The Benghazi Bullshit Knows No End...

 Yesterday we saw the House of Representatives vote 232 - 186 in support of a Select Committee into the Benghazi matter. This is hardly a surprise. Nor is the fact that the Committee will be weighted in favor of the Republicans. House Minority Leader Nancy Pulosi can complain all she wants about the unfairness of the unbalance but that's how these things usually are set up, and the Democrats have done the same thing in the past.

Just how valuable another investigation is really going to be is anyone's guess. I suspect we already know the gist of what happened. Security was not what it should have been. Communication was not what it should have been. Military assistance was simply too far away to render any significant hep. A brave and well-intentioned Ambassador may have been a little too brave to the point of recklessness. Chris Stevens didn't want big security teams surrounding him as he tried to make inroads with the people of Libya and gain trust. It may have cost him his life. Not to mention the other dead Americans that night, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. It is a true tragedy.

I'm not sure what the point of this House Select Committee really is. While I'm quite certain there will be passionate and theatrical speeches and admonishments and fists banging on tables for the cameras and microphones, I have little expectation we're going to learn very much new substantive information from these proceedings. More likely, it is an opportunity to keep the themes of Benghazi, 4 dead Americans, Hillary Clinton and President Obama all intertwined for a few more weeks. During which time Conservatives will hope for new campaign ad fodder and lots of fund-raising dollars. 

Its not entirely unlike the fifty-plus votes the House has taken on Obamacare. Every time they've voted, I've seen a fundraising email show up in my inbox. Only a madman would seriously think those votes were serious attempts at legislating. Likewise, I don't think the GOP really thinks they'll be the ones to uncover all the really good dirt and proof of who knows what? Think of the House as a Muscular Dystrophy Telethon of sorts. The appeals for money are never-ending. The difference is one is for a good cause and the other pretends its fighting for a good cause.

This isn't justice being pursued, its politics. As dirty and nasty as ever. Anything the House can do to continue to afflict pain upon this President they will. Anything they can do to put some dents into the Clinton for President car, they will. I'd love to think the House was really driven to find out what went wrong and how to prevent it. They're not. This is a device to be used to improve political positioning, power and control. If the tables were turned, perhaps the Democrats might do the same thing, but history tells us otherwise. After the bombing in Lebanon during the Reagan Presidency, there wasn't this non-stop, full court press of investigation after investigation after investigation. Four people didn't die in Lebanon, two-hundred and forty-one did. Go figure. 

There are two articles I've seen in the last few days that I think are worth your time on this subject. The first, by Salon's Simon Maloy, titled, "GOP's New Benghazi Lunatic: Meet Trey Gowdey, its substance free committee chair."

The second, by the Daily Beast's Micheal Tomasky, is called, "The B is Back: The Benghazi Hearings Are Bullshit."

Sources:

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/06/gop%E2%80%99s_new_benghazi_dreamboat_meet_trey_gowdy_its_substance_free_committee_chair/

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/07/the-b-is-back-the-benghazi-hearings-are-bullsh-t.html

Let's Give the American People What They Want...

You've heard it, I've heard it, we've ALL heard it in the media lately. "The American people don't want it!" We as Americans have an expectation that in our political system that our will should be done. In the recent weeks any number of conservative politicians have stated that the American people don't want Obamacare and that President Obama and his Democratic counterparts should listen to us and put a stop to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act immediately.

Here's Speaker of the House John Boehner saying it:



He's surely not alone as most Conservatives agree to one degree or another that they feel the ACA should be stopped as soon as possible. Senator Ted Cruz spent over twenty hours on the floor of the Senate driving that point home earlier this week. Right wing voices from Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Sean Hannity all are predicting the utter destruction of our Country if Obamacare is permitted to carry on.

There's good evidence that a significant percent of Americans also feel less than enthused about Obamacare. The poll website Real Clear Politics, which looks at many polls from various sources, shows an average breakdown of 52% against the ACA, with just 38.7% in favor of the new law. Their results include polls from CNN, CBS/NYT, Rasmussen, ABC/Washington Post among others. Hardly just a sampling of far right wing outlets. It is a fact, there is significant opposition to Obamacare. We can quibble on the merits of the opinions, but we can't and shouldn't pretend they don't exist.

Maybe with just over half of those polled feeling the ACA isn't the way we should go right now, we should listen to them. I don't think so, myself at all, but hey, if more than half the Country feels this way, perhaps we shouldn't ignore them. Americans elect politicians and send them to 50 different State Houses and Washington DC to do "our will." They represent us in these matters and are compelled morally to do so honestly, even if it means they must assume a difficult or unpopular stance.

We all agree on that? Right?

I have one question that I've been unable to get an answer to. If we move from looking at the "will of the people" when it comes to Obamacare and change the issue to gun control, things seem to change very quickly. There's an issue with even more dramatic poll results than the ACA. A CBS poll from March indicates a 90% approval rating, a Washington Post/ABC News poll from April shows a 86% approval rating, a CNN poll from April shows a 83% favorability rating, a Quinnipiac Poll from the Spring comes in at a striking 91% approval.

Here's my question:

If the best argument against the ACA is that a majority of the American people do not want it so therefore we should stop it in its tracks immediately, why doesn't the same thinking apply to background checks/gun control? Remember this vote from the Senate, last Spring?

Someone please explain it to me...


Sources:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/obama_and_democrats_health_care_plan-1130.html

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/apr/18/gabrielle-giffords/gabby-giffords-says-americans-overwhelmingly-suppo/

http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/17/politics/senate-guns-vote/index.html

The Veterans Dog Training Therapy Act

Videos Posted by P.O.T.U.S. (Sirius/XM): May 6, 2011 3:24pm: "The Veterans Dog Training Therapy Act"

An example of bipartisan legislation. As Rep. Grimm said, "a win -win." Perhaps we should have a few dogs roaming the House and Senate chambers, eh?

(Smart ass comments in 3-2-1....)