Analyzing Hillary Clinton’s performance before the House Benghazi Committee, CBS News political director John Dickerson stated on Thursday’s CBS Evening News that Clinton “avoid[ed]” falling into any “pitfalls” as those questioning her fought “like cats and dogs.”
Emphasizing that “this was never going to be great day for her” regardless of the result, Dickerson hyped that she dodged “two political pitfalls” of any new revelations regarding the deadly 2012 terror attack and any situation “where she would look callous and dishonest.”
Asked by anchor Scott Pelley how the committee did, Dickerson scolded them for “fighting like cats and dogs between the Republicans and Democrats,” but added it was the GOP who “had a special challenge to, keep the questioning always focused on the central idea of why did this happen.”
Dickerson ruled that it was because of “substantive reasons” and specifically “charges that this is a totally political affair” before downplaying what transpired over what would become an 11-hour-long hearing:
This is the eighth investigation. They're just going after Hillary Clinton. While there were moments that illuminated things we already knew about this tragedy, there were also moments where the questioning was quite secondary to that central question of why did this happen.
In the setup to Dickerson’s analysis, congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes employed heavy usage of soundbites compared to those at the other two networks, but neglected to allude to any new details revealed by Republican Congressman Jim Jordan (Ohio) or Chairman Trey Gowdy (S.C.) or news that she never provided the late Ambassador Christopher Stevens with her e-mail address.
Instead, Cordes played up the hostile exchanges Democratic Congressmen Elijah Cummings (Md.) and Adam Schiff (Calif.) picked with Gowdy.
Over on fellow network NBC, the story was much the same as NBC Nightly News cheered the former Secretary of State for “stay[ing] above the fray” amidst “withering Republican questions” in a hearing that “dissolved into bickering.”
The relevant portions of the transcript from the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley on October 22 can be found below.
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley
October 22, 2015
6:34 p.m. EasternSCOTT PELLEY: Also watching the hearing does was CBS News political director John Dickerson and the anchor of Face the Nation. John, high-stakes day for Hillary Clinton. What was your impression?
FACE THE NATION ANCHOR JOHN DICKERSON: Well, this was never going to be a great day for her. This is not a portion of her period of secretary of state that she wants to talk about but there were two political pitfalls she had to worry about. The first was any new revelation that called her leadership into question as secretary of state. The second pitfall was a moment where she would look callous and dishonest, and so far she's been able to avoid those pitfalls.
PELLEY: And there were no are revelations today?
DICKERSON: Not so far, no.
PELLEY: What about the committee?
DICKERSON: Well, the committee was fighting like cats and dogs between the Republicans and Democrats, but the Republicans — the majority on the committee, had a special challenge to, keep the questioning always focused on the central idea of why did this happen, and that was important for substantive reasons, but also because there have been charges that this is a totally political affair. This is the eighth investigation. They're just going after Hillary Clinton. While there were moments that illuminated things we already knew about this tragedy, there were also moments where the questioning was quite secondary to that central question of why did this happen.
PELLEY: John Dickerson, we'll see you Sunday on Face the Nation. Thank you.
