(If you can’t see the MP4 video above, click below.)

The weird Republican conspiracy theories about the Benghazi attack are getting even weirder today, as David Petraeus testifies at a closed-door hearing and the right wing blogs fly into a frenzy of distorted fantasizing. Every single right wing blogger is hyperventilating over this today, right on cue like the parrots they are.

But here’s the bottom line to the latest episode of this cynical attempt to exploit a tragedy in order to harm the President: GOP Rep Admits CIA Approved U.N. Ambassador’s Talking Points on Libya.

That’s right; Peter King was forced to admit that the talking points used by Amb. Susan Rice were approved by the CIA:

After leaving the closed-door hearing, King spoke with reporters for several minutes about Petraeus’ statements. Rice’s television appearances were among the topics discussed, leading King to indicate that while Petraeus did not personally write Rice’s talking points, the CIA did approve them:

Q: Did he say why it was taken out of the talking points that [the attack] was Al Qaeda affiliated?

KING: He didn’t know.

Q: He didn’t know? What do you mean he didn’t know?

KING: They were not involved — it was done, the process was completed and they said, “Ok go with those talking points.” Again it’s interagency — I got the impression that 7, 8, 9 different agencies.

Q: Did he give you the impression that he was upset it was taken out?

KING: No.

Q: You said the CIA said “OK” to the revised report –

KING: No, well, they said in that, after it goes through the process, they OK’d it to go. Yeah, they said “Okay for it to go.”

Glenn Beck is well known around here as a raving freakazoid nut sandwich, and he doesn’t disappoint in this clip from Right Wing Watch, standing in front of his chalkboard and ranting about the secret connections that tie together all the strands of a vast conspiracy by the Muslim Brotherhood to trigger a global revolution.

See? And you thought it was just about David Petraeus gettin’ his swerve on. Little did you realize that the fate of civilization itself is at stake: Beck: Petraeus Scandal Is a Conspiracy to Discredit the Military.

The entire rambling disconnected rant is here, if you feel masochistic: Sex, Lies and Libya | TheBlaze TV. (h/t: Silvio.)

[Live event concluded.]

The Petraeus scandal is getting very weird tonight.

The rapidly unfolding saga of David Petraeus, Paula Broadwell, Jill Kelley and an unnamed FBI agent is getting trashier by the minute. The Wall Street Journal dropped a scoop on Monday evening with fresh details about the case, including a report of a man who sent shirtless photos of himself to Kelley, the accidental whistleblower. Believe it or not, the man sending sexy pics is not David Petraeus — you know, the guy that just got caught having an illicit affair with his too-fit biographer. It’s the FBI agent. 

But wait there’s more. Evidently, the FBI agent who opened an investigation into some harassing emails that Kelley, a friend of his from Florida, got a little too involved in the case. According to The Journal, the agent’s “supervisors soon became concerned that the initial agent might have grown obsessed with the matter, and prohibited him from any role in the investigation.” 

Meanwhile, the investigators who worked their way through a maze of anonymous email exchanges between Petraeus, Broadwell and Kelley ascertained that the former CIA director and his friend from Florida may have gotten romantically involved as well. One email described a night at dinner when the anonymous writer claimed to witness Kelley touching Petraeus “provocatively” under the table. “Provocatively” is WSJ’s word. We’re guessing the email was a little bit more specific with what was going on with the under-the-table touching.

Milo Wendt noticed an interesting thing about the Wikipedia page for Paula Broadwell, the journalist whose affair with David Petraeus led to his resignation as CIA director.

According to the editing history for her Wikipedia page, on January 26, 2012, about one hour after the page was first created, an anonymous editor added the sentence:

Petraeus is reportedly one of her many conquests.

This addition was removed by another editor shortly afterward (for “libel/vandalism”), and a month later the entire article was deleted. The editing history reappeared when a new article on Paula Broadwell was created recently.

What does it mean? Hard to say; the IP address of the anonymous editor traces to a common ISP, and this appears to be the only edit this person ever made with that IP address. But it strongly suggests that Broadwell’s affair with Petraeus wasn’t exactly a big secret even back in January of this year.

Here’s a screenshot of the comparison between the edited version and the original:

Click to enlarge

The right wing universe is now in full-bore conspiracy theory mode over the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus, just as I predicted. It’s a case study in the conservative movement’s decline into bad craziness; they’re all muttering darkly about cover-ups and hidden connections and “questioning the timing.”

One of the most brain-dead of the wingnuts, loony hateblogger Pamela Geller, has a typical post on the subject; for her it’s all part of the Islamic supremacist stealth shariah takeover of America, of course:

GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS RESIGNS - Atlas Shrugs.

I do not believe it was the real reason was [sic] an extramarital affair. I believe it was Benghazi. He refused to be the fall guy. When did an affair ever stop a Democrat. If anything….

Perhaps one of Obama’s many Muslim Brotherhood advisors are on the shortlist to replace him.

A bit of surprising news today: David Petraeus Resigns From CIA.

3:02PM EST November 9. 2012 - NBC reported Friday that CIA director David Petraeus has resigned from the CIA, citing an extramarital affair.

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell said the resignation was submitted in a letter dated Friday and was accepted by the White House.

In a letter, Petraeus noted that he had been married for 37 years and had exercised “extremely poor judgment’ in conducting an extramarital affair.