Ever since he’s been in the Tennessee General Assembly, state Senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) has incurred the acrimony and dislike of Democrats — not merely for his extremist legislative proposals, few of which make it very far off the launch pad, but because of his willingness to draw attention to himself through outrageous and insensitive statements.

On Monday, the “Don’t Say Gay” senator, infamous as well for his abortive proposal last year to deny families of failing school-children access to state social assistance, finally jumped his shark. Or, more accurately, boarded his train to possible political oblivion.

Campfield’s antics had already made him the target of a thinly disguised purge attempt by the Republican establishment in the guise of Dr. Richard Briggs, a distinguished Knoxville physician who has challenged the madcap senator in the August Republican primary,.
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Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has scheduled a fairly high-profile hearing today on security lapses at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. There’s one nagging problem, however, that might cause Republicans some trouble.

For example, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), a member of Issa’s committee, told Soledad O’Brien this morning that he expects to hear testimony about security that “didn’t meet the basic, minimum standards required for a facility such as the one we had in Benghazi.” Chaffetz added that policymakers have to “make sure it doesn’t happen in other places around the world.”

Asked if he’d voted to cut federal funding for security at U.S. embassies and consulates, Chaffetz responded, “Absolutely. Look we have to make priorities and choices in this country…. When you’re in tough economic times, you have to make difficult choices. You have to prioritize things.”

Hmm. Those “priorities” apparently don’t include security at U.S. diplomatic outposts abroad.

On a day where the unemployment rate fell to pre-financial crisis levels, and a month after private insurance enrollments through the ACA exceeded all expectations, Republicans decided to focus on the only thing they now think they can hammer President Obama on — Benghazi. Yes, nearly two years after the tragic events that unfolded on September 11th, 2012 and took the lives of four Americans, House Republicans are pushing for additional investigations into, well, I’m not even sure exactly what it IS they are looking for. It seems to be something to do with talking points and Sunday shows and the White House trying to save face, or something like that.

On Friday, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, subpoenaed Secretary of State John Kerry to appear before yet another hearing on Benghazi, this one scheduled for May 21st. In the letter that Issa sent to Kerry, Issa used threatening and disrespectful language, giving the impression that he feels that Kerry may not appear or take the hearing seriously. It also gave Issa the chance to show how big a man he is.

“The State Department’s response to the congressional investigation of the Benghazi attack has shown a disturbing disregard for the Department’s legal obligations to Congress…Compliance with a subpoena for documents is not a game. Because your Department is failing to meet its legal obligations, I am issuing a new subpoena to compel you to appear before the Committee to answer questions about your agency’s response to the congressional investigation of the Benghazi attack.”

On top of that, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) announced that he will put together a select committee to further investigate into Benghazi. This is on the heels of the ‘smoking gun’ emails that conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch posted earlier this week. Conservative media has gone wild talking about the emails that were written days after the protests in the Middle East, which included the attack on the consulate in Benghazi. ABC’s Jonathan Karl pushed White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on the content of the emails shortly after they were released. Carney insisted that the emails mostly just discussed foreign policy as it related to the events that transpired in the Middle East, as opposed to formulating a specific strategy with how to frame the attacks in Benghazi.

While anyone who has actually read these emails can see that Carney is telling the truth and that it is more of an overall discussion of policy as it relates to the Middle East, and that there is no ‘smoking gun’ showing that the White House purposely looked to mislead the public about what transpired in Benghazi, Boehner has decided to jump on board with the rest of the crazy train and go all in on Benghazi. He released a statement detailing the reasons why he is forming this select committee.
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