The Republican Party, despite making its one salient point (politicizing intelligence during an election) long ago, simply refuses to let the Benghazi attack fade. Whether the motivation to continue comes from some vague hope in snagging Hillary Clinton in a 2016 attack ad worthy story or just a lingering fetish from the Bush years of saying “9/11″ into a microphone is unclear. But what is known is the GOP is obsessed with the Benghazi attack, convinced there is a big scandal somewhere in there. Unfortunately for the country this obsession is now getting in the way of actual scandals and providing cover for bad actors.

Emails released by the White House contradict some of the quotes from versions of the same emails Republicans in Congress leaked to the media. The White House recently released the emails in response to allegations of a coverup by Obama Administration officials relating to the administration’s knowledge of Al-Qaeda’s involvement in the attacks on the Libyan diplomatic post.

How many Americans have prayed for the victims of 12 years of senseless persecution, locked in cages in Guantanamo?

Now that Republicans see attacking a lame duck provides only diminishing political returns they have once again set their sights squarely on Hillary Clinton. Yesterday’s Benghazi hearing was all about trying to tie blame to Clinton.

To any outside observer, the Republican Party of 2013 would appear to be toast.  They’ve lost the popular vote in five of the last Presidential elections, won nearly 2 million less votes in the House, are failing to gain younger voters with the same alacrity as they are driving away minorities of every sort, not least that “minority” that happens to be, well, half of us, women.  And each night, countless cane-shaking Fox watchers have a date with the Grim Reaper.

The 2016 presidential election campaign apparently began today as the House Oversight Committee continued its seemingly eternal probe into the attack on the US embassy in Bengazhi. And now there is a new twist as Hillary Clinton may be gearing up for a presidential run.

President Barack Obama’s administration, according to the New York Times, is reportedly in talks with Republicans on providing more information on the attack on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Administration officials hope this will secure enough votes so John Brennan can be confirmed to the position of CIA chief without the administration having to provide all the memos on the targeted killing program to Democratic senators demanding to see them.

Senator Lindsey Graham is planning to place a hold on the nominations of Chuck Hagel and John Brennan if the Obama Administration does not grant his demands for more information on the response to the Benghazi embassy attack.

Hearings in Congress today pile on the political debate over the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi. The hearings come on the heels of the Pickering-Mullen report, which looked at the actions of the State Department and foreign service leading up to the attack, finding serious deficiencies in management and “grossly inadequate” security at the consulate. As a result four senior State Department officials resigned.

I imagine this will be perceived as the right wing collecting a scalp, but considering that liberal groups increasingly saw Susan Rice as no picnic either, this probably falls under the auspices of an acceptable loss.