Remember when all Democrats were instructed to quake with terror because the incredibly deft and well-prepared prosecutor Trey Gowdy was taking over the latest incarnation of the endless Benghazi committee? Remember how all the Very Serious People tsk-tsked the wild men on the GOP side who couldn’t stop running their yaps to keep up the pretense that Gowdy’s was a totally impartial not-at-all-focused-on-HRClinton team? Yeah, well, Rep. Trey’s decided staying in the primary loop is more important than holding on to that increasingly transparent figleaf, per Politico:
White House hopeful Marco Rubio snagged a big-name endorsement this week from Trey Gowdy, the popular South Carolina congressman leading the House investigation of the Benghazi attack.
But the boost for Rubio could mean trouble for Gowdy back in Washington. Democrats are already pouncing, saying it shows Gowdy is not the politically disinterested inquisitor he’s portrayed himself to be throughout his months-long look into the 2012 attack, an investigation that’s scrutinized Hillary Clinton’s actions as secretary of state.
“We knew Trey Gowdy was abusing his power as chair of the Benghazi Committee to attack Hillary Clinton. What’s now clear is that he was doing so in order to help Marco Rubio run for president,” Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), former head of House Democrats’ campaign arm, said in a statement to POLITICO. “His actions in Congress and on the campaign trail are nothing more than to further his partisan political agenda.”
Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, has maintained for months that he’s running a fair and impartial investigation that has nothing to do with politics. He abstained from some campaign events and fundraisers, and distanced himself from political comments made by fellow Republicans about his probe — largely out of concern that it could tarnish the Benghazi investigation’s integrity and give Democrats fodder to argue that it’s a partisan witch hunt.
Those efforts, he and his allies have acknowledged, didn’t protect him from accusations of partisanship and attacks from the left on his panel’s credibility. The complaints reached a crescendo in the weeks leading up to Clinton’s marathon appearance before his panel in October.
Now he appears to be casting aside that caution, plunging into the 2016 campaign. A Gowdy spokesperson noted that the lawmaker still refuses to campaign on the topic of Benghazi and argued he is keeping the two issues separate…
Gowdy’s embrace of Rubio, which included a formal endorsement during a two-day swing through Iowa this week, comes as the Benghazi committee is winding down its work. The panel is slated in the next few months to release its final report on the attacks in which four Americans were killed…
My own suspicion, given the timing here: Conventional wisdom, at this point in time, is that Ted Cruz is now expected to win in Iowa, and one of the four “Establishment” candidates (Rubio, Bush, Christie or Kasich) is supposed to consolidate enough support to win in New Hampshire (or at least come in a strong second behind wild man card Donald Trump). If none of the Favored Four can pull ahead in NH, then the South Carolina primary (Feb. 20) becomes that much more important to winnow out a “permanent party” candidate to stand against Talivangelical Ted — and, of course, The Donald. That’s why Lindsay Graham dropped out when he did, so that his SC supporters could switch to one of the Favored Four well in advance of primary day. And Rep. Gowdy is said to be a Big Man in SC politics; presumably, getting his endorsement out as soon as possible (even before Iowa, just in case the caucus voters don’t like Ted Cruz any better than every other human who’s spent more than an hour in his company) has become more important in the GOP Long Con than the never-very-convincing pretense of “impartiality” around his Benghazi investigation.
Which is good news for us Democrats, I’m thinking: It means the Repubs have given up on using Benghazi as a weapon against HRClinton for the nonpartisan (low information) voting bloc. It’s still a pious incantation among the faithful, like saying pater-nosters against the monsters under the bed… but they don’t expect any ‘new revelations’ to convince the unbelievers.
Amir Khalid
Huh? My comment has disappeared without a trace.
I was saying that Gowdy and his investigative committee swung at Hillary and missed. Hoo boy, did they ever miss. Not only did they not weaken her, they managed to make her look stronger. Given this abject failure, why does Gowdy’s endorsement of Rubio, or of anyone, matter?
Frankensteinbeck
The faithful don’t expect new revelations to convince the wavering. They hate Hillary so absolutely that they have swallowed every Benghazi rumor whole. They sincerely believe she will be officially charged with a crime, that the proof is there to put her away, and the only reason it hasn’t happened yet is Bureaucracy Is Slow. They honestly think this is true, and that we are the ones ignoring the facts.
jl
Probably cruel on my part, but I hope the establishment GOP star search tour has to head on down to SC. I want to see Jeb?, Cruz, Rubio and Christie talking up and eating ham biscuits, cheeze grits and SC ‘BBQ’ in that acid sauce next to Graham.
Edit: I like SC BBQ, but I figure the four establishment GOP contestants don’t.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I must be missing something. Yeah, the Benghazi hearings were politically motivated, but what does Trey Gowdy endorsing someone in the Republican primary have to do with that? I don’t see how it adds to the already abundant evidence in any way.
Anoniminous
Well frack it. My comment disappeared into the netherhells of FYWP.
Anne Laurie
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: “All I know is what I read in the pixels”, as Will Rogers didn’t quite say.
amk
how did water gulper of a boy, a teabaggers’ dahling, suddenly become the ‘establishment’ thug?
dogwood
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
I’m with you. Because Gowdy ran a politically motivated investigation against Clinton, he lost his right to endorse a presidential candidate from his own party? And the dems. are all over this? Anyone who thinks this is some big story is living in Disneyland.
Amir Khalid
@dogwood:
I wouldn’t argue that Trey forfeited his right to endorse a Republican presidential candidate. I just don’t see any particular value in his endorsement.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Amir Khalid: It may be of value in South Carolina(too small for a country, too big for an asylum), elsewhere not so much.
MikefromDublin
Another nothing burger from the GOP.
Unrelated, did anyone read this commentary from the Fox New Year’s Eve special? Too funny
ruemara
I finally finished the vfx & titles for my film. I’ve been editing while wearing a Santa hat and PJs with penguins on them. I believe that is way more interesting than Trey Gowdy, because he Los the figleaf of impartiality months ago and had been dangling his secret briefs all over the place.
dogwood
@Amir Khalid:
The endorsement isnt any more or less significant than any other. And for the life of me I can’t follow Ann Laurie’s claim that this means they’ve taken Benghazi off the table. Hell, it might mean they’re doubling down. If they couldn’t get the desired result at the hearings they’ll take the show on the road.
BillinGlendaleCA
@MikefromDublin: I hadn’t, but I just read it, comedy gold(except FAUX NOISE didn’t intend it that way).
NotMax
@MikefromDublin
Fox. Making America
greathate again.MattF
@Frankensteinbeck: It’s true, the RWNJs expect Hillary to be in jail by the end of the year. It’s one of those ‘alternative space-time continuum’ things, and a reminder that there’s real pathology out there on the Right.
Zinsky
I wish progressives would understand that conservatives never give up on anything when it comes to the bashing of or smearing of Democrats. Ever. They are still talking about Hillary trading cattle futures in the 1970s, and how could she make such profits?, for fucks sake! Gowdy is a twit who will be gone soon, as he doesn’t have sufficient cunning and ruthlessness to suit his evil handlers. Count on Benghazi being an issue in 2040 when Chelsea Clinton runs for President!
GxB
@Amir Khalid:
Ignorance is Knowledge
Weakness is Strength
Cowardice is Courage
and yadda, yadda, yadda….
Chris
@Zinsky:
Hell, they’re still talking about Jimmy Carter, History’s Greatest Monster. And about how LBJ wouldn’t let us win in Vietnam.
Sam Miches
@dogwood:
It’s not that this is a huge national story, but Gowdy has pull in South Carolina, and jumping on the Rubio wagon is a signal to the state’s knuckle-draggers to take a closer look at wee Marco. National Dems are right to keep knocking on Gowdy, too. Gowdy will time the final Benghazi committee report to be released around the Democratic convention next year, to get maximum impact. Not saying it will work for them, but that’s what they’ll do. Democrats need to continue to push back on it. It’d be a mistake to ignore it completely.
bmoak
Isn’t there a big-budget Michael Bay Benghazi Truther movie coming out next summer? Why should the Republicans put any more effort into flogging the dead Banghazi horse when liberal Hollywood and the liberal media will gladly do it for them?
dmsilev
@bmoak: It’s called ’13 Hours’, and it’s coming out at the end of next week. Timing seems a little odd for a political hit job; I’m not sure it’s really going to make much difference in the Iowa caucuses.
vtr
During a spot break in one of the bowl games yesterday I saw an ad for an “action” movie about Benghazi called “13 Hours.” Plot description – “when everything went wrong, three men had the courage to do what was right.” It’s probably historically accurate, and will be released at a useful time this year. Stars John Krasinski.
sigaba
@srv: If a Doug Liman movie has the power to sway an election I will eat my hat.
Miesekatze
That’s why Lindsay Graham dropped out when he did, so that his SC supporters could switch to one of the Favored Four
All those supporters…
mclaren
Nice use of “paternosters,” Anne.
The entire 2016 Republican primary is nothing but the borborygmus of the Republican id.
I predict severe indigestion by Super Tuesday.
mclaren
@bmoak:
I can see it now…
[CLOSE UP ON TREY GOWDY. Gowdy sprints across the House hearing room carrying a belt-fed M-60 cradled in his arms while chairs explode around him. He makes a flying leap to the committee chairman’s seat and the ceiling shatters, sending jagged shards of chandelier glass downward into the room. In slow motion Gowdy screams “WHITEWAAAAAAATERRRRRRRRRR!” while blasting away with his M-60. ]
HILLARY CLINTON: “Nooooooooooooo!”
[Hillary does a double back flip and evades the tracer-fire line from Gowdy’s M60 that rakes the committee hearing room. Desks blow up into kindling. Committees aides and pages writhe as their chests erupt with blood and get blown backwards as bullets shred their suits. Hillary produces throwing knives from her pantsuit and flips them at Gowdy with preternatural reflexes. But Gowdy doubles up in midair and convulsves, catches the knives, and hurls them back at Hillary. But she has already dodged the knives. Hillary now produces a minigun from her valise and now stands tall in front of the committee, blasting away. The windows behind the committee explode in a rainbow shrapnel.]
[FADE TO BLACK]
[BEAT – VOICE OVER]
“In a time when…”
[Giant orchestral chord. Sudden fade-in to Jimmy Carter applauded by cheering crowds for his work in eradicating river blindness.]
“…Monsters ruled the earth…”
[FADE TO BLACK. Huge orchestral chord. Sudden fade-in to Barack Obama’s inauguration.]
“In a world where…”
[FADE TO BLACK. Enormous chaotic dissonant orchestral clangor. Sudden fade-in to Bernie Sanders’ face lit from below to make it look as sinister as possible.]
“…Madmen seek ultimate power…”
[FADE TO BLACK. Sudden fade-in to Trey Gowdy standing bloodied but alive in the wreckage of the conference room.]
“…One rebel dares to stand against the evil that threatens to destroy us all.”
[VOICE-OVER.”
NARRATOR: “Benghazi 2 – Electric Bugaloo. Coming soon to an IMAX Theater near you!”
imonlylurking
@mclaren: I would watch this.