Corker calls Obama administration's Libya response 'bizarre,' joins fellow Republicans in wanting answers

Sen. Bob Corker has joined fellow congressional Republicans in calling for more and complete answers about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya -- where four Americans were killed – calling the administration’s response so far “bizarre.”

Corker, R-Tenn., sent a letter this weekend to National Intelligence Director James R. Clapper Jr., who last week took responsibility for the administration originally calling the Sept. 11 strike in Benghazi, Libya, a “spontaneous” response to an anti-Islamic movie trailer and not a pre-planned or terrorist attack.  

“It seems that with each passing day, the situation surrounding the administration’s response to the terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya becomes more bizarre. The United States Congress and the American people are still waiting to get straight answers,” Corker wrote in the letter dated Sept. 29.

Clapper on Friday called the strike a “deliberate and carefully planned terrorist attack.”

The administration’s responses on Sept. 16 came from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, whom the administration has repeatedly said gave answers based on the best information available.

Still, Rep. Peter King, the New York Republican who heads the House Homeland Security Committee, on Friday called for Rice to resign over her "misleading" statements.

Corker also joins in the growing concern about whether the consulate, as well as U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and the three other Americans killed, had adequate security and why FBI investigators have yet to reach the crime scene.

“Yet just 18 days ago the administration apparently judged that it was appropriate for our consulate to be lightly guarded and it was safe for our ambassador to come through the city with a small security detail,” Corker wrote. “What has changed in Libya in such a short time that even FBI agents, our most elite investigative personnel, cannot safely enter the city? What has led to such a precipitous decline?”

Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham  (S.C.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), and Ron Johnson (Wis.), also sent letters last week demanding more detailed answers, including one to Rice seeking clarification on her statements.

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Republican senators to hold Akin fundraiser, keeping alive hope to win chamber

Republicans continue to reach out to embattled Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, this time with a much needed fundraiser, despite Democrats promising re-election attacks on supporters.

Sens. Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, S.C., and Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn, Okla., will be honorary hosts of a Washington fundraiser next week for Akin.

The event suggests donations from $2,500 to $100 a person and is scheduled for Wednesday, as reported first by Politico.

Democrats and Republicans called for Akin to quit the race after he made controversial remarks last month about rape. Akin apologized but has continued his campaign to unseat Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Republicans have long targeted McCaskill and her liberal voting record for defeat, in their attempt to retake control of the Senate.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee expressed support Wednesday for Akin, calling him "a far more preferable candidate." However, committee Chairman Texas Sen. John Cornyn made clear the next day that he has no plans to put money into a race his thinks Akin will lose.

In addition, Republican Super PAC American Crossroads pulled $3.6 million after Akin's rape comment.

Akin faced additional criticism late this week.

He said Friday that he had been arrested during an anti-abortion protest about two decades ago but didn't provide details of where or when the event occurred. And he accused McCaskill of not being "ladylike" in their Sept. 21 debate.

Last month, Akin told a TV interviewer asking about his opposition to abortion that women's bodies have ways of averting pregnancy in cases of "legitimate rape." Akin has apologized repeatedly and rejected calls from top Republicans -- including presidential nominee Mitt Romney -- to quit the race.

Former Missouri Republican Sen. Kit Bond also appears to be supporting Akin again.

"Todd's comments were unacceptable but he's apologized," Bond said this week, after joining with other Missouri Republicans in asking Akin to step aside. "It is time to focus on the national stakes in this election."  

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, among the lawmakers signing the letter, also has given his support again to Akin, saying despite differences "he and I agree the Senate majority must change."

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Pundits punk'd by satirical claims Ryan dissed Romney

Memo to the media: Clearly mark political satire, especially if it makes Republicans look bad. Otherwise, you might fool a Nobel prize-winning New York Times columnist.

Columnist Paul Krugman and other commentators were apparently duped Wednesday after Politico ran a satire piece that included what -- if true -- would have been an inflammatory comment by Republican running mate Paul Ryan. 

Politico took its inspiration from a quote, attributed to a GOP operative, that actually ran in The New York Times. The operative reportedly said that if Ryan ever runs for national office again, “he’ll probably have to wash the stench of Romney off of him.”

The Politico piece then blended that into satire – fantasy for some – with reporter Roger Simon writing that Ryan had taken to calling his running mate “Stench.” In fact, Ryan was so embarrassed to be part of Mitt Romney’s “floundering” campaign, Simon wrote, that he was openly sneering at the man on top of his ticket.

"Paul Ryan, I am sure, calls Mitt Romney something more dignified than 'Stench.'”

- Roger Simon, Politico

“If Stench calls, take a message,” Ryan supposedly had been telling aides. “Tell Stench I’m having finger sandwiches with Peggy Noonan and will text him later,” Simon quoted Ryan as saying. 

Krugman, a blogger for MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and a host of other liberal pundits fell for Simon's satire -- apparently finding the quote too good to not be true.

“Can I say that even though I’m not exactly a fan of Mitt Romney’s, this is just bad behavior?” wrote Krugman on his Times blog “The Conscience of a Liberal.” “You’re supposed to wait until it’s actually over before you do this kind of thing.”

Liberal talk radio host Taylor Marsh was giddy.

“Ryan is trying to save himself so he can live to run another day,” she wrote on her website. “Roger Simon’s piece has spread like wildfire and is causing a gigantic ripple.”

Hours later, word got around that Simon had made it all up. Even the part about how Romney had taken to calling Ryan “Gilligan.” Some of the folks who got fooled groused about it being too subtle or not particularly funny.

"OK, the word is that this was really clumsy satire," Krugman wrote in a late entry to his blog.

Simon did include a note at the end of the column that explained his point -- even as he put himself in a league with some slightly better satirists: 

[Author’s note: Jonathan Swift did not really want Irish people to sell their children for food in 1729; George Orwell did not really want the clocks to strike thirteen in 1984; Paul Ryan, I am sure, calls Mitt Romney something more dignified than “Stench” and Microsoft did not invent PowerPoint as a means to euthanize cattle. At least I am pretty sure Microsoft didn’t.]

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