| (Only 26 days left and I haven't even gotten to Doug Lamborn yet.)
Today's Stupidest Republican is Jason Chaffetz of Utah. Republicans are trying to blame the Obama Administration for the deaths of our Ambassador and several others at the consulate offices in Benghazi, Libya.
This idiot Chaffetz, in ramping up the pressure, has already admitted that Republicans have significantly cut Administration requests for security funding at our embassies.
He seems proud of the fact:
Soledad O'Brien/CNN: "Is it true that you voted to cut the funding for embassy security?"
Jason Chaffetz/Stupid Republican: "Absolutely. Look we have to make priorities and choices in this country. We have... 15,0000 contractors in Iraq. We have more than 6,000 contractors, a private army there, for President Obama, in Baghdad.
And we're talking about can we get two dozen or so people into Libya to help protect our forces. When you're in touch economic times, you have to make difficult choices. You have to prioritize things."
How much have Republicans cut from embassy security requests made by the Obama Administration?
In fiscal year 2011, lawmakers shaved $128 million off of the administration's request for embassy security funding. House Republicans drained off even more funds in fiscal year 2012 -- cutting back on the department's request by $331 million.
So Republicans cut funding and then can blame President Obama and SecState Clinton for inadequate security. Brilliant!
But that's not the congressman's stupidest blunder of recent days.
In a house hearing to further lay blame on the State Department and to embarass as many as possible, Chaffetz explicitly identified top-secret classified information on methods and personnel in Libya:
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was the first to unmask the spooks. "Point of order! Point of order!" he called out as a State Department security official, seated in front of an aerial photo of the U.S. facilities in Benghazi, described the chaotic night of the attack. "We're getting into classified issues that deal with sources and methods that would be totally inappropriate in an open forum such as this."
A State Department official assured him that the material was "entirely unclassified" and that the photo was from a commercial satellite. "I totally object to the use of that photo," Chaffetz continued. He went on to say that "I was told specifically while I was in Libya I could not and should not ever talk about what you're showing here today." His hearing, his witnesses, and in his idiotic attempt to blame someone for the death of our ambassador, and other security personnel, in Libya, Jason Chaffetz identifed critical resources that are used to provide that very same security, security that House Republicans have cut drastically over the last 2 years.
Even though he's stupid, I don't think even Doug Lamborn could come close to that amount of stupid in the span of a few days. |
