Letter 2 America for May 14, 2013

Dear America,

Washington politics never cease to provide grist for the criticism mill, but the spectacle that the Republicans make of themselves...the way in which they writhe and contort and twist the facts in pursuit of their political goals without ever considering accepting the fact that it is not just their politics but their ideology as well that discredit them...never ceases to amaze me.  On Wednesday, the House oversight committee commenced new hearings on the subject of the Benghazi affair in which four members of the American diplomatic corps were murdered by a radical Muslim cadre's invasion of the diplomatic compound in which they were housed and worked.  There has already been an extensive investigation, but it didn't turn up any mal- or mis- feasance, so the Republicans, who chair the committee and are in its majority, have decided to try to contrive something.  As those of you who read these letters know, I sometimes watch C-SPAN, which probably makes me one of about ten people in the country who do, and I saw the testimony of three members of the Libya diplomatic mission testifying about what happened.  Then, I saw Bill O'Reilly interview one of the congressmen on the committee, Republican Jim Jordan of Ohio, and I got a preview of how the Republicans will conspire to distort what evidence they can get over and above the mounds that are already on record elsewhere.  And to O'Reilly's credit, arch-conservative that he is, even he greeted the congressman's characterization of the facts with skepticism.

The testimony in question came from a fairly senior diplomat named Greg Hicks, who was in Tripoli that night, in touch with the diplomatic contingent in Benghazi only by phone.  Hicks, whose testimony showed him to be a shameless self-promoter, had been interviewed by the chairman of the committee, Republican Representative Chaffetz, but he was instructed by superiors not to sit down with Chaffetz unless he was accompanied by a Department-of-State lawyer.  Even Hicks admits he was never told not to speak to Chaffetz, but just that he should be accompanied when he did, despite the contrary characterizations of the instruction by conservative Republicans. In fact, Hicks even corrected a Republican on the committee when he tried to make the conservative claim.  The lawyer didn't coach Hicks, nor did she interfere in the questioning, but apparently went along so that there would be a witness to anything said, thus preventing any tortured interpretations or outright distortions.  On another occasion, Hicks was part of a group discussion involving investigators--their report is an in-depth appraisal of what happened that even the committee acknowledges has already been done--and on that occasion, no lawyer was present for security clearance reasons but other department members were.   In other words, this was Hicks' third shot at telling the story, once to a Republican on the committee, without ever implicating anyone in wrongful acts.  Those are the facts to which Hicks testified on the subject of a lawyer's presence.  Congressman Jordan tried to make the supervision of the interview into some kind of suppression of Hicks' testimony when there was never any evidence to that effect, not even this third time around.  Even O'Reilly didn't buy the attempt at inculpation, and the jig done by Jordan to try to make his case serves only to demonstrate the lengths to which Republicans will go to make political hay even if there is none to be made...even when doing so doesn't serve the interests of the American people.  It's all about winning elections to the Republicans; government service has nothing to do with it.  They seem to think that the American people are so easily duped that they can be convinced that an inconsequential nullity is really something to be concerned about if they just kick up enough dust, and the reason they are trying it again with Benghazi is that they aren't succeeding anywhere else.

The last election demonstrated, as the polls continue to do, that the American people want to see higher taxes on the rich, but the Republicans are balking.  The American people want immigration reform for a variety of reasons, but the Republicans are balking.  The American people want same-sex marriage, but the Republicans are balking.  So this series of Benghazi hearings is their attempt to deflect attention from the issues on which they are recalcitrant...and in the minority amidst the American polity.  In short, they see that they need to win one, any one, and there isn't one in sight for them to win with the positions they are taking.  This is what political desperation looks like, and we have seen it before, and I suspect that as long as there are Republicans, we will see it again too.

Your friend,

Mike