Jumbled

Adele Stan seems spot-on when she writes, "To be sure, there were real problems in the State Department’s operation of the Benghazi consulate. Why, indeed, was it left so unprotected? But these were not the questions Republican committee members sought to answer; the truth of mere human failings would do little to advance the massive conspiracy theory that right-wing Republicans have been selling about the Clintons since before the current candidate’s husband took office in 1992.

"That conspiracy theory is a jumble of dark, murderous inferences against the Democratic power couple, all ginned up to suggest that the Clintons’ ultimate aim is to destroy America. In the latest iteration of the grand conspiracy theory, right-wingers hope to convince the public that Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration deliberately left the consulate unprotected for the express purpose of letting Americans die at the hands of Islamic extremist terrorists."

This last does seem to be a large portion of what House GOP interrogators investigators are staking out as reality - the Secretary of State & her minions  (specifically Sidney Blumenthal who, the story goes, sought to benefit from potential turmoil) wanted an attack to happen, sought the deaths of Americans at the hands of terrorists.

This is the clear message that's been trumpeted from the right since the tragedy happened - they let it happen!  But then they trump that strong message with an even more strident one - Secretary Clinton hid the fact it was a terrorist attack in order to get President Obama reelected because people voted for him on the premise we'd defeated Al Queda.

Actually, people voted more against Mitt Romney than for Barack Obama.  Only the most deluded thought we'd defeated or even effectively contained Al Queda & claims of such sweeping deluded accomplishments are more likely to flow from the GOP than from the more measured Dems.

But here's the jumbled GOP rational for the House Select Committee on Benghazi - they've wanted, from Day One, to show that Secretary Clinton intentionally left the consulate with insufficient protection in order to induce an attack that would kill Americans serving their nation's interests abroad & they've wanted to show that Secretary Clinton, having intentionally drawn the fire that killed Ambassador Stevens & three other Americans, would then claim it was not a terrorist attack but the result of anger over an insulting video.  

Sheez, and we used to think Hillary Rodham Clinton was a smart woman.  What sort of idiot would create a situation & then deny it?  The arguments make sense only to those who passionately detest HRC, who have loathed her from the moment she came on the national political scene.  They don't need pesky facts to let them know she is bad news & needs to pay for all the misdeeds we don't know about but are certain she did.  To many, maybe most, on the right, she's a man eater who played her husband, destroyed Vince Foster, conspired with Sidney Blumenthal to bring the wrath of terrorists down upon innocent Americans. 

Hillary's appearance this past week before the House Select Committee on Benghazi & the coverage it received in the media made at least one thing clear - the issue isn't Benghazi, it isn't even Secretary Clinton.  It's that the real heart of GOP distress is Sidney Blumenthal, a development I didn't see coming but a terrific example of just how jumbled this whole mess has always been.