Hillary Clinton was battered for 10 hours on 22 October by Republican Congressmen seeking to blame her for security failings, when she was secretary of state, that led to the murder of United States ambassador Christopher Stevens in the US consulate in Benghazi on 11 September 2012. The Republican purpose in grilling her for so long was a blatant attempt to throw enough mud and make enough insinuations to damage her bid for the presidency. The manoeuvre is wholly cynical, but polls show that it is having an impact on her popularity, if only because it is always possible to throw more accusations than can be rebutted by the accused, however innocent they may be.