THE HOUSE BENGHAZI COMMITTEE GRILLED HILLARY CLINTON
YESTERDAY FOR OVER EIGHT HOURS, DURING WHICH THEY ASKED HER MORE
THAN 300 QUESTIONS.
I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW THAT IS POSSIBLE, BUT
THEY FIT IT IN AN EIGHT HOURS.
BUT DESPITE THE EIGHT HOURS,
DESPITE THE 300 QUESTIONS, AFTERWARD WHEN THE LEADER OF THE
COMMITTEE, TREY GOWDY, WAS ASKED WHAT NEW INFORMATION DID YOU GET
OUT OF ALL OF THIS, ALL OF THIS TROUBLE, ALL OF HIS EXPENSE, HE
WAS DAMN NEAR SPEECHLESS.
LET'S SEE HIM TELL IT.
WHAT ARE SOME NEW THINGS YOU LEARNED TODAY?
UH -- I THINK SOME OF JIMMY JORDAN'S QUESTIONING -- WHEN YOU
SAY NEW TODAY, WE KNEW SOME OF THAT ALREADY.
WE KNEW ABOUT THE
EMAILS.
IN TERMS OF HER TESTIMONY?
I DON'T KNOW THAT SHE
TESTIFIED THAT MUCH DIFFERENTLY TODAY THAN SHE HAS PREVIOUSLY.
NOTHING.
SOME OF JIMMY JORDAN'S THINGS,
MAYBE --
I THOUGHT ABOUT GIVING A SANDWICH AT JIMMY JOHNSON'S,
BUT I AM NOT REALLY SURE.
WENT TO THE GYM FOR A BIT.
THEY ASKED HIM IF THE HEARINGS HAD BEEN A WASTE, AND HE SAID, I
WILL HAVE TO GET BACK TO YOU ON THAT.
THAT IS WHAT HE SAID, IS
QUOTE, I WOULD HAVE TO LOOK AT THE OTHER TRANSCRIPTS TO SEE
WHETHER SHE SAID ANYTHING DIFFERENT OR NOT.
YOU JUST WENT
THROUGH 11 HOURS OF TESTIMONY, NOBODY CAN ACCUSE YOU OF NOT
ASKING HILLARY ENOUGH QUESTIONS, 300 QUESTIONS, RIGHT?
SOMETIMES
POLITICIANS DO PLAY TRICKS AND TRY TO DRAG THINGS ON, AND THEY
BLOCK TESTIFYING, THEN THEY WILL TURN AROUND AND GO, YOU TOOK TOO
LONG.
BECAUSE YOU WERE THE ONE BLOCKING IT.
IN THIS CASE, HOW
MANY TIMES HAS HE TESTIFIED?
YOU CAN'T SAY 300 QUESTIONS IS NOT
ENOUGH.
AND HE SAYS, I WANT TO GO TO JIMMY JOHNSON'S OVER THERE
AND FIND OUT IF JIMMY JORDAN ASKED ANY GOOD QUESTIONS.
HAVE SOME CHIMICHANGAS.
JIMMY BOB HAS A NICE CAR AND I WAS THERE AND THEY GOT A NICE
SPECIAL WITH PEYTON MANNING SO I DON'T KNOW.
IT IS FUNNY BECAUSE OF THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF THE
BENGHAZI COMMITTEE.
THE FACT THEY COULDN'T SEE IT COMING,
STARTING THIS WEEK.
THE INTENDED CONSEQUENCE WAS TO KNOCK DOWN
HILLARY CLINTON'S POLL NUMBERS, BUT THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
WAS THAT IT TOTALLY KNOCKED UP HER POLL NUMBERS.
NO DOUBT IN MY
MIND SHE GOT TO LOOK PRESIDENTIAL, SHE LOOKED LIKE
THE VICTIM, IT MADE THEM LOOK PARTISAN, LIKE THEY ARE PLAYING
POLITICS WITH NATIONAL SECURITY, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE
DOING.
AND IT WAS GOOD ALSO THAT THE DEMOCRATS STAYED ON THE
PANEL, BECAUSE THEY GOT TO SAY THINGS THAT GOT APPLAUSE IN THE
ROOM.
SO IT IS LIKE THEY ARE LAUGHING AT THE COMMITTEE, THEY
ARE LAUGHING TO THEIR FACE, THEY ARE PLOTTING RIGHT IN THEIR
FACE, HOW MUCH BULLSHIT -- WHEN ELIJAH CUMMINGS SAYS WE ARE A
BETTER COUNTRY THAN THIS EVERYBODY APPLAUDED -- SO I
THINK THEY COULDN'T HAVE HANDLED IT BETTER.
THE BEST THING THE
DEMOCRATS HAVE GOING FOR THEM IS THAT THEIR OPPONENTS AND
REPUBLICANS, AND THEY PROVE IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
THEY DO THIS TO
BILL CLINTON, IRONICALLY, AND HIS POLL NUMBERS WENT THROUGH THE
ROOF AND THE CONGRESS'S WENT DOWN.
THEY KNEW IT WOULD HAPPEN
AND THEY DID IT ANYWAY.
THEY KNEW HILLARY CLINTON WOULD COME
OUT ON TOP FROM THIS AND THEY WOULD LOOK BAD, AND THEY DID IT
ANYWAY BECAUSE THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THEIR BASE.
EVERY ONE OF
THOSE CONGRESSMEN WAS TRYING TO GET A CLIP HE COULD SHOW IN A
COMMERCIAL TO HIS BASE, LOOK HOW I BEAT UP ON HILLARY CLINTON.
THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT THE MAJORITY OF REPUBLICANS
EVEN, DON'T CARE ABOUT THE MAJORITY OF THE COUNTRY,
ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS THAT, AND THAT WAS ON FULL DISPLAY.
BIG WIN FOR HILLARY CLINTON.
100% RIGHT.
THEY HAVE GERRYMANDERED DISTRICTS ANYWAY, THEY ARE IN
PERFECTLY SAFE DISTRICTS SO THEY DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT
APPEALING TO ANYONE IN THE MIDDLE, AND THEY ARE TRYING TO
GET KUDOS FROM PEOPLE LIKE RUSH LIMBAUGH AND SEAN HANNITY.
BECAUSE IF YOU GO SOFT ON HILLARY, THOSE GUYS WILL RIP YOU
APART.
SEE, THESE MODERATE REPUBLICANS.
WHAT DID THEY DO,
THEY THREW NOTHING BUT SOFTBALLS AT HILLARY.
THAT IS WHY YOU
GET THE POLITICAL SPECTACLE WE SAW.
THE ONE THING I WILL
DISAGREE WITH IS THAT WHEN ELIJAH CUMMINGS SAID I DON'T
KNOW WHAT WE WANT FROM YOU, WE ARE BETTER THAN THAT?
NO YOU
ARE NOT.
MY WHOLE LIFETIME, BOTH SIDES HAVE PLAYED POLITICS.
I AM
NOT SAYING BOTH SIDES DO IT AND THEY ARE EQUAL IN THAT SENSE,
YEAH, YOU GUYS ARE A BUNCH OF POLITICIANS, YOU DO THESE
COMMITTEE HEARINGS, YOU MUG FOR THE CAMERAS.
YOU ARE NOT BETTER THAN THAT AT ALL, I HAVE SEEN THIS MY
WHOLE LIFE.
I WILL DISAGREE WITH YOU ON THAT BECAUSE SPECIFICALLY
WHAT HE WAS SPEAKING TO, I THINK, IS THAT THE WAY WE HAVE
HANDLED THIS STUFF BEFORE.
LIKE WHEN IT HAPPENED IN BEIRUT AND
THEY BOMBED AND KILLED 200 MARINES -- WHAT WE DID IS WE HAD
A VERY BIPARTISAN INVESTIGATION THAT WAS ABOUT THE
INVESTIGATION.
SAME THING WITH ALL THE SUBSEQUENT BOMBINGS THAT
HAVE HAPPENED, THEY HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SOMEHOW HAVE
INVESTIGATIONS -- IN FACT IT WAS THE BEIRUT BOMBING WHICH SET UP
THE PANEL THAT THE STATE DEPARTMENT HAS TO NOW APPOINT AN
INDEPENDENT PANEL EVERY TIME THERE IS SOMEONE KILLED
OVERSEAS, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT SHE DID, AND SHE GOT A
COMPLETELY BIPARTISAN, CAREER DIPLOMATS EVERYBODY RESPECTS AND
NOBODY THINKS ARE HACKS, SHE DID THAT.
SO NOW THIS THE FIRST TIME
IN MODERN HISTORY THEY ARE POLITICIZING DEATHS OVERSEAS IN
THIS WAY.
BEFORE, WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO SOMEHOW MANAGE TO HAVE
NONPARTISAN INVESTIGATIONS EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE TOUGH.
THEY
WERE NONPARTISAN.
BUT NOW THEY FLIPPED IT ON ITS HEAD, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO
WITH FACT-FINDING, IT HAS ALL TO DO WITH PARTISANSHIP.
THAT IS WHAT I THINK YOU MEANT BY THAT.
SURE WE ALL PLAY POLITICS, BUT WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO PLAY
POLITICS WITH THIS.
I THINK THAT IS WHAT HE MEANT, AND HE MEANT THAT WE ARE A
BETTER COUNTRY THAN THIS.
AND WE ARE A BETTER COUNTRY THAN WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW
IN CONGRESS.
TINY DISAGREEMENT WITH YOU.
ALL THOSE FACTS ARE RIGHT, BUT
LOOK HOW FAR BACK YOU HAD TO GO, TO BEIRUT.
THOSE ARE THE OLD
DAYS.
IN THE OLD DAYS THEY DID NOT PLAY POLITICS WITH FOREIGN
POLICY GENERALLY SPEAKING.
EVEN THOUGH THAT IS NOT ENTIRELY
TRUE, IF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT A COMMITTEE HEARING, ROUGHLY TRUE.
IF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT REAGAN TALKING TO THE IRANIANS BEFORE
THE ELECTION ABOUT HOSTAGES, NOT SO TRUE.
BUT LATELY IN THE LAST
20 YEARS, THEY POLITICIZE EVERYTHING.
LOOK AT WHAT THEY
DID TO -- I KNOW IT WAS NOT TECHNICALLY FOREIGN POLICY,
WHITEWATER.
CLINTON HEARINGS.
WHITEWATER TURNED OUT TO BE
NOTHING, IT TURNED OUT THEY DID NOT DO A SINGLE THING WRONG,
REPUBLICANS NEVER PROVED ONE IOTA OF IMPROPRIETY, BUT THEY
DRUMMED UP COMMITTEE HEARING AFTER COMMITTEE HEARING UNTIL
AHA, WE GOT YOU ON SEX.
THEY HAVE DONE HILLARY A GREAT SERVICE BECAUSE ALL SHE
HAD TO DO IS SIT THERE AND BREATHE, STAY CALM, AND SHE
MANAGED TO DO IT.
SHE ANSWERED CALMLY AND CLEANLY, THEY NEVER
BROKE HER.
THEY DID HER A GREAT SERVICE BECAUSE NOW YOU LOOK AT HER
IN THE CONTEXT OF THIS RACE AND YOU SEE MAYBE SHE CAN
HANDLE THE WHITE HOUSE.
AND MAYBE EVEN SOME CONSERVATIVES AGREE.
BYRON YORK,
ERICK ERICKSON, BOTH WRITING TODAY, OOPS.
WE KIND OF FLUBBED
THAT ONE.
SHE LOOKED FINE, IT LOOKS LIKE THERE IS NO EVIDENCE
OF WRONGDOING IN BENGHAZI.
I DON'T KNOW IF THEY WENT THAT
FAR, BUT THEY SAID POLITICALLY THIS WAS A BIT OF A DISASTER.
MY FINAL POINT, AS WE POINTED OUT YESTERDAY WITH AN AWESOME
CHART WHICH I DON'T THINK WE HAVE TODAY, TO PUT INTO
PERSPECTIVE THEIR PRIORITIES, THERE HAVE BEEN MORE TOTAL
INVESTIGATIONS INTO BENGHAZI, EIGHT OF THEM, THEN COMBINED THE
OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBINGS, THE EMBASSY BOMBING IN 1998, THE KHOBAR
TOWERS, THE USS YORK, THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING, AND THERE WERE
LIKE THREE MORE.
ALL OF THOSE OTHER ONES, WITH THOUSANDS AND
THOUSANDS OF DEAD, FOR SOME REASON THEY FELT AN EIGHTH
WAS NECESSARY WITH BENGHAZI.
GEORGE W. BUSH WAS MADE TO TESTIFY FOR ABOUT AN HOUR OFF-CAMERA ABOUT
9/11, AND WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO DIED
JUST ON THAT DAY ALONE, NOT TO MENTION THE WARS THAT CAME AFTER.
NOT AN ATTACK ON A CONSULATE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY IN AFRICA.
THIS WAS IN MANHATTAN, THE BIGGEST TERROR ATTACK, AND FOR
AN HOUR HE TESTIFIED ABOUT IT, AND NOT IN FRONT OF THE ENTIRE
COMMITTEE.
THIS IS NOT BROUGHT OUT BY THE PRESS, THIS IS WHY WE ARE
TALKING ABOUT IT.
WHILE HOLDING DICK CHENEY'S HAND.
THEY WENT IN THERE TOGETHER SO THEY COULD GET THEIR STORY STRAIGHT.
EVEN LET HIM SIT ON HIS LAP.