Obama’s popularity seems destined to slide downhill as his second term unfolds, even if polls taken just before this latest political moment show that Obama’s core supporters are still with him. Looking beyond this week’s accusatory headlines, there are a handful of single issues that will resonate among key Democratic constituencies and big-picture economic issues that seem destined to push Obama’a ratings down. He may not end his presidency in the low 20s like George W. Bush. But it’s not a stretch to say that Obama’s 51 percent approval ratings last week may be the best that he will see this term.

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"It’s certainly a possibility," Chaffetz told the Salt Lake Tribune when asked on Monday. "That’s not the goal but given the continued lies perpetrated by this administration, I don’t know where it’s going to go. ... I’m not taking it off the table. I’m not out there touting that but I think this gets to the highest levels of our government and integrity and honesty are paramount."

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From PPP:

One interesting thing about the voters who think Benghazi is the biggest political scandal in American history is that 39% of them don't actually know where it is. 10% think it's in Egypt, 9% in Iran, 6% in Cuba, 5% in Syria, 4% in Iraq, and 1% each in North Korea and Liberia with 4% not willing to venture a guess.

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"So the whole thing defies logic and the fact that this keeps on getting churned out, frankly has a lot to do with political motivations," he continued. "We've had folks who have challenged Hillary Clinton's integrity, Susan Rice's integrity," also noting that Republicans have used the attacks on Benghazi for fundraising.

"We dishonor them when we turn things like this into a political circus," Obama said.

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Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Kristol added that people should “pull the partisanship back. It’s a genuine outrage what happened in Benghazi, it’s a genuine outrage what the IRS did," so "I wish the Republicans would just be quiet for while — I mean, the partisan Republican groups that are fundraising off of this — would be quiet on both issues for a while, and let’s find out what really happened.”

Watch, via Raw Story:

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Paul referenced his contention at a Senate hearing earlier this year that he would have "relieved her of her position" if he was in office and learned that she did not read cables asking the State Department for more security at the U.S. consulate in Libya:

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But that may change when three "whistle-blowers" give what Republicans expect to be explosive testimony this week before Rep. Darrell Issa's House Oversight Committee. The controversy over the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate and CIA annex in the Libyan city has smoldered, mainly on the right, but the testimony will likely push it back into the mainstream and could be an enormous distraction for an already injured second-term Obama.

Unlike the vast majority of the new information brought forward by the conservative media since the attack, the three whistle-blowers seem credible. One, Gregory Hicks, was the No. 2 State Department official in Libya before the attack and has decades of experience in the Foreign Service. Another, Eric Nordstrom, was the regional security officer in country for State. And the third, Mark Thompson, is the deputy coordinator for operations in the department's counterterrorism bureau and was involved in Washington's response to the Libya attacks.

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From the poll:

Ms. Clinton would get 65 percent of Democratic votes compared to 13 percent for Vice President Joe Biden, 4 percent for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and 1 percent or less for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. If Clinton is not in the race, Biden would get 45 percent, with 15 percent for Gov. Cuomo, 6 percent for, Gov. Patrick, 3 percent O'Malley and 2 percent for Warner.

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"She'd obviously be an extraordinarily strong candidate if she decided to run," he said. "We've got others obviously who will look at, it certainly if she doesn't. But it's too soon to know."

Watch:

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White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the trio enjoyed the conversation but isn't releasing details.

Hillary Rodham Clinton stepped down in February as Obama's chief diplomat after serving in that role throughout his first term.

On Wednesday, Obama shared another notable meal with a dozen Republican senators near the White House. He had lunch Thursday with Paul Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, and Chris Van Hollen, the committee's top Democrat.

Those meals are part of a broader attempt by Obama to improve relations with congressional Republicans in hopes of jumpstarting budget talks and rallying support for other proposals.

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David Corn at Mother Jones reports:

In one segment of the film, according to a former official who saw it, [Adam Brandon, executive vice president of the group] is seen waking from a nap at his desk. In what appears to be a dream or a nightmare, he wanders down a hallway and spots a giant panda on its knees with its head in the lap of a seated Hillary Clinton and apparently performing oral sex on the then-secretary of state. Two female interns at FreedomWorks were recruited to play the panda and Clinton. One intern wore a Hillary Clinton mask. The other wore a giant panda suit that FreedomWorks had used at protests to denounce progressives as panderers. (See here, here, and here.) Placing the panda in the video, a former FreedomWorks staffer says, was "an inside joke."

Another FreedomWorks staffer who worked there at the time confirms that "Yes, this video was created."

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The vote was 94-3. Once sworn-in, Kerry will replace Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is stepping down after four years.

The vote came just hours after the Foreign Relations Committee approved his nomination by voice vote. Kerry has led the committee for the past four years.

The 69-year-old Kerry is a decorated Vietnam veteran and the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate.

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By voice vote, the panel approved the nomination of the five-term Massachusetts Democrat, who has been a member of the committee for 28 years and led it for the past four. The full Senate likely will vote on Tuesday afternoon.

Kerry did not attend the session in the ornate diplomatic room in the Capitol. In his absence, Democrats and Republicans praised Kerry and remarked on his extensive grasp of the issues during his confirmation hearing last Thursday.

"Long-winded," joked Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a Kerry friend who had introduced the senator at that hearing.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who succeeds Kerry as committee chairman, said the senator would be a "formidable secretary of state."

Obama chose Kerry, 69, the son of a diplomat, decorated Vietnam veteran and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, to succeed Clinton, who is stepping down after four years. The senator had pined for the top diplomatic job that went to Clinton after Obama's 2008 election.

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If approved, the nomination would move to the full Senate, which is expected to act swiftly on the choice.

Obama chose the five-term Massachusetts senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is stepping down after four years.

Kerry has served on the Foreign Relations panel for 28 years and led the committee for the last four. He is the son of a diplomat and a decorated Vietnam veteran.

Obama is overhauling his national security team. The president has nominated Chuck Hagel for defense secretary and John Brennan to serve as CIA director.

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The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman will sit at the witness table Thursday when he appears before the panel, a month after President Barack Obama said he wanted him to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton is stepping down.

The five-term Massachusetts senator is widely expected to win overwhelming bipartisan support from his colleagues, and that notion was reinforced by the list of people who will introduce him: Clinton, Massachusetts freshman Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Republican Sen. John McCain.

McCain and Kerry are friends who have worked closely on national security issues. They're also decorated Vietnam War veterans and former presidential candidates who know the sharp sting of defeat.

At the conclusion of a Capitol Hill news conference Tuesday, McCain joked about Kerry's hearing and the tough tactics that won't be employed.

"We will look forward to interrogating him at his hearing — mercilessly," McCain said to laughter. "We will bring back, for the only time, waterboarding to get the truth."

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Duncan, R-S.C., referenced Clinton's testimony before the Senate earlier in the day, in which she blew up at Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., for accusing the State Department of misleading the American people when it blamed the attack on the protests.

"With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans,” Clinton fired back at Johnson. “Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator."

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Clinton was testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the attacks on a U.S. consulate in Libya on Sept. 11, which killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Johnson had wondered why there was misinformation about the attacks being the result of protests, when "a very simple call to those [Benghazi consulate] evacuees would have easily ascertained immediately that there was no protest." He then accused Clinton of making excuses for why the call was not made: "We were misled that there was supposedly protests and that something sprang out of that, and assault sprang out of that."

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Clinton is the sole witness Wednesday at back-to-back hearings before the Senate and House foreign policy panels on the September raid, an independent panel's review that harshly criticized the State Department and the steps the Obama administration is taking to beef up security at U.S. facilities worldwide.

Clinton had been scheduled to testify before Congress last month, but an illness, a concussion and a blood clot near her brain forced her to postpone her appearance.

Her marathon day on Capitol Hill will probably be her last in Congress before she steps down as secretary of state. President Barack Obama has nominated Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to succeed her, and his swift Senate confirmation is widely expected. Kerry's confirmation hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

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