Keeping Hillary out of the 2016 campaign

That's certainly what this smells like -- quite apart from the fact that Darrel Issa is involved.

Republicans accuse Obama and top administration officials of overlooking warning signs before the attack and trying to deflect questions about terrorism afterward.

“There was a clear disconnect between what security officials on the ground felt they needed and what officials in Washington would approve,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Tuesday. “Reports that senior State Department officials told security personnel in Libya to not even make certain security requests are especially troubling.”

Clinton briefed members of Congress privately days after the attack and has called individual members frequently. She spoke to Issa on Monday, another senior State Department official said.

“They did not ask, and there was no serious discussion at this point that she would testify,” the official said. ...WaPo

The last thing Issa's committee would want at this point is a sympathetic Clinton testifying and possiblyscrewing up their attempts to paint her as the villain of the attack in Libya.

Let's not forget that the Republican party has a good reason to feel desperate. We're now well into the period forecast decades back where the growth in population and the changes in the political and ethnic makeup of our population are making it much harder for conservatives to win.  Not to have to go up against Hillary Clinton -- now much admired because of her tenure as Secretary of State -- would make 2016 a little easier for the Republican party.

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It looks as though Issa has decided not to pursue Clinton, at least not for now.  But watch out!  He will.  The Hill also sniffs 2016 in the air.  And The Hill remembers that there's a (somewhat tenuous) personal connection between Issa and Clinton.

A fight between Issa and Clinton would have implications not only in the 2012 election, but possibly 2016 as well, given speculation — rejected by Clinton — that she might run again for the White House.

The real target for all of Issa’s investigations is Obama, whom Clinton is under pressure to protect even as she looks to cement her own reputation as a successful secretary of State. 

And Issa, in going after State, is setting himself up for a battle with one of the country’s most popular and influential political figures. 

Clinton is also a Washington player with a cadre of loyal lieutenants dedicated to protecting her image — not to mention her husband, President Bill Clinton. 

Clinton and Issa have tangled in the past. 

In 1998, Clinton, whose brother was married to Sen. Barbara Boxer’s daughter, campaigned with the California Democrat against Issa, who ended up losing the Senate election to a primary challenger despite pouring millions of dollars into the race. 

Issa and Clinton came up against each other again in 2003, when California’s Democratic governor, Gray Davis, was in the midst of being recalled. 

Problems for Clinton could arise down the road as the committee looks into whether it was misled by the administration — a central theme to Issa’s investigation of Holder. ...The Hill

Comments

[Richard W. Crews]

Republican Akin's ignorance on woman's biology is a symptom of conservative (non)thinking. Having long rejected science as not in alignment with Party, they sail on their own personal sea of ignorance.. The human mind evolved perceiving patterns in everything, and even a deprived mind makes up self-convincing explanations for everything. We're talking about people living at the bottom of a well of self-imposed censoring, who look up and think they see the horizon. Rather than having a learning moment, Akin doubles down on the dumb; soon we're discussing the idea of legitimate rape. And having rape babies. Freedom!

This yokelism adds up. The atrocity of Republican numerical ascendency is a Midieval mindset in congress, stumbling against modernity. The cumulative ignorance gets Michelle Bachman, paranoid conspiracy nut, on the Intelligence Committee, and Akin, Health-Ed flunk-out, on the science committee. Each member contributing towards Republican majority enables this national sickness.

So carpetbagging nothingburger Bilbray, right-wing rubber-stamp Hunter, and not-criminal Issa leverage The Stupid. Not criminal? That's right, but how many of your acquaintances have been arrested 3+ times? Just sayin'. Issa has led an important committee on a wasteful 3+ year circus of dead-end vendettas.

This is not a responsible political party.