Will Benghazi Testimony Work to Hillary's Advantage?

As noted numerous times on this blog, Republicans - or perhaps I should clarify, and say lunatics in the party base - are obsessed with Benghazi.  No conspiracy or rumor is too far fetched to not be grasped and believed by spittle flecked Christofacsists and Tea Party loons who seemingly all have IQ's under 70 (no offense intended to the retarded).  Given this reality, GOP House members have decided to have yet more hearings on Benghazi in order to  further prostitute themselves to the unwashed swamp dwellers of the party base.  Some suggest, however, that this exercise could backfire and actually work to Hillary Clinton's advantage.   Here are excerpts from a piece in Politico that thinks the GOP is unwittingly helping Hillary:

Three out of four Democratic insiders in the early states believe testifying before Congress about the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, will work to Hillary Clinton’s advantage.

This week’s survey of The POLITICO Caucus, a bipartisan group of the most influential activists, operatives and elected officials in Iowa and New Hampshire, found that most Democrats think it would be beneficial to Clinton when she is called to discuss the matter before Congress, something she is expected to do at some point, likely this summer.

Democrats were skeptical that Clinton would get a fair hearing, but were confident she would do a good job shutting down questioners in the hopes of moving on from the issue.

“Republicans prefer the safety of manufactured outrage on Benghazi. In person, I think Clinton will crush their questions,” said an Iowa Democrat.

Added a New Hampshire Democrat, “As she has proven many times before, Hillary is not afraid to testify and is a very good witness; she will walk out of the hearing room enhanced.”

A majority of Republicans — nearly 60 percent — also said it would be helpful for Clinton to address the issue head-on (she appeared before Congress once before on this issue in 2013). Several Republicans warned some in their party could overdo the confrontation, which could work to Clinton’s advantage if she appears to be answering questions openly and honestly.

“It is a real opportunity for her to face this and defuse it—the R’s will not be able to resist the temptation to gang up and it may actually engender some sympathy for her, hard as that is to imagine,” said a New Hampshire Republican.

Another Granite State Republican acknowledged, “Hillary is at her strongest when she answers her critics head-on. She should embrace it — and hope her opponents overplay their hands. Which they could do, easily.”

74 percent of Democrats and 22 percent of Republicans — including one-third of the 15 New Hampshire Republicans who responded this week — say that the Benghazi attack is not quite as much of a hot-button issue for the GOP base as it was in the aftermath of the attacks and during the 2014 midterm elections.

“The nut job conspiracy theorists on the fringe love the issue. Everyone else sees shades of gray in a horrible, messy, tragic situation, and how it was handled,” said a New Hampshire Republican. “Could have happened just as easily in a Republican administration.”

Sadly, nowadays "nut job conspiracy theorists" describes a majority of the GOP base. Logic, reason and objective reality are now scorned by the GOP base, especially among Christofascists.