Right Wing Meltdown: Limbaugh and Hannity Claim Clinton Benghazi Hearing is Staged

Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:17 am

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Hillary Clinton’s performance at the Benghazi hearing has been so strong that it has triggered a right wing meltdown and claims by Hannity and Limbaugh that the hearing is staged.

On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh claimed that Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi hearing is staged:

Limbaugh said, “Hi, friends. It was a puke fest. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It was right out of a banana republic. And I’ve seen it all. I mean, in my 62 short years I’ve seen a lot. I’ve never seen groveling, butt kissing, sucking up. I’ve never seen anything like Hillary Clinton’s appearance before a joint congressional committee on that Benghazi guy who went nuts over there in Libya. And I guess everybody’s favorite part, she lost her cool at one point. By the way, she opened up crying, which is part of the script. But our favorite part, she was asked by Senator Johnson why they stuck with the story of the video to explain why the Benghazi guy went nuts.”

On his radio show Sean Hannity pushed the staged hearing meme:

Let me, as well as I know the Clintons and now the Obamas, let me just tell you what is going on behind the scenes here. What you saw in this answer, this anger, this outrage, I can tell you it was not spontaneous. I can you that it was staged. Probably at the direction of the Ragin’ Cajun himself, James Carville or somebody else. This was all pre-planned. They’ve had four months. They knew this was coming, and this was their strategy. What difference does it make? What difference? Does it matter? Of course it matters to the people who want the truth.”

Limbaugh claimed that Republicans were in on the conspiracy too, because this was all part of getting Hillary Clinton elected in 2016. Hannity decided to channel the 1990s and label this a Clinton conspiracy.

The right and their media establishment can’t handle the reality that their hopes of a Benghazi scandal have completely gone up in smoke. After months of telling their audiences that there was a conspiracy and a cover up surrounding Benghazi, Limbaugh and Hannity have to keep the story going. They can’t possibly tell their listeners that there is nothing there.

Congressional Republicans were supposed to “get” Sec. Clinton today. They were going to use her testimony to build the sort of Obama scandal that they have been dreaming of since 2008. Instead the Republicans’ own political theater was turned against them, and Hannity and Limbaugh are left with nothing but empty conspiracy theories.

By not accepting reality, Hannity and Limbaugh are furthering the delusions of the right. There was no conspiracy today. The truth is that Hillary Clinton is a superior leader and politician. The fact that Hillary Clinton was able to bulldoze through some of the so called best and brightest of elected Republicans like they weren’t even there should terrify any conservative leader who is eyeing up 2016. Hannity and Limbaugh’s conspiracies can’t hide the fact that Hillary Clinton looked, sounded, and acted like a person who is prepared to be president.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association