The American Voter and the Looking Glass World of Presidential Politics in the 21st Century

[Martin Eden Mercury]

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part one: Tweedledee

There was a brief moment during the televised, House hearings of the Select Committee on Benghazi, where I sat stunned, on the edge of my seat, thinking "Was that a White Rabbit that just ran across my screen?" and "Have I been eating Magic Mushrooms?" Secretary Hillary Clinton was being taken to task and torn apart, live on national television by Representative Peter Roskam (R-IL 6th District), an ethically-challenged (the House Committee on Ethics found "insufficient evidence"), five-term congressman from Illinois. Representative Roskam was challenging the Secretary on President Obama's Libya policies. It was a devastating indictment.

Representative Roskam posited that the administration's policies on Libya, which led to the succesfull overthrow of Libyan autocrat Muammar Qadhafi, also led to the failure of Libya as a state. Roskam insisted it was all Clinton’s doing, her creation alone. Roskam drove home his premise with "You saw it. You drove it. You articulated it. And you persuaded people. Did I get that wrong?" He argued Clinton and Clinton alone, convinced President Obama to assist in overthrowing the Qadhafi regime in Libya. He argued she singlehandedly did this over the objections of Vice President Biden, Secretary of Defense Gates, and the National Security Council. His challenge didn't end there.

Roskam went on to argued that it was Secretary Clinton who persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin to abstain on voting against UN resolution 1973. This devastating indictment dangerously used a double-edged sword. In order to convincingly prove that, while in charge of foreign policy as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton exercised supremely, poor judgment, and was proven to be exceptionally wrong -- he had to acknowledge the persuasively, powerful, talents and experience of Secretary Clinton. Roskam was highlighting what to some, are Clinton's strengths. As Representative Roskam's time was running out he ended his exchanges with the Secretary with "After your plan, things in Libya today are a disaster. I yield back." Secretary Clinton came back with "Well, we'll have more time I'm sure to talk about this, because that's not a view that I will ascribe to."

In the end, the hearings resembled nothing more than a Carrollian, Mad Tea-Party. Representative Roskam's arguments were overshadowed by his style and delivery, which mirrored that of the whole GOP side of the Select Committee on Benghazi: snide, nasty, and partisan. In the end, the select committee set up to investigate the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi, Libya dived into the looking glass world of emails, friendships, and the meaning of the word unsolicited. But what would a Mad Tea-Party be without a Mock Turtle's Story to balance it out?

Up next: Liberal bias in the media, and Hillary's enemies in the media; better known as the Democrat's Ultimate Super PAC.