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Clinton

BlogFrom the Desk of Bob Barr

The Benghazi Select Committee – Another Exercise in Republican Ineffectiveness

by lgadmin October 21, 2015
written by lgadmin

A generation ago, it took exactly 506 days between the passage of Senate Resolution 60 establishing the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities to investigate the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate headquarters, and the release of an exhaustive 1,250 report that would lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon a mere 43 days later. By comparison, it has been 532 days from the date on which the Benghazi Select Committee was formed; and from all outward appearances, we are no closer to a resolution of anything than when the committee first began.

 

The point? The GOP does not know how to conduct oversight – one of the three key responsibilities of the Congress (along with legislating and appropriating monies).

 

The work of the Watergate Committee forced Nixon to resign as a result of the cover-up of the Watergate break-in. Now, a generation later, with the GOP rather than the Democratic Party in firm control of the House, the on-again/off-again investigation of the Benghazi debacle that resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including a sitting Ambassador, and which has revealed apparent violations of federal record keeping laws, continues to sputter. The contrast between the effectiveness of the two select committees could not be more evident.

 

When the Watergate Committee was convened after a unanimous vote in the U.S. Senate, members of the committee were chosen because of their esteem among colleagues from both parties, and because they understood their mission was not to embark on a political witch-hunt, but to find the truth and dispense justice for any discovered law breaking.

 

No such respect or appreciation has been afforded Benghazi Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy’s mission. Despite his competence as a trained prosecutor, Gowdy has had to fight tooth and nail against attacks on his investigation coming from on all sides. Not only have Democrats, and initially even Republican leaders like House Speaker John Boehner, refused to accept the need for congressional oversight into the Executive Branch’s actions leading up to and following the Benghazi attack, but Gowdy has been forced into cleaning up the fallout from Republicans like Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who make foolish comments to the press politicizing the investigation, thus further undermining its credibility.

 

Unfortunately for Gowdy, it is not a fight he can win; not because there is not corruption to uncover, or because he is unfit to lead the investigation. The problem is that Republican leaders in Congress have yet to figure out how to investigate Executive Branch abuse, or even to comprehend why.

 

The Obama Administration, and Hillary as a part of that Administration, is certainly responsible for its corruption and ethical deficiencies. Congress too, however, must shoulder some of this responsibility given its systemic ineffectiveness at holding the Executive Branch accountable for this pattern of misconduct. But why should a Democratic Administration fear an opposition majority party in the House that is busy fine-tuning the art of shooting itself in the foot; and a Senate also in the hands of a GOP majority, whose members are frozen in place and afraid to assert their numerical majority for fear of upsetting Minority Leader Harry Reid?

 

It is easy to blame outgoing House Speaker John Boehner for the pervasiveness of this permissive attitude. However, the problem is far more systemic than it is the fault of any one person. Simply put, Republicans no better understand their oversight powers and responsibilities now than they did when I was in Congress during the Clinton Administration.

 

Fortunately, Boehner’s resignation opens the door for reform of this broken process. The next Speaker of the House needs to be a leader who recognizes the constitutional and procedural sources of congressional oversight powers. If Boehner had better understood all the tools in his arsenal, then perhaps rather than simply empower Gowdy to conduct an investigation via a Select Committee, with its limited jurisdiction, he would have empowered the permanent House Oversight Committee — which has the broadest jurisdiction of any committee of the Congress — to undertake investigations that included, but were not strictly limited to, the Benghazi attack. Unfortunately, this generation of Republican congressional leaders never have exhibited the moxie for substantive, hard-nosed oversight investigations.

 

“It goes without saying that partisanship is at the very heart of the original problem,” the late Sen. Jesse Helms stated during the debate over the formation of the Watergate Committee. “It is all the more important, therefore, that the investigation be conducted in an atmosphere that inspires confidence and betrays no suspicion that less than the truth, and the whole truth, has been found.” If we are to have any hope of returning to our status as a nation of laws rather than of men, the next Speaker of the House must realize the gravity of Helms’ words, and work to reassert Congress as an independent check on Executive power as intended by the Constitution. I have learned the hard way, however, not to hold my breath.

Originally published here on townhall.com

October 21, 2015 0 comment
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BlogFrom the Desk of Bob Barr

Hillary – You Are No Bill Clinton

by lgadmin July 29, 2015
written by lgadmin

A paper flyer hangs on a pole in New Hampshire advertising a “Young Americans for Hillary” party. It features a black-and-white photo of a young, Bohemian Hillary, and promises to include, in addition to “political discussion” and “a good time,” pizza, “Hillary swag,” and “young people.” Two days before the event, none of the RSVP reminders were torn from the flyer; a clear sign that just because Team Hillary may be ready for her coronation, not everybody else is.

Hillary Clinton’s likeability problem is no secret. Her favorability among Americans has been sliding since 2012; and a Gallup poll released last week shows her net favorability at its lowest since December 2007. Among non-leaning independent voters, for example, she lost 8 percent favorability in the last few months alone. These anemic numbers should be especially troubling to Hillary, since during her post-First Lady years, she has held numerous positions of high public visibility; including United States Senator, presidential candidate, Secretary of State, and global philanthropist. As such, by now she should have been able to solidify her public appeal as a respected “leader.” Instead, the more people find out about her and her style of “leadership,” the less they like it.

Still, her campaign handlers apparently believe a bounce back in the favorability polls is only a matter of Hillary letting her guard down, and sharing more about herself that makes her “relatable” to voters. However, after years of intentionally isolating herself from the media and the public, and carefully avoiding exhibiting any hint of a “normal” life, it is doubtful Hillary has the ability to relate to anyone outside the Washington Beltway and beyond well-defined Democratic interest groups that would vote for an automaton so long as it sported a “Democrat” label.

Therein lies Hillary’s real problem – she is no Bill Clinton.

Bill inherently understood how to relate to people, especially young people and independent voters turned-off by the stuffy, pretentious nature of Washington politicians. He was charismatic with a capital “C.” He also knew how to work the media, and used his media savvy to carry his charisma across the nation to connect with voters. He was the president who told jokes, loved fast food, and went on the Arsenio Hall show to play “Heartbreak Hotel” on the saxophone. He was a guy to whom voters could genuinely relate. Poor, blue-blood George H.W. Bush never knew what hit him in the 1992 campaign.

It is impossible to imagine Hillary having a “lip sync battle” with “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon, when even a five second “selfie” video of her “chilling in Cedar Rapids” comes off as painfully contrived and phony. The fact is, charisma cannot be faked; it cannot be turned on and off at will. You have it or you don’t. Hillary doesn’t have it. If anything, she has negative charisma.

Where Bill was “cool,” Hillary is cold.

Where Bill was smooth, Hillary is hard-edged.

Where Bill was approachable, Hillary is stand-offish.

Where Bill welcomed the media, Hillary hates the media.

Where Bill thrived among adoring crowds and candid exchanges, Hillary insists on tightly controlled environments with canned responses.

Where Bill was able to present his candidacy as the New Wave versus the Old School (George H.W. Bush), Hillary comes across as Old School; especially when contrasted with the many new faces offered to voters by the GOP (Jeb excluded).

Where Bill appeared to be anti-Establishment, Hillary embodies the Establishment.

These differences between the two Clintons will make all of the difference in this election. Bill won a close election against Bush I in 1992, by keeping the traditional Democratic base and interest groups together while pulling in new, young, swing voters. The coalition of traditional and non-traditional voters was enough to provide him victory. This year, nearly a generation after Bill’s win in 1992, Hillary will still be able to count on the support of the same traditional Democratic interest groups that helped elect her husband, but she will miss the surge of young voters who have grown disillusioned with Obama and with politics in general.
Where Bill won a close race in 1992 fueled largely by his energy and charisma, Hillary will likely lose a close race in 2016 because she has no charisma and lacks vitality. That is, of course, unless the Republican field, which now constitutes an exciting and diverse group of candidates, repeats the self-immolation it inflicted on itself in 2012; or if the GOP decides to nominate another establishment candidate to battle Hillary in the fall. That will level the playing field for Hillary considerably.

Originally published here on townhall.com

July 29, 2015 0 comment
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BlogFrom the Desk of Bob Barr

Hillary vs. Hillary

by lgadmin June 17, 2015
written by lgadmin

If there is one law of politics the Clintons know better than anyone, it is the power of perception. Their masterful ability to twist, bend, and manipulate the truth — even something as basic as the word “is” — has afforded America’s Power Couple a Teflon-like resistance to scandal and corruption that is the envy of less savvy politicos. In Clinton World –where both public and professional personas follow a meticulously crafted storyline that has been thoroughly polled and vetted — nothing is left unscripted; least of all, Hillary’s political swan song.

The location of New York’s tiny Roosevelt Island for Hillary’s first major rally of her 2016 presidential campaign, offers a small taste of how heavily the Clinton handbook will play into her campaign. Not to be interrupted by the riff-raff of New York City, limited access to “Hillary Island” allowed for total attendance control; described by The Daily Beast as a “pleasant little police state.” The island’s namesake, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and its Four Freedoms Park provided the perfect backdrop for Hillary’s reinvention from cloistered liberal elitist to American populist hero.

If successful, the transmogrification of one of the Washington Establishment’s most entrenched fixtures into a working class hero, will be the Clinton PR machine’s magnum opus. However, even it faces the limitations of how much the public is willing to swallow in order to believe such a contrived narrative. In the end, Hillary’s greatest hurdle to the White House may prove to be Clinton herself. Indeed, “Hillary vs. Hillary” may prove just as exciting a bout as the likely Main Event between her and the GOP nominee.

Unlike Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary does not have the benefit of a clean slate when it comes to public service on the national stage. Whereas Obama could skate by on superficial campaign promises, Hillary’s new populist rhetoric clearly clashes with a very public legacy both in office and out, that is decidedly Establishment in nature.

In fact, little about the Clintons’ posh lifestyle, and their phobia of anything outside their neatly manicured sphere of influence, demonstrates any genuine connection with “the people” Hillary now champions. If a campaign could be run on clever Internet memes and social media alone, she would prefer such managed, strategic “interactions” to the unpredictability of public appearances. Such a framework reduces the risk of uncomfortable outbursts from a clearly out-of-practice Clinton, like that in New Hampshire recently when she barked at an adoring fan to get to the “back of the line” when he asked for an autograph.

Even Hillary’s campaign speech on Saturday, light as it was on substance, illustrated how out-of-touch she is with her own policies as a “leader.” Not wanting to waste an opportunity to slam the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, Hillary called for constitutional action to “stop the endless flow of secret, unaccountable money,” which she claims is “corrupting our political process.” Never mind that Hillary is facing serious ethical questions about her own “endless flow of secret, unaccountable” foreign money, totaling in the tens of millions of dollars into the coffers of the Clinton Foundation, even as she negotiated with those very countries as Secretary of State.

Hillary also remains stubbornly tone deaf to the criticism of calling for greater transparency, when, as Secretary of State, she intentionally ignored such laws. To the average citizen, who expects government officials to be accountable to the law, such hypocrisy is obvious; in Clinton World, Hillary is the victim.

Instead of responding in a manner reflective of a true People’s Champion, Hillary treated the e-mail scandal as a joke; a “distraction” orchestrated by her enemies. For those who have followed the Clintons over the years, it was simply another vintage-Clinton maneuver; one which National Journal writer and long-time Clinton reporter Ron Fournier called the “predictable, paint-by-numbers response from the Bill and Hillary Clinton political operation” — deny, deflect, and demean.

The next 16 months for Team Hillary will be less about any substantive plans for rescuing America from the abyss; and more about a continuous reeducation campaign to persuade voters she is not the out-of-touch elitist from Chappaqua who has not driven a car in 20 years, but instead, the hip, pantsuit-wearing grandma ready to carry the presidential banner for all American women into the Oval Office.

There is an Aesop’s Fable that comes to mind here. A farmer finds a viper freezing in the snow and places it in his shirt to save it from dying. Revived by the warmth, the viper resorts to its true nature, turning on its benefactor with a fatal bite. “Oh!” cries the farmer, “I am rightly served for pitying a scoundrel.” Some may genuinely buy into Hillary’s conversion fairytale, and others may feel she deserves the White House as a matter of Manifest Destiny. But the essence of the Clinton fable is well-established and no amount of pity, or forced perception, will change the inevitability of corruption and ethical misconduct to come with another Clinton in the White House. They cannot help it. It is their nature. Shame on us if we succumb to its siren song.

Originally published here on townhall.com

June 17, 2015 0 comment
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From the Desk of Bob Barr

GOP Squandered Its Best Opportunity To Hold Hillary Accountable

by Liberty Guard Author April 15, 2015
written by Liberty Guard Author

In her Sunday video announcing her presidential candidacy, Hillary Clinton touched as many hot buttons as could be crammed into a two-minute spot – women, working families, single moms, gays, Hispanics, retirees, even dog owners made the cut. Not surprisingly, what failed to make the cut was the most serious scandal (among many) which will dog Hillary throughout the primary and general campaign season – the fact that she violated numerous federal laws and regulations regarding official e-mails during and after her tenure as Secretary of State, and has thumbed her nose at the Congress seeking answers.

It made perfect sense, of course, for the presumptive Democratic nominee to stay as far from this scandal as possible.

For one thing, Clinton undoubtedly appreciates the fact that congressional Republicans rarely exhibit any instinct or stomach for pressing an attack against a Democrat adversary, regardless of how strong the merits. Already, for example, the Republican leadership in the House has let slip by what probably was its strongest and most potent weapon with which to attack Hillary.

That golden opportunity was not the Select Committee on Benghazi, chaired by South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy. To be sure, the Benghazi Committee’s investigation is an important one, and may yet uncover important evidence that Hillary and other Obama Administration officials were derelict in their duties before, during and after the fatal 2012 attack on the American consulate in that Libyan city. But already the Select Committee is bogged down in negotiations with Clinton’s attorneys, who are gleefully parsing every word in a committee “request” to the former Secretary of State to kindly turn over her e-mail server to a “neutral” entity for review.

Based on my background as a United States Attorney, and especially as an impeachment manager in the trial of former President Bill Clinton, once you start down that path of playing “Mother May I” with an adversary as adept at delaying and obfuscating as are both Clintons, you have pretty well lost whatever advantage you might have had.

Moreover, while the Benghazi Select Committee is clothed with essentially the same powers as a standing committee of the House, including the power to subpoena witnesses and materials relevant to its jurisdiction, the fact is, its jurisdiction is limited. While the Resolution establishing the Select Committee does sweep broadly, at some point every witness it might call and every document it might subpoena, will be subject to wrangling over whether or not it falls within the scope of the “Benghazi” incident. This inherent limitation will prove a source of continuing irritation, controversy and delay for the work of the Select Committee, no matter how aggressive a Chairman Gowdy turns out to be; and he is a good one.

Which brings us to the golden opportunity the GOP had to obtain answers and hold Hillary accountable to the law and to the American People, but for some reason rejected — the Government Reform and Oversight Committee, chaired by Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz.

The House Oversight Committee has the broadest jurisdiction of any committee of the Congress – including the power to inquire into the operation of every department, office and agency of the federal government; to ensure they and those persons administering them (or who did administer them) are doing so consistent with the letter and the intent of legislation passed by the Congress. It is a permanent committee, and its chairman has the power – not enjoyed by any other committee chairman – to issue subpoenas without vote of the committee.

Of course, Chaffetz, like every committee chairman, ultimately is limited in what he can do as a committee chairman by the leadership of the majority party to which he belongs. And therein lies the rub.

Chaffetz announced earlier this year that his committee would investigate the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal insofar as it clearly deals with possible violations of federal laws and regulations governing the integrity of communications and records keeping by government officials and departments. The jurisdiction of the committee clearly covers both the subject matter and the individuals involved in all aspects of the Clinton e-mail scandal; and there would be no argument over whether any particular witness or document subpoenaed did or did not relate to the Benghazi incident.

The Oversight Committee could even, should it desire, take a witness – even a former cabinet official – into custody for refusing to appear or produce subpoenaed materials (broadly construed by courts today to include computers). This reflects the power vested in a congressional committee — as a part of a branch of our government co-equal with the executive branch – and upheld by the United States Supreme Court in a 1927 decision that has not been overturned since. That would be an extreme measure, but it reflects the trump cards held by the GOP as the majority party in both houses of Congress; power that means something only if understood and wielded.

In failing to lay the groundwork for definitive action through an investigation conducted by the Government Oversight Committee, the GOP has significantly, if not fatally limited its ability to hold Hillary Clinton accountable for violating the laws and lawful regulations applicable to her and every other high government official.

April 15, 2015 0 comment
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Malzberg | Bob Barr says the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal is “typical Clintonism” | Newsmax

by Liberty Guard Author March 6, 2015
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March 6, 2015 0 comment
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