Blumenthal! Brock! BENGHAZI!!!

Both Politico and the House Republicans are still trying to make something out of Sidney Blumenthal's emails on Libya to Hillary. Alas, there is no there there.

The story is the same: Blumenthal and former CIA guy Tyler Drumheller were trying to do business with the Libyans when all hell broke loose. Blumenthal sent Hillary some messages about what he was able to find out about the Libyan situation. Seriously, this is all that happened. Nevertheless, Republican Chair Chairman Trey Gowdy said at the close of the hearings:

“We have a CIA, so why would you not rely on your own vetted source intelligence agency? In this case, there was no vetting, no analysis of credibility whatsoever.”

Hillary did not "rely" on the emails from Blumenthal; she told her people "Look into this." There's simply no scandal to be found here.

By the way, Blumenthal figured out both the perps of the Benghazi attack and their motive, and he did so about a week before the CIA knew what was what, and several weeks before the NYT did. Why are the right-wingers slamming Blumenthal and Drumheller for getting it right?

Don't forget that Drumheller was "axed" to leave the intelligence community because he told the truth about Curveball and the alleged WMDs in Iraq. Drumheller has been vetted -- by history.

I suppose that his record of accuracy is precisely what makes him such a suspicious figure to conservatives. In Rightwingerland, getting it right can result in a loss of credibility. If a Republican asks you the time, make sure that your answer is at least 30 minutes off, because he'll never forgive you if you're spot on.

Even sillier is the concurrent attempt to make Blumenthal, David Brock and Hillary out to be part of some shadowy conspiracy.

A particular focus during Tuesday’s closed-door deposition was a network of groups founded by Clinton enforcer David Brock...

"Enforcer"? I read Brock's book Blinded By the Right. He doesn't come across as the kind of guy likely to be mistaken for Rocco the Leg-Breaker.

While still secretary of state, Clinton emailed back and forth with Blumenthal about efforts by one of the groups, Media Matters, to neutralize criticism of her handling of the deadly assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, sources tell POLITICO.

“Got all this done. Complete refutation on Libya smear,” Blumenthal wrote to Clinton in an Oct. 10, 2012, email into which he had pasted links to four Media Matters posts criticizing Fox News and Republicans...

What? These people actually fought back when the right-wingers tried to smear Hillary Clinton? How dare they! It must be a conspiracy! A CONSPIRACY, I tell you!

Brock, informed Wednesday by POLITICO of the committee’s line of questioning, called it ironic.

“The Republicans asked more about what our groups do to debunk their false claims about Benghazi than about the attacks in Benghazi? That sounds like a bizarre waste of time,” Brock said. “All our work is made public. And I’d be happy to give Chairman Gowdy a tour of our offices at his convenience,” Brock said, referring to Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who chairs the Benghazi committee.

Don't take the tour, Representative Gowdy! Brock will no doubt feed you an LSD-laced donut, and then you'll end up jumping out of a high window like Frank Olson. Everyone knows that David "the Enforcer" Brock is infamous for such tactics.

Whenever the Republicans cook up one of these insane pseudo-scandals, I find reason to like the Clintons.