The Benghazi Committee’s Dead End

[savalez]

After running a congressional oversight committee like a Republican opposition research shop for more than two years, Representative Trey Gowdy appears to be gearing up for the finale. Democrats on the Select Committee on Benghazi expect that a final report will drop soon, just as Hillary Clinton appears poised to clinch the Democratic nomination.

If things had gone his way, Mr. Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, would have found a way to torpedo Mrs. Clinton’s presidential ambitions. After all, Republican lawmakers have admitted that this is precisely what they set out to do.

But things have not gone well for Mr. Gowdy, who has run the investigation with the dexterity and grace of a blindfolded toddler swinging at a piñata. Having pored over reams of documents, grilled Mrs. Clinton in an 11-hour session in October and hauled in more than 100 people for interviews, the Republicans seem to have come up with nothing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/04/opinion/the-benghazi-committees-dead-end.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&_r=0

[Walk away]

1. It's going to kill him when Hillary is sworn into office and we take back the Senate!

That is going to be the first of his very dark days.

[PJMcK]

2. Congressman Gowdy is somewhat enigmatic

Representative Trey Gowdy's oversight of the Congressional select committee has been expensive, futile and wasteful. It has represented one of the most blatant examples of naked partisanship in our country's history; members of the GOP have publicly stated that the committee's main raison d'être has been to damage Secretary Clinton's reputation and presidential campaign. It's been slightly satisfying that Mr. Gowdy and his cohorts have been slapped down at every turn.

Yet here's the puzzling thing: How could Mr. Gowdy let himself get sucked into this empty rabbit hole? Consider that he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Baylor University where he was a member of Kappa Omega Tau, a fraternity that actually does a lot of public service. He then went on to the University of South Carolina where he earned his J.D. law degree. He clerked for a judge on the South Carolina Court of Appeals and then for a US District Court judge. Following private practice, he was named a Federal prosecutor. And before he was elected to Congress, he was the US 7th Circuit Solicitor. I've outlined his history because these accomplishments are significant and required tremendous work and intellectual effort.

So, if he's smart enough to build that professional experience, how could he be so dumb to think that he could lead an investigation into the 2012 Benghazi attacks and discover a smoking gun against Secretary Clinton when numerous previous investigations had failed to do so? His activities have been nothing but foolish and he's let himself look like a dolt.

His abuse of the taxpayers' money and waste of time and productivity have been unconscionable. He's conducted himself in questionable, self-defeating and silly ways that will follow him for years. And when his committee releases their report, probably in the month before the election, it'll most likely be a partisan screed that will drop like a lead balloon. What could he have thought he would accomplish?

[eastwestdem]

3. Those repubs have worked for decades to prevent Hillary from becoming president.

Kind of makes it sweeter, doesn't it?!

[puffy socks]

4. Yes it does! nt

[2naSalit]

5. Isn't his

two year term almost over too?

[Cha]

6. So sad for the BS & DT fans..

Gracias, savalez!

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