The long awaited battle between Hillary Clinton and the Republican’s Committee to Politicize Benghazi is now in the history books. It was a marathon eleven hour affair that featured the top names in partisan propaganda as they tried in vain to wear down Clinton and force an error.
The details are hardly relevant because even the committee’s chairman, Trey Gowdy, admitted that nothing new was learned from the inquisition. When asked by reporters what the hearing had achieved, he said that “In terms of her testimony? I don’t know that she testified that much differently today than she has the previous times she testified.”
In other words, this committee has been just as incapable of manufacturing a scandal as the seven other committees before it. And even though Gowdy, in his opening statement, vilified his fellow Republicans on prior committees by repeatedly maligning their efforts as not being “serious and thorough,” he was unable to achieve anything more than they did, by his own admission.
Meanwhile, Clinton held up impressively well for the entire hearing, even though she was the only person involved who had to be aware and engaged throughout. The committee members all got to rest between each of their five minute question periods, but Clinton had no such relief. Kinda puts into perspective Donald Trump’s wimpy whining about standing for a three hour debate where he would only be required to speak for about fifteen minutes.
But the real indication that this hearing was a total bust for the Republican scandal machine was that Fox News cut out long before it was over. Both CNN and MSNBC covered the eleven hour hearing wall-to-wall, but Fox News bailed after only seven hours, when they flipped back to their regularly scheduled programming (The Five). So they left out fully one-third of the proceedings. Do you think they would have done that if they thought that Clinton was bombing? Of course not. They were more worried that she looked strong, confident, knowledgeable, and (gasp) presidential. That was something they didn’t want their viewers exposed to, so the decision was made to ditch the live hearings and return to their panel of wingnut pundits on whom they could rely for continued Clinton bashing.
To underscore the significance of this editorial cowardice, we must remember that Fox News has always been the network most obsessed with Benghazi. They even celebrated their own reporting, and particularly their CEO Roger Ailes, for being the “driving force” pushing to “keep Benghazi alive.” After devoting that much effort to turn a tragedy into political theater, Fox wouldn’t even stick with the live broadcast of the headlining act.
How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
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What viewers who watched the whole session would come away with is that GOP inquisitors were mainly concerned with emails from Clinton friend Sidney Blumenthal (whose transcripts the GOP committee members voted not to release), and the administration’s references to an anti-Muslim video following the attacks in Benghazi. Both of those were purely political subjects and neither could possibly shed any light on how the attacks occurred or what could be done to prevent similar attacks in the future.
So Gowdy and his cohorts can cite at least one thing that this hearing succeeded in achieving: That Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy was correct when he said that the committee’s purpose was to bring down Hillary Clinton. And they even failed on that score. Congratulations.
Ouch! That’s gotta hurt. After investing so much time & effort into turning Hillary into Public Enemy #1… and she just ends up turning it into a glowing PR success for her own campaign. Can you imagine the wailing & gnashing of teeth when the FoxNewz bosses realized that she was winning and they were helping her do it? Oh, to be a fly on Roger Ailes’ wall when that finally dawned on him!
She (Kelly) just needs to die a slow and painful death already. The fact that her sheer hatefullness didn’t cause her to collapse and die proves we don’t live in a just world.
More than likely Roger Ailes called a halt to the Fox coverage and regrets not doing so sooner. They were all prepared to use this against Hillary and it backfired on all the republicans and many of their pundits who acknowledged it was disaster for them. Good riddance! Not the Dems on the committee should disappear if Gowdy won’t disband .
That was my thought exactly. Ailes likely called the studio in a panic and yelled at them to get that woman off the air ASAP.
The Republicans had their asses handed to them yesterday and they deserved everything they got. Fox News, in its usual spectacular, glorious Pravda fashion, doesn’t want its viewers to know that they are on the losing end of this one, as usual.
Hillary Clinton’s e-mails showed that she knew from the outset that the Youtube video did not cause the attack in Benghazi. Yet she and the rest of the Obama administration told America (and the family members of those murdered) that the stupid video caused the attacks and that they were going to throw the filmmaker in jail. Hillary Clinton lied to their faces.
poor dumb propaganda victim.
the leader of the attack blamed the video, agreeing with the CIA and a year long investigation.
what evidence does right wing fascist media have to disagree with that?
NONE
That story by the New York Times was debunked long ago. This was not a spontaneous demonstration caused by a video, and Clinton and the rest of the administration knew it all along.
Provide a source that debunks the NYTimes story or shut up.
If one of the leaders of the attack says the video was a factor, who are you to contradict him?
That story was based on anonymous sources. Some yahoo terrorist claims the video was a factor?? Dude, these guys claim they murder people because Israeli Jews drink the blood of Palestinian children. And no, I will not shut up.
Besides, if this story had any accuracy, why didn’t Hillary Clinton reference that story as part of her defense during the hearings?
Do you ever research ANYTHING you say?
Not only did you not provide a source for the alleged debunking, but Clinton DID reference this at the Benghazi hearing:
Are you trying to be an ignorant putz, or does it just come naturally?
“…said it was the video that motivated him…”
Motivated HIM. That does not translate into what the Obama administration and his left-wing lackeys were peddling about a huge protest mob rising up in a “spontaneous demonstration”. That was and is still a lie. So take the “ignorant putz” line and cram it into your left nostril. You have been exposed again.
Just in case anyone is wondering, what Scott meant to say is “You lie”!!!
Thanks for the translation. And for the record, Clinton only said what the intelligence showed. Her story changed during the first week or so because the intelligence assessment kept changing. And as for the video, one of the masterminds of the attack in Benghazi admitted that it was a part of the reason for the attack:
As I stated, that story was debunked. It shows why the New York Times has been going downhill for years.
You stated that but provided no references for us to check. How do you expect to convince us of anything if you don’t provide sources of information?
NYTimes: Captured Suspect Said Benghazi Attack was Revenge For Anti-Islam Video
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/17/1307734/-NYTimes-Captured-Suspect-Said-Benghazi-Attack-Revenge-For-Anti-Islam-Video
Nine Benghazi investigations have failed to come up with a strategy for protecting foreign service personnel? How about not allowing them into war zones? Hasn’t this been a little like the government buying a $45 million hammer?
Maybe there should be a tenth investigation into why we had to pay for the first nine.
Crybaby Megyn Kelly was throwing a temper tantrum and a hissy fit about legitimate news organizations treating this story as the nothing burger it really is. The crybaby father of one of the victims also polticized this tragedy for his own personal gain to destroy a woman candidate. Both are complete and total misogynists. Kelly is a man in disguise as a woman.
Your comment is a hate-filled lie through and through. Megyn Kelly is an exceptional journalist who has a legitimate point about the mainstream media’s worthless coverage of these hearings. And to call the father a crybaby is just flat-out wicked and evil. Shame on you.
I watched a lot of this “prosecution” of Hillary, as Congressman Smith from CA called it, and I switched over to Fox to see how they were covering it. They weren’t covering it at all at that point and that was the first thought that popped into my head, Hillary had just kicked their asses and exposed this investigation for what it was-a huge fraud and waste of taxpayer money.