article_snippet: (CNN)How do Republicans try to breathe new life into an old scandal?
article_snippet: Step One: Republicans, with nothing in Republicans arsenal to use against Hillary Clinton, selectively leak to reporters a "scandalous" tidbit -- often one that has been previously reported.
article_snippet: This is exactly how the latest media hype, this time over Hillary Clinton's use of emails at the State Department, has played out.
article_snippet: And it presents yet another chapter in the Benghazi hoax.
article_snippet: The New York Times story about Hillary Clinton's use of a private email account at the State Department is a perfect example of "gotcha" journalism, where reporters will take any bait the Republicans give the Republicans without proper vetting.
article_snippet: (Whitewater, anyone?)
article_snippet: Republican investigators seeking to hype the current Benghazi investigation leaked the issue to keep a dying investigation alive.
article_snippet: Their perfectly usual, above board behavior is spun as secretive and unaccountable -- while Republicans are left relatively unscathed.
article_snippet: Why hasn't their behavior been scrutinized over and over again?
article_snippet: Looks like the Republicans wasted the Republicans breath, once again, for nothing.
highlights_snippet: The story is another example of GOP efforts to create a phony controversy .
  