Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine...
Clift Notes
One Washington pundit says that the U.S. ambassador to Libya was not murdered during the Benghazi terror attacks 20 months ago.
Eleanor Clift was speaking on "The McLaughlin Group" about the formation of a House Select Committee on Benghazi when she said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELEANOR CLIFT: I would like to point out that Ambassador Stevens was not murdered. He died of smoke-inhalation in the safe room in that CIA installation and was --
(CROSSTALK)
SUSAN FERRECHIO, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: No, I think I’ve heard a drastically different story from people who are also in the know about that. So I don’t think, I don’t think -
PAT BUCHANAN: It was a terrorist attack Eleanor!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Clift went on to claim the attack was the result of protests over an anti-Muslim video.
Something that nearly everyone, including the Obama administration, has backed away from.
As you might imagine, Clift is being taken to task.
Quote -- "Who does @EleanorClift think caused the smoke? Those would be murderers Eleanor."
Quote -- "Eleanor Clift saying Ambassador Stevens wasn't murdered, he died of smoke inhalation is like saying Kennedy was killed in an auto accident."
Most Valuable President
Russian President Vladimir Putin's prowess as an outdoorsman and an athlete has been widely documented from lake swims, to shirtless horseback riding, to wrestling bears.
Well, this weekend, the 61-year-old led his amateur hockey team to a lopsided victory that has some questioning whether it was a competition at all.
Russian state TV broke into prime-time news programming to report Putin's six goals and five assists during the 21-to-four win.
But not everyone's buying it.
The Wire reports – quote -- "You'll notice it's pretty easy to score a double hat trick when you're not really being defended."
Coming Clean
And finally, one of Senator Chuck Schumer's housemates is ratting him out for being a poor housekeeper.
For years, four Democratic members of Congress have shared a "Real World"-style house on Capitol Hill while they are away from their home districts.
Retiring California Representative George Miller says cleanliness has been an issue over the years, quote -- "Chuck Schumer's a tough one. Leon Panetta, he had hospital corners on his bed. You could bounce a quarter off his bed. I think we believe Chuck has not made his bed in 30 years."
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