Good, Bad and Mad: The News with Andrew Rosenthal

Jun 30, 2016 · 56 comments
Edward (Midwest)
Now that the seemingly-endless Benghazi Congressional investigations are over, what is next for these Republicans who never investigate Republicans?

Why, interminable Congressional investigations of Hillary over emails of course!

If you want politically-motivated witch hunts to stop, and for Congress to go about the peoples' business addressing real problems, please vote this November.
AIRISH (Washington, DC)
Well, Andrew Rosenthal was always the epitome of a certain type of smug and elitist New York insider. Very unattractive for him to spew insults at a member of Congress for the sin of not being part of the bien pensants who read his paper. By the way, the NYT always adores "diversity," even as its editorial board has all the intellectual diversity of the sociology faculty at Smith College. Diversity is not a bunch of people who look different but think exactly the same, Andrew. And if you want to understand "out of touch," just read any randomly selected Rosenthal editorial.
Objective Opinion (NYC)
Benghazi was tragic - to attempt to hold Ms. Clinton directly responsible was a stretch to begin with.

I did not agree her foreign policy decisions, and felt she was an ineffective Secretary of State, but I do not blame her for what happened in Libya.

Unfortunately, we had to stand by for the last several years and watch the Republicans continue to try and find something....where there was nothing.
ALALEXANDER HARRISON (New York City)
To call Gowdy "that little man in Washington"is unfair, childish. Criticizing someone for his lack of physical stature reminds me of a school boy taunt. I would no more demean Gowdy for his physical imperfections than I would criticize HRC for not having worn a dress for the past 40 years, or wearing a wig. We r all physically imperfect, which is why clothes come in handy.It is the deterioration that comes with age. If AR meant "little" in the sense of "petty" he is again off the mark. Gowdy and the GOP members of the Committee did what the media should have been doing, but refrained because of its left wing bias.Over 70 percent of the Washington press corps--a conservative estimate--r registered Dems, and chary of investigating Benghazi because the evidence points to HRC's incompetence, unawareness and deceitfulness.AR never does explain why she lied about the video, to the parents of the deceased no less.As I have written,Hillary, given all the harm she has caused to others, might have emulated the late John Profumo , war minister under Macmillan in the early 1960's who,when caught "en flag"with a prostitute, resigned and devoted the rest of his life to cleaning public w.c.'s in the slums of London.We possess few politicians of such integrity. Backing HRC is a bum show, and even her supporters r hard pressed to have anything nice to say about her, or to name a single accomplishment. Being an advocacy journo should not mean that you suspend your critical thinking skills.
merc (east amherst, ny)
You have to wonder if the Bookies in Vegas are taking bets on a Trey Gowdy-Marsha Blackburn ticket in 2020.
merc (east amherst, ny)
The self-importance that oozed from the Republican Members of that Benghazi Committee was creepy. They acted as if it was their right to twist the facts surrounding Benghazi into subjective notions they could use to frame Hillary Clinton, especially after listening to Soledad O'Brien interview the Republican Rep. from Utah, Jason Chaffetz, who during the interview practically brags about his vote to defund Embassy Security. Are these pod-people?
Mark (Peoria)
I would call it fair to spend another million $ to investigate Gowdy and Republicans for corruption and for wasting our money.
jash (SoCal)
The real "Post Brexit craziness" - you & the Times continue to advocate a system of government for Britain under the EU (undemocratic, unelected, unresponsive & unaccountable) that you would never tolerate in the US.
ChesBay (Maryland)
Trey Gowdy is indeed a little man with a little mind (but a large ego) who must represent a constituency that is a small as he is. Perfect Repuglican.
surgres (New York)
There were 14 people shot in NYC during the 4th of July
1) none of the shooters were members of the NRA,
2) NYC has very strict gun control laws, and the laws have not been changed by the NRA,
3) the NRA has always stood in favor of laws to remove illegal guns from criminals.

And yet Andrew Rosenthal continues to blame the NRA. But look at other facts:
1) gun violence was less under "stop and frisk,"
2) gun violence is highest in cities with democratic Mayors,
3) gun violence claims more black lives.

When will Andrew Rosenthal, the poster boy of privilege, at least acknowledge these facts? Probably never, since his main interest is advancing his agenda, and he has to ignore facts in order to do that!
Lew (San Diego, CA)
"1) none of the shooters were members of the NRA,"

Neither were the shooters at Orlando, San Bernardino, Sandy Hook... Yet the NRA continues to advocate for little or no restriction of gun ownership for everyone, regardless of terrorist affiliations, mental state, etc.
Dr. Dillamond (NYC)
"There were 14 people shot in NYC during the 4th of July."
Robert (Out West)
I would ask how you know that none of the shooters were NRA members, but the thing is, you just know.
dEs JoHnson (Forest Hills)
I see the Hillary haters are at it again. God Bless their stamina. Lies and innuendos ad infinitum! When I ask for evidence, what I get is evidence of the failure of American education. We now have people who think YouTube videos are "evidence!" This is a shocking degradation of American minds.

GHWB had a slogan that his sidekick Dan Q mangled, but the slogan itself was sound: a mind is a terrible thing to waste. And how America has wasted hundreds of millions of minds! Actually, Quayle may have let the secret of GOP strategy out when he said: "A mind is a terrible thing." That's what the lying hypocrites have to fear: minds that have been developed and informed.
Kerm (Wheatfields)
A couple of thoughts ...

-when has the us military not sent troops to defend regardless of budgetary concerns?

- am pro abortion but you are the first I've heard say that "planned parenthood doesn't preform that many abortions".... publicly! regardless if they do or not.

- "it is birth control that allows women to participate in the labor force.
and to be equal and sometimes superior to men".
Janis (Ridgewood, NJ)
The Loretta Lynch (liar of a surprise meeting) and Bill Clinton just shows the lying and deception are what we can expect from Hillary after she is president.
Lew (San Diego, CA)
Yes, we get it. Master manipulator Hillary sent crooked Bill to talk to bribe lyin' Loretta. And devious Hillary even pulled the old double reverse on us by doing it out in the open. Why didn't she hire a lawyer or someone to contact Lynch anonymously? Slipping, I guess, or overly confident about the stupidity of the American people. Lucky we have you to interpret everything she does. Keep up the good work.
faceless critic (new joisey)
@Janis: Made up our minds already, have we? And Trump is supposed to be better.....HOW?
CBRussell (Shelter Island,NY)
Dear Editor Rosenthal

Some of the commenters are being rather uncivil towards you....and I think
we should simply discredit comments which are simply outbursts of indignation
and have nothing of substance to agree or disagree with..

Points of view are interesting; however crass diatribes are unworthy of retort.
Gil (Tampa)
Since 1999 over 87 millions dollars of taxpayer money has been spent on five investigations and the Ken Starr probes aimed at defaming the Clintons. All that has come of this waste is continuing innuendo and the sensationalized personal infidelity.

Wake up America and quit feeding the sleaze machine; the Clintons are as trustworthy as just about all of us.
surgres (New York)
I am amazed at the narcissism of Andrew Rosenthal, who not only control the editorial page, but then hires someone to interview him. Seriously, I"m sick of this guy, and it is disgusting that the NY Times gives him this much power.
After all, his father Abe has been proven as a liar who creates fiction (e.g. the response to Kitty Genovese) in order to promote his own fame and slander society.
How can we have good leaders when the most powerful person in the press is such a boastful, obnoxious liar?
faceless critic (new joisey)
@surgres: You throw around the terms "nacissist" and "liar" pretty freely.

Care to offer up any substantive illustrations to make your point, or will name-calling and slander be the new order under President Trump?
CBRussell (Shelter Island,NY)
A clean sweep.....is always refreshing.....sweep away the cobwebs of deceit of
impending cover ups...that is really what is needed in our corridors of the
US Congress....a really good sweeping out of the bugaboos....
and especially the big dragon in the GOP closet...that being the lobby of the
NRA...
And I am thinking that perhaps the team of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren could just manage this ...clean sweep...
and perhaps....manage to convert Hillary Clinton to take up the new broom..
and put ole Bill in the Bill Clinton library...and give him back his saxophone to
play the Billy Blues.
Cjmesq0 (Bronx, NY)
The very idea that people will actually vote for a serial-grifter, master-thief, globalist criminal Hillary Clinton is astounding and shows the level we have sunk in terms of our morals. After all, once we allowed her husband to get away with with his serial-philandering in the White House, it was all downhill after that.

Once our culture is corrupted, the politics follows. We accept corruption in politics as the new normal. It's disgusting.
Bill (Madison, Ct)
Of couse you offer no proof of what you are saying. The right wing has been selling this story hard for over 20 years and you have fallen prey to it. It'd be nice if once in a while they could actually offer some proof but it's unfair to ask the right wing to prove anything. They think saying it is proof.
The republicans actually, though accidentally, admitted that the whole Benghazi fiasco was created just to hurt her. And that's an actual fact.
merc (east amherst, ny)
thinkprogress.com
GOP Rep: I 'Absolutely' Voted To Cut Funding For Embassy
Security
Susan McHale (Greenwich CT)
The very idea that we have another Clinton, another idea for a President, another FBI investigation, another scandal, is making everyone tune out. Is that what they want? The phrase "this little boy trying..."? Who talks like that? It's so mundane.
Mark Andrew (Folsom)
Lying, always a great charge to level when you don't have the real facts and you know you will never have them. Let's say an official, involved in affairs of state that deal with espionage in time of war, has some knowledge that is explosive, that would endanger our people in some real way, would aid and abet the enemy, and knows that the enemy is close to discovering that info. There is a way to prevent the disclosure, but it involves the sacrifice of certain Key people, and that sacrifice must be made to look heroic instead of traitorous. Perhaps a traitor caught in the act is given a way to ameliorate his indiscretion, saving his reputation and family honor and pension, while feeding the enemy the right kind of false information to achieve a larger goal. Perhaps this goes down with only a very select few being in the know, for a leak would prove disastrous, and among those who are not privy are the very official s responsible for telling the public what happened. High level people who feel they should be privy to everything, but really have no need to know, are offended and make a stink, threatening the entire operation, and those who DO know the truth have to play along, long enough for the plan to reach fruition. The plan is important enough to allow for millions to be squandered to uphold the charade, and even to threaten the future plans of said In The Know People for their own careers.

I wonder, what that would look like to the rest of the world?
Occupy Government (Oakland)
Are there any constraints on how much money a partisan committee can spend on lowering the poll numbers of an opposing political candidate?

Wasn't that an abuse of discretion? Didn't that violate the conservative test for spending public funds?
Lew (San Diego, CA)
"Are there any constraints on how much money a partisan committee can spend on lowering the poll numbers of an opposing political candidate? "

How would a "partisan committee" go about lowering a candidate's poll numbers? By bribing the polling organization? Or instead by bribing all voters who might be called by the pollers? Seems farfetched.

And what would be the point? If a "partisan committee" wanted to swing an election, wouldn't it just be more direct to pay bribes for votes? But maybe you think that's part of the plot and the election is already fixed. (Who wins, by the way?)
Andrew G. Bjelland, Sr. (Salt Lake City, Utah)
Congressman Trey Gowdy is such a fresh, new ugly face among the many old, stale ugly faces of the GOP. He simply must be promoted to the ranks of likely 2020 Republican candidates for president.

Let's get the ball rolling right now with a bumper sticker:

GOWDY DOODY FOR PRESIDENT 2020!
Look Ahead (WA)
Now that Gowdy has wrapped up Benghazi diversionary campaign, we can get back to the Iraq War investigation. Using the CIA and Secretary of State to manipulate the US government and UN to launch a war on a cooked up WMD story, that resulted in 420,000 deaths and the horrors of the ISIS Caliphate seems worthy of investigation to me.

But providing false briefings to Congress is apparently just fine as long as the Senate, House and White House are all in GOP control, as was the case in 2003.

The W Bush Administration, beginning with a failure to follow up on obvious clues to the 9/11 Saudi plot, proceeding to an attack on Iraq based on shifting justifications, followed by complete mismanagement of civilian Iraq authority, leading to Sunni insurgency fueled by weapons from unguarded US munitions warehouses, culminating in ISIS control of much of Iraq and Syria, has never been held to account.

The shadow of this debacle will last for decades, with continuing turmoil in the ME, wounded US military veterans needing a lifetime of care and $4 trillion unfunded and added to the debt because of the Bush tax cuts.

Based on the nonsense rhetoric coming out of the GOP Presidential campaign today, there is no evidence of anything learned from this foreign misadventure. Electing a mentally unstable guy like Trump as President and restoring the Senate to the tender mercies of McConnell will send the country backward into darkness for decades.

That's what this election is about.
JH (JC)
And the over twenty million emails Rove and company disappeared in the process.
merc (east amherst, ny)
The only thing that I see as just rewards for all the misery George Bush, Dick Cheney, the Neocons, and the acolytes Dana Perino, Ari Fleischer, and Karen Hughes were responsible for is they cannot travel outside the United States for fear of being apprehended and tried as War Criminals.
shrinking food (seattle)
you will notice of course that reps will never attempt to defend their own. With the GOP'ers its always deflection and distraction.
Ed (Old Field, NY)
Some number of Democrats thinks they would be really voting for Bill Clinton for chief executive and Hillary as a female figurehead. He would run things behind scenes, and she’d be the head of state for symbolic and ceremonial purposes. She would reign; he would rule.
If people want to say that the Clintons are no worse than any other politician, there’s the problem right there. There’s nothing wrong with making money, but look, there’s a difference between going into business and robbing a bank. Maybe it’s old-fashioned to think that public service should not be exploited or merchandized for personal enrichment.
Robert (Out West)
I take it that you're a Trump voter.
Trakker (Maryland)
OMG, did you just notice that national politicians often come into office with modest means and exit life as millionaires?

Do you really think that Newt Gingrich, a professor at a state college, or the guy from Texas who was an exterminator before being elected to the House, just to name a few, did not turn their power and name recognition into great wealth?

Why pretend the Clintons are any worse or immoral than the many hundreds of former politicians who turned their stint in Washington into a fortune?
ASHRAF CHOWDHURY (NEW YORK)
Gowdy is another clown in the year of political clown joining Trump and Boris Johnson of London.
Ralphie (CT)
typical Hillary supporter response. What Andrew and the acolytes fail to point out is that the report clearly shows that HRC and Obama deliberately lied to the American public about the attack. According to them, it was a film offensive to Muslims that lead to the "spontaneous" attacks -- which they knew was not the case on the day of the attacks -- and yet the kept telling that lie over and over for several days when they knew and told world leaders it was a planned terrorist attack.

It was a convenient lie for it took the heat off the Obama administration for its mishandling of the situation and helped shore up his argument to his administration had al qaeda on the run. Oh, it happened just a few weeks before the election. Isn't that odd. The report also points out the inept response of the Obama administration in their weak attempt to send our forces to Libya -- which they ultimately failed to do.

And Andrew exhibits the typical progressive attack method -- if you can't attack on the issues, call names. If Andrew and the progressives thought it through they would recognize that had Hillary and Obama not lied, if they had managed the situation effectively, there would have been no need for an investigation.

It ain't the crime, it's the cover up.
Robert (Out West)
Odd how this is pretty much word-for-word the same as at least five other commnts from "different," posters. i'm talking same sentences, same vocabulary.

Weird, huh? Why, it's almost like you guys are sticking press releases up on the wall.

Oh, by the way? It's quite possible to criticize this Administration over Benghazi, without the conspiracy nuttery.
Ralphie (CT)
Conspiracy nuttery? Interesting. I suppose Woodward and Bernstein were pretty nutty, huh? If two people tell the same lie, and then direct their subordinates and departments they control to tell the same lie, and they keep lying even when the facts are pubic and invoke the old "fog of war" razzle dazzle um when the original story falls apart --- that would be a conspiracy. One that depends upon the unfailing allegiance of the media and political supporters and the general truth that the American public can't seem to remember anything from one news cycle to the next.

By the way -- I haven't read the other comments -- perhaps you could enlighten as to where you see similarities.
shrinking food (seattle)
After 9 "investigations" nothing was found - so nothing was covered up.
Unless of course every single rep on every single "investigation" was too stupid to do the job correctly.
How long will reps chew on this turd waiting for it to turn into candy. How many millions must be wasted? How many lies debunked?
There is no number - reps are too stupid to think for themselves - their party has taken advantage of that fact in 1980
Louise (Hudson, NY)
I was looking forward to *reading* Mr Rosenthal's insightful musings since he left the Editorial Page. I have not been able to find the new pieces through my iPad subscription.
Are Mr Rosenthal's commentaries now relegated to oral podcasts for which we would be required to pay more money to hear? Please say it's not so.
Is he going to write and if so, where on the site?
Marc (VT)
Perhaps more outrageous, when asked by Wolf Blitzer if Secretary Clinton had committed a crime, Mr. Gowdy, and ex-prosecutor, said that he was a bad lawyer and could not determine that. He would leave it to others to make up their minds.

Maybe, because of this admission, Mr. Gowdy should be disbarred, or even impeached for his incompetence. Oh wait, incompetence is no bar to holding office.
Robert Prentiss (San Francisco)
Howdy Gowdy is just another Ken Starr perpetrating another smear on the Clintons. It appears someone has already wished him into the cornfields.
Lee Harrison (Albany)
If I Google "Trump news" I get:

The WaPo: "Donald Trump starts a trade war — with the Republican Party"

Fox News: Trump trouble in the burbs?

Poltico: "Trump's plane joke: It's Mexico 'getting ready to attack'"

MSNBC: Trump flunks Supreme Court arithmetic: For the typical adult, counting to five should be pretty easy. ...

VANITY FAIR: Assessing the Trump V.P. Career-Suicide Pact In-Depth

And many stories saying Trump will pick Christie of Gingrich as VP

With news like this, the fact that Trump was soliciting foreign contributions doesn't even register. "Rolling Dumpster fire" doesn't even begin to do his campaign justice.

And Lord, if you have any sense of divine comedy and justice -- let it be Gingrich or Christie -- your pick.
Susan Anderson (Boston)
Mr. Gowdy looks just like Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter, and acts like him too, a dishonest unctuous type.

The real blame is on Republican budget cutting, but we appear to be too busy finding fault with each other to point out the real villains. The budget cuts reduced security, and there you have it.
Lee Harrison (Albany)
At least Draco had very evil parents to blame for his upbringing and inclinations.
Wm.T.M. (Spokane)
Budget cuts aren't people. Republican people mandated budget cuts. Republican people therefore reduced security. The sound of the word "Benghazi" produces near instant acid reflux. As a citize, I demand the republican majority in both houses launch an immediate investigation into the circumstances and policies of the Bush White House leading up to the Iraq war.
They might actually find something worth their ongoing outrage.
Reva (New York City)
I don't see any coverage of the Trump campaign soliciting foreign donations. Why not? There's proof of it, and it's illegal.
TheraP (Midwest)
Trey Gowdy, in addition to having a strange name, has one of the strangest visages I've ever seen. He looks like a cadaver. Or perhaps a ghost of Christmas past. Uriah Heap? Truly, one has to wonder...

It is a time of strange visages and hairdos:

Trey, of course - in a new even strangers "hair do" for the 800 page reveal of investigative "nothing".

Normally unkempt Boris of Brexit actually had combed hair as he delivered his bombshell in London: not running for PM after all his theatrics.

And hair-sprayed Trump, unable to accept his balding pate or his fast disappearing poll numbers, continues his strange electoral journey: now caught without legal papers he promised he was filing a week ago - to repay his campaign debts. No legal papers. Instead, emails to foreign politicians, asking for illegal campaign contributions.

It was not a good week for hair!
Kay Johnson (Colorado)
Gowdy looks eerily like the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz.
William (Atlanta)
And TheraP, what beauty contests have you won? Your lame effort to make fun of the looks and names of politicians you don't like reveals much more about you than your targets.
R. Law (Texas)
Gowdy's D.C. career has been proof of the Peter Principle, coming on the heels of his 3 appearances in Forensic Files:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EvoXmpiBks

that somehow boot-strapped a run for Congress (!?!)

Hopefully his shrill ineptness/un-balanced performance on the Benghazi! witch hunt will always serve as a totem marking his unfitness for any rumored SCOTUS seat:

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-01/lindsey-graham-sug...
njglea (Seattle)
My sentiments exactly on all counts, Mr. Rosenthal!