After 11 hours of hazing by Trey Gowdy’s (R-S.C.) House Select Benghazi Committee Oct. 22, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton let CNBC’s Rachel Madow get her to vent about off-the-wall statements by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Al.), calling for immediate impeachment the day Hillary takes office. Instead of shrugging the statements off as more political hype, Hillary unloaded on Brooks. “Isn’t that pathetic? It’s just laughable. It’s just totally ridiculous,” Hillary told Madow, after Brooks told a Alabama radio show he would launch impeachment hearings for “high-crimes-and-misdemeanors” for Hillary’s misuse of classified information on her private email. Instead of thanking Brooks for his confidence that she’ll win the presidency in 2016, Madow got Hillary to vent on national TV. For eleven hours, Hillary took her abuse with exquisite grace-under-pressure
Venting to Madow means little in the scheme of things but shows that even the most disciplined and well-rehearsed candidates can go off-script. Hillary knows that Brooks comments don’t dignify a response, something she felt inclined to do on CNBC’s “The Rachel Madow Show.” Known for her liberal bias, Madow’s like preaching to the choir for Hillary but showing that it’s ill-advised to overreact, especially to nonsensical comments by a right wing nut-job. “It perhaps, is good politics with, you know, the most intense, extreme part of their base. I guess that is, or otherwise why would they be doing it,” said Hillary, recalling the House GOP’s relentless efforts in 1999 to impeach her husband, former President Bill Clinton for lying under oath about his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Brook’s remarks were designed to get a sound-bite from Hillary
Hillary 11-hour performance under the heat-lamp of the House Select Benghazi Committee proved to be the best audition for the White House ever offered to a presidential candidate of either party. Watching GOP committee members tee-off on Hillary allowed the public to witness her personal strength. Whatever one thinks of presidential debates or special hearings, they’re great proving ground to showoff political skills, but, more importantly, a human side. Hillary endeared herself to voters watching amused as Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) got into a shouting match with Benghazi chairman Gowdy. Watching 51-year-old head of the Freedom Caucus Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) grill Hillary without getting her rattled proved Hillary’s ready for any stress that comes with the Oval Office. Overreacting on Madow’s show to Brooks’ remarks doesn’t show Hillary’s best side.
Politicians, especially presidential candidates, need to exercise special caution when interviewed in friendly territory on network and cable TV news. When House Majority Leader, a shoe-in for House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) yucked it up with Fox News’ Sean Hannity Sept. 30, confessing that the Benghazi Committee was a partisan witch-hunt against Hillary, he upended his political career. Hillary’s remarks to Madow, while unlikely to come back to haunt her, should be noted as a correctable mistake. Her unflappable appearance at the Benghazi Select Committee showed the kind of restraint needed to persuade voters. Hillary’s performance in the hot seat won over undecided voters looking at her impressive ability to withstand the GOP onslaught without lashing out. Brooks comments, as Hillary suggests, were good politics because they produced a Hillary sound-bite.
Winning over voters is not related only to giving policy details but setting the right tone, showing the right kind of energy. GOP front-runner real estate tycoon Donald Trump has given very little to voters on policy, preferring instead to give them some old fashioned entertainment. Trump’s experience on reality TV taught him that voters want entertainment not a policy wonk. As the campaign gets closer to actual voting, voters will expect more detail from candidates, whether in debates or at campaign stops. As Hillary showed in the Benghazi hearing, she’s got plenty of policy detail, needing to develop her more playful, entertaining side. Unlike Trump that breaks every rule of conventional politics or political correctness, Hillary can’t take the same liberty roasting her GOP critics. Taking the Benghazi Committee’s best shots proved that Hillary can take the heat without lashing out.
Hillary’s stoic performance in the Benghazi Committee made the GOP look cold-hearted and sadistic. Speaking after the Oct. 22 hearing, former Nixon Communication Director and Harvard School of Government professor David Gergen said he hadn’t seen that kind of public abuse since Rep. Joseph McCarthy ( D-Wis.) routinely tormented witnesses before his House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin agreed with Gergen that GOP members went over the top trying to attack the former secretary of state. Looking for some relief, Hillary welcomed the chance to rip Brooks for promising to impeach her on the first day in office. When you think about what Brooks said, it actually paid Hillary the supreme compliment, talking about what he’d do after she becomes president. No other GOP politician has conceded she’ll eventually become president.
