The eleven-hour Benghazi! marathon revealed that the wingnuts have a weird obsession about Sydney Blumenthal:
Time and time again, Republicans returned to Hillary Clinton’s relationship with Blumenthal, who has never been in Libya nor served in Clinton’s Department of State. On numerous times they brought up the emails that he sent her, the influence of his advice, where his missives were passed along and whether his communications were truly unsolicited.
Their justification for their focus on a side character in Clinton’s universe seemed Clinton emailed Blumenthal — a personal friend of the Clintons– more than she did Ambassador Christopher Stevens, one of the four Americans killed in the attack. The name Sidney Blumenthal has become something of a dog whistle in right-wing circles — for Clinton cronyism, rank politicization, and self-dealing — but it remained unclear after hours of testimony how his emails further implicated Clinton in the Benghazi tragedy.
Blumenthal sent HRC lots of witty and snarky emails about stuff going on in politics and international affairs. It appears to be mostly gossip. Blumenthal is a long-time friend of the Clintons going back to their Arkansas days. Clearly, anybody with such a long association with the Clintons must be the boogyman. As near as I can tell, the entire eleven hours was a probe into why HRC got so many emails from Blumenthal and none from the late Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. (Um, because ambassadors don’t contact the State Department via email?)
See also:
On the Frenzy Over Sidney Blumenthal by James Fallows and (from last May) The Fake Clinton Scandals Are Back by Joe Conason.
Charles Pierce explains it all:
Did she hand them their own asses? Of course she did. She was cool and she was poised and, by the end of the day, she was even out-arguing them about the role of the video in the attacks across the Muslim world, which was the ur-point of this fiasco in the first place.
This whole thing started because of a ginned-up controversy about what Susan Rice had said about the attacks on​ Meet The Press in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. (Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio is still howling about this.) Responding to a question from Cummings, HRC actually got to explain that the video at least was partly responsible for the rage that broke out from Indonesia to Tunisia. That, alas, was beside the point. So also was Congressman Adam Schiff’s boot in the ass in which he pretty much demonstrated that Blumenthal’s appearance before this committee—the transcript of which Gowdy refuses to release—​was a fishing expedition after material about the Clintons that could be used for future ratfcking purposes.And not even Hillary Rodham Clinton’s ability to stand up against the gales of innuendo and fakery will make it less so.​
This was a performance piece for the people residing within the conservative media bubble—​who already are hip to the lies of the lamestream media, and who already are too smart to be fooled by the Hildebeast and her alleged facts because Mark Levin has told them that they are too smart to be so fooled, and who watch their favorite TV news stars every night, where there is always Another Question, or Another E-Mail, or, for all I know, Another Witness who saw the ghost of Vince Foster wandering through the Mena Airport with Kathleen Willey’s cat in his mouth. The people out in the world are one problem, but now they’re pretty plainly electing each other to the national legislature. That makes it our problem.
“Clearly, anybody with such a long association with the Clintons must be the boogyman”
Plus he has a really jewwy name! Best I can tell the only purpose in bringing up Sid is that it may drive a wedge between Hillary and some Obama supporters? Apparently Obama is no fan of Blumenthal, who knows that seems a little inside baseball to me. I really think the only thing the hearing accomplished was to further demonstrate the udder incompetence of the Congressional republicans, as if the last couple years left any doubt?
I went on Amazon to see about ordering a bunch of Sidney Blumenthal’s books, just because, but they are all about how super-creepy the Right is, information I already know and prefer not to wallow in. The first volume of his Lincoln biography doesn’t come out until May 2016. (Maybe I’ll pre-order. So stuff it anyway, Boy Howdy and the Benghazis!)
Also, Amazon has an intriguing audio thing called “This Town,” written by Blumenthal and narrated in part by Gates McFadden. Doctor Beverly Crusher! Now there’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time.
Gowdy is going to be holding on to the Blumenthal transcripts like his political life depends on it. The minute he exposes them will be the minute his shifty Jew conspiracy will evaporate. Move over Dreyfus.
Our conservatives are afraid of everything from Libtards, gays, non-Christians, and immigrants, to vampires, werewolves, and witches.
The lone exception, is zombies.
Zombies move in packs and are hungry for brains, so the Reich-wingers know that they’d be perfectly safe if they try to take over the planet.
The only difference between a conservative and a zombie is that the conservative hasn’t died yet – only their brain died. If the ever even had one to begin with.
I seem to be hitting the jackpot with double postings..Can anybody suggest where I would look to find the cause for this irritating phenomenon..Is it in my browser or in windows? I gotta admit..I do find a bit of narcissistic pleasure in posting comments..but double posting is taking it a bit too far…I don’t want to be perceived as a Ted Cruz type of guy who pushes their presence on everybody around them.
Joan.. If you really want to get a comprehensive biography on Lincoln I think Bill O’Reilly has done a master work on Lincoln’s biography. He’s the one I’d go to get an accurate history.
“I don’t want to be perceived as a Ted Cruz type of guy who pushes their presence on everybody around them”
Too late hahahaha…………..The double post does sort negate the snark value though! I have no idea about double posts, most of my word turds get stuck in maha’s twit filter for an hour or so, maybe she deletes the double post?
I was impressed by Hillary’s sheer stamina. Read that she has a personal trainer who visits 3x a week, and does yoga on the weekends. Would really like to know what her regimen is.
The wingnuts are pinning their hopes on an FBI investigation into the emails, which they are certain will kill the witch, burying her so deep…
The repeated inquiries into a tragedy, which repeatedly turn up nothing of significance, is working against the GOP. Even some republican voters who hate HRC must be in the 75% who agree the inquiry is politically motivated.
The strategy of the GOP is increasingly invested in getting voters to vote AGAINST Hillary, rather than FOR any of the pathetic republican candidates polling in double digits. The margin of victory they are depending on, is not support or affection the GOP nominee, but loathing of the democrat.
If the strategy of vilification fails to get traction (and HRC seems to have put on a golden performance this week) then hopes for a GOP in the Oval Office are doomed. They have nothing to offer with the front-running candidates.
As an oracle of the obvious, “Il y a quelque chose qui cloche.” (channeling Poirot)
One of the defining characteristics of totalitarianism is that the government can function as an arm of the political party in power. The Benghazi investigation has been a particularly egregious example, one that is difficult to disregard. Here, taxpayer’s money and the efforts of elected officials is being used in a blatant attempt for political gain, merely part of a political campaign. That’s “small government” for you.
I need to brush up on the far less passionate investigation of the original 9/11 and the kid gloves treatment of Condoleeza Rice. It’s quite a glaring contrast.
Alas, sometimes I still hope for some of my “conservative” friends to come to their senses, but, the hope is only part of the illusion that I maintain for the purpose of sanity.
Maybe Hillary hangs out with Oprah and Deepak Chopra. Whatever she is doing to stay in shape is working. However, I wouldn’t rule out that she had a little help with some Valium for that 11 hours. It was grueling. Kudos to her if she can upset the GOP’s plan to discredit her. Says something for strategy. Maybe she read The Art of War.
Serious question. Was HRC under oath for this appearance?