Yesterday was a two-pronged Hillary Clinton day. First we have the highly anticipated new Benghazi investigation that was called for by Speaker John Boehner. Rep. Gowdy now proclaims that it could continue well into 2016.
Of course it would:
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said the special committee he'll lead on Benghazi could continue into the 2016 campaign, when Hillary Clinton might be running for the White House.
Asked about that possibility Wednesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Gowdy said the length of his work would depend on the administration’s level of cooperation.
“It would be shame on us if we intentionally dragged this out for political expediency,” said Gowdy, the special committee's chairman. “On the other hand, if an administration is slow-walking document production, I can’t end a trial simply because the defense won’t cooperate.”
Gowdy said a memo that came to light last week, in which deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes set out “goals” for the administration’s response, but which was not turned over by the administration earlier, was evidence of a cover-up.
Gowdy, for a second day in a row, rejected a Democratic proposal for the new select committee investigating the Benghazi attack to be evenly split between the parties.House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has called for the panel to be evenly split, but Republicans have set it at seven GOP members to five Democrats.
“As the president loves to say, ‘Elections have consequences,’ and one of the consequences would be that there are more Republicans in the House than Democrats,” Gowdy said.
Why would Republicans want to appear even-handed or fair about their pet Benghazi? They haven't done so yet. But the idea that they could continue this farce into 2016 exposes them for what this is all about. They don't care about the four men that died as a result of the attack. They just want to smear Hillary Clinton for 2016.
And secondly, there was a Monica Lewinsky sighting:
She said her radio silence was so complete for nearly a decade that rumors swirled that the Clintons must have paid her off to keep her quiet. "Nothing could be further from the truth," she insisted.--
News of the Lewinsky affair broke in 1998 and became an all-consuming scandal that nearly crashed the Clinton presidency. He was impeached by the House of Representatives that December but was acquitted by the Senate.
"Sure, my boss took advantage of me, but I will always remain firm on this point: it was a consensual relationship," she wrote. "Any 'abuse' came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position," she added.
Lewinsky's essay spurred on famous Beltway Villager Ruth Marcus to comically write:
Monica Lewinsky does Hillary Clinton a big favor
The Lewinsky affair never really came up in 2008; the subject was too raw and too fraught, and Clinton did not make it to the ugliness of a general election campaign.
After ten years, how could it be too raw and too fraught? It didn't come up, Ruth, because Hillary did not become the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee. Lynn Cheney had a nice conspiracy theory all lined up for Monica. Everything will be on the table in 2016 if Hillary does run.
My big question is who are the Republicans going to say Hillary murdered in the Benghazi coverup? Remember Vince Foster?
