Roar! Congressman Trey Gowdy to Head House Investigation on Benghazi Attacks

After recurring dismissals for another investigative committee to look into the suspicious circumstances surrounding the 2012 Benghazi attacks (the latest of which occurred on 4/8), House Speaker John Boehner declared on Friday that a special investigative committee would, indeed, be formed. His decision was fueled by damning emails, previously redacted and hidden, that directly tied the White House to a cover up. Or, perhaps, because of 2014 midterm elections. Whatever the cause, Boehner iced the long-overdue cake on Monday afternoon; he announced that the House special committee would be chaired by Congressman Trey Gowdy, R-SC. Isn’t it amazing what a difference an election year makes?

Representatives that had also been under consideration for chairman, according to FOX News, were: Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas; Rep. Mike Turner R-Ohio; Rep. John Mica R-Fla.; Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.; and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.

For Democrat operatives, working overtime to downplay the latest evidence of White House malfeasance, news of a fresh House investigation was bad enough. Gowdy’s appointment, however, took a bad situation for them and made it worse. Much, much worse. Gowdy has a very impressive CV. Although he has only been a member of Congress since 2011 he has served on the House Committees on Education and the Workforce, Ethics, Judiciary, and Oversight and Government Reform. He also serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security for the Judiciary Committee. What really makes his appointment as committee chairman a devastating blow to Democrats, however, is his previous experience. Mr. Gowdy served for six years as a successful, Federal prosecutor. And he is a genuine Conservative.

John Boehner, hardly a fan of the Conservative base has, in this instance, decided that selecting a Conservative to lead the investigation is prudent. For others, including Sen. Darryl Issa, Rep. Gowdy has been the ideal choice to produce more than lip service. Boehner’s statement, according to the Washington Post, was laudatory:

Trey Gowdy is as dogged, focused, and serious-minded as they come. His background as a federal prosecutor and his zeal for the truth make him the ideal person to lead this panel…he (will) get to the bottom of this tragedy and will not tolerate any stonewalling from the Obama administration.  I plan to ensure he and his committee have the strongest authority possible to root out all the facts.

Apparently, Rep. Gowdy hit the ground running. On Friday, Gowdy fired an opening salvo, claiming that he has evidence of a “systematic, intentional” effort by the Obama administration to withhold documents from Congress about the 2012 Benghazi attacks that killed four Americans. Newsmax reported Gowdy’s exchange with Greta Van Susteren later in the day: “‘I have evidence that, not only are they hiding it, there’s an intent to hide it…I can’t disclose that evidence yet, but I have evidence that there was a systematic, intentional decision to withhold certain documents from Congress — and we’re just sick of it.’”

As are the rest of us.

Not surprisingly, Democrats, ever faithful to their play book, seem to have developed amnesia when it comes to engaging in bi-partisanship. For some reason, any necessity for “crossing the aisle” goes right out the window when things aren’t going their way. First came grumbling that there are already too many Benghazi investigative committees and, besides, Benghazi no longer matters. Then, failing to convince a significant portion of the population that this Democrat fantasy was a fact, Newsmax carried more strident complaints: “Democrats in Congress dismissed the Benghazi focus as a witch hunt aimed at galvanizing the Republican base and a distraction from issues such as income inequality and immigration.”

Yup; when the first lie fails, start yelling “persecution” and throw more dung at the wall. That nearly always works. Nearly.

Finally, according to the Washington Post, Democrats are going to try to take their ball and go home: “It remains unclear if Democrats will participate in the committee…on Monday afternoon, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters that he will urge Democratic House members to vote against the formation of the committee.” Happily, this time, such futile posturing won’t make a bit of difference. Gowdy can be relied upon to remember that the stench of four Americans, murdered in Benghazi two years ago, isn’t dissipating.

It is to be hoped that Democrat petulance won’t sway Rep. Gowdy. But this is just one issue. What Americans need are better long-term memories. If anyone in the GOP ever again pays attention to Democrat whinging about “fair play” they deserve to be issued a one-way bus ticket and a forcible “boot” out of Congress by voters.

Image: Courtesy of: Screen Shot: http://gowdy.house.gov/videos/?VideoID=lyjAosInnts /