Reality Check For Rand Paul on Hillary and Benghazi

     No doubt you have some jubilant Republicans right now. No, they haven't passed any legislation-as if they have any interest in this. However, they have gotten real issues like jobs, the economy, immigration, and gun control off the front pages so that we can all be treated to wall to wall Scandal O'Rama.

     It's not like the Republicans are trying to use this for political gain-perish the thought. This is all about just getting at the truth-right? Oh wait.

     "In case you needed any proof that Republicans are getting ready to push the Benghazi controversy all the way to the 2016 presidential elections, Sen. Rand Paul was happy to oblige. And what better place to do so than in Iowa, where presidential dreams are born? Speaking at the Iowa GOP’s annual Lincoln Dinner, the Kentucky senator wasn’t shy about ripping into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and how she handled the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. "First question to Hillary Clinton: Where in the hell were the Marines?” Paul asked, according to NBC News. "It was inexcusable, it was a dereliction of duty, and it should preclude her from holding higher office." Criticizing Clinton gave Paul his biggest applause of the night."

     "Paul also wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Times:

The evidence we had in January already suggested that Mrs. Clinton ignored repeated requests for more security in Benghazi. The new evidence we have today—and that continues to mount—suggests that at the very least, Mrs. Clinton should never hold high office again.

     "Democrats continue to insist that after nine congressional hearings and an independent inquiry, there isn’t much more to say about Benghazi. “But Friday turned up the sort of nuggets that feed conservative activists' belief that a major scandal may be at hand,” notes the Associated Press. A group of e-mails disclosed Friday showed the White House was more involved in editing the talking points about the attack on the embassy than they had acknowledged previously."

                http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/05/11/rand_paul_says_hillary_clinton_should_not_hold_higher_office_after_benghazi.html

      "This is no little thing,” McConnell told Breitbart News on Monday. “This is a big thing. The good news about it is they finally got caught. They finally messed with an agency everybody fully understands. When they try to quiet the critics through other agencies, it doesn’t get attention. This does. Everybody understands the IRS and how powerful they are. This is just one example of an administration-wide effort to silence critics.”    

      http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2013/05/greg-asks-some-questions-regarding-irs.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DiaryOfARepublicanHater+%28Diary+of+a+Republican+Hater%29

      Actually it is debatable just how "big a thing" this really is. What's clear is that the IRS did see a ramp up of close to 100% in applications for 501(c)(4) tax exempt status and a lot of this came from new Tea Party groups. As the commentator Greg pointed out, it's not even a question of them being denied the status but simply being subject to a little more scrutiny. This is a bad thing? After all, don't you want to do some due diligence before effectively funding these groups out of the public purse?

      However, on the GOO's favorite little security blanket-Benghazi-which the brood over and wallow in to give them hope that maybe George W. Bush is right and they will exist in the future-we have some bad news for them. At the end of the day the country trusts Hillary Clinton a good deal more than the House GOP precisely on the question of Benghazi. 

      "A new poll finds Hillary Clinton more trusted than congressional Republicans over the Benghazi, Libya, controversy, as GOP lawmakers continue to probe the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate.

     "Democratic firm Public Policy Polling found that 49 percent of respondents trust former Secretary of State Clinton, while 39 percent trust congressional Republicans more on the issue."

     Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/299345-poll-clinton-trusted-over-congressional-gop-on-benghazi#ixzz2THzdhRNM 
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     "But the new poll indicates the issue is not yet catching on with voters. A majority, by a 56-38 split said passing immigration reform was more important than investigating Benghazi. And a majority said passing a bill that requires background checks for gun purchases should be a priority over Benghazi by 52-43 percent.

Sixty-five percent of respondents said they didn't think Benghazi was the biggest political scandal in American history."

     "And despite GOP attacks, more than half of respondents still view Clinton favorably, by 52-44 percent. More than half of respondents, though, view congressional Republicans unfavorably, at 36-57."

     So the investigators have less credibility with the public than she being investigated. This here gets me:

    "Many Republicans see the Benghazi attack as a possible early line of offense with which to hammer Clinton ahead of her possible run for president in 2016. And two of her potential Republican opponents — Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — penned op-eds criticizing the administration's response last week."

     I've been making this same point-that the GOP is remorselessly politicizing this-indeed, they've already raised money on Benghazi. Still, with all the talk about the IRS 501(c)(4) scandal, doesn't anyone find these Benghazi investigations are wrongheaded? These are egregious wasting of the public purse and time on the Republican parties election activities. 

     Just as many of these Tea Party groups in fact have abused tax exempt status-which precludes election activities-the Republican party should stop using public resources as attack ads on Hillary Clinton and to help their flagging political fortunes. 

     The politicization of Congressional time and money is outrageous. While Darrell Issa is investigating everything in the world and trying to tie it to the President, who is investigating him?