So it’s Wednesday and I’ve just been watching a bit of Hillary Clinton’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Benghazi matter, Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi OUTRAGE!!! … and I have to say I’ve concluded that Republicans are just insane.
If you immerse yourself in the whole right-wing universe you know that they’ve been making a huge deal out of the embassy attacks in Benghazi Libya, which killed four Americans including the ambassador because the Obama administratino initially said the attacks happened because of that stupid anti-Islam video and that turned out not to be the case, and so immediately the GOP started baying COVERUP and OUTRAGE and what did Hillary know and when did she know it…
And all along I’ve been thinking – what’s the point of this? Where’s the “there” there?
For whatever reason, crazed muderers in the mideast attacked our embassy and killed people. Whatever the reason they are angry with Americans and their hatred boiled over and whether it was “terrorists” or it was anger over the video or it was something else, how is this material? Four people are dead; how does any of this keep other Americans in the mideast alive?
What is the point?
Well, the point all along has been OUTRAGE, it’s been political, it’s to show that Obama’s been lying and the upshot of this is… what? That there are terrorists in the mideast or people we haven’t yet classified as terrorists but hate America enough to kill Americans? Yes – we know this.
So what’s the plan, Republicans – are we going to get out of the Mideast because of this? Because I’m all for that; a decade after we invaded Iraq, people in the mideast still hate us and who knew? Who knew this would happen – except every sentinent being on the planet.
(Indeed, Sen. Menendez of New Jersey just body-slammed Rand Paul forsaying Benghazi was the worst tragedy since 9/11: “When we lost 4K American lives in Iraq, that was truly a tragedy.” But Iraq doesn’t count – for some strange GOP reason.)
But no, that’s not the GOP’s point. The GOP’s point seems to be TERRORISTS! See, because if the Benghazi attack was the work of terrorists, it proves there are still terrorists in the mideast – who knew! – and that’s a rationale for even greater involvement in Libya, in Iran, wherever there might be terrorists, we need to be there!
Is that what they’re getting at?
Dude, I suspect even most Republicans don’t know. All they know is they THINK they smell blood in the water and it’s touched off this frenzy, but to the vast majority of Americans, none of it makes any sense. They think – homicidal Libyans killed four Americans for whatever reason, why are we there again? What is it exactly that we’re doing in the Mideast these days?
Hell, even the Democrats can’t answer that one, or at least wouldn’t give an honest answer (an honest answer would be: The prize. Oil.). So all this amounts to fiddling while Rome – or at least Benghazi – burns.
