Richard Cohen of the Washington Post is perhaps the sorriest excuse for a supposedly liberal columnist anywhere in the punditocracy. Normally the only reason to read his bloviations is to see how inane (at his best) or flat our wrong he is.
But for some reason today, after looking at the blurb in the daily Post email I decided to read his column, titled
Placating the right-wing Clinton haters. It is his summary of the led by Trey Gowdy House Benghazi committee, and it is actually very much on point.
Consider just how he begins (offered without the hotlinks, which you can access at the original):
The way things are going, the House Select Committee on Benghazi will never release the testimony of Sidney Blumenthal, who, let us make no bones about it, is solemnly accused of being a friend of Hillary Clinton’s. Of that he is no doubt guilty, caught red-handed by his leaked e-mails to her, her responses to him, a vast public record, his utterances in public and private, his employment by the Clinton Foundation, his work in the Clinton White House and other such matters. But in one of the incriminating e-mails, Blumenthal urged Clinton to “help Clio now” and become more public about her role in the overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi, late of Libya (and of this world), understandably triggering the quivering suspicions of Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.). Who or what is this Clio? he inquired.
The Greek goddess of history, Blumenthal responded under oath.
For this and other reasons, it is not likely the transcript will be made public.
That should give a sense of what enjoyment you can get from this column.
Cohen provides us with statistics on the questions asked of Blumenthal (from a count maintained by the Democratic side led by Elijah Cummings of MD):
questions on Blumenthal's relationship with Clinton -- 160
questions actually on Benghazi -- <20
Cohen follows that with more data in this paragraph:
The committee also asked Blumenthal more than 50 questions about his relationship with the Clinton Foundation and only four about security in Benghazi . Blumenthal was additionally asked more than 270 questions about his business dealings in Libya, which, considering that he has none, is commendable thoroughness run amok.
I like that phrase
commendable thoroughness run amok
and note the set-up considering that he has none
After reviewing the history of investigations of Benghazi and stating flatly "The matter should be settled." Cohen closes with the following paragraph:
God only knows how much these many investigations have cost. But the expense to the government, as opposed to Blumenthal’s, is a trivial matter. What matters much more is Congress’s abuse of power — a transparent attempt to placate the twisted conspiracy theories of right-wing Clinton haters. “Witness Blumenthal,” an appellation with an eerie Stalinist ring to it, has now been accused of knowing Libya too little and Clinton too much. No wonder Republicans want to keep Guantanamo open.
As I said in my title, Richard Cohen makes sense. Perhaps Hell has finally frozen over, eh?