2 Comments about Hillary's testimony before Congress and the interrogation she got re: Benghazi --
1. The State Department has been 'whining' about lack of security for decades, especially since the embassy bombing in Tanzania in 1998, but Congress has refused to provide the requisite funding for such improvements.

2. After reading Dr. Ann Engelland's excellent newly published book about concussions ("It's All in Your Head") I come to wonder whether Hillary's famous outburst was brought on at least in part by her concussion, which, as I understand from my reading of Dr. Engelland, can result in abrupt mood swings. Happily such symptoms attenuate with time.

@Dan from Park Slope

Where exactly are we better liked in the world? The Obama administration has managed to insult both Canada and England two of our friendliest allies. In Egypt both sides now chant anti-Obama slogans. Interventions in Syria, Libya and Mali where the US "lead from behind" all in states of turmoil. Our Russian reset has worked so well they just passed a law banning US adoptions. North Korea is loudly threatening to nuke us. South America feels they have been given the cold shoulder, with the exception of Mexico. Mexico media covered "operation fast & furious" despite the black out by American media. Obama administration sending over 2000 guns to Mexican criminals was not considered "smart" diplomacy. Africa wants Bush back because of how much $$ in aid he sent them. So where exactly has Obama diplomacy been successful??

@Jesse...yup all of it.

how is the restart going with russia?...with latin america?...how have human rights improved in Libya?...what positive results can be attributed to the arming of the syrian rebels...just exactly what is going on within the new social media office within the state department? are people in washington pretending to be citizens within Libya...Syria...Iran...etc...instigating demonstrations against their governments? interfering in the internal affairs of other countries? She has turned the state department into another arm of the c.i.a...her methods may be a bit different then under Bush...but the goals are exactly the same...u.s. domination of the natural resources of the planet...through any means necessary

I question the 2008 narrative that Clinton was the more "conservative" of the two Dem candidates, herself and Barack Obama.

Sure spending on diplomacy is "wasteful", but god forbid we cut back on military bands, or any other pork wasted on the military the size of the rest of the world combined.

Is the idea of using skype for anything which involves anything the right wing doesn't care about, such as knowledge-gathering a new Fox talking point?

dboy...nothing has changed...Bush was a jackass and was run by the same people that run Obama. Some how the wars don't matter now...NOTHING has been done to wind down military involvement in the ME, we just spread them around more...and now in Africa.

Better world now? Can I have some of what you be smokin....
click the link I posted.

Sorry to say, Brian, but you sound anti HIllary. The hearing on Benghazi was, among other things, Republicans trying to cut her down as a candidate. They'd prefer Biden, who Jon Stewart, Colbert, and the Onion are using as a joke-punching bag. Jon makes fun of the VP taking a train, perhaps not aware that taking trains is the greenest way to travel. Are you ever going to do a series on Greening New York? Hope so.

you need to ask "are we better liked in the world?" The answer is a definitive YES. you also need to take a longer term look for the policies we've embraced. The uprisings we've supported will no doubt have a long term positive effect, and when people choose their own leaders, they can no longer blame their political or economic circumstances on us, the USA.

Joe "Dim-Witted" Corrao

Two USELESS and EXTRAORDINARILY EXPENSIVE and TOTALLY UNNECESSARY BUSH cowboy oil wars that resulted in hundreds of thousands of INNOCENT deaths - this is better??

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-children-killed-by-americas-drones-crimes-against-humanity-committed-by-barack-h-obama/5320570

we have more choices than Bush and Obama as far as path we can take.

All of her statements on either venue have to be considered in the light of the previous two terms of Bush's two wars!!!
Her, or Obama's direction in world diplomacy...compared to what? GEORGE BUSH's EIGHT YEARS???

RCUB...yup we cut big bloated wasteful spending...so make decision where we send people...do we send them to an unstable region with no protection...the problem isn't what the ash*le republicans in congress did. What diplomacy did they do in Libya? Seems like it was chaos and would be for a while...do they not have Skype?

Brian Lehrer would be remiss as a host to not address gender dynamics and discrimination in discussing the now infamous response. "What difference does it make" that she was a woman who responded so forcefully to questions she found inappropriate?

Who the hell's job was it to bring legality to our use of extrajudicial killing? The clock is ticking. Any claim to be the 'shining city on the hill' now just seems to be a historic relic. The CIA's got this and they can't be asked to account publicly ... is weak leadership.

Yes, no one "parses" but the Clintons *eye roll*.

Apparently it's still too painful for the establishment media to admit to their gullibility, hypocrisy and laziness during the Clinton years.

Clearly trying to cover up for an affair is SO much more mendacious than lying us into a war, or making a statement as ridiculous as "no one is above the law...but I don't want to look back.

What was the question that Clinton was responding to when she said, "what difference does it make"? That seems to make all the difference!

traveling is her strength...same with Carmello Anthony. HC has the backing of MSM, she is fine.

@JoeCorrao

"a million cables and she missed the big 1...don't they flag important ones like emails? Id this the first Campaign stop for Hillary's run?"

And what about the House cutting $450M from the State Dept security spending over the previous two years?

Augment security...how bout not being in an unstable country...that we destabilized.

The GOP is mad because the CIA called the attack 'spontaneous' when they could have used a declaration of 'terrorist attack' to try and peel off some votes for Obama in November. Too bad...I'm mad that Dubya did nothing for ten months after the FBI finally tagged Al Qaeda with the USS Cole attack. HRC is right...at this point what difference does the reason for the attack make? What matters, at this point, is our response.

I'll take Obama and his national security team over the GOP and their self-serving, neo-con BS.

It's hard to say. The imperial industrial complex is so strong, what could she do? Really? Like the President, she can only so much. I like her vocal input on the treatment of girls and women around the world, but I can't think of anything else.

... no big fan of HC but in that hearing, she did demonstrate the balls that BO wishes he had!!

Fantastic.

@Jesse...amen...

You guys know EXACTLY what she meant....you can put a spin on anything!

a million cables and she missed the big 1...don't they flag important ones like emails? Id this the first Campaign stop for Hillary's run?

Seems to me she was completely deluded by the probable results of the Arab spring. The assumption were as bad as the Bush addm. thinking democracy was on its way and the Iraqies would welcome us in the street. I think this is partly because of homogenization of input in DC.

We haven't started any new wars...we bombed Syria, bombed Pakistan, bombed Yemen, covertly aided rebels (Al Qeda) in both Syria and Libya...we aren't secure BECAUSE of our military...sheesh.

Honestly - we have no way to accurately judge how Hilary did - since our news organizations are so emptied out of real global insight.

Why don't we try applying the standards the US applies to other nations, especially to those nations it seeks to vilify (which is pretty much any Arab or Muslim state these days).

Using those standards, Hillary Clinton's record isn't much better than Condoleezza Rice's — both are war criminals. By the very standards the US applies abroad.

@JoeCorrao -

I bet you think that is some insightful thinking on your part...We haven't started any new wars...reduced Russian nuclear weapons...kept us secure. The Dept of State keeps up good relation with most of the war. We either keep the peace or use our military. I'll take peace.

This guy is a comedian right? Diplomacy? Remember to tip your waitress.

She's done zero. Zero as SoS, Zero as a senator...all smoke and mirrors. talk about MSM spin. Successful? How many babies do we have to kill?

I was taught that the role of sec def was as civilian backstop against impervious army?