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October 24, 2015

Biblical Daniel survived Nebuchadnezzar’s lion's with divine aid. Hillary Clinton fended off House Republicans relatively well thanks to her political skills and tenacity.

Though not an uncritical admirer of Hillary, I consider her a formidable politician and public servant, despite the fact that her political skills seemingly went dormant for months until the recent Democratic presidential primary debate. I also consider her by far the best bet that friends of Israel have at least among Democratic contenders.

Having said this, my major reaction to the hearings was that they were an unseemly spectacle of a bunch of partisan, mostly men ganging up for 11 hours on a woman of what the French call “a certain age” who, whatever her mixed motives, has devoted her adult life to public service. She actually began her public career on the Senate Democratic staff during the Nixon impeachment hearings. Those hearings, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin, remain my gold standard for a Congressional investigation. They revealed what President Nixon did and who he was without having to subject him to 11 hours under the klieg lights.

I don’t see why these new Congressional hearings could not have been conducted without the public spectacle and personal ordeal. If a potential criminal investigation of Hillary’s email account and private server during her State Department tenure is needed, the FBI is already doing it.

How would you like your wife, mother, or grandma subjected to such an ordeal! Or for that matter, your husband, father, or grandpa? Yet another example of American politics debased to the level of media circus.

Quite aside from the substantive issues about the management of U.S. Middle Eastern policy raised by the Benghazi tragedy, this kind of investigation represents a trend that is “not good for the Jews” or any individual or group that depends on the maintenance of political civility in this country.

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