Susan Rice Falls On Sword To Save … The Media

Make no mistake about it, it’s not just the Obama White House breathing a sigh of relief over Susan Rice’s “decision” to take her name out of the running to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. The media’s just as relieved, if not more.

Thanks to New Media and Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Kelly Ayotte, Rice had become synonymous with a scandal the media is desperate not to cover, Benghazi-Gate. And now that that the brouhaha surrounding Rice is over, the media thinks it can go back to making sure the questions surrounding the deaths of four Americans in Libya go unanswered.

There are certain thought-drivers in the media, those JournOlisters you can watch and read if you want to know what the overall media’s thinking — and BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith is chief among them. Smith has perfected the art form of BenSmithing; the writing of stories that pretend to cover a subject, when those stories are really about killing narratives harmful to Democrats, most especially Barack Obama.

And what did we get from Ben Smith yesterday, immediately after Rice withdrew? The firing of a brightly colored flare that told the media, WE CAN ALL STOP COVERING LIBYA NOW!  The headline of the piece said it all: “Rice Withdrawal Marks End Of Benghazi Scandal.”

Let me repeat that with emphasis: “Rice Withdrawal Marks End Of Benghazi Scandal.”

So what we have today is a media that’s emotionally mixed. They’re obviously bitter and angry over the fact that New Media was able to keep pushing Libya to a point where Obama bailed on Rice (more proof the media is slowly losing its power). But the media’s also relieved that Rice, a flashpoint around a scandal they want to ignore, is now out of the picture.

Ben Smith, Chuck Todd, and others are apparently making one mistake, though. Just as they foolishly assumed the energy New Media had towards Libya was purely political, and that we would give it up after the election, they also seem to assume that Rice’s “scalp” will be enough. In other words, the media believes that we’re partisan mercenaries like them — only driven by politics and not a drive for the truth, wherever it may lead.

Well, they’re in for a surprise that headlines arrogantly declaring a scandal over won’t fix.

There are dozens of unanswered questions surrounding Libya, from security failures to the cover up. And although the corrupt media cares more about protecting Obama than getting to the bottom of the deaths of four Americans, they’re just going to have to live with the fact that they no longer have a monopoly on truth.

 

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC