Glenn Beck: 'When Navy SEALs called the president, he let them die'
It has been a while since we've heard from Glenn Beck, but far be it from him to sit out a major media event like Hurricane Sandy without venturing some form of comment.
While the former Fox News and CNN Headline News personality did not find a way to blame President Barack Obama for the hurricane itself, he did make it a point to disparage the people of New York City and to tie the natural disaster to the raid on the U.S. consulate in Libya, in which, he alleges, Navy SEAL personnel called on the president for help, but "he let them die."
Regarding New York City and the approach of Hurricane Sandy, Beck said, "Eighteen million people live in that general area. Eight million live on that island. Most of whom sit around and watch 'The Daily Show' every night and get a good hearty laugh at the host making fun of Glenn Beck for saying 'food storage.'"
"That's where they get their news," he said. "They are wildly unprepared, just waiting for the government to save eight million people."
He went on to discuss the attack in Benghazi.
"When the president called the Navy SEALs," he intoned, "they killed Osama bin Laden, but when the Navy SEALs called the president, he let them die."
Currently, many on the right are doggedly making political hay of the attack on the consulate in Benghazi and the death of Ambassador Christopher Stephens, insisting that the Obama administration blocked military intervention in the attack, then attempted to cover up "evidence" of the obstruction.
Beck then postulated what "this program" believes happened in Libya.
"One," he said, "The administration is running guns and aid to our enemies" including al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, in order, Beck said, to foment "revolutionary democracy."
"Two: Ambassador Stephens was the point man for the exchange," he continued. Third, he said the administration had forewarning of the attack, but declined to involve the military.
According to Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, this is a fallacy in that no military commanders advised the president to send troops into the chaotic and uncertain situation in Benghazi.
"Let’s be clear: There is no indication — none — that U.S military officials advised the president or anyone in the administration that a rescue operation was possible, and that the administration ignored that offer. The evidence is entirely to the contrary," wrote Bookman. "As Defense Secretary Leon Panetta explained, '(The) basic principle is that you don’t deploy forces into harm’s way without knowing what’s going on; without having some real-time information about what’s taking place. And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, Gen. Ham, Gen. Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation.'"
Beck's fourth point was that the administration is covering up its mistakes "by validating the radical Islamist excuse of 'Islamaphobia,' an attempt for sympathy and leniency for their murderous attacks and the Pentagon, the CIA, the administration is (sic) all involved and 5: This continues today. That is what the truth is on Libya."
Watch the video, embedded via Right Wing Watch, below: