Richard A. Bloom

What is Rand Paul thinking?

The Kentucky senator is among the Republicans doing their best to discredit Hillary Clinton for the way that she handled the attack in Benghazi. Since she is no longer the secretary of State, there is only one reason to focus attacks on her person: to discredit her as an Election 2016 candidate.

Is that a defensible priority right now? Isn't 2013 a bit early for it even from a purely pragmatic perspective?

If details emerge that tell us something we don't know about Clinton and Benghazi, there is plenty of time to use them. If no details emerge, it is bizarre to think this particular controversy will meaningfully impact her chances at winning the Democratic nomination or the general election. Unless this is a cynical play to the most irrational parts of the Republican base, which could conceivably derive pleasure from seeing Clinton attacked and reward whatever politician does it, there is no case to be made that Paul is making good use of his scarce face time with this message.

Republicans were convinced, prior to Election 2012, that Benghazi was a promising political issue. And despite all the subsequent evidence to the contrary, they seem to be pinning their 2016 hopes on Benghazi too. Is this seriously the best critique of Democratic foreign policy they've got?