[Fishtalk]

Can somebody tell me what Kevin MCCarthy said that inferred that Gowdy’s Benghazi investigation was political?

[chiller]

Hannity asked what Congress republicans had achieved. McCarthy said the committee had damaged Hillary's poll numbers, skipping over the fact that the committee dug up troubling information on Benghazi, emails and private servers etc. which then damaged Hillary's poll numbers.

[chiller]

We know what McCarthy was trying to say, but he was so in artful about it, not realizing what a huge talking point he has gifted Hillary for the rest of her campaign, that it was clear this is not the mind we want as Speaker.

[rodguy911]

this is pretty much it.

Another fine example of how our side can screw up even in a minor way and then have it turned over by the drivebys since we have no media to rely on or we don't know how to use what we have.

..............................

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy commented on Fox News on the Select Committee on Benghazi, suggesting its investigation brought Hillary Clinton's poll numbers down.

Washington Post reporter Elise Viebeck explains why McCarthy's comment ended up as a win for Clinton. (Alice Li/The Washington Post)

Sean Hannity was pushing hard, asking House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to name some promises his Republicans had actually delivered on. He scoffed when McCarthy said the party would start undoing the Affordable Care Act -- "you have the power of the purse!" He talked over McCarthy when the leader and candidate for Speaker of the House suggested that the party did not need to cut funds for President Obama's "amnesty," because courts had taken care of it. Only halfway into the interview did McCarthy finally catch a break.

"Everybody though Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?" McCarthy asked. "But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she's untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened, had we not fought."

"I give you credit for that," said Hannity. "I'll give you credit where credit is due."

The interview ran late Tuesday night, giving Hillary Clinton's campaign and allies time to prepare a counterattack. They -- and Democrats, generally -- had always described the May 2014 creation of the Select Committee on Benghazi as a political fishing expedition. All of a sudden, McCarthy was saying so, just to mollify a partisan conservative TV host.

[GAgal]

He pointed out to the reporter that Hillary’s polling stats had fallen, implying it was at least partly because of the hearings.