After the
stunning admission—stunning only for it the fact that it is a Republican telling the truth—from would-be House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) that the Benghazi select committee is all about destroying Hillary Clinton, Democrats are calling for the committee to disband. But that
doesn't mean they're quitting it, not yet anyway.
"It's just a stunning admission on the part of the Republican leader that the Benghazi Committee was created with a political purpose in mind. In fact, it's really an ethical question," [Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi said during a press conference in Washington. "It makes the whole operation practically an unethical operation." […]
"It's obvious that it should be disbanded based on the leader's own words," Pelosi said. "But since we recognize Republicans do not intend to do that I would encourage my members to continue to participate, and then we will see how much longer they want this to go on. How long we will participate depends on how serious they are, and we haven't seen any signs of seriousness."
For his part, ranking member on the committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)
says he's sticking it out precisely because of the admission that the whole committee's purpose is baldly political.
As Rep. McCarthy's statement made crystal clear this week, Republicans created the Benghazi Select Committee from the very beginning to wage a taxpayer-funded political campaign against Hillary Clinton's bid for president. Obviously, this is an unethical abuse of millions of taxpayer dollars and a crass assault on the memories of the four Americans who died, and I believe it should be halted immediately. However, I am not naïve in thinking Republicans will cease their political attacks on Secretary Clinton, which is why I will be in that room defending the truth.
The admission by McCarthy, despite the
clearly bogus denials by other Republicans, gives Democrats a little bit more leverage here, a little bit more room to call out the bullshit on a very regular basis. Given the new frame McCarthy has provided to the whole exercise, maybe they'll get a little bit more attention when they do call out that bullshit.