Petraeus and the Benghazi Hearings; Romney Won Landslides; Texas Float Accident
TUCHMAN: Who knew what and when. That's been the focus of the closed door Benghazi hearings in Washington. Everyone was waiting to hear from former CIA director David Petraeus will say, whether he knew of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya was a terror assault. But Republicans are suggesting his testimony raised more questions than an answer. Eric Schmidt is a season writer at "The New York Times." He joins me now from New York. Eric, thanks for joining us.</s>ERIC SCHMITT, SENIOR WRITER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Thank you, Gary.</s>TUCHMAN: General Petraeus says he made it clear all along that it was an organized terror strike. But Republican Representative Peter King says Petraeus had called it a spontaneous attack earlier. Do we know which version is correct at this point?</s>SCHMITT: I think actually both versions could be correct. The initial intelligence was it was a spontaneous attack of some kind and General Petraeus has told intelligence committee members that it was carried out by specific groups including fighters from perhaps an al Qaeda affiliate. So I think this morning Senator Dianne Feinstein, who's the head of the intelligence committee in the Senate, said she recalls getting the same briefing about the same time from Petraeus and that she remembers him saying it was a terrorist attack. So I think lawmakers are focusing on different parts of the same briefing.</s>TUCHMAN: Now Republicans, Eric, are saying they don't buy the suggestion, the protest explanation was to make sure al Qaeda would be unaware of the U.S. intelligence community's suspicions. Are they right about that?</s>SCHMITT: Well, I think you have to remember the context here. We're talking about just a few days after this attack. There's still a lot of confusion about this and there may have been perhaps an element of undue caution on the part of the intelligence community in not wanting to have the names of the specific group that they suspected were responsible for this. There are a number of reasons for that. They wouldn't want necessarily to know that they were intercepting their electronic communications. The Justice Department wouldn't want them to know -- it wouldn't want it to be known for reasons that could harm their criminal inquiry. And another reason could be they don't want the information out there because it would create a circular information loop, if you will, and the intelligence community wouldn't know what was the real information that they needed and what was the stuff they'd already put out there.</s>TUCHMAN: There's a lot of backlash, of course, heard from GOP about Susan Rice's statements, the U.N. ambassador, contradicting that there was any terrorism involved in the attack, and we know President Obama was very angry, feeling she was made a scapegoat. But it seems like her statement has certainly made the situation more volatile and worse whether she was given bad information or not, right?</s>SCHMITT: Well, certainly, I think what it exposed was the difference between a much more detailed and specific explanation that members of the intelligence committees received as Mr. King and Miss Feinstein received, and what they determined later would be subject for public consumption, this kind of watered down version where they changed the names of these various extremist groups including the al Qaeda affiliate North Africa and change it to a more generic determine of extremists. Again this was the reason they didn't want to perhaps tip-off the insurgents that they were on to them and so they came up an explanation that the public that could be fed by the lawmakers could be presented to the public and Susan Rice has said this is what she used. This is what she felt she was cleared to use when she spoke on those five television shows just a few days after the initial attack.</s>TUCHMAN: Now there are some Republicans who are calling this a Watergate-like cover-up, accusing White House aides of hiding the terrorism link in the run-up to the presidential election. Eric, it seems like someone removed the terror link from the talking points that were initially handed out. Do we know, A, if that happen, and if it did happen, who did it and why?</s>SCHMITT: Well, again, this is one of the questions that's still remain, Gary, is how in this process of removing the specific names of these extremist groups including al Qaeda affiliate, a local Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia, what -- was there any one individual or one agency that did this? This went through an interagency process in Washington. It had to be signed off by members of the intelligence community, as well as the White House, members of the NSC. I talked to people at the White House on Friday. They said the only words they changed along with the State Department was changing the words to diplomatic facility in the -- from the mission. And so they had nothing to do with the intelligence assessment at all. So it still is somewhat of a question of exactly where in this process the names of these specific groups were changed into more generic reference of extremists.</s>TUCHMAN: Eric, we do want to make it clear. We want to be transparent that you're a senior writer at the "New York Times," but not in New York City, that skyline behind you is California Mountain View, California. Eric Schmitt, thanks for joining us. It sounds like you were in that closed door meeting, we know you weren't, but you're full of good information. Thank you for joining us.</s>SCHMITT: Thank you, Gary.</s>TUCHMAN: Well, there was a story that went unreported on election night. Mitt Romney's landslide. He actually had many of them across the country in his loss to Barack Obama. We went to King County, Texas, where Barack Obama suffered his biggest shellacking. You might be surprised to hear what voters there had to say.</s>TUCHMAN (on camera): What do you think of Barack Obama's first term?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ain't worth a damn. I don't agree with anything he done.</s>TUCHMAN (voice-over): It's a sentiment that was also common here during President Obama's first run for president. Here in rural King County, Texas, only 4.9 percent of voters chose Obama in 2008. It's 2012 it's even lower, just 3.4 percent, the lowest for any county in the country. (</s>On camera): If you could tell Barack Obama to do one thing, what would you tell him?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To resign.</s>TUCHMAN: What advice would give him for a second term?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Retire.</s>TUCHMAN: King County is not only the home to Barack Obama's lowest vote percentage, it's also the county where he received the lowest total number of votes. Nationwide, the president tallied more than 62 million votes. But here in this county, he received five votes. That's right. Just five votes. (</s>Voice-over): King County's population is small. But Mitt Romney winning 139 to five, made this the president's worst showing in the U.S. We went to the girl's basketball game at Guthrie High School in the county's seat. I asked Mitt Romney voters why there was such distaste with Barack Obama's presidency.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought he sounded more like a dictator than a president.</s>TUCHMAN: We went to the local Baptist church to a monthly women's club meeting and heard similar sentiments.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any time anything goes wrong, he just blames it on Bush, you know, it's the last administration, it wasn't his fault, well now it is his fault.</s>TUCHMAN: In 2009 just after President Obama we also spent time in King County and we met Charlotte McCauley, who told us.</s>CHARLOTTE MCCAULEY, KING COUNTY, TEXAS RESIDENT: I just ask God that he would -- that he would help him truly connect with him so that he would know what God's heart was for the United States of America.</s>TUCHMAN: And this is Charlotte today at the women's club meeting. (</s>On camera): You told us four years ago that you hoped the lord would help Barack Obama.</s>MCCAULEY: Yes.</s>TUCHMAN: Do you think that happened?</s>MCCAULEY: It doesn't appear so.</s>TUCHMAN (voice-over): And then there was something we've heard before. (</s>On camera): What bothers you the most about what he did during his first term? What are some of the things that bother you?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not being honest with us about where he was born and just this different things like that. To me he just seems dishonest.</s>TUCHMAN: But he says he was born in Hawaii and he's kind of said that for a long time. And I'm wondering if you've heard that and if you have, why don't you believe that?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't believe anything he says.</s>TUCHMAN (voice-over): There are certainly people in King County who still don't believe the president about the country of his birth and they also question his faith. President Obama is a practicing Christian but here doubts persist. (</s>On camera): What do you think Barack Obama is?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think he's a Muslim. But you know -- and of course that reflects in my decision on whether to vote for him or not.</s>TUCHMAN (voice-over): Back at the basketball game, it was notable that there were more people working in the concession stand than people in the county who voted for Obama. We tried to find at least one of those five Obama voters in the game and we did. But all we can tell you is that the Obama voter is indeed somewhere in this wide shot of the crowd. He did not feel comfortable going public with his decision to vote for the man who at least here is the most unpopular president.</s>TUCHMAN: King County, Texas, is not alone. To be sure there were scores of other counties that gave the president only single-digit support. And on the flipside, President Obama had his share of counties where he overwhelmingly defeated Mitt Romney. But of all the counties in this great land, King County, Texas, did have the largest deferential. Now speaking of President Obama, some have compared him to President Abraham Lincoln. Both Illinois politicians and leading a divided country at a critical time. But is the comparison real? Or just a lot of hype with the new film "Lincoln" in theaters?