Not Amused

(Click on image to enlarge and then return.)

David Horsey isn't nearly amused in his latest column as he was in the one I posted on yesterday, and with good reason.  The whole Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! tempest is one that shows just how dysfunctional the GOP's idea of governance is and what effect that is having on Congress.

The latest round of House hearings about the Benghazi incident provides a perfect example of how American politics has been warped and gummed up by bombastic, partisan extremism. A cool, methodical inquiry could well uncover serious mistakes and provide remedies so that future incidents can be thwarted before more American diplomats are killed in the line of duty. But the current generation of Republican lawmakers does not know how to do cool. Hot rhetoric more suited to a Glenn Beck tirade seems to be the only way they know how to communicate.

A prime example is Rep. Steve King of Iowa. On Wednesday, he said he did not know “what took place, and who was where doing what and why,” yet he declared, “I believe that it’s a lot bigger than Watergate, and if you link Watergate and Iran-Contra together and multiply it times maybe 10 or so, you’re going to get in the zone where Benghazi is.”

Yup, King does not actually know any details, but he is sure Benghazi is vastly bigger than the two biggest political scandals of the last 40 years. Either King does not really have a clue what Watergate and Iran-Contra were all about or he simply thinks if he really, really believes, wishes upon a star, picks a crop of four-leaf clovers and asks Santa, he and his party will luck into a scandal big enough to topple a president they despise.   [Emphasis added]

I agree with Horsey that a rational investigation of the Benghazi incident is necessary.  We really do need to  find out why the response as to what actually happened was so garbled by the State Department in the immediate aftermath.  We also need to discover why the various US agencies weren't working together closely to prevent the murderous incident from even happening.  That, however, would require a level of rationality and concern for good governance that the wackaloons in the House are incapable of.

That said, I also think that setting up the case for impeachment is only part of the rationale for this inanity.  The wackaloons know that right now Hillary Clinton is the leading contender for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination and she just might beat whomever the GOP puts up.  I suspect she is as much a target as Obama.

And that means 2014 will be an important election for both parties.  Will the GOP regulars manage to tamp out the Tea Party Irregulars?  Will the Democrats manage to pick up seats in the House and the Senate?

This isn't popcorn time for the nation.  It's nail biting time.