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