MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell asked Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R., N.H.) Wednesday if the sharp criticism of Ambassador Susan Rice is a part of a multi-step Republican plan to restore Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate:
MITCHELL: There's a suggestion that has been made that this is a Republican attempt to get her so wounded that John Kerry is then nominated instead, which would then open up a vacancy in Massachusetts that Scott Brown would be teed up for. Is there an effort her that has to do with Senate politics, raw politics?
AYOTTE: Absolutely absurd, Andrea. I would remind you, this is an issue I was pursuing--and others --long before the election, before we knew whether Scott Brown was going to win that election. I think that claim is absurd.