{"id":16834,"date":"2015-10-23T14:31:10","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T21:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=16834"},"modified":"2015-10-23T14:31:10","modified_gmt":"2015-10-23T21:31:10","slug":"fun-for-friday-the-benghazi-witch-hunt-in-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/23\/fun-for-friday-the-benghazi-witch-hunt-in-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun for Friday: The Benghazi Witch Hunt in Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let’s begin by stipulating that the words “Benghazi” <\/strong><\/em>and “fun” <\/strong><\/em>should probably not appear in the same sentence.  We lost four citizens who were devoted to public service, and they will be missed.  And there’s no doubt that sitting through the grueling 11 hours of GOP reps asking hard questions<\/s> attempting to destroy her was no fun for Hillary<\/strong>.  But she did a stellar job!<\/p>\n

So let’s begin our pictorial odyssey with a quiz:<\/p>\n

Based on the picture below of Chair Trey Gowdy (Chief Investi-Hater)<\/em><\/strong>, do you think he was covered in …<\/p>\n

\"Trey-Gowdy_Sweaty_02_CROP\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[1] Baby Oil<\/strong><\/p>\n

[2] Pam Spray<\/strong><\/p>\n

[3] Flop Sweat<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shot of the Rethuglicans on the committee<\/s> Witch Hunt<\/em><\/strong> warming up to do battle<\/p>\n

\"Benghazi_Witch-Hunt_GOP-Members_Wrestlers\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And when Rep. Roskam (R-IL) <\/strong>repeatedly and rudely commented that “I'm just giving you the courtesy of reading your notes” <\/strong><\/em>– Hillary, realizing she had nothing to hide, decided to return the favor and share her notes with him …<\/p>\n

\"Hillary-Clinton_Benghazi-Witch-Hunt_10_Finger\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hillary’s cool command of the facts – even when, as she noted, they didn’t fit the narrative the Repubes wanted, made me think she was channeling Pres. Obama<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Obama_Brush-Shoulder\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Hillary-Clinton_Benghazi-Witch-Hunt_06_Brush-Shoulder\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It wasn’t very long before this split-screen became a good summary of the difference on how it was going for the Rethuglicans and Hillary<\/p>\n

\"Hillary-Clinton_Benghazi-Witch-Hunt_07_Split_Trey-Gowdy\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was such an abysmal performance by Gowdy and his henchmen that, as the saying goes, every contest has a winner and a loser.  Take a guess who’s who from this post-hearing candid photo …<\/p>\n

\"Hillary-Clinton_Benghazi-Witch-Hunt_07_v_Trey-Gowdy-Sweaty\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The following headlines raise the only REAL lQUESTION<\/strong><\/em> eft …<\/p>\n

\"Benghazi_Witch-Hunt_Headline_06_Vox\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Will Hillary have to declare the $4.7 MILLION the republicans have wasted on this Witch Hunt as a Campaign Contribution?<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Let's enjoy a few more headlines …<\/p>\n

From TIME<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Benghazi_Witch-Hunt_Headline_02_Time\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Benghazi_Witch-Hunt_Headline_03_ABC\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Benghazi_Witch-Hunt_Headline_04_WaPo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Benghazi_Witch-Hunt_Headline_05_Slate\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For posterity, we’d be remiss without visiting what a few of the MSM pundits had to say about the day:<\/p>\n

\n

The pointless grilling of Mrs. Clinton<\/a>, who fielded a barrage of questions that have long been answered and settled, served only to embarrass the Republican lawmakers who have spent millions of dollars on a political crusade. In recent days, some prominent Republicans have even admitted as much.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/10\/23\/opinion\/hillary-clinton-and-the-benghazi-gang.html<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

With Gowdy’s committee under fire for its motives, he and the Republican majority appeared chastened during the hearing, mostly refraining from slamming Clinton. But after 11 hours, they appeared unable to point to specific gains from the day.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

http:\/\/time.com\/4084578\/benghazi-hearing-hillary-clinton-analysis\/<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

The “get Hillary” committee did not get Hillary.<\/p>\n

The House Benghazi<\/a> committee — dubbed a “get Hillary” effort by Democrats who opposed its creation — brought out precious little new information and no major political missteps by the former secretary of state, who happens to be running for president.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/analysis-benghazi-committee-hillary-clinton-presidential-platform\/story?id=34665750<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

The newslessness of the hearing was a triumph for Clinton. There was no negative sound bite from her. No acknowledgement of error. No moment of real weakness or confusion about the events that unfolded on Sept. 11-12, 2012.  The hearing was, in a word, boring. And that's exactly what Clinton wanted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/the-fix\/wp\/2015\/10\/22\/hillary-clinton-triumphed-at-the-benghazi-committee-by-not-losing-her-cool\/<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

When this began, conventional wisdom was that Hillary had to survive<\/em> the scrutiny. That at best, this would be a wash. Toward the end, however, that wisdom changed. “Unless something happens,” wrote<\/a> conservative columnist Matt Lewis on Twitter, “it’s starting to look like Hillary Clinton won’t merely survive this hearing—she will have come out on top.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/news_and_politics\/politics\/2015\/10\/hillary_clinton_won_the_benghazi_hearing.html<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Republicans will kick themselves for dragging Hillary Clinton before the House Benghazi committee Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

http:\/\/www.vox.com\/2015\/10\/22\/9600322\/hillary-clinton-benghazi-hearing<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n

So while Trey et al <\/strong><\/em>may still be screaming, “Benghazi!  BENGHAZI!!  BENGHAZI!!!<\/em><\/strong>” I think Hillary is saying …<\/p>\n

\"Hillary-Clinton_Benghazi-Witch-Hunt_08_Poster_Trey-Gowdy\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s begin by stipulating that the words “Benghazi” and “fun” should probably not appear in the same sentence.  We lost four citizens who were devoted to public service, and they will be missed.  And there’s no doubt that sitting through the grueling 11 hours of GOP reps asking hard questions attempting to destroy her was […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}