Hillary Didn't Mind Going On Sunday Show To Do Victory Lap On Libya

In her testimony before Congress Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Rep. Joe Wilson that she did not go on the Sunday morning network shows the weekend after the deadly attacks in Benghazi because: 

Going on the Sunday shows is not my favorite thing to do. There are other things I prefer to do on Sunday mornings. And, you know, I haven’t been on a Sunday show in way over a year. So it just isn’t something I normally jump to do.

So the assassination of an ambassador on her watch didn’t rise to the level importance to pre-empt the “other things (she) prefer(s) to do on Sunday mornings.”  This begs the question what does supersede all of those other things she prefers to do?

Sec. Clinton last appeared on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on October 23, 2011.  This was three days after Muammar Gaddafi had been killed, a high-point of the American operation in Libya.  She appeared with David Gregory to do a victory lap for herself and for the president and to trumpet the administration’s strategy in Libya as brilliant and triumphant.  

Here is what Sec. Clinton saw fit to say on that Sunday in the fall of 2011, one year before the tragic events in Benghazi:  

Well, let me begin by saying that President Obama has passed with flying colors every leadership challenge. I mean, look at what he has done, I mean, just to name a few things. I mean, we were looking for bin Laden for 10 years. It was under President Obama’s leadership that he was finally eliminated. Libya, with the kind of smart leadership that the president showed, demonstrating that American leadership was essential, but it was important to try to bring others also into a coalition of efforts, and the objective was achieved, keeping the promise to withdraw from Iraq but not leave Iraq by having a robust security and training mission accompanied by a very large diplomatic presence.

I could go on and on. I think this president has demonstrated that, in a still very dangerous world, it’s important to have someone at the helm of our country who understands how to manage what is an incredibly complex world now. Yes, we have a lot of threats, but we also have opportunities, and I think President Obama has grasped that and has performed extraordinarily well.

So I don’t know what the other side will do. I’m out of politics, as you know, David. I don’t comment on it. But I think Americans are going to want to know that they have a steady, experienced, smart hand on the tiller of the ship of State, and there’s no doubt that that’s Barack Obama.

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