Boehner, McConnell and, with them, the Republican-dominated Congress, slinked out of town Friday for another epic paid vacation... instead of dealing with raising the minimum wage, crumbling U.S. infrastructure, student-loan reform and other matters the American public-- overwhelmingly-- wants dealt with (or even what Fox and Hate Talk Radio consumers want them to deal with). Instead they quietly-- quietly as possible-- released the big Benghazi report from the Republican-controlled Intelligence Committee.As Rachel explains in the clip up top, it was a Friday news dump just before the Thanksgiving holiday when the fewest people possible would be likely to hear about it. After all, two years of smearing Obama, Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and the Democratic Party with unfounded lies about a Benghazi conspiracy that the Republican base completely embraced, had come to naught. Could be a big letdown in Limbaughland or for the zombies who get all their information from Fox "News." But even the Republican Party newspaper of record, the Wall Street Journal, was forced, grudgingly, to acknowledge the report.
A House report on the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, concludes that the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. military responded properly and that Obama administration “talking points” were flawed, but didn’t find that administration officials attempted to mislead the public.The two-year-long investigation by the Republican-led House intelligence committee is the latest congressional probe to examine the attacks, and its conclusions deflate allegations suggesting misconduct by the Obama administration. Among other findings, the report concluded that a CIA response team hadn’t been ordered to “stand down” after an assault began on the U.S. compound, and didn’t delay a rescue operation.The report also said there had been no intelligence failure prior to the attacks, and that intelligence on those who participated in the attacks “was and remains conflicting” concerning their identities, affiliations and motivations.The panel said the CIA received all U.S. military support available at the time in the region, and said the military didn’t miss a chance to perform a rescue operation.
Not that this is going to shut the Republicans up-- not by a long shot. When have facts ever mattered on the right? That's why Boehner appointed South Carolina pinhead Trey Gowdey and his completely politicized Select Committee on Benghazi (which features raving extremisst and ridiculous GOP apparatchiks like Martha Roby (R-AL), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), and Mike Pompeo (R-KS), the last two of whom are-- like kooks Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Peter King (R-NY)-- also members of the Intelligence Committee. The Republican Party and its affiliates have figured out how to turn Benghazi into a cash cow for themselves. They're not going to let some dinky report from some committee spoil that any time soon. Clowns like Darrell Issa, Louie Gohmert, Steve King, John Mica have too much riding on it. So does Fox News, which called Benghazi an inside job and made it the theme of their "news" programming for two full years. Back to the Journal for a minute:
The report by the House intelligence panel is unlikely to be the last word on the furor over Benghazi. A separate investigation by a House select committee is under way and members said Friday they have reviewed the House intelligence report.The issue is certain to be raised in the 2016 presidential race if Democrat Hillary Clinton , the secretary of state in 2012, decides to run. GOP attacks over Benghazi have focused on Mrs. Clinton, as well as on Susan Rice , then the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and now the White House national security adviser.
Alan Grayson, in September 2013, at a meeting of the House Foreign Relations Committee, called Benghazi, "the scandal that never was." Since then the Republicans have wasted tens of millions of dollars on it-- something they don't regret, since the cost to the taxpayer was dwarfed by the amount of money the GOP and its allies raised by shrieking "Benghazi," meaningfully. Don't expect that to stop, after this report they worked so hard to bury in obscurity. Fox's coverage of the report was, predictably, a joke. If they had even a shred of concern for the country, the GOP leaders in the House, would have announced they were disbanding the Trey Gowdy clown show immediately. They haven't. That's an integral part of their 2016 anti-Hillary Clinton campaign strategy.
