Hillary Clinton’s goal going into the Benghazi Committee hearings was to make the Republicans look tiresome and obsessive, which, as Peggy Noonan notes, often is not hard. The Republicans, however, were able interrogators, and Chairman Trey Gowdy “set a tone not of theatrics but factuality.” By addressing at the outset Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s “witless comments,” Mr. Gowdy quickly blunted every charge and complaint he knew Hillary was going to make.
Ms. Noonan describes Mrs. Clinton as “handsomely coiffed, beautifully made up,” looking well rested and at ease.
At moments she was poised and in command, at others more scattered and scrambling. She has considerable faith in her talent for double talk. She suffered through and survived, and will soon be saying what she wanted to say: I took any and all questions, there is nothing to add, the issue has been addressed. Next.
It is hard to judge the impact of most Clinton performances in real time because Mrs. Clinton is a practiced actress and it takes people time to figure whether they believed the act or not.
Read more from Peggy Noonan here.
