Watching The "Party First" Rethuglicans

In today's House Intelligence Committee hearing, the common thread of the Rethuglican questioning of FBI Director and Clinton ratf*cker James Comey has been that the leaking of damaging evidence that demagogue and Putin puppet Donald "Rump" Trump and his campaign staff colluded with Russia is far worse than what the leaks revealed. Party over country, patriotic Rethugs! Among the most egregious of the Rethuglicans following that approach at the hearing is none other than Benghazi Benghazi BENGHAZI!! inquisitor and poster boy for the rotten fruit of the Republican "Southern Strategy", Rep. Trey "The Deuce" Gowdy (R-Home of Secession).

Repeatedly peppering Comey with questions about the law governing the disclosure of classified information down to the nth degree, Gowdy was doing Rump's bidding in trying to shift the focus from likely felonious and potentially treasonous activity by the Rump campaign (and Rump personally) vis-a-vis the Russian Federation to the individuals who are risking their careers and prison to expose the collusion. Beyond Gowdy's obvious attempts to divert the questioning, there's his rank hypocrisy:

Is there a bigger congressional leaker than Trey Gowdy? This line of questioning from him is ... rich

— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) March 20, 2017

The Casablanca-style outrage at leaks during this committee is amazing, given the last two years and the Clinton probe.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 20, 2017

And, with a little snark:

Fun fact: The Gowdy committee had an impeccable reputation for never ever leaking information on the Clinton/Benghazi probe.

— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) March 20, 2017

Once again, this hearing is demonstrating that when it comes to their party, Rethuglicans will do anything to save their party's leader from his own behavior:

Republican members of House Intel committee revealed themselves to hacks who place partisanship far ahead of national security.

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) March 20, 2017

The house is on fire, Trump is running around with a box of matches, and the GOP demands to know who called the fire department.

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) March 20, 2017

Will one, just one, GOP member of the House Intel committee show as much interest in the subject of the leaks as they are in the leaking?

— Mark Salter (@MarkSalter55) March 20, 2017

GOPers on House intel comm. focusing on leaks--not Trump's false tweets, not Putin's attack on US, not Trump-Russia contacts.

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) March 20, 2017

If you're more focused on jailing reporters than Putin's cyber operation against your country, might want to rethink your priorities.

— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) March 20, 2017