By Dick Miller
WE.CONNECT.DOTS: Sunday, October 25, 2015 – Circle this date.
No, not the above filing date for this column.
Thursday, October 22, 2015.
9:00 p.m., to be exact.
That’s when we first learned who the 45th President of the United States will be.
That’s when Hillary Clinton finished an 11-hour marathon appearance before the House Benghazi committee. To peel open the former Secretary of State, U.S. Senator and First Lady like a blooming onion, sending her poll numbers crashing were the unabashed intentions of the select seven Republicans-five Democrats committee appointed by outgoing speaker John Boehner.
In the relentless partisan battleground — also known as Washington, D.C. and the Halls of Congress — little is more satisfying than being able to get your enemy sitting (squirming) in a chair, testifying under oath. At least two of the seven Republicans were former Federal prosecutors; some are members of the right-wing Freedom caucus. All had expressed dislike of Mrs. Clinton.
Their only job was to destroy Hillary Clinton.
The day began shortly after 9 a.m. with news channels showing Mrs. Clinton hugging her blue-jeaned husband at their Washington home, then climbing into an SUV for a short ride to the Capital Building. The day ended with Mrs. Clinton and her mostly female entourage gathered back at the residence for wine, beer and snacks.
The day ended in a crushing defeat for Republicans summarized by Benghazi committee chair Trey Gowdy’s admission that “she did not say anything we didn’t already know.”
Both sides entered the battle hyped.
Republican members of the Benghazi committee had been instrumental in forcing Boehner to resign as speaker. Before agreeing to support Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his successor, they forced Ryan to agree continuing to abide by the Dennis Hastert rule.
In this process, named for a former Speaker, no bill can move on the House floor unless Republicans provide the majority votes needed to pass it. This virtually assures gridlock continues. Next crisis on deck is to increase the debt limit.
Ten days earlier, Mrs. Clinton earned “decisive winner” of her party’s first debate. Then Vice President Joe Biden announced he would not challenge Hillary for the Dem nomination.
The investigation into the deaths of an Ambassador and three other Americans at Benghazi has lasted longer than Watergate. At least at the Watergate hearings, bi-partisan “special counsels” questioned witnesses. Benghazi interrogations were the exclusive domain of the most unpopular public officials, all running for re-election next year.
Anyone who half-believes the vitriolic dribble of the last seven years about Barack Obama had legitimate reasons to conclude Republicans were going to get their turn in the White House after the 2016 elections. During President Obama’s first term, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell declared his main job was to see the 44th President would not get re-elected.
Such was the brutally partisan attitudes in our Nation’s capital that Mitchell’s assertions were accepted as “business as usual.” As soon as Mrs. Clinton announced she would not remain as Secretary of State and, instead, begin a four-year quest to be the first female President, another bitterly partisan long time battle was rejuvenated.
For the last 25 years, the game of “getting Hillary Clinton” plays out at varying intensity. At the beginning of bash Hillary efforts, she was said to be involved in the murder of a White House staffer while her husband was president.
Lately the focus is government emails she may have routed through a private server.
The most recent beneficiary of the “anti-Hillary movement was to have been Jeb Bush, son of one president, brother of another. Jeb was going to crush all opposition for the GOP nomination after raising record amounts of campaign cash.
Bottom Line: Enter Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson and Carley Fiorina – all outsiders – continuing to command a combined 50-percent-plus of the GOP vote. Surprise, surprise! Who would have speculated that half of the Republican voters were equally disgusted with Washington gridlock?
Jeb Bush is now a long shot for the nomination. Mr. Bush needs a half-dozen “insider” candidates to withdraw slowly for him to have time to bring their voters into his fold. Conversely, Jeb needs the three “outsider” candidates to quit almost simultaneously so that his war chest could effectively be spent capturing their supporters.
