STEVE PIECZENIK TALKS

The Stalled, Expensive Benghazi Committee has become Another Misplaced Weapon in the Failed Republican Attacks on Hillary Clinton
 All that the committee will do is to show how tough Hillary Clinton really can be.

It is amazing to realize that most of our legislators, be they liberal or conservative, really have no clue whatsoever when it comes to psychological dynamics of politics. After spending millions of dollars and an incredible amount of wasted time, Chairman Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a former prosecutor, has fallen into a classical “bear trap” of his own making. In other words, he was bush-wacked! Remember: No single politician on the present American political scene has more experience testifying in front of a grueling congressional committee than Hillary Clinton. Hillary, better than anyone on that committee, knows the complex variables that are involved in trying to rationalize past mistakes.

I am not condoning her past ineptness as Sec. State as my previous blogs have shown. Yet I do understand what she will do and has done whenever she confronts a situation where she has deliberately or unwittingly performed poorly or inexcusably. The Benghazi episode is a tragic moment in American history because it underlines the basic incompetency of most of our Secretaries of State. That one tragic episode demonstrates a very basic truth about our political elite. They are not competent to serve in the positions to which they were assigned.

Namely, Hillary had no more previous experience in diplomacy than did James Baker, John Kerry, or George Shultz. Each was chosen because they were the friend or political ally of POTUS; who, in turn was chosen for no other reason than he was popular with the electorate. For anyone of these senior officials to act professionally is simply luck and circumstance. Nothing prepares them for the Sec State position other than On-the-Job Training [OJT]. That is clearly not a way to run a business.

If clients came to me because I was popular instead of well-trained in my specific profession of medicine than both my clients and I would be in very serious trouble. So by the very fact that Hillary had not had any prior training in diplomacy or managing a several thousand person organization places her as the ‘fire in hole’. Hillary made the mistakes that a novitiate would make because there was no rational reason to have appointed her in that position in the first place. Therefore, she had to learn to become Sec State at the cost of American lives. 

If you think that is unusual, then look at the abysmal record of our Army Generals who have killed more of our soldiers and innocent civilians with their so-called ‘proper military training’ [which is clearly outdated]. Hillary did the best that she could do. No one goes into that position trying to mess up the job.

However, if the American people and their novitiate Presidents have no idea of what it takes to become an effective diplomat, then she and other Secretaries of State, are the pure expression of the will of the people— we want inexperienced political leaders and their completely untutored political associates. Blame that American system that loves professional football players; but that insist on having an “Amateur Secretary of State”.

In my career at the State Department, I do not remember one Foreign Service Officer who was appointed to become Sec State.

Pretty absurd isn’t it?

So, what Gowdy will try to show is this wasteful exercise of taxpayer’s money is the basic reason why he had been elected in the first place. Next he will try to rationalize his having spent over 6 million dollars in a process that will only highlight Hillary’s basic strengths—perseverance; excellent recall of details and facts; and the ability to counter-punch her way out of a boxing match that should never have been scheduled.  

Once again the Republican Party has shown that it is rife with arrogance and incompetency. Let’s not even mention air-head, would be speaker McCarthy’s gaff regarding these hearings. Duh, you just gave Candidate Hillary 9 hours of prime time air time for free.  The oscar goes to….the candidate who can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’, better than any man I can remember.

The GOP leaders, wherever they are, have proven to be bereft of any political or psychological skills. They have shown an incredible amount of behavior that borders treacherously on stupidity.Witness the choice of Jeb Bush! Even his own parents did not believe he should have been POTUS that is why they preferred to anoint W. 

The Republican Party has one more chance to redeem itself. Either it chooses Donald Trump and Ben Carson for their POTUS/VP ticket ---or they might as well join the Boy Scouts of America –where they truly belong. Thanks to their gross negligence and ignorance, they have just made Hillary Clinton a more formidable adversary. The Republicans have demonstrated once again that ignorance is truly Bliss!