OH, THAT HEARING YESTERDAY – AT 9:53 A.M. ET:  Look, you've all heard the story.   Hillary Clinton testified yesterday.  She did well by keeping her cool.  The room was packed with her supporters, who applauded on cue.  The Dems on the panel were utterly political in defending her.  The Republicans had some excellent questions.  But the setup made Clinton look like a victim, sitting there against that whole committee.  And nothing much changed.

In a committee hearing, by definition, the person testifying can easily win sympathy.  Eisenhower understood that when he privately orchestrated the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954 to expose McCarthy as a bully.  Ollie North made the most of his "witness" status during Iran-Contra, facing down his Congressional inquisitors.

Please note the rantings of the mainstream media following Clinton's testimony.  Rave reviews all.  Once again we see the sheer power of the liberal press to shape the story.   To the press, Clinton is the new Obama, and all "journalists" will be expected to play their part in putting her in the White House.  Byron York sets the scene.  From the Washington Examiner: 

There's a reason Benghazi Committee chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy offered Hillary Clinton the chance to testify in a private, closed hearing. And there's a reason Clinton wanted to appear in an open setting, with the whole world watching.

The Benghazi Committee has made incremental advances in the public's knowledge of the circumstances of the death of four Americans in Libya on September 11, 2012. But incremental advances — nuggets of information — don't make for dramatic hearings.

In addition, public hearings can become sidetracked, for everyone to see. If one side decides to pitch a fit and bickering ensues, that is what millions of viewers experience. If the questions go off on a tangent, viewers see that, too. In any event, the purpose of the hearing goes by the wayside.

And that is what took place more than once Thursday in Clinton's much-watched Benghazi testimony. Republicans presented some new information. One leading Democrat had a tantrum and started a fight with Gowdy. And some Republicans got tangled up in side issues that didn't tell the public much about the core issues at stake in Benghazi. The result was a marathon hearing that didn't accomplish much.

At this point, there is really only one angle on Benghazi: Americans were in danger in a very dangerous country, security was deteriorating, and the State Department and Secretary of State did little, and in some cases nothing, to protect them.

From K.T. McFarland, at Fox:

She brushed off blame by saying security decisions were handled at lower levels of the State Department professional staff, not by the secretary.

She didn't receive Ambassador Stevens' requests for more security -- implying that if only she had things might have turned out differently.

It was a masterful performance. She showed enormous discipline and nearly super-human stamina.

She let nothing slip. But in the end she let everything slip. She got a perfect score, but failed the test.

She didn't mean to, but she showed us a glimpse into her soul.

It was chilling.

We now know that when Secretary Clinton met the plane carrying the bodies of the four Americans who died at Benghazi she lied about what happened.

COMMENT:  Trouble is, very few people in the public can understand the events the way K.T. understands them.  Hillary looked poised.  Who me?  I was just the secretary of state.  Wasn't my job.

The Democrats were more disciplined.  The media helped them out.  And they had a witness, Hillary Clinton, for whom lying is standard procedure.  As Ira Gershwin wrote, "Who could ask for anything more?"

But there is still the FBI investigation.  The story is not over.

October 23, 2015