MURDERGATE
"We're still working on gun control, but under the radar."
~~Pres. Obama to Sarah Brady
Posted on 06/21/2012 5:41:39 AM PDT by marktwain
The Fast and Furious investigation has finally handed House Republicans a prize they’ve long sought: a legal smackdown of the Obama administration.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was able to show skeptical conservatives that his spine could stay stiff under pressure from President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder by locking arms with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on a contempt of Congress vote Wednesday. There was no daylight — at least publicly — between Boehner and Issa, a dynamic the White House was desperately seeking.
But the victories could come with a cost. House Republicans’ hot pursuit of Holder doesn’t exactly line up with Mitt Romney’s message, which he wants to keep focused on the economy. And Obama’s campaign wants to tie Romney to what he considers an extreme Republican majority…
“I didn’t want this to be a campaign issue,” Chaffetz told POLITICO in an interview, “but it should go to the courts right away. What are we waiting for? We’ve been waiting since December 2010. There are those that think it’s taken too long to get to June 2012.”
***
Unfortunately, Chairman Issa has rejected all of these efforts to reach a reasonable accommodation. Instead, he has chosen to use his authority to take an extraordinary, unprecedented and entirely unnecessary action, intended to provoke an avoidable conflict between Congress and the Executive Branch. This divisive action does not help us fix the problems that led to this operation or previous ones and it does nothing to make any of our law enforcement agents safer. It’s an election-year tactic intended to distract attention — and, as a result — has deflected critical resources from fulfilling what remains my top priority at the Department of Justice: Protecting the American people…
The American people deserve better. That is why, I will remain focused on, and committed to, the Justice Department’s mission to protect the rights, safety, and best interests of my fellow citizens and to stand by my brave colleagues in law enforcement.
***
Chairman Issa should file suit in federal court in DC and seek expedited action. There is no need for Senate action. The use of this procedure has been acknowledged by the Congressional Research Service in a 2007 study. Further, a privilege log should be sought by Issa and ordered produced immediately by the court, in camera inspection done promptly by the judge, and a final order entered compelling production of all documents for which no legitimate reason justifies Executive Privilege.
Yes, some documents may be covered by EP, but the blanket attachment of that label flouts the law and the Constitution, and harms the legitimate assertion of EP by Presidents of either party in the future. The Constitution is far too important to be subject to the caprice of this President and an AG who, on its face, wants to be free from scrutiny about why he testified falsely before a Committee of Congress.
Executive Privilege is a very important implied executive power, used in various forms since the presidency of George Washington. Therefore, it’s misuse and abuse, to cover-up wrongdoing, conceal embarrassing information, or advance a political agenda, diminishes the ability of future presidents to assert it legitimately.
***
“It’s clear that this is nothing more than a political witch hunt to distract from the fact that Republicans in Congress have no interest in focusing on what we need to focus on, which is jobs and the economy,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”…
Wasserman Schultz … claimed Republicans were taking advantage of the issue to distract from voting on two major pieces of legislation this summer involving transportation and student loan interest rates.
***
Even with his fawning press, [President Obama] will pay a price for this one. He knows this, meaning that the documents now to be withheld must be dynamite. They have to show either that Holder knew what was going on with Fast and Furious and approved it, or that he directly committed perjury in his Congressional testimony, or both. I just can’t see any other explanation for such a risky move.
Wasn’t the Washington Post just covering big time the 40th anniversary of Watergate? I wonder how much coverage this one will get.
***
President Obama’s assertion of executive privilege in the “Fast and Furious” scandal is the latest in a series of recent reminders that an incumbent president is not to be underestimated. He has substantial powers at his disposal, even when he’s wounded by a sluggish economy…
It goes in line with the president’s unilateral expansion of his discretionary authority in immigration cases, the undeclared cyber war against Iran, or the use of drones in attacks on terrorist targets, even U.S. citizens. Congress has ceded power to the White House in the last 30 years, and Republican and Democratic presidents have not hesitated to exploit the situation. In an election year, as Mitt Romney is discovering, an incumbent like Obama can stage an impressive display of presidential forcefulness…
The Republicans want more documents. It is a slow summer on Capitol Hill. A farm bill counts as major legislation. The House Republicans will take advantage of Obama’s claim of privilege to shake their fists in fury, and fill the Congressional Record with savage innuendo. But unless they bend, they’re not getting the documents.
***
Brown, earlier in the segment, had already accused Issa of “leading a lynch-like mob” against Holder.
Holder made the same accusation in December. “This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him,” Holder told the New York Times, “both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we’re both African-American.”
“Fast and furious hasn’t been discussed a lot in the mainstream media, which is why the facts can seem so preposterous when you read them for the first time”
“Nevertheless, by refusing to sack Holder or push him to come clean, Obama may have made a very Nixonian mistake.”
Asking for documents when investigating the arming of international criminal syndicates and mass murder is a “witch hunt” in this neo-Soviet regime.
“But the victories could come with a cost. House Republicans’ hot pursuit of Holder doesn’t exactly line up with Mitt Romney’s message, which he wants to keep focused on the economy.”
Too damn bad. “The cost” was 2 dead Americans and a bunch of slaughtered ‘brown people’...if any of you idiots would care to make a point of that. Do what’s right and follow the law. For a change. Romney will even benefit from it whether he wants to or not.
Gunwalker Potpourri
Okay, so here’s the deal. 12 days ago i had a laminectomy on T10-T11 and L2 down thru S1 on my spine. Basically they remove the “dorsal fin” looking piece at each location and the underlying bone as well to ease the pressure on your spinal column. Other work on discs and the canals that the nerve endings come out of to go to the extremities. Guess what! I still think I have more backbone after this than the majority of the house “leadership”. Maybe they should have locked wrists instead of arms. Man up folks. Or, are we afraid of being called racists. It’s been used so much it’s losing it’s impact at this point. You know, I had some brown patches in my lawn that I had to take care of. Oh, I must have something against “brown” grass. Racist!
Circus of the absurd.
Helping keep mankind warm for 65 years.
I argue that carrying out the investigation, all the way to contempt charges, DOES attempt to FIX this DOJ problem, as well as any unjustified future unlawful programs.
"We're still working on gun control, but under the radar."
~~Pres. Obama to Sarah Brady
Yeah, the last thing a politician would ever want is his opponent's support for a scheme involving arming international crime syndicates and the murder of hundreds of innocents exposed.
It will certainly improve Obama's poll numbers with the felon voters.
“But the victories could come with a cost. House Republicans’ hot pursuit of Holder doesn’t exactly line up with Mitt Romney’s message, which he wants to keep focused on the economy.”
Tell that to the Terry and Zapata families. This isn’t politics. THIS is coldblooded murder sanctioned at the highest levels of this government.
We are officially at the point on planet earth where human life holds no value when politics is on the table. My reading of history shows that in all similar cases, it does not end well for those who ‘devalued’.
I am starting to really buy the conspiracy theorist’s idea that they “want” mass rioting/war as a way to depopulate the planet and achieve Agenda 21 style goals.
Republican should be hammering the dems about the number of dead mexicans every single time they are on TV. It should be constant and unrelenting, hilighting the fact that Barak Milhous Obama doesn't give a damn about those little 'brown people' who can't vote for him.
Does he? Are we sure president Obama KNOW the price of invoking EP?
Constitutional Law scholar aside, Obama and all his advisors want is more tinder to the current powder keg we have. I think they WELCOME the anticipated fight between WH/Holder and the Republican side.
With that in mind, the actual documents withheld may or may not be truly dynamite.
"We're still working on gun control, but under the radar."
~~Pres. Obama to Sarah Brady
I guess it's not "under the radar" anymore. Looks like the "Fifth Column" has to cover it now.
Breaks my heart it does...
FUBO/FUEH
5.56mm
I just love it when the rats self-destruct....
Why are these two goals mutually exclusive?
They are not.
Do what is right regarding Holder and Obama on F&F.
Romney can continue to focus on the economy.
What’s the problem?
I think he's as clueless on this as he is everything else.
The fact they piggy backed on a Bush operation so they could “Blame Bush” if caught, tells you the head of this operation had contacts in ATF telling them what was going on while Bush was still in office, and that's not Zippo.
That would be the Clinton's, not Zippo.
I suspect this is a guns for dope operation just like the dope running operation into Mena,Arkansas when Clinton was gov.
It’s almost mind bending that an average person who considers him/herself informed and watches the news daily (on the MSM) would know nothing about this.
Yes, apparently over 200 Mexicans were killed as a result of this Fast and Furious thing.
No one can explain the point of this operation to my satisfaction. Their explanations are lame to the point of embarrassing. They planned to track these guns back and ... what?
I suspect a dirtier motive.
Anyway, we seem to be able to muster some sympathy for innocents killed in the middle east.. something we are in no way responsible for ... but where’s the outrage about the Mexicans killed in this bogus operation?
I care most about our own guy, but I care about the innocent Mexicans also.
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