Old habits die hard

Republican rhetoric on Benghazi made a right turn at absurd, and is now headed straight for offensive.

James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma said his panel would focus on the military's response to the assault [on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi]. But, he said, "as bad as everything that I've stated is, what I think is worse is the cover-up."

"It was obvious from the information we had on Sept. 11 that the second wave ... of attacks on the annex was unequivocally a terrorist attack, and we knew it right at the time," he said, accusing the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice, of lying to the American people.

The rhetoric from Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, inches us just a little closer to true madness.

I mean, really. It now appears there's a three-step process in place when dealing with such controversies: (1) Republicans accuse the Obama administration of a scandalous cover-up; (2) Republicans receive independent proof that clearly shows there was no scandalous cover-up; and (3) Republicans decide not to read the proof and again accuse the Obama administration of a scandalous cover-up anyway.

Inhofe still wants to smear Susan Rice? Just for the hell of it? Rice's comments reflected the intelligence community's best available information just a few days after the attack. The far-right's baseless attack on her character already kept her from a cabinet post, so Inhofe is keeping the line of attack going ... for sport?

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There was an independent investigation of the attack, and while its findings were hardly flattering for the State Department, the probe helped prove that "Republican charges of a cover-up" were "pure fiction."

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Inhofe has no evidence to the contrary. He has no questions that have not yet been answered. But he doesn't seem to care.

As a rule, Americans benefit if the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee is at least a little responsible when it comes to making baseless accusations about terrorist attacks. Perhaps Inhofe isn't the best person for this job?