House Republicans are misusing taxpayer money and
abusing House committee rules to promote a partisan vendetta against
President Obama and the woman who has earned the stature of being the
most admired political leader in America, and a stateswoman who is
widely admired around the world: former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton.
Last week I wrote about the GOP’s Obama problem. Today I
write about the GOP’s Hillary problem and begin with this: The House
leadership and the media should investigate and report whether Chairman
Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and the majority of the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee have violated the rules of the House by
systematically withholding vital information about Benghazi witnesses
and testimony from committee Democrats while selectively leaking
information to the press.
Make no mistake, the hearings about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in
Benghazi, Libya, are being conducted with one-party rule and the
ethical standards of a Soviet Politburo hearing under Leonid Brezhnev,
with rampant procedural violations of the rights of committee Democrats.Make
no mistake, these hearings are not an impartial attempt to gather the
facts. They are a partisan witch hunt against Clinton that embodies
everything Americans dislike about politics in Washington and
Republicans today.
Former White House Counsel John Dean once told
Richard Nixon that there was a cancer on his presidency. Republicans
have lost so many recent elections because there is a cancer on their
party.
The cancer is that, without ideas and policies that appeal
to voters, Republicans are reduced to a politics of obstruction,
nihilism and negativity that makes them appear as if they hope America
fails, and a politics of personal destruction that is now, through the
Benghazi hearings, directed at Clinton.
Republicans today can
learn from Nixon’s farewell address, when he warned that those obsessed
with destroying their political opponents will only destroy themselves.
Before
the bodies were fully laid to rest after the tragedy at Benghazi, the
Republican nominee for president, backed by the Republican National
Committee chairman, disgracefully said that President Obama was
sympathetic to those who killed Americans at Benghazi.
From
September 2012 until May 2013, Republicans have shamefully tried, and
failed, to exploit the deaths of Americans at Benghazi for partisan
gain. Of course, mistakes were made at Benghazi. Clinton long ago
accepted her fair share of responsibility, which is one more reason she
is held, and will continued to be held, in such high esteem by so many
Americans.
When will Chairman Issa and Republicans accept
responsibility for their aggressive and unwise attempts to cut embassy
security spending before Benghazi?
It is a disgrace for House
Republicans to ask taxpayers to subsidize five House committees — paying
huge staffs and expenses, working in league with partisan Republican
lawyers, withholding information from committee Democrats and leaking
partial information to the press — pursuing a partisan vendetta against
the former secretary of State, who is the one person who has taken
public responsibility and implemented changes to prevent future
tragedies.
Clinton has achieved widespread admiration at home and
abroad by earning it through hard work, great skill, high standards,
vast achievement and good faith as first lady, a United States senator
and secretary of State. She has triumphed over a generation of GOP
slanders and cheap shots with even more achievement and good humor.
This
is the GOP’s Hillary problem. Republicans ignore Nixon’s farewell
warning at their peril. Republicans who offer nothing except attempts to
destroy opponents they treat as enemies will only destroy their party,
as the GOP has destroyed itself in recent elections.
Republicans
tried this against President Clinton, who was elected to serve two
terms. They tried it against President Obama, who was elected to serve
two terms. The Benghazi attack against Clinton will fail by making
Republicans look like party hacks demeaning a world-class stateswoman.
The
GOP’s Hillary problem is that over a lifetime of great achievement, she
has earned the admiration and trust of the people, while Republicans
who smear her have not.
Budowsky was an aide to
former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Bill Alexander, then chief deputy majority
whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial
law from the London School of Economics. He can be read on The Hill’s
Pundits Blog and reached at
brentbbi@webtv.net.
