NH State Rep, Navy Officer Questions Death of Bin Laden

If anyone has the video clip, please post a link. (0.00 / 0)

WMUR does not have it online and I did not tape it this morning.

little camera girl

Zandra Rice Hawkins (Granite State Progress)

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by: Zandra Rice Hawkins @ Sun May 08, 2011 at 15:24:32 PM UTC

Okay, she's an embarassment n/t (4.00 / 3)

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Sun May 08, 2011 at 16:46:33 PM UTC

I'm not sure (4.00 / 1)

I like the idea of this person being in Afghanistan.  She doesn't seem to be very aware of her surroundings and that not only puts her in danger, it puts her comrades in danger as well.

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by: Lucy Edwards @ Sun May 08, 2011 at 17:16:50 PM UTC

security clearance (0.00 / 0)

Presumably, Rep. Blankenbeker has a security clearance, and any emails from her commanders about the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's death would be confidential information which she could not discuss on Channel 9.  But she didn't say that she couldn't comment on what (if anything) she might have heard; she said she hasn't heard anything at all.  

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Sun May 08, 2011 at 18:23:14 PM UTC

No "email from her commanders"??? (4.00 / 1)

Does she have a clue as to who her Commander-in-Chief is?

Does she doubt that he genuinely holds that title?

Is she perhaps unaware that he just so happens to have made a little speech that dealt with that very issue last Sunday night?

If she is so aware, does she consider it significantly likely that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States of America deliberately made false representations in that speech?

If so, is it not her duty to resign her commission and say so?

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by: Tim C. @ Mon May 09, 2011 at 01:07:24 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

her commander in chief says bin laden is dead: (4.00 / 1)

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Mon May 09, 2011 at 03:26:56 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

"Status report, General?" (4.00 / 7)

"Mr. President, as you know, we got Geronimo. At 14:40 hours local time the team left the compound and took the body to the ship. The forensic specialists took all the photos they needed and cellular samples for DNA testing.

"As you instructed, sir, we had detailed a chaplain with familiarity with Islamic law and tradition. He supervised the preparation of the body and presided over the burial at sea. The operation concluded shortly before 17:50 hours."

"Excellent, General. Please pass along my congratulations to the entire - WAIT!  Did you forget to inform Blankenbecker?"

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by: elwood @ Sun May 08, 2011 at 18:38:48 PM UTC

Commander in Chief: "We are absolutely certain" (0.00 / 0)

President Obama has said flatly that Osama bin Laden is definitely dead.  In his 60 Minutes interview today he stated:

We are absolutely certain this was him. We've done DNA sampling and testing. And so there is no doubt that we killed Osama bin Laden. It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence.

It is disturbing that a military officer is undermining the authority of our Commander in Chief at what is a dangerous moment for our nation.  

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Mon May 09, 2011 at 03:36:41 AM UTC

pure politics (4.00 / 4)

While I appreciate her past and future service in uniform, Rep. Blankenbeker's conduct on WMUR is completely inappropriate.  

Judging from her bio, Rep. Blankenbeker has been in and around the military for most of her career.  She should be able to make the distinction between being notified of potential unit activation (disaster response and unit mobilization) and being briefed on covert operations (which never happens).  She conflated the two to serve her interests as a politician which, while technically not illegal, is certainly in poor taste.

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by: NH_expat @ Mon May 09, 2011 at 14:12:52 PM UTC

HuffPo Picks it Up (0.00 / 0)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Hope >> Fear





Create a free Blue Hampshire account and join the conversation.

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by: Mike Hoefer @ Mon May 09, 2011 at 19:21:54 PM UTC

the whole thing is an embarrassment (0.00 / 0)

I feel a little sorry for Rep. Blankenbeker, because she has embarrassed herself. The whole tone of her interview was off: she wasn't just merely saying things she shouldn't have been saying, she did so while grinning from ear to ear--- and she was wearing a skintight red or pink minidress.  She looked good in that dress, but it wasn't particularly appropriate costuming for an appearance on the most-watched news program in her state.  (I sound like an old curmedgeon, I admit.)

Rep. Blanknebeker is not an especially ideologically driven politician.  She is ambitious, but not very ideological. She seems to be basically a moderate at heart--- although she has certainly flung herself wholeheartedly into her role as a member of O'Brien's leadership.

In any case, although there is still room for doubt about many things which we have heard about him in the last 10 (or 20 or 30) years, Osama bin Laden is definitely dead.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Mon May 09, 2011 at 23:33:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Are you kidding? (4.00 / 7)

She was endorsed by the Republican Liberty Alliance and was a vehement supporter of the effort to force Delaney to join the anti health care reform lawsuit.  She called him arrogant for asserting a basic constitutional principle. Folks who try to turn both the state and federal constitutions on their heads are not moderates, they are radicals, they are extremists  - including those who like Blankenbeker support nullification, which is fringe to the extreme.

And by the way, the dress comment is totally inappropriate.  



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 00:23:42 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Moderate (4.00 / 3)

These days, "moderate Republican" means "conservative who is not completely nuts." With the "is Osama really dead" little trial balloon there, I don't think she can be called moderate, even before you consider all the other stuff Kathy mentions. I mean, there is no doubt that "Is Osama really dead?" is a nutty thing to say. And nullification was settled as an issue in 1865.

Moderate? Maybe compared to some of the other inmates. But not objectively.

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by: michael57 @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 00:46:14 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

true enough... (0.00 / 0)

I can't be as objective about Lynne Blankenbeker as some people can: my opinion of her is skewed by the fact that I actually know her.  She says some spectacularly dumb things on occasion, and boy oh boy she made a huge gaffe on Channel 9 the other day, but she has her good qualities.

She seemed like a moderate when she was elected, and she managed to be elected twice from a very Democratic-leaning town, Concord.  She is evidently very focussed on fitting in with the O'Brien wing of her party, which has driven her very far to the right.  And, she passed up the chance to delay or even prevent a confrontation with the AG which will serve no purpose but to waste the taxpayers money.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 01:17:59 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

from GSP: (0.00 / 0)

NH STATE REP AND NAVY OFFICER LYNNE BLANKENBEKER QUESTIONS DEATH OF BIN LADEN

Rep. Blankenbeker on WMUR's Close Up: "It seriously makes me take pause."

CONCORD, NH - In an interview on WMUR's Close Up over the weekend, State Rep. Lynne Blankenbeker (R-Concord) raised doubts about whether she believes Osama bin Laden is dead.

Early on in the program, the state representative and career naval officer was asked about her reaction to the recent death of Osama bin Laden. Blankenbeker responded that she was excited about the "possibility" that Bin Laden was dead.

She then went on to say that she, personally, has not received an email from her commanders about the death of Osama bin Laden, which makes her "take pause".

"As a military person, I've received nothing from my superior officers. We've had no message trafficking for the first time ever. Every single time there's been a national disaster or an event, 9-11, my email was just on fire with "be on alert," "don't go anywhere," "stand down" and those sort of things.

"Haiti after the earthquake. Katrina after the hurricane. Japan recently. Any major event. And then, of course, every holiday: Christmas, New Years, the anniversary of 9-11. We're always on heightened alert. If you drive onto a military base, you'll see the folks in their Kevlar. This is the first time I have received nothing, which makes me take pause. It seriously makes me take pause.

The show aired the same day as top officials appeared on national Sunday political talk shows praising the work of the armed services and intelligence community and refuting any challenges.

"Representative Blankenbeker didn't come out and directly challenge the fact that Osama bin Laden is dead, but she did her best to cast doubt on it," said Zandra Rice Hawkins, director of Granite State Progress. "This is unbecoming behavior from a member of the armed services. She didn't even congratulate her fellow servicemen and women for a job well done, instead questioning whether their accomplishment is truthful and suggesting that something is awry. The President of the United States of America, the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces, addressed the nation about the death of bin Laden and yet Representative Blankenbeker takes pause because she hasn't received an email from her immediate supervisor."

Representative Lynne Blankenbeker is a commander in the Navy Reserve who will deploy for her third tour of duty in July. She will be "boots on the ground" for 210 days in Afghanistan.

The full interview is property of WMUR-TV, Channel 9. An audio clip of the exchange is posted here: http://www.granitestateprogres...

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

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by: Dean Barker @ Mon May 09, 2011 at 21:07:27 PM UTC

Acts Unbecoming An Officer (4.00 / 3)

Insubordination to the Commander in Chief is a breach in the chain of command.That is offensive to this civilian in a time of war.

http://www.justice.gov/olc/war...
The President's constitutional power to defend the United States and the lives of its people must be understood in light of the Founders' express intention to create a federal government "cloathed with all the powers requisite to [the] complete execution of its trust." The Federalist No. 23, at 122 (Alexander Hamilton) (Charles R. Kesler ed., 1999). Foremost among the objectives committed to that trust by the Constitution is the security of the Nation. (1) As Hamilton explained in arguing for the Constitution's adoption, because "the circumstances which may affect the public safety are [not] reducible within certain determinate limits, . . . it must be admitted, as a necessary consequence that there can be no limitation of that authority which is to provide for the defense and protection of the community in any matter essential to its efficiency."

note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other

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by: JonnyBBad @ Mon May 09, 2011 at 23:21:40 PM UTC

An Open Question (4.00 / 2)

Rep. Blankenbeker had a chance to unequivocally put this to rest, but no, she really considers Bin Laden's death an open question:

"I'm not an intelligence officer. I'm a nurse. I find it very hard to believe that the president of the United States would lie to America. I find it very hard to believe the president of the United States, no matter how powerful people think he is, could convince the United States Navy" to lie.

"Politics ain't beanbag" - Finley Peter Dunne

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by: William Tucker @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 12:40:19 PM UTC

Very Savvy (& sick) Statement (4.00 / 6)

I find it very hard to believe that the president of the United States would lie to America.

This is a total dog whistle to the Granite Grok crowd. They totally believe that POTUS lies. She keeps the door open, inferring - 'I want to believe because I was raised that way, but anything is possible.' wink, wink

I find it very hard to believe the president of the United States, no matter how powerful people think he is, could convince the United States Navy" to lie.

She compounds the first shiv by using the Navy as third party validator. 'Well, if the "NAVY" says it, then I'll believe him.' However, she cleverly throws in the notion of chain of command - no matter how powerful people think he is. This sets up a paranoid frame that POTUS could make the Navy lie for him.

It's textbook sleazeball GOPerisms. She is a prize.

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 14:05:23 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You've got it precisely. (4.00 / 3)

She's straddling the fence here, playing to dog whistle politics while pretending she shares none of the blame for doing so.

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed May 11, 2011 at 00:50:14 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Decline and pivot (4.00 / 3)

Because she does not have access to military intelligence, she cannot (will not?) say bin Laden is dead. Instead, she uses the question to insert "President" and "lie" into the same sentence - repeatedly.

Why won't Blankenbeker state clearly whether or not she thinks bin Laden is dead? Because she questions it.

little camera girl

Zandra Rice Hawkins (Granite State Progress)

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by: Zandra Rice Hawkins @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 14:08:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

It Gets Worse (4.00 / 1)

"I feel really bad for the victims and the families of 9/11 who are trying to use this as part of their closure that this got escalated to this level," Blankenbeker said.

Her faux sympathy is actually deployed to assign guilt to those who "escalated," meaning those who pointed her ill conceived words out.

Sorry Commander, you played the card. We went all in.

"I want to make it crystal clear -- crystal clear tonight -- to let everybody know that I have a firm belief that the president of the United States, my commander-in-chief, the United States Navy, and my fellow soldiers and sailors would never make a public statement that would deceive the American public," Blankenbeker said.

This is not a well crafted line. She starts out fine, using "belief." That gives her an out with the Obama haters. But, then she tries to save face with her fellow servicemembers and accidently gives cover to Obama while doing so. By stating "would never make a public statement that would deceive the American public," she vouches for Obama. Though somewhere, what the definition of what is is, lingers.

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 14:28:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Rinse and repeat (4.00 / 1)

Follow-up on WMUR:

Question: So you believe Osama Bin Laden is dead?

Rep. Blankenbeker: I believe the President of the United States would never lie about that on national TV.

Me: Yes.

"Politics ain't beanbag" - Finley Peter Dunne

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by: William Tucker @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 14:28:18 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Because it's my job (4.00 / 3)

to be the perennial buzz kill around here, I feel compelled to point out that using "Geronimo" as the code name for bin Laden was an astounding act of cultural insensitivity. Apologies should be made to the descendants of Geronimo in particular, and to Indian Country as a whole. Equating Geronimo with a terrorist is truly reprehensible, especially when one considers that in US/Indian relations, we white folks have actually been the terrorists.

http://www.democracynow.org/20...

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by: susanthe @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 15:23:55 PM UTC

Not a moderate Republican. (4.00 / 7)

Rep Blankenbecker is not a moderate. She was elected in the most republican district of Concord by not disclosing her tur views. And this is not the first time she has made arrogant and rather distrubing comments...at a recent meeting of the Merrimack County Legislative Delegation she begrudged the reesidents of the county Nursing Home the rather inexpensive hair cuts and permanents they receive by saying that the residents were not tax payers but merely tax users, (in spite of the fact that most of the residents have paid taxes in Merrimack County for decades before moving into the Nursing Home). She is a spitefull and mean spirited woman and none of us should believe otherwise at the cost of her being able to hurt more people in New Hampshire.

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by: katbeep @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 18:33:34 PM UTC

... not tax payers but merely tax users (4.00 / 1)

I realize that you are paraphrasing, but the gist of these words cut to the bone of right-wing fringe politics.

They despise what they consider freeloaders.

One that day, it was ladies in a nursing home. But the line is so arbitrary, it could be any of us at any time.


"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 18:50:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I was not paraphasing... (4.00 / 1)

If you look at the minutes of the meeting on the county website...those are her actual words...she believes Nursing home residents are "tax users" and should be cut off!

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by: katbeep @ Wed May 11, 2011 at 15:02:06 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yikes (0.00 / 0)

Whoever challenges her needs to have that gem handy.

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Wed May 11, 2011 at 15:15:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

despicable (4.00 / 2)

Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  

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by: Ray Buckley @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 18:59:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

oh yikes, the hairdos! (4.00 / 2)

TY for reminding me, Katbeep.

That was one of the low points of the biennium, even though it happened during a County Delegation meeting rather than a House  meeting.    Rep. Blankenbeker was the moron who tried to defund the line item for hair dressers at the nursing home.  That was not very nice of her.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Tue May 10, 2011 at 19:12:52 PM UTC

[ Parent ]