Eye Recommend --- Center Ring at the Republican Circus

CENTER RING AT THE REPUBLICAN CIRCUS, by the New York Times Editorial Board --
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/09/opinion/center-ring-at-the-republican-circus.html?_r=0

This recent New York Times editorial does an excellent job of exposing the desperation that currently seems to be ruling Washington's Republican leadership.

"The hottest competition in Washington this week is among House Republicans vying for a seat on the Benghazi kangaroo court, also known as the Select House Committee to Inflate a Tragedy Into a Scandal.  Half the House has asked to 'serve' on the committee, which is understandable since it's the perfect opportunity to avoid any real work while waving frantically to right-wing voters stomping their feet in the grandstand.

They won't pass a serious jobs bill, or raise the minimum wage, or reform immigration, but House Republicans think they can earn their pay for the rest of the year by exposing nonexistent malfeasance on the part of the Obama administration.  (Last) Thursday, they voted to create a committee to spend 'such sums as may be necessary' to conduct an investigation of the 2012 attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya.  The day before, they voted to hold in contempt Lois Lerner, the former Internal Revenue Service official whom they would love to blame for the administration's crackdown on conservative groups, if only they could prove there was a crackdown, which they can't because there wasn't."

When earlier investigations found that liberal groups' tax-free status were also investigated by the IRS and that IRS middle management had designed the criteria for deciding which groups were targeted without input from the White House, that should have ended this; but, our modern Republican Party has never been one to let a little thing like facts get in the way of a public hissy fit.

"Both actions stem from the same impulse: a need to rouse the most fervent anti-Obama wing of the party and keep it angry enough to deliver its donations and votes to Republicans in the November elections."

Republicans, especially those in the House, seem to think their job is, not to pass legislation or to serve the people in their home districts in any way, but to get re-elected...period.  Nothing need be accomplished between elections; the only goal is to extend their stay in Washington.

"For a while it seemed as if the Affordable Care Act would perform that role, but Republicans ran into a problem when the country began to realize that it was not destroying American civilization but in fact helping millions of people.

Party leaders needed something more reliable, so they went back and revived two dormant scandals from last year, the embers of which were faithfully tended by Republican adjuncts on Fox News and talk radio.  Their hope is to show that the administration is corrupt and untrustworthy, and if Hillary Rodham Clinton also gets roughed up in the process, so much the better."

Personally, I believe "roughing up" Hillary Rodham Clinton is the primary reason for their re-focusing on Benghazi.  There is a presidential election coming up and she scares the Begeezus out of Republicans.

"Four Americans, including the United States ambassador, died in Benghazi, and their deaths have been crassly used by Republicans as a political cudgel, wildly swung in the dark.  They have failed to provide proof for any number of conspiracy theories about the administration's failures, including the particularly ludicrous charge from Representative Darrell Issa that Mrs. Clinton, then secretary of state, told the Pentagon to 'stand down' and not help defend the American compound. 

In fact, investigations by two congressional committees, (including one run by Republicans) found that there was never any kind of 'stand-down order' or request.  But Mr. Issa and others keep repeating it because, for their purposes, the facts don't matter...

...Democrats who are now debating whether to participate in the committee shouldn't hesitate to skip it.  Their presence would only lend legitimacy to a farce.

Similarly, the Justice Department should not press Ms. Lerner's contempt citation before a grand jury.  She invoked her Fifth Amendment rights at a hearing last year and refused to testify, but Republicans claim, without foundation, that she waived those rights by first proclaiming her innocence.  Her refusal, they said, was contemptuous of Congress."

Republicans exclusive focus on building roadblocks to anything proposed by the Democrats is a true example of being "contemptuous of Congress"; but they are so hate-filled at the reality of a Democrat living in the White House--and a BLACK Democrat at that, that they can't see their own contempt for what it is.  

"Little nuisances like constitutional rights or basic facts can't be allowed to stand in the way when House Republicans need to whip up their party's fury."

The Republican Party has no true platform to campaign on.  Their only focus for President Obama's entire tenure has been to tear down anything he proposed--with no regard for the proposal's merit.   With blind obedience to their vacuous leadership and with nothing positive of their own to offer, they have no choice but to continue their focus on negativity. 

A comment posted on the New York Times website regarding this editorial should serve as a warning, but I doubt anyone on the right will take notice:  from Mike in Arlington, Va -- I suppose someone has already pointed out that Benghazi rhymes with Kamikazi (sic).