According to Media Matters blogger Eric Boehlert, the furor over the Benghazi terror attack that killed four Americans is meaningless hype from conservatives who simply want to hurt the president, since more people died in embassy attacks under President Reagan than Obama, Twitchy reported Thursday.
Boehlert issued his proclamations in three separate tweets, linking to his own blog post at Media Matters.
“In less than 18 mos under Reagan, 320+ people were killed by terrorist attacks on the U.S. Embassy in/around Beirut,” he tweeted.
“In less than 18 mos under Reagan, 270 Americans were killed by terror attacks on the U.S. Embassy in/around Beirut,” he added.
“[A]nd aft third terror attack on U.S. Embassy in/around Beirut, Reagan refused to curtail his campaign for even 1 day,” Boehlert said in a third tweet.
“You can’t criticize the Obama administration over Benghazi and worship Reagan, see?” Twitchy said.
But there are a number of differences between the two attacks, as pointed out by several conservatives.
“He didn’t jail an innocent YouTube user to save his political bacon,” one person tweeted, referring to Nakoula Nakoula, the man believed to be behind the online video that was blamed for the Benghazi attack.
Another Twitter user said the Beirut attack was a car bomb, not a sustained firefight.
Several pointed out that Reagan did not deflect blame for the attack, nor did he try to cover it up in the aftermath.
“There’s nothing sane or rational about the right-wing’s Benghazi fantasy and the role they have assigned for the president,” Boehlert wrote in 2012. “But it does allow the conservative press to project their deepest fears up against the passions of the campaign season’s final push.”
A 2008 USA Today article said the bombing still haunts Stephen Russell, the Marine who served as the sergeant of the guard that Sunday morning who said he could still see the face of the man driving the truck laden with explosives.
“The truck,” USA Today said, “would shatter the Marines’ building with a bomb more powerful than 12,000 pounds of TNT — the biggest non-nuclear explosion since World War II, the FBI concluded.”
”I think we should all recognize that these deeds make so evident the bestial nature of those who would assume power, if they could have their way and drive us out of that area,” Reagan said. ”We must be more determined than ever that they cannot take over that vital and strategic area of the earth or, for that matter, any other part of the earth.”
Obama’s response to the Benghazi attack, however, was quite different.
“Here’s what I’ll say. If four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal,” he told Jon Stewart, sparking outrage from conservatives. “We’re going to fix it,” he added. “All of it. And what happens, during the course of a presidency, is that the government is a big operation and any given time something screws up.”
Recent testimony, however, would seem to indicate the problems have not been fixed, and if Boehlert wants to play the “more died under your guy than mine” game, he should recall that about 50 – 70 million — over 2.5 percent of the world’s population at the time — died in World War Two, most of which was fought under Franklin D. Roosevelt — a Democrat.
Related:
- Conservatives demand to know why RNC never aired Benghazi ad
- Wash. Post: Rich, white people who like Chick-fil-A tweeting about Benghazi
- CNN’s Candy Crowley biggest loser in presidential debate
- Families of slain SEAL Team 6 to blame government for deaths of servicemen
- Benghazi whistleblower Greg Hicks: Clinton knew about terror attack at 2 a.m.
- Jay Carney on threats to whistleblowers: ‘Benghazi happened a long time ago’
- Dan Rather claims Obama’s opponents ‘want to cut his heart out’
- President Obama: Troops ‘fighting on my behalf’
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