This week marks the end of the Benghazi "scandal": (HILLARY GROUP)

[DeepModem Mom]

Hillary Clinton will be testifying before the Select Committee on Benghazi on Thursday, and by the time she walks out of that hearing room, chances are that all the Republicans’ hopes of using this issue to bring Clinton down will be officially gone.

The timing of Clinton’s testimony couldn’t have worked out better for her, coming as it is after a string of revelations and embarrassments for the committee. First, then-presumptive Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy said on Fox News that the committee’s purpose was to bring down Clinton’s poll numbers, a “gaffe” that had an extraordinary impact, especially when you consider that he was only acknowledging what everyone in Washington already knew. Then we learned that the Select Committee has all but abandoned investigating Benghazi to focus on Clinton’s emails (and that committee staffers are so busy they’ve formed a wine club and a gun-buying club).

Then we learned that a former staffer for the committee is suing them, alleging that he was fired because he wanted to keep investigating Benghazi and not Clinton. Over the weekend, we learned that Democrats are questioning committee chair Trey Gowdy’s accusation that Clinton recklessly used the name of a secret CIA source in an email. According to Democrats, the CIA says the information isn’t sensitive. “I would say in some ways these have been among the worst weeks of my life,” Gowdy told Politico. No wonder.

And what’s going to happen on Thursday? Understand that most of the time, congressional testimony makes the witness look much better than the questioners. There are exceptions here and there, but a well-prepared witness who knows the facts will usually look almost heroic when posed against a bunch of grandstanding blowhards trying in vain to trip her up. The Republicans on the committee will be trying so, so hard, but their main problem is that they just don’t have the thing they hoped they would find: evidence that Clinton committed some act of malfeasance or corruption that led to the deaths of four Americans on that night in Benghazi three years ago....

http://wapo.st/1ZRbS6h via Washington Post

[DURHAM D]

1. Meanwhile, according to the talking heads

Joe will announce he is running on Wednesday. Interesting timing. Guess he wants to throw her off her game.

[Walk away]

2. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I love Joe but he could blow his campaign...

the first time he opens his mouth. Plus, when he concedes to Hillary after Super Tuesday, he will throw his votes to her and they will actually vote for her (unlike the supporters of another candidate).

[DURHAM D]

3. I am not worried about it

I am pissed about it. I don't love Joe. I don't even like Joe. He is creepy.

[Dragon Lefty]

4. Hillary talking with Rachel Maddow Friday, after hearing

She must believe it will go well. Rachel always asks in depth questions.

[Thinkingabout]

5. One thing Hillary has going for herself is with all of the crap thrown her way she remains strong.

She knows her facts and the answers to their questions, so let them roll, she is ready. This has also been training for the debates, she does not get rattled.