Mediaboss Marketing

Republicans in the House approved a special investigative panel into the Benghazi affair Thursday night. Democrats will decide Friday morning whether they will participate.

The House approved the creation of a special Benghazi investigative panel Thursday on a largely party-line vote, leaving Democrats with a big question: To boycott? Or not to boycott?

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

House Democrats will meet Friday morning to decide. Boycotting would be an unusual, though not unprecedented, move. But don't be surprised if they do boycott, experts say. Doing so would have little downside and could possibly even gain Democrats an upward blip with their base ahead of the midterm elections.

For most Americans, Benghazi has long been in the rearview mirror, says John Pitney, a congressional expert at Claremont McKenna College in California. They didnt care that much about it in the fall of 2012, and they care even less about it today.

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D) of California and other Democrats are furious over the creation of the Select Committee on Benghazi, which they consider to be a partisan witch hunt. They note that Republican campaign fundraising has already begun based on the new investigation.

Seven congressional committees and a review board have found poor management and errors on the part of the Obama administration relating to the 2012 attack on a US mission in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans, including the US ambassador. But they did not find a coverup.

The issue has been revived by White House e-mails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by a conservative watchdog group e-mails that had not been delivered to congressional investigators. That has angered Republicans, as has the content of one of the e-mails. Three days after the attack, White House adviser Ben Rhodes wrote that it was important to underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader policy failure. Later, the administration said the Benghazi attack was not connected to the video.

The Democrats not only consider this case closed, but they also find the makeup of the new committee to be unfair seven Republicans and five Democrats, rather than an equal number from each side. Moreover, there are no rules over subpoena power, no time limit as to duration, and no cost estimate. Thursday's vote was 232 to 186, with seven Democrats joining the Republicans and no Republicans joining the Democrats.

Go here to see the original:
Democrats' dilemma: Do they boycott Benghazi panel, or not? (+video)