Watching Republicans in the House of Representatives misuse Congressional hearings in their partisan campaign to attack former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ahead of the 2016 presidential campaign, it looks as though Republicans believe that happy days are here again. What is equally shameful is that many in the major media give credibility to this circus, as they did when House Republicans launched similar attacks against President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton in the 1990s.
Benghazi was a tragedy. Hillary Clinton has long ago accepted her share of responsibility for the time she was Secretary of State. Give her credit. How many people in Washington ever take responsibility for anything? But this is not what the House hearings chaired by the hyper-partisan Rep. Darrell Issa are all about. No, the House hearings are about attacking President Obama ahead of the 2014 elections and even more, attacking Hillary Clinton ahead of the 2016 elections.
As the ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) has eloquently and correctly stated, committee Democrats were not provided required information about witnesses and testimony.
What is most troubling, though not surprising, is how many in the major media have legitimized these crass and partisan Republican attacks and the manner they are being carried out in hearings that are organized so unfairly they resemble the proceedings of a one-party Republican state. Reports have aired on network and cable television that do not point out the abuse of process by Chairman Issa and committee Republicans, do not point out that these same Republicans fought aggressively to cut embassy security spending before Benghazi,and do not distinguish between criticism that is appropriate and partisan charges that are slanderous.
Far too often both cable and network news treat this matter as a sensationalist circus where partisan accusations drown out the serious discussion it deserves. In a recent column in The Hill, I pointed out the unfairness and distortion of a process that has been poisoned by the kind of partisan politics that is reminiscent of the attacks against the Clintons by House Republicans in the 1990s, which resulted in a bogus and illegitimate impeachment proceeding that were nothing more than an attempted constitutional coup d'etat against President Clinton.
Hillary Clinton will soar above the crass partisanship at work here. Shame on those in the media who once again sink into the morass of the slime.