What? Evidence that Hillary lied? Well there’s something new!

Remember when Democrats used to complain that Reagan was the "teflon president," because no charge or hint of scandal could ever stick to him? The inoculation of Hillary Clinton works a little differently. If you really want to start going through every example of her dishonesty and malfeasance, it's easy. Whether it's cattle futures, Bosnia or even Watergate, Hillary is about as shameless a liar as you're ever going to find. She might even be the most dishonest person in her own family, which is saying something.

So when House Republicans come out, as they now have, with evidence that Hillary told lies and covered up information about the State Department's negligence and malfeasance related to the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, the result of this evidence will be the same as it always is where Hillary's dishonesty is concerned. It will be massive chorus of: What difference does it make?

---

The report, compiled by five House panels after a seven-month investigation, said Clinton approved reductions in security levels prior to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, contradicting Clinton’s testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Jan. 23. “Senior State Department officials knew that the threat environment in Benghazi was high and that the Benghazi compound was vulnerable and unable to withstand an attack, yet the Department continued to systematically withdraw security personnel,” the report states. “Repeated requests for additional security were denied at the highest levels of the State Department,” it said. “For example, an April 2012 State Department cable bearing Secretary Hillary Clinton’s signature acknowledged then-Ambassador [Gene] Cretz’s formal request for additional security assets but ordered the withdrawal of security elements to proceed as planned.” “Clinton testified that the more than 1 million cables that come to the State Department from the field every year are addressed to her and those that go out from Foggy Bottom bear her signature, regardless of who wrote them.” It also accuses the White House and senior State Department officials of altering accurate talking points drafted by the intelligence community in order to protect the department in the days after the attack. Contrary to what the administration has stated, the report said the talking points were not edited to protect classified information, and notes that concern for classified information is never mentioned in email traffic among senior administration officials.

Well yes. We all know this, of course. We all know security was lax at the consulate. We all know Hillary denied requests to beef it up. We all know they pretended the attack was provoked by a YouTube video. We all know they hid the truth to protect themselves against criticism. And we all know Hillary sat there and lied about it, and demanded of Republicans, "What difference does it make?" We also know that after giving this galling performance, most of the media lauded her for "winning" the exchange. This is how it works with Hillary Clinton, and the media has known it from the beginning. Her gambit is to parlay her one-time status as first lady into as much of her own prominence as she can possibly achieve, preferably president of the United States. Her strategy is to glom onto positions of prominence - U.S. senator from a state where she didn't even live; Secretary of State on an appointment by a president who didn't even really trust her - and then, once in those positions, do little or nothing of substance while building an image of herself as astoundingly smart and hard-working. And if it comes out in the course of all this that she really, completely, totally screwed something up . . . lie. That's how it works. The media knows this. And not only do they not have a problem with it, they're actually quite fascinated by her ability to pull it off (even as they somehow miss in the process that she only pulls it off because they let her). The House Republican report is surely a solid one. And it will surely not matter at all. Revealing that Hillary Clinton is a liar is like revealing that water is wet. It's been understood forever. But because she is so crafty and shrewd and keeping it from harming her political career, she is hailed as a bright light of the political world rather than being seen as a crass, self-serving poseur whose only skill is in protecting her own political viability. Yep. Hillary's a liar. What difference does it make? None at all.