Um, excuse me?
"Libya was, uh, a different kind of, um, calculation. We didn't lose a single person."
When I first saw this quote, I winced and assumed she was probably talking about the US death toll during the (unauthorized) Libya "war" itself -- which was conducted from the air, with America "leading from behind." Just another tone deaf, awful Hillary answer, I thought; what a mistake that she didn't intuit that her analysis of the Libya conflict would be viewed through the prism one of her glaring weaknesses and adjust accordingly. Amazingly, her answer is worse in context. She's not merely talking about the initial military component. She's discussing the aftermath, and the North African nation's slow, difficult trudge toward a functioning democracy. (By the way, how's that going? Libya is a failed state and ISIS' latest foothold in the region). In other words, this is an assessment of her entire foreign policy project and legacy in that country, which makes the Benghazi omission even more unforgivable. The US didn't lose a single person in Libya. We lost four. They were murdered by terrorists on the anniversary of 9/11, in a coordinated attack that began at our scandalously under-protected diplomatic mission in a city that was overrun by jihadis. Serious warning signs were ignored. Requests for additional security were denied. No help was sent once the deadly siege was underway. And now here's the woman on whose watch that outrage transpired bragging to a national audience that no Americans died in Libya. Benghazi just slipped her mind. The Clinton campaign will no doubt issue an indignant "clarification" soon, but why should anyone believe them? Here's how they've responded to her coal gaffe (not to be confused with her Obamacare gaffe):
Brian Fallon, Clinton's press secretary, accused Republicans of trying to "twist Hillary Clinton's words" to suggest she showed a disregard for coal workers and their livelihoods. "Obviously she was making the exact opposite point: that we have to take proactive steps to make sure coal workers, their families and their communities get not just the benefits they've earned, but also the future they deserve," said Fallon.
That's...not what she said. She was quite clear, actually:
"We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business."
How dare Republicans "twist" her words? I'll leave you with a question and a self-evidently accurate statement I made on Maria Bartiromo's show this morning. If you were a Benghazi family member, would you be more sickened by Hillary Clinton openly and repeatedly lying about the lies she told you face-to-face in 2012, or by her cavalier assertion that America lost zero people in Libya -- as if your loved one never existed?
.@guypbenson: [@HillaryClinton] is a deeply flawed candidate pic.twitter.com/dLxgtBKypT
— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) March 15, 2016