Liberal pundit: Chris Stevens wasn't 'murdered' in Benghazi
JUSTIN SULLIVAN/Getty Images


In a pretty stunning moment of TV punditry, liberal columnist Eleanor Clift said this weekend that during the September 11, 2012 attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, "Ambassador Stevens was not 'murdered.' He died of smoke inhalation in the safe room in that CIA installation."
The details of the U.S. ambassador's death seem to be in dispute, but let's assume Clift is correct, and that Stevens did die of smoke inhalation. If terrorists set your building on fire, and your option is to come out and be slaughtered, or stay inside and die, is it really accurate to say you weren't murdered? By this logic, terrorists didn't "murder" the people who jumped out of the windows of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, either.
The lengths to which some people will go to diminish the importance of the horrors of Benghazi is astounding.
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Matt K. Lewis is a contributing editor at TheWeek.com and a senior contributor for The Daily Caller. He has written for outlets including GQ Politics, The Guardian, and Politico, and has been cited or quoted by outlets including New York Magazine, the Washington Post, and The New York Times. Matt co-hosts The DMZ on Bloggingheads.TV, and also hosts his own podcast. In 2011, Business Insider listed him as one of the 50 "Pundits You Need To Pay Attention To Between Now And The Election." And in 2012, the American Conservative Union honored Matt as their CPAC "Blogger of the Year." He currently lives in Alexandria, Va.
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