Crooks and Liars

Game of Thrones: Season 3, Episode 8 'Second Sons'

John Amato — Mon, 20 May 2013 06:30:18 +0000

(Spoiler Alert: I will be recapping this episode so don't read on if you haven't seen it yet.)

Sunday's episode helped propel season three onward to its climax in a couple of weeks, but did so with much less action and spent much more time in fewer locations. I enjoy the complexity of GOT, but it's not easy recapping a show that has over twenty main characters inhabiting Seven Kingdoms, the Wall, the Free Cities and many other locations so it's much appreciated when the story gets concentrated a bit. Anyway....

Arya and the Hound

Arya wakes up to see the Hound (Sandor Clegane) is still sleeping so she picks up a rock and approaches him to bash his brains out.

I will give you one try, girl. Kill me and you're free, but if I live, I'll break both your hands. Go on hit me. Hit me hard.

She wisely gives up the attempt and while riding together soon after, Sandor tells her that she's lucky she's with him and not alone in the world. He's not a really bad man after all, not like those child rapers and such. Heck, he even saved her sister from being killed. You're lying, she says. The Hound then turns her world upside down when he tells her he's not taking her to King's Landing, but to the Twins to sell her to her mother and brother who will be there for this really big wedding. Everyone one is yapping about it. For the first time her rage has been rendered speechless. It's something she doesn't know quite how to handle either.
Things are starting to look up for Arya finally---at the hands of all people, the Hound

King's Landing

Do you love a good wedding? How about if it’s taking place in King’s Landing, being thrown by the royal family with a teenage bride forced to marry an unwilling dwarf? Now that's what I call a must-see wedding. There's a lot more at play here than just a marriage though. How is Margaery Tyrell getting on with Cercei Baratheon?

If you call me sister again, I'll have you strangled in your sleep.---Cercei

Ouch, tell us how you really feel. I doubt sisterly bonding will ever take hold.

Diane Rigg (Olenna) continues to get the best lines in GOT and can she ever deliver them. She tries to make sense of the new family dynamic created by Margaery and Loras' marriage to Joffrey and Cercei.

To Ser Loras: Their son will be your nephew after you're wed to Cercei. And you will be the King's stepfather and brother-in-law.
To Margaery: When you marry the king, Joffrey's mother will become your sister-in-law and your son wil be Loras' nephew, grandson? But your brother will become your father-in-law. That much is beyond dispute.

Please, give me a scorecard.

It's rare that Tyrion is ever at a loss for words, but when he tries to ease some of Sansa's pain over her plight of being forced into this marriage, he fumbles his words uncomfortably until finally telling her that he'd never hurt her. That's something.

Joffrey does his best to embarrass his uncle at the altar and terrorize his ex-fiance at the celebration (I'll enter your room after my drunk uncle falls asleep and have my men hold you down) right up until a drunk Tyrion threatens to cut off his cock with a knife to stop him. That freaks out the party and as Joffrey was probably about to call the Kingsguard on his uncle, Lord Tywin calms down Joffrey's rage by declaring his uncle drunk. Tyrion plays it off as a bad joke and leaves with Sansa.

Sansa, who only drinks wine when she is forced to, grabs a bottle after they return to the bed chamber for the consummation that Lord Tywin demands. Major props go to Tyrion for refusing to deflower her and will do so only until after she asks him to. This type of kindness doesn't usually last long in wartorn King's Landing, but Tyrion is not an evil man and in his own way, a lot like Robb Stark.

The Yellow City

Danaerys Targaryen had an unproductive meeting with three leaders (Mero, Brendahl, Daario) of the Second Sons, a mercenary group composed of two thousand sellswords who have been hired by the Yunkai to protect them form her Unsullied invasion. She wants to buy their allegiance, but since they already have a contract, they can't renege on the Yunkai.

Mero plans to have Dany assassinated because they could never beat her army of free slaves so the three pick lots to see who will do it. Daario Naharis loses the bet and he must slip into her camp and kill her. He appears while she's taking a bath and instead of killing her, he throws the two severed heads of Mero and Brendhal onto the floor and explains to her that he always has a choice and the other two refused to abide by his choice of not wanting her dead so he killed them instead. She intentionally stands before him nekkid and demands his loyalty to her. He not only gives her his loyalty and two thousand sellswords, but also his undying love.

Dragonstone

Stannis Baratheon goes to Davos and offeres to pardon him from the dungeon if he won't attack Melissandre again because he misses his council and his loyalty. This is an important moment in GOT because Stannis reveals to Seaworth why he follows this religious zealot and how he has been converted into a believer of the Lord of the Light. Davos knows that Stannis wouldn't just murder an innocent boy, but Baratheon tells him that Melisandre's visions demand Gendry for a blood sacrifice.

Stannis: What's one bastard boy against the kingdom?

Davos: I think mothers and fathers make up the Gods because they want their children to sleep through the night.

Stannis: I saw a vision in the flames. A great battle in the snow. I saw it! And you saw whatever she gave birth to. I never believed, but when you see the truth, when it's right there in front of you as real as those iron bars, how can you deny her God is real?

These words reveal much of Stannis' motivations. He never wanted to be King, but you don't get to choose your own destiny.

Melisandre seduces Gendry into bed because he mistrusts her, but does so only to trick him into being tied up so she can bleed him with three leeches.
As the leeches do their work, Stannis and Davos enter the room. She tells Davos this demonstration is for him since he's an unbeliever. She plucks the bugs off Gendry's body and stands in front of a fire. Stannis says the name Baleon Greyjoy aloud. She throws one into the fire. The other two leeches are sacrifices made against the names Robb Stark and Joffrey Baratheon.

Beyond the Wall

Sam, Gilly and her baby are huddled in a crumbled shack-like structure, trying to start a fire to get warm from the freezing cold. After some mild banter, a flock of crows begin screaming outside the shack. Sam takes his sword and goes out to see what's happening. An entire tree with a distorted face grown into it is covered with dozens of crowing crows. As Sam approaches, they suddenly stop and that's when Sam notices a White Walker coming towards them. Gilly screams that he's come for her baby so Sam tries to fight him off, but the Walker easily destroys his sword with one touch of his his cold, dead hand and throws him out of the way. As the undead thing closes on Gilly, Sam pulls out the ancient obsidian dagger that he found buried in the snow and stabs it in the back. To his shock, the White Walker slumps over and disintegrates like a dusted vampire from Buffy. Sam and his new family bust ass out of there.

*Will King Joffrey eventually take revenge on Tyrion after he publicly embarrassed him since he's a spoiled psycho king-brat?

*Is the Hound yet another character that is much more than what he originally appeared to be? Hmmm.

*Will Melisandre's curses come true and what does she really have planned for Gendry?

*Will Jorah Mormont be able to handle Daario's presence if he does sleep with his queen?

*How will Sansa and Tyrion's marriage hold up after a few months in King's Landing?

Bummer of the week: No dragons.

Open Thread

Diane Sweet — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:30:41 +0000

Yes, it's real. Hope everyone had a happy weekend.

Open thread begins below...

C&L's Late Nite Music Club with Flaming Lips

Bluegal aka Fran — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:00:00 +0000

Genre: Alternative

Title: All You Need Is Love

Artist: Flaming Lips

The Terror

Flaming Lips reinvents The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" and the result is, wow. The new album, with this single, is out now.

Whatcha listening to this evening?

Rand Paul Continues Attacks on Clinton Over Benghazi

Heather — Mon, 20 May 2013 02:00:00 +0000

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Sen. Rand Paul continued with his charges from earlier this week that former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton had "her fingerprints all over these talking points" on the Benghazi attack and claims that she never "really accepted culpability" because she failed to resign shortly after the tragedy. When CNN's Candy Crowley asked Paul if he was worried about appearing to politicize the controversy by making his remarks in Iowa and other presidential battleground states, Paul dismissed the notion that his remarks were based on politics.

It's laughable that anyone expects us to believe that Republicans care one iota about this trumped up Benghazi story for any other reason than to muddy up Hillary Clinton, because they all assume she's going to be the front-runner for the next presidential election.

And I'd say it's safe to assume Rand Paul is going to take up his father's mantle and make a career out of perpetually running for president as a fundraising scheme. It worked out pretty well for his dad and the press is already propping him up because of it -- with this being the latest example -- so why not?

CROWLEY: Joining me now, Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky and in Kentucky today. Thank you so much, senator, for joining us. I want to bring to your attention --

PAUL: Good morning.

CROWLEY: -- a couple of inside other poll numbers. The first one had to do with the Benghazi attack. The question was, did the Obama administration try to intentionally mislead the public on the Benghazi attack? And 50 percent of Americans said no, the administration did not try to intentionally mislead on Benghazi.

On the subject of the IRS and the question was, did White House officials direct the IRS to concentrate on conservative political groups? Fifty-five percent said no, the White House did not order it. So, if you take those in combination, I want to ask you what your answer to those questions are. Number one, I know you do believe that the White House deliberately misled Americans on Benghazi. PAUL: Well, you know, I think what's more important than either whether I believe that or whether the polls show that is that somebody be held accountable.

And not so much for the talking points afterwards. I think there was some misdirection and some political nature to the talking points, but I think that's always missed the point that what's most important is someone made a decision to put an embassy and consulate in a war- torn country with no host country to guard that embassy or consulate, leaving the guarding and security up to a militia. That decision alone was a terrible and tragic error.

PAUL: And that's what needs to change.

The review board looked at Benghazi, but still, no one is saying what I keep saying over and over again, even now, I think the embassy in Tripoli should be under the guard of military command similar to what we do in Baghdad. We shouldn't treat Tripoli and Benghazi like Paris. We need to treat it more like Baghdad.

And that's an error of judgment that the president and the secretary of state made. And that comes into account not because we just want to blame them, but because we want to make sure this doesn't happen again.

CROWLEY: So, the president specifically asked in his Rose Garden appearance this week that Congress join him and give more money for precisely what you're talking about to go to some of these outposts that are dangerous and to increase the security around them. Are you on board?

PAUL: Yes. And in fact, in my budget, I increased marines, embassy guards, and security. And I think they should make those decisions, but they, I think, continue to make decisions that really aren't in our best interests. So, the president continues to find more money to send arms both to Egypt as well as Syria when maybe we should have more money spent on the defensive nature of being able to defend our embassies around the world.

CROWLEY: One of the things our poll showed is that most Americans think Republicans have every right and they approve of Republicans looking into these controversies, and yet, there's always the danger that this looks a lot more political than it does policy. And I want to turn you to your remarks in Iowa, which we all know that has a political overlay, where you said that you thought because of Benghazi, Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state, isn't qualified to be president.

She should be disqualified to be president. When you make remarks like that and you may make similar ones when you go to New Hampshire, another place with great political overlay, doesn't it undercut the idea that this is about policy?

PAUL: Well, I absolutely stick by them. You know, in Bill Clinton's administration, when Les Aspin did not provide security in Mogadishu, the famous Black Hawk Down, he was asked to resign and he left and admitted he made tragic errors.

CROWLEY: Sure, but nobody asked him --

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: Excuse me?

CROWLEY: It isn't the calling for her to or saying, look, I don't think she's qualified to be president, it's that you did it in Iowa or New Hampshire which gives it a political patina, and I'm asking you if you think that's helpful?

PAUL: You know, I've done it in every state and every stop because I think it's pretty important that she accept blame for not providing security. She was asked repeatedly to provide security in Benghazi on several occasions including direct cables, and she says she never read the cables on security. I find that inexcusable and a dereliction of duty.

Whether it has political overtones or not, it really goes to the heart of who you are as secretary of state if you do not provide security for an embassy that's begging for it, that's absolutely a dereliction of duty and she should have resigned and accepted blame for it.

As CNN pointed out in their blog post on the interview, Paul's claim that no one was disciplined or fired is not true:

Four State Department officials, however, were disciplined in December, with one resigning and three being placed on administrative leave and relieved of their duties. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeatedly said she accepts ultimate responsibility for the safety and security of U.S. diplomats abroad.

At least he refrained from repeating one of his other recent conspiracy theories on Benghazi: Rand Paul touts Benghazi conspiracy involving secret CIA arms trade. These Republicans are in overdrive with the conspiracy theories and scandal mongering to the point where it gets hard, if not next to impossible to keep track of it all.

Jennifer Rubin Accuses David Shuster of Using 'Media Matters Talking Points'

Nicole Belle — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:00:00 +0000

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(h/t Heather at VideoCafe)

If we've done anything successfully in the last nine years, C&L has proven without a shadow of a doubt the conservative projection phenomena. Anything that conservatives accuse the other side of doing is because they themselves are guilty of it. So Freedomworks-funded Rush Limbaugh can accuse liberals of taking Soros' paychecks (still waiting for mine, George) without even the slightest evidence of cognitive dissonance. Or you can hear every single Republican parrot talking points crafted by Heritage and Grover Norquist on the Sunday news shows.

Sadly or not, depending on your point of view, there isn't this kind of infrastructure on the liberal side. But that doesn't stop openly partisan hack Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post from dismissing Take Action News' David Shuster bringing facts to the coordinated 'outrage' with the accusation that he is merely saying "Media Matters talking points".

SHUSTER: The overall Republican point here that the Obama administration was trying to protect the State Department. The Obama administration trying to protect the State Department and that the White House was somehow trying to characterize the talking points or change the talking points in order to minimize political damage.

That Republican -- that Republican idea is just flat out wrong. This turns out to be a boring set of e-mails where simply CIA and State Department officials are --

RUBIN: All right, you had your speech coming out of the administration.

KURTZ: David, Jennifer --

RUBIN: Very nice to have the Media Matters talking points recited out of David's lips.

SHUSTER: What are you talking? What are you talking about, Jane?

RUBIN: Howard. If you want to hear me, fine.

(CROSSTALK)

SHUSTER: Let somebody from Media Matters --

KURTZ: Let's assume that everybody is giving their own views and you may disagree with them.

RUBIN: No, they're actually on Media Matters. These exact comments are coming out of Media Matters. Absolutely.

KURTZ: OK.

SHUSTER: Well, I don't talk to Media Matters. Jennifer, that's an unfair accusation for you to make. But the bottom line is, the Republican argument in all of this is flat out wrong --

Does Bill O'Reilly know that Rubin is stealing his shtick? It's so pathetic that Rubin actually asks Kurtz to "mute" Shuster.

And of course, it needs not be said that Rubin is doing nothing more than distracting from the real scandal for partisan advantage. Jonathan Karl was absolutely wrong because he failed at the most basic of journalistic skills. All he did was take the word of a Republican operative and regurgitate it without even a bit of fact checking or confirmation. They tried the same thing with Major Garrett and Jake Tapper, who were able to see through it. But this is kind of lazy journalism that Karl does regularly.

Paul Ryan: IRS Connection to Obamacare Is 'Rotten to the Core'

David — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:03 +0000

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Former Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Sunday used the news that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had scrutinized tea party groups to slam the agency's connection to President Barack Obama's heath care reform law.

Host Chris Wallace pointed out to Ryan on Fox News Sunday that the Treasury inspector general had suggested that a recent IRS scandal had been a "bureaucratic snafu" because tea party groups only represented 96 of the 298 groups that received special scrutiny about their tax-exempt status.

Ryan, however, insisted that the IRS had targeted conservative groups based on their political beliefs and "to suggest that this is some bureaucratic snafu, that's already been disproven."

"The other point I'd say is that as bad as this is, the person in charge of this bureaucratic snafu is now been put in charge of implementing Obamacare," he continued. "I mean, the IRS is now going to be granted huge amounts of unprecedented power over our health care in the implementation of Obamacare."

"And so this is just rotten to the core. This is arrogance. This is big government cronyism. And this is not what hard-working taxpayers deserve."

CBS News observed last week that there was no evidence that Sarah Hall Ingram, who headed the IRS office overseeing tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012, "sanctioned or was even aware of the targeting practices."

In Memoriam

Nicole Belle — Sun, 19 May 2013 23:00:09 +0000

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(h/t David at VideoCafe)

This Week with George Stephanopoulos notes the deaths of service members killed in Afghanistan.

US Army SFC Trenton L Rhea, 33, Oakley, KS
US Army SFC Jeffrey C Baker, 29, Hesperia, CA
US Army SPC Mitchell K Daehling, 24, Dalton, MA
US Amry SPC William J Gilbert, 24, Hacienda Heights, CA

According to iCasualties, the total number of service members killed in Afghanistan is now 3,315.

In addition, the following notable names lost their lives this week:

Russian politician Sergei Alexeyev, 88
Psychologist and television personality Joyce Brothers, 85
WA state politician Margaret Rayburn, 86
Argentinian president Jorge Rafael Videla, 87
Singer/songwriter Alan O'Day, 72

Rove Says His Super PAC Is Same as NAACP Because It's for 'Social Welfare'

David — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:00:01 +0000

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Republican strategist Karl Rove says that Crossroads GPS, which is a part the American Crossroads super PAC that he founded, is a legitimate tax-exempt organization because it promotes "social welfare" like the NAACP.

During a panel discussion on Fox News Sunday about the IRS scrutinizing tea party groups, host Chris Wallace asked why Rove's political action committee qualified as a tax-exempt status as a social welfare group.

"Didn't the IRS have a problem in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling in getting a handle on the question of what groups did and didn't qualify under the tax code for 501(c)4 status?" Wallace wondered.

"Look, 501(c)4s have been around for a long time," Rove explained. "And the Democrats and the left have used these for years, these social welfare groups to do some politics and a lot of social welfare. NAACP voter fund, for example, ran a $10 million advertising blitz in 2000 against George W. Bush. The League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, National Abortion Rights Action League and so forth. All of them are 501(c)4s, and there are pretty clear rules about what you can and cannot do. You have to spend a majority of you money on social welfare and a minority of your money on political activity."

"So what happened is the Democrats had this for decades -- literally decades -- and no criticism at all, and then Republicans began in 2010 to say if it's good enough for them, we'll duplicate that structure as well. And then suddenly we get what we get, which is a huge bunch of activity aimed at conservative groups that are filing as 501(c)4s."

"The only advantage of a 501(c)4 is it allows you to take your contributions and not pay taxes on them," Rove insisted. "That's the one advantage that this allows you to do."

"And also the donors aren't revealed," Wallace pointed out.

"Well, because again, it's a social welfare organization," Rove agreed. "This literally goes back to the 1940s when criminal penalties were added for the revelation by the IRS of donors because southern attorneys general were attempting to get the donors to the NAACP."

After criticizing President George W. Bush's administration, the NAACP was hit with an audit in 2004 over accusations of improper political activity. At the time, the IRS insisted that the audit had been initiated by the Kentucky office and was not done for political reasons.

Pfeiffer to Fox News Host: 'Offensive' to Suggest Obama Let Americans Die in Benghazi

David — Sun, 19 May 2013 21:00:09 +0000

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White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer on Sunday told Fox News host Chris Wallace that it was "offensive" to suggest that President Barack Obama had allowed last year's attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans.

In an interview with Pfeiffer on Fox News Sunday, Wallace explained that there were "lingering questions" about where the president was and what he was doing on Sept. 11, 2012 when the attacks happened.

Pfeiffer pointed out that Republicans had been spinning a "series of conspiracy theories," but the president had been updated about the attacks throughout the night by his national security team.

"Was he in the [White House] Situation Room?" Wallace pressed. "Do you not know?"

"I don't remember what room the president was in," Pfeiffer replied. "And that's a largely irrelevant fact. The premise of your question is that there is something that could have been done differently, okay, that would have changed the outcome here. The accountability review board has looked at this, people have looked at it, it's a horrible tragedy what happened. What we have to do is make sure it doesn't happen again."

"No one knows where he was or how he was involved or who told him there were know forces," the Fox News host insisted.

"The suggestion of your question is that somehow the president allowed this to happen," Pfeiffer observed. "The assertions from Republicans here that somehow the president allowed this to happened or didn't take action is offensive. It is absolutely offensive. And there's no evidence to support it."

Gregory Asks War Criminal Rumsfeld For Thoughts on Government Accountability

Heather — Sun, 19 May 2013 20:00:07 +0000

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Yes, who better to ask about "government accountability" than war criminal Donald Rumsfeld? It seems the producers of Meet the Press and host David Gregory are doing their best to become a parody of Fox "News" - because that's certainly what they gave us this Sunday by allowing Rumsfeld on there for this softball interview.

We didn't get any questions about the invasion of Iraq, or torture, or whether Rumsfeld has any remorse about his actions during the Bush administration, but we were treated to him being asked about sexual assaults in the military, the IRS, Benghazi and of course he got plenty of time to hawk his new book.

Note to David Gregory: Here's how an interview with Donald Rumsfeld should be conducted if you want to call yourself a "journalist." -- Kai Ryssdal asks Rumsfeld some of the questions we've all wanted to ask.

UPDATE: Here's the transcript if you don't have the stomach for watching the clip.

GREGORY: And we’re back. For our remaining moments, joining me now, author of the new book Rumsfeld's Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War, and Life, the Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Mister Secretary, welcome back. You have such an interesting distinction here because I remember President Bush who I covered called you a matinee idol and now you’re soon to be a great grandfather. That’s a pretty good combination.

MR. DONALD RUMSFELD (Former Secretary of Defense/Author, Rumsfeld's Rules): Think of that. It’s exciting.

GREGORY: I want to ask you first about a very disturbing subject within the military that of course you’ve worked over for so long and that is sexual assaults in the military. Some of the reported cases going back to when you were Defense Secretary and reported and then the estimates is that much larger number and the alarming rise between 2010 and 2012. And the issue at hand here is what should the military do about it? Does it have to change the way these crimes are reported at the chain of command and go outside of that to a special prosecutor? What would you do?

MR. RUMSFELD: Well, I don’t know that a special prosecutor is the answer, but there is an argument that can be made for handling them in a way different than they’re being handled because they’re serious. And-- and I would suspect that an awful lot of them don’t even get reported.

GREGORY: Mm-Hm.

MR. RUMSFELD: And-- and that’s probably true in the public sector, in private citizens as well as in the military.

GREGORY: Right.

MR. RUMSFELD: But-- but it’s a terrible thing. There has to be zero tolerance. And it-- it appears that-- that something different is going to have to be done and I wish I knew what the answer was. I don’t. But-- but it had-- people have simply got to not tolerate it.

GREGORY: What about the culture in the military? Is that a part of what’s contributing to this? Is it a major part of what’s contributing to it?

MR. RUMSFELD: Well, people talk about that. The military-- they talk about athletic teams and-- and male environments. I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t think-- there’s certainly nothing about the military that would contribute to it in terms of-- of the purpose of the armed forces. The-- but I don’t know the answer. I-- and I think they better-- they better really land all over people that are engaged in any kind of abuse of that nature.

GREGORY: There’s so much happening in Washington and you are a veteran of so much controversy as even in your most recent incarnation as defense secretary in the Bush administration. You write this from the book, Rumsfeld's Rules, “If you foul up, tell the boss and correct it fast. Mistakes can usually be corrected if the adminis-- the organization’s leaders are made aware of them and they are caught up early enough and faced honestly. Bad news doesn’t get better with time. If you have fouled something up, it’s best to tell the boss first.”

MR. RUMSFELD: That’s true.

GREGORY: Accountability. Whether it’s IRS or the questions about Benghazi, who is accountable? How do you assess that in these cases?

MR. RUMSFELD: Well, in these cases, I don’t think they know yet. Clearly, the president and in the case of Benghazi, the Secretary of State. That’s the way life works. But what bothers me about it is that two things really concern me. One, you think of a manager, a leader. When something like that happens, you call people in, you sit them down and you let them know that you intend to find ground truth fast. And he seems not to have done that. The other thing that’s worrisome is, as they say, truth leaves on horseback and returns on foot. What’s happening to the president is incrementally trust is being eroded because of the different messages coming out. You know, it’s important that you avoid the early reports because they’re often wrong, and you have to get people in, find ground truth, and then communicate that as fast as you can to the extent information goes out that’s-- proves not to be accurate. Presidents and leaders lead by persuasion and for persuasion to work, they don’t lead by command. You have to be trusted. And to the extent trust is eroded, as it is when stories get changed and something more is learned and-- and it kind of incrementally destroys your credibility, I think that clearly is a problem. I was worried, for example, I came back from being ambassador of NATO when President Nixon had resigned and President Ford was in office. And the reservoir of trust had just been drained during the-- that-- that experience that we went through.

GREGORY: But you saw that first hand, too…

MR. RUMSFELD: I did.

GREGORY: …for President Bush, and a reservoir of trust in your leadership, and that of the vice president’s, and that of the president, and of course with the Iraq war that trust eroded. Do you see parallels here or are you more sympathetic and less inclined to be as critical as some have been among Republicans of this administration having a culture of intimidation or cover up?

MR. RUMSFELD: Well, clearly, you-- anyone looking at those jobs has to know they’re tough jobs. And-- and when you’ve got one big problem, it’s a big problem.

GREGORY: Right.

MR. RUMSFELD: When you’ve got two, it’s like ten. And when you have three, it’s a problem and it’s-- it’s a perfect storm in there right now and those jobs are very difficult. And-- and there are a lot of things that make them even more difficult.

GREGORY: But Former Vice President Cheney said that they’re lying in the administration. Do you think that’s overly harsh? Do you think we know that that’s true?

MR. RUMSFELD: Well, he may know something I don’t know. All I know is that the story has changed repeatedly on Benghazi. I don’t know anything about the AP story. It seems to me until we have some sense of that, we can’t even begin to make a judgment. But I think people looking at the changed stories on Benghazi and the way the talking points were altered are of a view that they were trying to support a narrative that in fact did not exist.

GREGORY: We’re going to take a break here. More from you on our web, incidentally. We’ll be back right after this.