They don’t agree on much, even where to set the thermostat. So you knew it was coming Thursday when the Odd Couple of U.S. politics–GOP consultant Mary Matalin and her husband, Democratic counselor James Carville–clashed in Arlington over the fatal attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. At a luncheon debate moderated by yours truly for the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council, Matalin said the Obama Administration wrongly blamed the deaths on a “video that nobody saw,” after ignoring or downplaying the ongoing threat of terroristic violence in the Middle East. And, assigning blame for Benghazi to the secretary of state, Matalin added, only made President Obama “look wussier.”
All wrong, Carville shot back. Mitt Romney already lost the Benghazi argument in Tuesday’s presidential debate, the “Ragin’ Cajun” insisted. Any outstanding questions about what happened in Libya could and should be dealt with by Congress, using its power of subpoena on the likes of Vice President Joe Biden and CIA Director David Petraeus, Carville said: “Just bring it up!” He’s confident Obama will ace the topic in next Monday’s third and final debate, he added. And he drew the biggest applause at the luncheon forum for this: “Romney says, ‘It’s time for America to lead in the Middle East.’ I think it’s time for the Middle East to lead the Middle East.”
