U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was questioned by Congress on January 13, 2013 about the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi. She was asked by Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) if the attacks were caused by planned terrorism or protests about an anti-Muslim video. Clinton loudly replied:
 
“With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night decided to go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?”
 
The quote was simplified in the press to “What difference does it make?” and was used by conservatives to show that Clinton was being less than truthful and forthcoming about the administration’s handling of the crisis. A Hillary Clinton-for-President bumper sticker was made by one blog— “CLINTON 2016: What difference does it make?”
 
   
The Weekly Standard
Clinton Shouts: ‘What Difference ... Does It Make?’
10:35 AM, JAN 23, 2013 • BY DANIEL HALPER
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked about ascertaining whether the Benghazi terror attack was the result of a protest by Senator Ron Johnson. “What difference, at this point, does it make?” Clinton shouted, seemingly losing her cool.
 
“With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night decided to go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?”
 
Breitbart.com Big Government
HILLARY ON LIBYA: ‘WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?’
by JOHN NOLTE 23 Jan 2013
(...)
When Hillary Clinton was a young lawyer in 1974, she earned her bones in DC as a member of the impeachment inquiry staff during the Watergate scandal. But why? What difference did a little burglary make when thousands were dying in Vietnam?
 
Poor Condi Rice. Why didn’t she pull this during the 9/11 hearings? “What difference does it make what we knew and when we knew it, Senator? 3,000 Americans that September morning!”
 
Yeah, that would’ve have gone over real well with the media.
   
National Review Online
The Government of ‘What Difference Does It Make?’
By Jim Geraghty
January 24, 2013 7:30 A.M.
(...)
What we did learn is that Hillary Clinton thinks it is silly or unreasonable to ask why the administration kept talking about a video for five days, when everyone and their brother could have figured that the date of September 11 was pretty a key indicator that al-Qaeda-sympathizers or like-minded Islamists were out to mark the anniversary in their own murderous way.
 
“The fact is we had four dead Americans. 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?” Clinton told Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. “It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator.”
 
American Digest
JANUARY 24, 2013
Hillary’s 2016 Campaign Starts Today!
And to start it off with a bigger bang than she’s had in decades, I’ve designed this special bumper sticker that carries her message to a grateful nation!
(Bumper sticker is shown of “CLINTON 2016: What difference does it make?”—ed.)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at January 24, 2013 11:06 PM