October 6, 2015

Hillary Clinton's new ad — exploiting Kevin McCarthy's deeply damaging line about Benghazi.



"The 30-second spot is the first one that the campaign is running nationally on cable television, underscoring the political gold mine that Clinton's team senses in McCarthy’s comments."

88 comments:

Big Mike said...

If McCarthy had half a brain it would be the first half he had.

Nonapod said...

I couldn't really care less about McCarthy, but does this nonsense have any chance of being effective? The whole "mean ol'Republicans going after the heroic Clintons" think worked in 1998 I guess, will it work in 2015?

William said...

Hillary has exhibited far more righteous anger at the Republicans and that scapegoat filmmaker than she has ever exhibited towards the murderers of her friend in Benghazi.

Dan Hossley said...

It was an unforced error, no doubt. The RNC should counter with ads showing Clinton telling the families of those killed in Ben Ghazi, on the plane with their flag draped coffins, that she was going to get the guy that produced the video.

Brando said...

If the GOP had any sense, they'd respond with a coordinated message making it absolutely clear that if it's "politicizing" to holding public officials to account for their blunders that send other countries into spirals of anarchy and cause the deaths of our diplomats, then they are happy to "politicize" all of this. I love how Hillary's professing to be "shocked" that the GOP is trying to exploit this, as though it wasn't obvious that they had this motive. It doesn't mean they didn't uncover her absolute ineptitude.

Take this as a warning--the Benghazi hearings aren't going to be a slam dunk on Hillary. If the GOP congressmen could rest their egos for a few minutes, they might realize the best tactic here is to use a skilled committee lawyer to handle the questioning for them rather than letting these elected idiots try and get sound bites. A good lawyer can hem her in and make her look corrupt and stupid. A panel of "let me get some hits on YouTube" types will go over as well as the Planned Parenthood hearing did.

And McCarthy should be out of the speakership race for incompetence alone. Nothing personal, but if you can't manage a message you should not be leading the caucus.

Brando said...

"I couldn't really care less about McCarthy, but does this nonsense have any chance of being effective? The whole "mean ol'Republicans going after the heroic Clintons" think worked in 1998 I guess, will it work in 2015?"

I don't know, but I do know that the best allies the Clintons ever had was their GOP enemies who never fail to overplay their hand and turn the Clintons into victims. It's why I don't underestimate Hillary's chances next year.

Brando said...

It does drive home why GOP congressmen should never be allowed near a microphone. Hillary was in a several month loop where the only news coverage she was getting was about her lies and scandals, and Sanders was narrowing her lead by picking up momentum all over the Democratic party. If that had led into effective hearings this month (and I have little faith those hearings will be effective at all) and two more doc dumps of her e-mails, the Democratic primary would turn into a dead heat and Hillary's numbers against most GOP candidates would be underwater. It might have been enough for the Dems to cast her loose, finally.

Instead, McCarthy loses the momentum with one stupid comment.

The Bergall said...

Dad: "Throw the bums out"!

Daughter "Who let them in to begin with"?

YoungHegelian said...

Even if HRC is perfectly blameless for Benghazi, that says absolutely nothing about her & her idiot private email server.

While it's not helpful to the nation, it's not illegal to be an incompetent Secretary of State. Having classified information on a non-classified, publicly accessible server is another story entirely, and is illegal.

Watch the Clinton campaign now try to conflate the two stories, i.e. absolution on Benghazi equals absolution on the email server, which just isn't the case.

rhhardin said...

It's time women stopped voting.

Admit it. Too many morons.

AlbertAnonymous said...

So McCarthy says something ambiguous about the committee. Even if you want to claim that he implied the committee was created solely to go after Hillary (which is a stretch based upon his comments), so what? It's one guy saying it.

But this is how politics works now. One guy said something, that guy is a member of the republican party, so ALL republicans must believe this, and therefore "The Republicans admitted...."

Can I try it too? Anthony Weiner took a dock pic and sent it to a woman on the internet. Anthony Weiner is a democrat, so ALL democrats take dick pics and send them to women on the internet, and therefore "The Democrats are all pervs...

Did I win?

rhhardin said...

Vince Foster was killed by an ashtray.

Quaestor said...

If Hillary want to use a Kevin McCarthy video clip, it would be much more honest and forthright to use this one.

JAORE said...

"What a maroon"
- Bugs Bunny

Chuck said...

Hillary is not going to like Speaker Chaffetz.

MisterBuddwing said...

So McCarthy says something ambiguous about the committee. Even if you want to claim that he implied the committee was created solely to go after Hillary (which is a stretch based upon his comments), so what? It's one guy saying it.

Isn't that what's referred to as a "Kinsley gaffe"? Of course, you could take the position that Rep. McCarthy didn't accidentally tell the truth. (Or did he?)

Kansas City said...

Hillary is a dead candidate walking.

However, what this shows is how easily the media lines up behind a democratic talking point. McCarthy made a stupid statement, but he did not say the committee was created to destroy her candidacy. He was talking about the effect of the committee. Nonetheless, the democrats create the argument and the media falls in line.

Now, to top it off, they allow Hillary to benefit from her argument that the republicans are trying to exploit "four dead Americans" when, in fact, it is she is exploiting the four dead Americans when she attacks republicans. So now, the media will follow her lead and say the republicans are exploiting the death of four Americans, when, by the way, Hillary and her state department were responsible for the lack of security that led to their deaths. No one in the media will confront her about how she now is exploiting the deaths of four Americans and how she was responsible for lack of security. On ABC, she also said "no one did anything wrong" and Guthrie just let it pass.

The only comfort is that despite the sideshow, Hillary has very little chance of being elected president. I would say less than 5%. It would take the FBI/DOJ giving her a political pass and either a bad republican nominee or an awful campaign.

The comment was stupid enough that the Republicans should pick someone else for speaker.

Greg Hlatky said...

I don't know, but I do know that the best allies the Clintons ever had was their GOP enemies who never fail to overplay their hand and turn the Clintons into victims.

"The Jesuits have always profited by the exaggerations of their enemies. Accused of murdering ten men and a dog, they triumphantly produce the dog."

Hagar said...

Harry Reid: "He didn't win, did he?"

And David Petraeus is not running for president.

And, yes, the Benghazi hearings have that effect, though it was very impolitic for McCarthy to bring it up on national TV.
However, note that Petraeus did break security protocol, and the enormous effort at stonewalling and distraction to block the Benghazi hearings surely indicate that there is something there the administration think is worth all that bad publicity to hide.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Chris Hayes: Why Does No One Want To Talk About How Hillary Clinton Helped Destroy Libya?

traditionalguy said...

Hillary is always controlled by an old idea many that criminals invariably express to their lawyers, " That even if I did it, the DA is the bad one cheating by trying to use arguments instead of the evidence that we have so carefully obscured and explained away."

They really are angry at the unfairness of life.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Well, IMO McCarthy just disqualified himself from the speakership. After all, what we Republicans need is a conservative (he may be one) who can speak articulately (strike one) extemporaneously (strike two) and take the conservative argument to the voters over the heads of the MSM (and yer out). This is an ignominious beginning to a clown show of a selection process.

Chaffets is no better. I used to think he might make a good GOP leader in the House. Until he oversaw the clusterfuck of a grandstanding hissy fit over Planned Parenthood.

ALL. YOU. HAD. TO. DO. WAS. SHOW. THE VIDEOS!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The media are really falling in line.

John said...

This is one of those instances where the media lives in bizzaro land. McCarthy admitted they were going after Hillary. So what? That is what politicians do. I can guarantee you no one outside the media or Washington gives a flying crap about that fact nor are they surprised by it.

Do these idiots think everyone thinks the Democrats who investigated the Katrina response didn't have a political motive? Everything is political. And there is nothing damaging about with Mcarthy said. If Hillary thinks that statement is going to get her off the hook for Bengazi or get voters to trust her, she is farther gone than even I thought she was.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...


Why is Hillary Clinton not in jail?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Mike- like you said. We have the evil party and the stupid party. We really are screwed.

Hillary's bogus promises...

Unknown said...

@Mike regarding Chaffetz- I completely agree! Where did he get the idea that the hearings were about the finances of PP? What a wasted opportunity.

And without question McCarthy should be out. I'm just wondering if they have anyone worthy of the position.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Come on GOP - wake up.

Darcy said...

That gaffe was so bad I've pondered whether it was deliberate sabotage. If it wasn't deliberate sabotage, it counters rhhardin on the moron suggestion.

And yes, Hillary's ad will work. Because the majority of voters are swayed by such nonsense.

CJinPA said...

A scandal is not a scandal unless the media says it's a scandal.

Ever since this attack occurred, at a most inopportune time for Obama's re-election effort, the media insisted there was nothing to report.

Even if they were overzealous, and of course they are, the GOP dragged out information that, under better circumstances, journalists would have reported.

McCarthy did what every politician with no real philosophical mooring does when trying to appeal to a base: He says what he thinks they want to hear, in the most clumsy manner possible.

cubanbob said...

That McCarthy acted foolishly is besides the point. It doesn't matter if the House Republicans have an agenda, they wouldn't have one if Clinton hadn't been so incompetent at best and most likely derelict in her duties at worst. Listening to the Democrats whining is like listening to a crook complaining the cops are out to get him.

Known Unknown said...

There always a quick media consensus about what's "deeply damaging" and what's not.

CJinPA said...

*AprilApple said*


Wow. Who was that interviewer?

jr565 said...

There's a vast right wing conspiracy, I tell you. A vast right wing conspiracy.
I did not have sex with that woman.

Mr Wibble said...

That McCarthy acted foolishly is besides the point. It doesn't matter if the House Republicans have an agenda, they wouldn't have one if Clinton hadn't been so incompetent at best and most likely derelict in her duties at worst. Listening to the Democrats whining is like listening to a crook complaining the cops are out to get him.

Of course the committee is political. So what? The essence of our republican system is the idea of "The other guy sucks, I can do a better job. So vote for me!"

The GOP is using their power in Congress to investigate Clinton's incompetence and use it against her. And this is good for our government. It ensures that voters have full knowledge of who they're voting for. Same for the Democrats investigating a Republican administration.

The hand-holding kumbaya bipartisan crap is actually worse for our republic, because it enables the incompetents to hide their failures from the public and continue to advance through the ranks of government doing even more damage.

Writ Small said...

Wow. Who was that interviewer?

Hannity.

Big Mike said...

@Brando (10:33), trouble is they all think that they are good lawyers.

Writ Small said...

All McCarthy had to say was that it was through the efforts of the Benghazi hearings that Clinton's email scandal was revealed.

Note that McCarthy was the first choice among those who thought Boehner should have been able to defund PP.

Brando said...

"ALL. YOU. HAD. TO. DO. WAS. SHOW. THE VIDEOS!"

Pretty much. And when the videos weren't available to them, postpone the damn hearing! Instead it looked like they were beating up on a rep from a nonprofit over taking too high a salary, as if that was remotely the issue here. These guys are just terrible at their jobs, unless their job is to provide an incompetent foil for the Democrats.

"@Brando (10:33), trouble is they all think that they are good lawyers."

Another good area for a caucus leader--speak some harsh truths to these idiots. They're not about to become the next big right wing hero by getting in a cool sound bite, if anything they're going to posture and look like a moron for the next Daily Show reel. Let someone skilled at grilling handle the show. That's the way to do hearings.

cubanbob said...

When is Hillary going to apologize for her role in the Watergate committee? And for her role in jailing a film maker?

grimson said...

A weak ad for a weak candidate; it does not make any compelling case to vote for Hillary Clinton.

Mr. Forward said...

Zombie Hillary Clinton campaign runs ad connecting Hillary with Benghazi. What's next? Tips on setting up Your Email Server?

Anonymous said...

I couldn't really care less about McCarthy, but does this nonsense have any chance of being effective? The whole "mean ol'Republicans going after the heroic Clintons" think worked in 1998 I guess, will it work in 2015?

bleh said...

I'm not sure I want a president who's going to be under siege her entire term. I hope she bows out before she damages the country like her husband did.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I hope she bows out before she damages the country like her husband did.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

I cannot see how telling the truth can reasonably be considered 'deeply damaging'.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

She can't even bow out before she damages her own campaign irreparably. Despite a grand assist from Mr. McCarthy, her ship won't right itself. She's listing to port (obviously to port) and it's only a matter of weeks before she joins the El Faro at the bottom of the sea.

Sebastian said...

Wanted: 1. smart, articulate conservative with backbone who 2. gets along with colleagues but holds them accountable and 3. does not get flustered, look orange, cry in public, or bitch at underlings and 4. can overcome MSM propaganda and 5. had sufficient mental fortitude to want to be elected to the House in the first place. Does such a person exist?

Looks like slim pickings. Joining the GOP House delegation does not seem the great ambition of the most accomplished conservatives. Unlike Dems, where any hack with a vote will do, the GOP actually needs them.

Skeptical Voter said...

McCarthy is as big a tool as Boehner. Makes you wonder if anyone in the GOP congressional delegation can play the game. The Hildebeest may escape Benghazi--a lot of the blame for the coverup rests on Team Obama; Hillary just went along with it. But she may get nailed on her e-mails--if Val Jar and Barack decide she has to go.

traditionalguy said...

McCarthyism always gets the Dems angry. Joe scarborough's gang was in pinging out that the ad was only on CNN and MSNBC and therefore was directed at the media that are failing to lie for Hillary. She wants loyalty or else, from the Clinton machine.

tim maguire said...

Nobody cared about Benghazi until a Republican--why? who knows?--got up and said he was proud to be part of the vast right wing conspiracy that is bringing Hillary down. She almost deserves to win just for this astonishing display of stupid mendacity.

cubanbob said...

I'm amazed at how the left dismisses Hillary's actions as nothing to see. If the Attorney General ran the Justice Department from a private email server would that disturb them? Or the Secretary of Defense run the pentagon from a private email server? Which agency or cabinet department being run from a private email not disturb them besides the senior cabinet department not disturb them? Or is it simply because they put party over country?

gadfly said...

the ad plays to the Democrat base - nobody else. So it appears that Hillary Rodham is attempting to recover support that has slipped over to the Socialist and the Blue Dog Democrat - Bernie and the Donald.

Kansas City said...

It is surprising that out of 248 successful republican politicians, there is not a better candidate for speaker. On the other hand, democrats somehow picked Pelosi. Surprising how neither side has very impressive leadership in Congress.

rehajm said...

So was Andrea Mitchell paid for the voice over?

Bayoneteer said...

When the howling mob is chimping out & throwing mud at your enemies, leave 'em the f*** alone to have at, eh Kevin? Why the GOP is referred the stoopid party.

Titus said...

I dislike Hilary but its a good ad.

McCarthy told the truth but screwed up.

tits-look at mine!

CStanley said...

I don't think the statement was that important in terms of the campaign (anyone who is swayed by it was already a Hillary supporter) but it is deeply damaging to the slender reed of trust that anyone has in our system. I deeply dislike Hillary, but I don't want even the appearance of partisan bias when one branch of government does its Constitutionally appointed duty of oversight.

Bayoneteer said...

The strategy of using congressional hearings is at best a BTN action, any how. The R members are grandstanding oafs and it gives the D members chances to rebut, plus its boring. About all you can say is its better than nuttin'.

Michael said...

This is a loser strategy, calling attention to the lie that Hillary told to the parents of one of the dead. That is the disqualifying lie. That is the whole of the Benghazi story and the Clinton story in on line.

Brando said...

"the ad plays to the Democrat base - nobody else. So it appears that Hillary Rodham is attempting to recover support that has slipped over to the Socialist and the Blue Dog Democrat - Bernie and the Donald."

That may be--Democrats for the most part always thought "Benghazi" as a scandal was a GOP overhype of a tragedy, rather than some nefarious trickery by the Obama administration. But in seeing this, it also reminds many Democrats that with Hillary back in the White House, there'll be more of this nonsense and maybe they have a chance to break the chain.

If the GOP knew how to play this issue right--and if pigs could fly--they could turn this right back on her by focusing on why she counseled intervening in Libya's civil war and letting it spiral out of control so that the place is a total mess.

And of course remind everyone that it wasn't the GOP that decided to conduct State Dept business from a private server, for which Hillary still hasn't produced a satisfactory explanation.

machine said...

"...the Benghazi hearings have that effect, though it was very impolitic for McCarthy to bring it up on national TV."

the charade must not let loosed...

n.n said...

Clinton was responsible before the fact. Obama was responsible after. Obama owns the instability and humanitarian disaster to cross three continents. Presumably, this is why he pleaded with Iran, and indirectly Russia, to grant him safe passage out of the quagmire created by his and social activists' policies.

Lewis Wetzel said...

The CBS morning show played the Hillary ad this morning. Is that what they do these days? Show Dem campaign ads on network news programs as news content?

Hagar said...

That they are after you does not mean that they do not have good and ample reasons to be after you!

Beorn said...

Just keeping track of the rules here:

1. Democrat President politicizing a shooting that left 10 dead is perfectly OK.

2. Republican Representative politicizing Benghazi where 4 died is insidious, and crude.

Todd said...

Terry said...
The CBS morning show played the Hillary ad this morning. Is that what they do these days? Show Dem campaign ads on network news programs as news content?

10/6/15, 2:12 PM


That has been the primary MSM function for many years now. They are just getting so darn lazy at it [now a days] that they don't even try to hide it anymore.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Terry - All the radio "news" isthe same way. It's all ads and promotions for the Democrats.

cubanbob said...

Terry said...

The CBS morning show played the Hillary ad this morning. Is that what they do these days? Show Dem campaign ads on network news programs as news content?
10/6/15, 2:12 PM "


The network isn't called See BS for nothing. Hey, what did you expect from a Democrat Party organ?

Brando said...

"Just keeping track of the rules here:

1. Democrat President politicizing a shooting that left 10 dead is perfectly OK.

2. Republican Representative politicizing Benghazi where 4 died is insidious, and crude."

Not to mention the president just a couple days ago telling us it's fine to politicize a shooting massacre in Oregon to fight for gun control. But apparently the GOP politicizing things is out of bounds.

The American Left--as vacuous and hypocritical as ever.

Beorn said...

Democrats abandon core beliefs so quickly, I am beginning to believe the only thing they really care about is attaining/maintaining power; hypocrisy be damned!

OGWiseman said...

I don't like Hillary much, but that's one effective ad.

averagejoe said...

With the smoke of controversy from the PP's "heavily edited" videotapes still in the air, I'm astonished to see this snippet of this idiot's sentence accepted by anyone as proof of anything. "We put a together a committee-" And...?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

This is a good ad.

I doubt CBS will air it on their morning show.

ndspinelli said...

This ad speaks to the choir. The choir is not her problem.

Drago said...

machine: "the charade must not let loosed..."

It will not be possible to shield you from yourself if you insist on posting more than 3 words at a time.

CStanley said...

Oh, I don't know about that, ndspinelli. The timing of this seems to suggest that she's nervous about Biden getting in, and she needed to convince the party and donors that she can get a bump in the polls anytime she wants to by playing the victim to the GOP meanies.

Lydia said...

This ad speaks to the choir. The choir is not her problem.

Maybe not the Hillary choir, but she's got to preach to the broader choir on the left:

Politico reports that her current campaign has begun to argue that Hillary can no longer compete for the Granite State in the Democratic primary. Instead, they’re looking at a new strategy that ignores the first two primary fights altogether.

Gahrie said...

Look...the American people have forgiven the Democratic Party for slavery and Jim Crow.

The American people have forgiven the Democratic Party for the Trail of Tears and the re-segregation of the federal government.

The American people have forgiven the Democratic Party for the Japanese internment.

There is no way the American people will forgive the Democratic Party if they inflict Hillary on us.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

I'm shocked. Shocked! Using Government position for political purpose!

Here is the most certain way to reduce abuse of power in Government - reduce the power of Government.

Clyde said...

Ambassador Stevens was not available for comment.

Sprezzatura said...

What?

The Rs aren't keeping this going because they love America?

Shocking!

Sprezzatura said...

AprilApple,

What's good about that ad?

Do cons really want to make a fuss about the rich and powerful having too much control over government? All cons know that those are the makers, they should be get what they want, that way they'll supply side and trickle.

Or, are we supposed to think that Hillary is a tool of the Muslims?

Thanks to the next Speaker of the House, cons are reduced to calling HRC a Muslim.

Sheesh.

Todd Roberson said...

What gadfly said @ 12:58.

I said in this blog a year ago that Hillary has no chance and will drop out of the race due to personal reasons or some such bullshit. She and Bill have taken millions of dollars in bribes and influence peddling and need to make a show that she's trying. This ad is just part of that effort.

If you're one of the lunatics that (for some reason I can't understand) think Hillary is "fighting for you" you'll love this ad. To anyone else it sounds a little like the teacher on Charlie Brown.

You all need to remember that no one watches CBS, ABC, NBC etc. So their love affair with this sort of pap is essentially worthless.

hombre said...

Benghazi has played out and The Stupid Party doesn't realize it.

Now the heir apparent who hasn't figured it out demonstrates he is stupider than the other guy by giving Hillbilly fodder to fuel the "vast right wing conspiracy" theory.

Achilles said...

hombre said...
"Benghazi has played out and The Stupid Party doesn't realize it."

It may have played out for you people. But not in the Vet community. To be sure the list of things that anger is in this administration is very long but Benghazi is not forgotten.

Remember they lied and threw an American Citizen in jail to support their lie. Nobody can deny they lied. Nobody can deny they threw a citizen in jail. The fact that Vet's died because of her complete incompetency is also right there in front of us.

Nichevo said...

Yeah but Achilles whaddya gonna do about it? Apparently the math says you may be safely kicked.

Demo said...

Here is the most certain way to reduce abuse of power in Government - reduce the power of Government.
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