Benghazi back at ya, pal
by Tom Sullivan
So now the Hillary Clinton campaign gets to shout Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi. TBogg:
If the GOP planned on making Beghazi [sic] one of the centerpieces of their eventual nominee’s campaign, they might want to shred those attack ad storyboards and think again after Hillary Clinton struck first with a devastating ad featuring House Speaker front runner Kevin McCarthy shooting his mouth off.
In a brilliant preemptive strike, Clinton released the ad, called “Admit,” excerpting comments by McCarthy fessing up that the latest GOP-led Benghazi investigative committee was designed to harm her presidential chances.
But wait! There's more. Politico:
Meanwhile, Democrats on Capitol Hill unveiled a new, aggressive strategy: They plan to release the panel’s transcripts of testimony from Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s chief of staff at State, who defended her former boss behind closed doors. After going along with the GOP’s secrecy rules for months, Democrats on the Benghazi will play hardball by releasing the private testimony to combat Republican “mischaracterizations.”
Panel Democrats have consistently said the GOP selectively leaks information, if not distorts it, in an effort to make Clinton look bad. Just recently, GOP sources said that Mills had confirmed in closed-door testimony that she suggested changes to an independent review of the Benghazi attacks before it was published by a government review board.
That's because investigators asking government agencies under review to provide comments on reports prior to release is a routine procedure to ensure accuracy. Explaining that on Fox News doesn't sell erectile dysfunction medicine. But "coverup"? Coverup attracts eyeballs.
Pissed off about the leaks, five Democrats led by Rep. Elijah Cummings sent a letter to Republican committee chair Trey Gowdy announcing their plan, saying, “It has become obvious that the only way to adequately correct the public record is to release the complete transcript.”
One can only hope the timing of the letter and the Clinton ad release was anything but coincidental. It's nice to see Democrats and the normally über-cautious Clinton taking the gloves off. It may be 2015, not 2016, but still. It's October. Surprise.