetrators roamed free to strike us again.
I wonder if our soon-to-be secretary of state, Sen. John Kerry — who protested the war in Vietnam by throwing his medals/ribbons over the fence of the White House — will think any of this makes a difference.
Jack Kaufman
Long Beach
Those of us who saw Clinton’s performance before congressional probers were treated to a preview of the 2016 campaign.
Here’s a woman who, in four short months, went from a concussion to a blood clot to total amnesia.
When questioned about the deaths of four Americans, she asked, “What difference does it make” how or why they were killed?
Should the secretary of state or a future president get a pass on a statement like this?
Sadly, if she were to be elected, we just saw what the answer to the 3 a.m. telephone call would be.
Anthony Venturella
Staten Island