MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT                  John Kerry

On Tuesday night, Rachel Maddow laid out a compelling narrative for speculation that has been caroming around the Internet: why John McCain, Lindsay Graham and their new member of the three amigos -- Senator Kelly Ayotte (R- NH), replacing Joe Lieberman – are so virulently attacking Susan Rice. Is it to give the GOP a shot at picking up John Kerry's senate seat in Massachusetts?

To put it quite simply, if Obama backs down from appointing Rice due to the Republican Benghazi brigade, conventional wisdom has it that he is likely to appoint John Kerry to become Secretary of State.  If that were to be the case, Kerry's seat would become vacant.  A temporary replacement would be selected by Democratic Governor Deval Patrick (Kennedy family favorite Paul Kirk was chosen as a place holder senator after Kennedy's death), but the seat would then be contested in a special election.

Enter Republican Scott Brown, who remains personally popular in Massachusetts after being dislodged from Ted Kennedy's former senate seat by Democrat (now Senator-elect) Elizabeth Warren in the November election.  Warren fought hard to defeat Brown, who voted with the GOP basically whenever they needed him, but tossed a few social progressive bones out to make him acceptable to many Massachusetts Democratic voters.  Against a candidate with less savvy, gumption, campaign contributions and progressive credentials than Warren, Brown could conceivably pick up the seat presently held by Kerry.

Yesterday, BuzzFlash at Truthout dissected the hypocrisy of the Republican three amigos unrelenting buzz saw attack on Susan Rice. On Thursday, we will further explore the GOP double standard in relation to Colin Powell's infamous "yellow cake" UN speech that gave false cover for launching the war on Iraq.

MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT                           Susan Rice

NBC reports today that "GOP senators not satisfied with Rice explanation of Benghazi aftermath",
and after a "candid" meeting with Ambassador Rice, McCain claims that he is "significantly troubled" with her answers.

BuzzFlash has been around for 12 years, and we remember quite well that when Condi Rice was George W. Bush's National Security Advisor, both she and Bush ignored warnings of possible impending Al Qaeda hijackings in the US.  This, we remind you, was prior to the fateful day of 9/11, as a result of which more than 3000 people have died due to the attacks on the Twin Towers.

For a while after 9/11, Bush and Rice denied receiving any alerts.  Then, after months passed and a pre-September 11th CIA intelligence briefing was disclosed that warned Al Qaeda was determined to strike in the US, Bush and Rice changed their tune by parsing their responses to indicate that they were never informed of hijackings that would be flown into buildings.  This became the so-called rationale for their not doing anything to prevent the attacks -- nothing at all.

The unearthed memo, which was the most sensational made public (while other warnings were revealed even in the relatively whitewashed 9/11 hearings), was dated August 6, 2001.  It was the daily presidential intelligence briefing and was seen by both Bush (who blew off the CIA liaison who presented it to him at Bush's ranch in Texas) and Rice.  

Journalist Kurt Eichenwald wrote an op-ed in the September 10, 2012 New York Times that reveals how the White House was virtually defiant in not taking any preventive action against Al Qaeda prior to 9/11. Eichenwald received access to written warnings in the hands of the White House that preceded the August 6 memo:

(Photo: Wikipedia)