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Monday, July 02, 2012

Slow and Dubious

Here's what you need to know to understand "Fast and Furious:"

1. The single most important thing to Darrell Issa is Darrell Issa.  His career, his photo ops, his headlines, all of which are designed to benefit Darrell Issa. 

2.  The second thing you need to know about “Fast and Furious, is that in Arizona, any 18 year old kid with no felony record can walk into any gun store and buy any guns in any quantities, including assault rifles, and take them to an intermediary (of which there are many, many) who will “walk” them across the border for resale. Easy peasy.  After all, 70% of all weapons used in Mexican drug crimes came from the U.S.  Exporting guns is big business here.
So if Darrell Issa is actually interested in “oversighting” anything other than how Darrell Issa can garner more grandstanding headlines, he might have Wayne LaPierre, head of the NRA, brought before his oversight committee and put him under oath and ask Wayne why the NRA is so supportive of “gun walking.”
And invite the FTA and the drug enforcement boys in for a little chat to find out who set up this program and just where and when it went all went south. 
Of course, that sort of “oversight” wouldn’t get Darrell Issa his headlines which, as we know, is what is most important to Darrell Issa.

6 comments:

TCG said...

This is only about Mr. Issa for those who use their sides' talking points to attempt to obfuscate the lack of transparancy in this, as well as many other key issues in President Obama's administration.

The President campaigned on the promise of more transparancy in government. He promised that the new health care bill would be posted on the internet for a couple of days before it would be voted on so the public could read it and comment on it. Of course, the 2,700 page act was modified overnight and voted on without being read by anyone. To secure the final needed votes, he rolled out the very pork that he promised to not use if he was elected.

The only things we have really learned about the administration's handling of "Fast an Furious" have come from whistleblowers, who were fed up with the administration's lack of forthrightness in their response to Congress.

Caught in lies and misinformation, Mr. Holder took back his incorrect documents and continues to stonewall.

He doesn't like Mr. Issa or other Republicans on the committee? Well, as an attorney, I bet he has come across many Judges or adversary attorneys who he disliked but, until now, probably did not ignore lawfull supoenas.

For me, Fast and Furious is not about Mr. Issa or even Mr. Holder--it is about our President and his administration. And to think I actually voted for him. That won't happen again.

Anonymous said...

TCG sez: Well, as an attorney, I bet he has come across many Judges or adversary attorneys who he disliked but, until now, probably did not ignore lawfull supoenas.

Well, Mr. Issa isn't an attorney and neither are you, Thank God. In fact, Mr. Issa has credibility issues up the ying-yang. Thank you for your inaccuracies and stupidity, though, for which you should be supoena'ed from this site. Fortunately, Obama doesn't need your vote in your state of mind, Kaliflornia.

TCG said...

Sorry for the stupidity. By the way, it was AG Holder, not Congressman Issa, who I was referring to in the sentence that you challanged. You may want to re-read it. Again, sorry for the stupidity.

Anonymous said...

Sorry for accusing you of stupidity, TCG. Just trying to strike the right tone on Calhoun's fight blog.

Anonymous said...

TCG, you have to understand how Congress works. The health care bill was posted online when he said it was going to be -- like all the bills that pass through Congress -- but the problem is that a bill goes through several revisions, and many of those revisions contain pork. The Affordable Care Act went through many, many revisions. That's why it ballooned to 2,700 pages. If he went through the bill line by line and crossed out certain provisions that he didn't like via signing statements or executive order, that would undermine the powers of Congress and the bipartisan support that he desperately needed.

You're also misinformed about the "Fast and Furious" program. I agree with you that the administration was not forthright with information about the failed program, however Mr. Holder was never found in contempt for "lies and misinformation." He was found in contempt for invoking the executive privilege and not turning over correspondence between the White House and the Justice Department.

I don't think it's wise to shoulder the responsibility completely on Obama himself because he did not authorize the program itself. He should have had more oversight, but if you want heads to roll over this, look no further than former ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson and Bill Newell, special agent in charge of ATF's Phoenix field division. They're the ones responsible for the "gunwalking" initiative, not Obama personally.

Churadogs said...

Like I said, the only thing you need to know about Fast & Furious are two words: Darrel Issa.

I still find it hilarious that anybody is wasting time on "congressional oversight hearings" on "gun walking" by the ATC/DEA while any 18-year old strawman can "walk" truckloads of guns from Phoenix to Mexico 24/7 without causing an eyeblink. Darrell Issa is like the little cat, eye glued to the mousehole, waiting, sticking his little paw in and out of the mousehole, hoping to get lucky while behind him a vast train of mouse-driven semi-trucks chock full of cheese are roaring past 24/7. With the NRA's Wayne LaPierre waving the green-go traffic flags.