The Reality-Based Community Speaks

/Snap!
Benen: CLINTON 1, PENCE 0....

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised a few eyebrows and generated a few laughs this morning during an appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Among other things, Clinton explained to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) that she doesn't consider Dick Cheney a "particularly reliable source" on detainee abuse issues.

And while that was satisfying to watch, I was even more impressed with how she handled Rep. Mike Pence (R) of Indiana, the right-wing talk-show host turned congressman turned GOP leader.

Pence, one of the institution's more embarrassing members, twice suggested that President Obama may have deliberately allowed himself to be used for propaganda purposes to bolster the "interests" of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. (The two heads of state shook hands at an international gathering. Someone get the feinting couch.) Pence added that it's "demoralizing" for those who hope for freedom to see an American leader greet "the very people who are oppressing them." You'll have to watch the clip; Pence seemed to think he was being profound.

He wasn't, and the Secretary of State made it clear the poor schmo doesn't know what he's talking about.

I wish I could understand why this point isn't obvious to clowns like Pence. Does he not remember the Cold War? And the fact that the Soviets did more to oppress those who hope for freedom than any force in recent history? And that U.S. presidents not only shook hands with USSR leaders but also negotiated with them?

Pay particular attention to the end of the Clinton clip, when she explained to Pence, "We want your constructive criticism, we want your feedback. But President Obama won the election. He beat me in a primary, in which he put forth a different approach, and he is now our president. And we all want our president, no matter of which party, to succeed, especially in such a perilous time."

Think Progress: Clinton on Cheney: ‘It won’t surprise you that I don’t consider him a particularly reliable source.’

In testimony today before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) that she did not view former Vice President Cheney as a "particularly reliable source" on matters related to detainee torture and mistreatment. Rohrabacher had asked Clinton whether she supported the release of documents that Cheney recently claimed documented the "successes" that came out of the Bush administration's torture program:

ROHRABACHER: This goes to the heart of as far as I can see of whether or not we can expect to have transparency and openness in this administration? Or are you going to just refuse to answer the question? ... What will be your recommendation?

CLINTON: I am not going to share that with you because I don't know any facts that support what you're describing.

Watch it:

Perhaps Rohrabacher is hoping that the documents Cheney was describing will vindicate his June 2008 claim that the detainee mistreatment amounted to nothing more than "hazing pranks from some fraternity."

Kurtz: What Thinking Folks Are Up Against This one just hurts to watch. And to make matters worse, a smug Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) actually thinks he "baffled" Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate, during this exchange in a hearing today:



Benen: QUOTE OF THE DAY....

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder notes some polling data today suggesting the Republican Party is now less popular among Americans than countries like Venezuela and China. He concluded:

My Republican friends keep asking me when I'll take the GOP seriously again and why I've stopped writing about ticky-tak political gamesmanship and GOP consultant tricks. When they're a serious party with serious ideas, then we can talk.

Ouch.

On this, of course, Ambinder is obviously right. The political world has been waiting for a while to see the GOP become "a serious party with serious ideas," but Republicans have not only failed to get their act together, there's no evidence they'll be able to turn things around anytime soon.

Indeed, they're stuck with Cheney, Rove, and Gingrich as their leading voices. How's that working out?

Strategists privately stress the GOP needs to move past old faces, and one veteran Republican said the attacks could be effective.

"The conservatism of the 21st century should be divorced from personality politics and simply be about ideas," said Craig Shirley, a biographer of former President Ronald Reagan. "But since the GOP appears to be bankrupt of ideas, this line of attack will be effective from the standpoint of putting them on the defensive again."

"Bankrupt of ideas"? But what about the proposed five-year spending freeze? And more enormous tax breaks for the wealthy?

You see the problem.