By Ben Stein on 11.12.12 @ 6:10AM
How did Obama and Petraeus keep their scandal secret?
General David Petraeus is roughly one thousand times the man I am. He is braver, tougher, more self-sacrificing, smarter, more unselfish, more patriotic, far more disciplined, apparently able to keep up sexually with a woman twenty years younger than he is who is also an Ironman woman superstar. He is almost a superman. But not quite.
Now, let me get this straight: I do not think a man usually should have been fired for having sex with a woman not his wife. To me, that is just what men and women do. It is a part of life. But this is a highly unusual situation in every way.
Let's look at it from the point of view of how General Petraeus represented himself to President Obama and to the White House. When a man or woman is considered for high office, he or she is asked the following question (I know because I was considered for a modest government position several years ago and I was asked it, or a paraphrase), "Are you now doing or have you ever done anything which, if known, would cause embarrassment to the Administration, to the President, or to the nation? If you are doing so in the future, will you tell the responsible officials in the government?"
Obviously, David Petraeus lied in answer to that question. He was having an affair with a married woman while married himself. It now looks as if he might have had more than one affair going simultaneously. He did not divulge it when it happened and he did not divulge it until the FBI forced his hand.
This is a disgrace to him and to his office. It also shows he is a liar and liable to blackmail. I may be wrong here, but is it not a felony to lie to the FBI?
The whole affair came to light because Director Petraeus apparently gave his girlfriend, Paula Broadwell, access to his password for his computer, or allowed her to get it through negligence. On the computer there were classified documents. General Petraeus either did not know this had happened, which would be a disgrace, or knew about it and covered it up -- also a disgrace.
The Director of Central Intelligence is one of the most important jobs in the world. To have the incumbent handle it so carelessly is deeply disturbing. It is, sadly, of a piece with his lethal miscues in Libya. What could he possibly have been thinking? What kind of incompetence is going on here? This is terrifying.
Then there is a further issue. The second woman in this case, a State Department official, reported the threatening e-mails from Paula Broadwell months ago. The FBI apparently found out about the affair months ago, and that the security of the office of DCI had been breached. It is inconceivable that no one at the FBI told the White House or the A.G. about these serious concerns before this week. It just could not have happened that way. That is not how the world works
That means the White House and/or the A.G. knew for some time before the election that a scandal of major proportions was about to hit the CIA. The President knew before the election, in other words, and so did David Petraeus, that this furor was about to break.
How did they keep it secret? What did Attorney General Holder do to keep the lid on his FBI? What kind of possibly corrupt bargain did Mr. Obama make with Gen. Petraeus to go easy on him over Benghazi if Gen. Petraeus would keep quiet about his impending disgrace? What promises, winks, and nods were given and received?
It now looks as if the cover-up over CIA incompetence is a bigger story every day. Of course, the MSM will barely touch it because it reflects poorly on their man. But it's a depressing story of old time corruption from the administration that made the now laughable promise of "hope and change."
Now what? Thank heavens the GOP still has the House. There is a lot of investigating to be done. I am not sure we can count on Harry Reid.
By Ben Stein on 11.13.12 @ 7:51AM
Eric Holder is light years ahead of John Mitchell.
Monday
What pitiful pikers Haldeman and Ehrlichman, John Mitchell, Howard Hunt, Chuck Colson, and Richard M. Nixon were when it comes to cover-ups. They didn't even start to know how to cover up a crime. For that you have to go to true experts like the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, and the head of the FBI, Robert Mueller.
These men, in possession of undisputed evidence that General Petraeus had lied to the FBI, did absolutely nothing about it except to cover it up. The DCI had -- as we discussed yesterday --to have lied to the FBI about whether he had anything going on in his life that would compromise him. Not only that, but he had violated laws about protecting the security and integrity of classified information, and had used prohibited, not secure means of communication. He had also enlisted a colleague and lover, Paula Broadwell, in this effort. She, in turn, had broadcast the info that was supposed to be top secret to the whole world -- itself a violation of law.
Again, federal law prohibits publishing classified material or even using insecure means to communicate it.
Gen. Petraeus and his girlfriend are not the real story here, though. Love is strange and a man with the credentials of David Petraeus should not be prosecuted for anything short of murder.
The real story is that AG Holder kept this illegal arrangement going, did not stop it, allowed highly classified information to flow on Gmail, for heaven's sake. He saw an ongoing violation of federal laws about classified material and did nothing to stop it. Not only that, he made sure it was covered up, not allowing anyone to stop it until the (rigged) election was over.
What is this except aiding and abetting? What is it except that Watergate standby, obstruction of justice? A really experienced Chicago prosecutor could make a list ten pages long of the laws that have been violated.
Now, let's see if the Congressional Democrats allow a special prosecutor. (We know Mr. Holder will not touch this with a ten foot pole.) Let's see if the Washington Post goes after Holder the way it went after John Mitchell. Let's see the mighty New York Times flood the zone. Not bloody likely. No one will be prosecuted. That's political realism. But meanwhile, look at it and be impressed. Let's see just how well a really smooth cover-up can work when the media is with you, not against you.
This is a bad one.
By Ben Stein on 11.14.12 @ 7:51AM
The Petraeus/Holder/Obama super scandal just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Tuesday
There is an unbelievably great song by the black blues man John Lee Hooker called simply, "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom," as in "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Gonna shoot you right down....". It plays an important part in the super great new James Bond movie, Skyfall, which you must see right now. I mean immediately. Wifey and I saw it twice over the weekend even though we had to sit in row 2 on the aisle.
This is a perfect movie. Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever. Javier Bardem is a villain for the ages. This movie does not have as incredibly great an opening chase scene as Casino Royale, which is the best chase scene of all time. But it has Bardem, and man, oh, man, is he good.
I keep thinking about that "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom," song because of the Petraeus/Holder/Obama super scandal that is sweeping the nation's capital. And the nation. "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom," it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
"Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom," the DCI has been telling big time lies by omission, has been doing spycraft Internet games with his mistress, using Gmail, again, which my computer pals tell me a ten year old can hack, leaving sexually explicit messages for her in a draft file that they can both access. And we are supposed to believe he's known her for eight years and this affair just started a year ago? When they were together in Kabul for long periods away from her hubby and his loyal wife? Are you kidding me? And ended a few months ago voluntarily? Are you really sure we are that stupid?
"Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom," and we are supposed to believe that Barry Obama did not know about it? And that AG Holder didn't know about it? The FBI knew for months that the DCI was using an illegal Internet connection to carry on an affair with a beautiful blabbermouth and Holder did not know? And that he didn't tell the President?
If that's true, I guarantee you that the Russians knew about it. They are pretty good at hacking, and the Chinese make the Russians look like kittens.
"Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom," did you read about Paula telling an audience that the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was really a CIA prison for captured terrorists? Where do you think she got that idea? How about this: someone high up in Obamaland says, "Hey, we'll say that place in Benghazi was a CIA operation. Then, we'll brief Romney and say that if you, Governor, are a patriot, you'll lay off this Benghazi thing because it was a CIA operation."
So, Mr. Romney, like a patriot, like his father before him, gets brainwashed and ducks the whole Benghazi issue in debate 3. And Obama has suckered him in and wins the election with an elaborate trick and Paula somehow gets into the loop, too. Maybe she's just lying in bed with a certain someone and hears the conversation. I'm just saying.…
I'm just saying that this is what Mr. Nixon tried to do with Watergate -- get the FBI off the trail be telling them that Watergate was a CIA thing. It worked for a while, too. Maybe Mr. Obama's far cleverer trick worked well, too.
Meanwhile, again, who the heck is this Jill Kelley? Porn e-mails from the top U.S. general in Afghanistan? Flirting with General Petraeus? Runs some kind of questionable charity ? Who the heck is she? Getting sex pictures from an FBI man who helps "catch" Paula? She's an interesting girl. "Bad girl, bad girl, such a dirty bad girl, beep, beep," as Donna Summer sang. She's really interesting.
Then there's that four-star General Ward, one of the highest ranking African-American generals ever, basically stealing money to furnish his house, take his wife and him on lavish shopping trips, roaring through town in a motorcade -- and he doesn't even get fired. He gets retired as a three star. Hmm. Let's see what might account for the difference in treatment....Why isn't he prosecuted for embezzlement or theft?
Then there's a one star who's going to prison for forcing female officers to perform oral sex on him.
What the heck is happening to this country? Is this the "hope and change" we asked for? I guess it's hope, anyway.
Meanwhile, I love President Obama saying he has a mandate to raise taxes because he won the election. I fully agree taxes have to be raised. But does he really think he won for any other reason than that he got a huge nonwhite turnout and majority and he was running against a weak campaign? Surely he knows why he won. He has to. To now claim it had anything to do with taxation issues is comical. I don't know. Maybe he really thinks he got 95% of the African American vote because of fiscal policy issues.
"Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom."
Meanwhile, again, please do not allow me to leave the impression that I am any better than Gen. Petraeus or Gen. Allen or Paula and Jill. I'm not. I am a lot worse. I am a sinner, not a saint. But I'm giving you the straight scoop here because it takes one to know one. The MSM won't tell you what's happening here. I just did.
