Obama backs Rice with ‘extraordinary’ endorsement

>>> the outcome of meetings between u.n. ambassador susan rice and gop senators intent on undermining her may not be so important after all. because just moments ago she was given the only endorsement that may matter.

>> susan rice is extraordinary. couldn't be prouder of the job she's done.

>> a round of applause from the cabinet. we're joined with a round of applause by msnbc executive editor richard wolffe and jonathan capehart. the gop keeps saying there are more questions but they don't appear to be any more answers that susan rice can give. if she keeps going at this rate she's going to get to all 45 gop senators, republican senators, by christmas.

>> right. the reason she can't give more answers -- she can always talk about this thing, but the subject matter is really limited here. and either the republican senators who are finding it hard to follow or maybe the viewers of another cable news channel who have lost all track of what this story is about, the questions are about her performance on a group of sunday talk shows . the real story should be, and was supposed to be, about the security of foreign service officials in dangerous countries. she doesn't get to speak about that. she's not responsible for the security of those officials. the framework they're trying to surround her and hunt her down on really comes down to her performance on a sunday talk show . there's only so many questions you can frame about that. they've run to the end of them. and they still want a bigger story and a bigger conspiracy. and as i've said before, i think this speaks to motives that are more than impure and actually offensive.

>> there's always a new reason to oppose miss rice. on tuesday senator graham said this was for failed nomination of mr. bolton. and then they mentioned her in response to the 1990 african embassy bombings. there were two. take a listen.

>> what troubles me so much is that the benghazi attacks in many ways echoes the attacks on those embassies in 1998 when susan rice was head of the african region for our state department .

>> i should say that susan rice couldn't remember and wasn't able to give any particularly detailed answer, so they started with benghazi that failed. now in 1998 . how long will it be before they ask for ms. rice's birth certificate?

>> you know, i don't know. and i'm surprised by senator collins because she is a moderate within the republican party in the senate. usually a level-headed person. to bring the two together is a little extraordinary because in one benghazi , susan rice has, as richard eloquently said a moment ago, has nothing to do with anything in benghazi except she went on television to talk about it. but the situation in -- the bombings in the 1990s , while susan rice was in the clinton state department and, you know, had some sort of purview over that, but how the two are related is beyond me. the other thing senator collins says in that exchange is that, well, wait a minute, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves because she hasn't even been nominated for the position. and that's what makes this whole thing such an unbelievable circus. they're beating up on someone over a job she hasn't been offered. even though we know, we have a pretty good hunch she's going to be offered it, but the fact that she's being beaten like this before she's been officially designated as hillary clinton 's successor is extraordinary to me.

>> richard, some of our viewers, and others, have suggested that it may be because she's a woman and that she's black. and that's why the attack has happened. i say some others to include your good self.

>> thank you. is there also not the opportunity for score-settling because in the past susan rice has been deemed to have slightly sharp elbows so they're using this as a convenient ways it were to get back at her for whatever --

>> look, let's set this into some context here. if what you care about is the state of security in libya and whether --

>> but they didn't care about that because they didn't vote to provide 300 additional protection officers at these consulates and embassies. let's cut that out of the discussion. that is irrelevant. no one cares.

>> whether or not gadhafi was in power or not, rice was a leading supporter to get him out of power. when the accusation about susan rice and sharp elbows comes into play it's generally from other people in the administration who have clashed with her because they didn't want to support the rebels in libya and she did. what you're seeing here is a war by proxy on the president. that's why the president said, if you want to come after me, come after me. and it always just happens to be people of color who are working alongside him. whether it's eric holder , the center of another vast and completely unfounded con sir spiracy, or valerie jarrett, or van jones , who is some kind of cookie communist, why is it always people -- not tim geithner who maybe had a hand in the economy. you can construct any number of conspiracies. i'm not suggesting they do. but shawn donovan, howing secretary, housing is not doing great either. fox news has led this charm. maybe these republican senators are just pandering to fox news but maybe there's something deep-seeded about their resentment about the president and these proxies around him and they are not letting up. they're not letting up on us for pointing that out but that's not going to stop anyone.

>> richard wolffe , jonathan capehart, thank you very much, indeed. stay