I'm not really picking on Sen. Rand Paul here (though I suppose it's an added bonus), but when he makes this
patently false claim ...
We had some more Special Operations forces in Tripoli. They couldn’t find a plane for them. So instead of calling to get a plane or to try to make arrangements to get a plane, they’re on the phone trying to create spin to say that, ‘You know what? This is about a video, which never had anything to do with this attack.’
The only thing he's demonstrating is that after nearly two years, Republicans still can't get the facts right about what happened in Benghazi. The entire Republican obsession with Benghazi boils down to two conspiracy theories: First, that the White House concocted the flawed video story in order to deflect criticism of the president following the attack and second, that during the attack, the White House—for political reasons—refused to do everything possible to save those who were killed.
But while it is true that the initial view of the White House—and the national security establishment—was that the attacks were part of protests throughout the Middle East that had been inspired by the video, and it's true that their initial view was wrong, it wasn't long before they realized their first assessment was wrong. Far from trying to perpetuate a cover-up, President Obama was eager to distance himself from the initial flawed intelligence. Remember the debate in which he scored a TKO of Mitt Romney by pointing out that he had in fact called the attack an act of terror? That wasn't the work of a guy trying to blame the attack on a video.
But while the White House pivoted when the facts became clear, Republicans have steadfastly refused to do the same. For two years they've been repeating the same nonsense. It's ridiculous. But given that their Benghazi bubble is impervious to reality, it's not going to change anytime soon.