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The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

GOP Kangaroo Court Latest Wallow in Politics of Distraction

Some choice nuggets from the New York Times Editorial, “Center Ring at the Republican Circus“:

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.

Pretty good summation there of Gridlock Party’s descent into irrelevance. The editorial goes on to note that the Obamacare boogeyman seems to have been exhausted, as ACA success stories keep rolling in from unexpected sources. As the editorial puts it, “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.” Hence the need for a new distraction.
The editorial goes on to add “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.” Anything to distract the public from the Republicans’ inability to address the compelling economic concerns of millions of Americans and also the substantial drop in the unemployment rate last month.
For Democrats, there is only one response that serves both reason and morality. As the Times editorial puts it, “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.”

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