Back-door campaign public financing

I’ve heard the idea of public financing of elections bantered about for many years as a way of getting big money out of politics. I’ve always thought it was a reasonable alternative to what we have now. Well, campaign public financing is now happening — through the back door. The Republicans have so far spent $4.7 million of your tax dollars on committee hearings meant to impair the campaign of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Think about it. Millions of your tax dollars spent on hearings lasting 17 months and counting, supposedly to investigate the tragic deaths of four Americans when terrorists overran our embassy in Benghazi. It just so happened that Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State at the time.

“There were 13 attacks on our embassies when George W. Bush was president. That investigation lasted about 17 seconds,” stated one unnamed Democrat. He was right on target. The Republicans’ exploitation of the deaths of these four Americans in an obvious attempt to smear Hillary Clinton is disgusting.

“This may not be politically correct, but I think that there was a big part of this investigation that was designed to go after people and an individual, Hillary Clinton.” said Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y. on Oct 13.

Hanna’s revelation shouldn‘t surprise you. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., astonishingly let it be known last month that the Committee on Benghazi was created as a means to attack Clinton’s popularity. Her poll numbers were too high to suit many Republicans. This was not a surprise to Democrats sitting on the Committee. It was a surprise to many Republicans that McCarthy would tell the truth. His gaffe was the reason he abruptly withdrew his name as a candidates to replace House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Hanna suggested that McCarthy was just being truthful. Evidently, that’s not an acceptable trait in Republicans.

Originally, House Republicans claimed they formed the Benghazi Committee to investigate the attack on our embassy. The Fox network was sucked in like the great white shark sucked in Capt Quint in “Jaws.” They have spent 17 months doing their best to belittle Hillary because the attack happened on her watch. From the very beginning, Democrats have made it clear that the Benghazi hearings were nothing more than a political stunt. They were obviously right, as the Republicans, at least a few honest ones, now admit. After the hearing consisting of 11 hours of Hillary bashing, enough is enough.

Republicans do plan ahead. Just in case Hillary should get elected, despite the use of your tax dollars in an attempt to smear her, at least one Republican is already planning her impeachment!

Amanda Terkel, Senior Political Editor, The Huffington Post reported on Oct.19 that Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., in a conversation with radio talk show host Matt Murphy, said, “If Hillary Clinton should get elected, Republicans intend to impeach her for her use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State, violating all rules of law and exposing Americans to great danger.” I don’t know how many times they must be told that Hillary’s use of her private email server was perfectly legal at the time. A bad choice, but not an illegal one.

There was a classic cartoon in the Washington Post on Oct. 14. It featured two cartoon Republicans talking about the Benghazi hearings, ”Enough looking backwards! We need to begin our ‘impeach Hillary hearings.’” Beneath the cartoon was the following statement in quotes. “We should subpoena all the emails she will write in the future.”

I wrote a column two weeks ago about the Republicans’ lack of action concerning all the mass firearm homicides in this country. This year there has been more than one mass murder using firearms in this country every day. Thousands will die this year while Congress sits on its hands or holds politically motivated hearings. They would have you believe they are really concerned about the four Americans killed in Benghazi.

Where’s their concern about the children being murdered in our schools everyday? Where’s their concern about the worshipers shot to death in church? How many millions have they spent in hearings trying to keep firearms out of the hands of mass murderers? Zero. How many months have they spent searching for a solution to the epidemic of mass killings in this country? Zero.

That’s $4.7 million and 17 months spent on a political witch hunt and zero spent on a killing epidemic in our schools, churches, theaters, and streets. It’s a record of which they seem proud. That’s a pity.

Glen McAdoo, a Fallon resident can be contacted at glynn@phonewave,net.