I just came across an interesting article by Media Matters about how the reporters working on the Iran-Contra hearings see the Benghazi "investigation."
Iran-Contra Reporters: Benghazi Hearings "More Partisan" and an "Attack" on Hillary Clinton
From the article
Walter Pincus, who covered the Iran-Contra hearings for The Washington Post, agreed.
"I don't think there is a comparison," he said. "Iran-Contra was a misuse directed by the White House, the NSC [National Security Council], to engage in a policy of selling arms to get the release of hostages, totally opposite of American foreign policy."
Asked about Benghazi, he added, "to have seven investigations about something that apparently wasn't a violation of any law, wasn't a misuse of government property, and clearly had nothing to do with her [Clinton], somebody wants to make it into something bigger than it was and to keep it going as long as it has." He added, "the misuse of [a congressional committee] for political purposes really just corrupts the system."
John Walcott covered the Iran-Contra hearings for The Wall Street Journal and said today's Benghazi hearings are "more about scoring points and unfortunately too many in the media have gone along with that."
He also said the issues of Iran-Contra were more serious: "Selling arms for hostages and arming the Contras were more serious policy issues than the murder of an ambassador and other Americans in an unstable country ... Even if there are legitimate issues to be explored in the case of Benghazi, like everything else in the public space, this is much more partisan than Iran-Contra and it is a trend that has been going on for a long time."
I have to say I've been pretty disappointed with the media coverage today. I really felt like Elijiah Cumming's "We're better than that" was a McCarthy-era "Have you no decency" moment. While the media coverage is very positive for Clinton, there is almost no mention of how just plain stupid the questions were. And I wish it were mentioned more that the DOD and CIA weren't testifying.