Craziest Republican of the Day: Steve King

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Quite a few Republicans are still suffering from Benghazi fever, and wingnutjob extraordinaire Steve King of Iowa has it worse than most: 

I believe that it's a lot bigger than Watergate, and if you link Watergate and Iran-Contra together and multiply it times maybe 10 or so, you're going to get in the zone where Benghazi is," Mr. King said. "I don't think the public has any idea, and I tell you, I don't either, of the chronology of the events — what took place, and who was where doing what and why. And all the way down through — we still haven't seen an autopsy report on the ambassador yet. Simple questions that you would ask in the first 24 hours have not been asked yet. 

So... he doesn't have a fucking clue what happened -- he admits as much -- but he's sure it was really, really, really bad. Like, the worst scandal ever. By far.

As ThinkProgress notes, "mainstream media outlets have extensively reported emerging details about the assault, many of which have undercut Repubican attempts to create a faux-scandal out of the events, over the past three months." (Have a look at TP's extensive timeline.) 

I've also written about it here, here, and here.

Basically, Republicans are desperate for a devastating Obama scandal (or, really, any Obama scandal) and actually think they have one here, though their ridiculous claims have been thoroughly debunked. They seem to be blinded by bitterness, resentment, and rage, so much so that they can't seem to grasp that the intelligence community had good reasons to tone down what officials like Susan Rice could say publicly. There was no political cover-up (Watergate) and no secret/illegal arms sales to Iran and funding of right-wing terrorism in Latin America (Iran-Contra).

It sort of makes sense why someone like McCain has been making a big deal of this non-scandal. He's cranky, he hasn't gotten over '08, and he's worked himself up into frothing partisanship in thinking that something's off in what the White House has been saying about Benghazi. This isn't to exuse him, just to note that some of these fevered Republicans are being cynically partisan and hypocritical, as usual.

But with King it's something else. Yes, he's an unthinking partisan and right-wing ideologue blinded by irrationality, but he's also remarkably stupid. Like, as stupid as the two stupidest people in the world multiplied by ten.

Combine such stupidity with abject craziness -- this is his ninth CRD, putting him well ahead of anyone else -- and, well, you get this sort of unrestrained nonsense.