In another time, perhaps twenty years ago, it would be shameful to use the deaths of U.S. service personnel for political gain, and to pin any one loss on any one president. Disasters happen. No one called for Reagan’s resignation in Lebanon, H.W. Bush for allowing Kuwait, Clinton for the Kenyan and U.S.S. Cole bombings, or Bush for 9-11. No, this is a new Republican thing, since Benghazi, Benghazi! BENGAZI!! anything that goes wrong under a Democratic president will be the basis for unending committee investigations if the Republicans take back the House.

Yesterday, CBS’s White House reporter Nancy Cordes did Jen Psaki a favor (seriously) by giving her an opportunity to simply go off on the Republican senators trying to make the horrifically ugly withdrawal political. Cordes asked:

“I want to know if the White House has any reaction to the swath of Republican lawmakers who are now calling on the President to resign over this.” 

Psaki replied with sincere sadness in her voice, some for the men and women lost, she seemed to have some sadness that she even had to address such a ridiculous question, and there was anger there:

“Well, Nancy, I have to say that seeing some of this occur, or be called for, or be put out on Twitter — you know, the backdrop here is the U.S. men and women of the military deployed on the ground are bravely continuing to implement a mission to save lives on the ground — American citizens, Afghan partners, many people that some of these same individuals are calling for us to evacuate.”

“Yesterday, they lost 13 of their own, and the President made absolutely clear that we are going to hunt down, go after, and kill the terrorists who are responsible.  Everyone should be supportive of that,”

That is when Cordes put the ball on the tee for Psaki: “So you are saying this is no time for politics?”

“Correct.”

The reporters all knew the White House’s reaction anyway because – as we have already reported – earlier on Friday, Psaki was forced to answer a question about calls by Hawley and Marsh Blackburn to resign:

 “This is a day where U.S. servicemembers — 12 of them — lost their lives at the hands of terrorists. It’s not a day for politics, and we would expect that any American, whether they’re elected or not, would stand with us in our commitment to going after and fighting and killing those terrorists wherever they live, and to honoring the memory of servicemembers. And that’s what this day is for.”

Those are the only answers the White House needed and it should shame the MAGAs using this to further their own purposes. They know damned well that Biden isn’t going to resign, nor should he. As we said, were there calls for Bush to resign after 9-11? No. The country rallied together. It would rally together now were it not for the presence of the MAGAs. They don’t want to be part of a country led by Democrats. Any country.

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[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak