Or WHAT? New Black Pampers gonna come knock on my door and threaten me with a black nightstick?
Posted on 11/07/2011 2:52:12 PM PST by neverdem
If ever there is an example of hyper-partisanship, the recent personal attacks challenging the honesty and competence of Attorney General Eric Holder regarding the ATF’s errors in its “Fast and Furious” gun-tracking program should be Exhibit A.
Fast and Furious was a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) program in which guns were allowed to be illegally purchased so that they could be tracked to gun traffickers and Mexican drug cartel leaders. But the ATF, which now is supervised by the Justice Department, lost track of the guns — which were “allowed to walk,” as the parlance goes. Some of the guns were later found at the scene of murders of law enforcement officers.
There is no question that the program was botched — Eric Holder has called it seriously flawed and immediately established a DOJ inspector general investigation. But the Republican haste to blame it all on Holder and accuse him of lying to Congress — even calling for a special prosecutor — seems to me to be way over the top.
Here are the facts I believe congressional Republicans making these personal attacks on Holder know, or should know.
First, Republican congressional leaders know that this is not the first time this type of ATF gun-tracking program has gone wrong. A similar program with similar problems began under the George W. Bush administration. As CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson reported, “Operation Wide Receiver” was implemented in 2007 during the tenure of then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. A source told Attkisson that during this program, hundreds of guns “walked” across the Mexican border.
Second, Republicans know Holder was asked a question during a congressional hearing about when he first learned about this program in the context of prior questions concerning the mismanagement of the program. He said he first learned about it — meaning the problems and faulty tactics — in the spring of 2011.
Republicans know that the former U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona, the jurisdiction in which ATF was implementing the program, and the former acting director and deputy director of ATF supposedly in charge have said they also did not know about the problems in Fast and Furious until just recently, and that they had not briefed the attorney general until this year, as he testified.
Third, the Republicans know Holder could not be expected to have remembered a few lines making general reference to this program among hundreds of pages of reports from 24 departments regularly delivered to the office of the attorney general. Even if Holder had read every line of every report — and Republicans know he didn’t and it would be unreasonable to expect an attorney general to do so — it is a fact that none of the references to the program included any disclosure of the problems and errors in the Fast and Furious program, as Republicans also know.
Fourth, congressional Republicans should recognize that, ultimately, this is a law enforcement issue that needs bipartisan support and assistance, not political cheap shots. You would think that conservative Republicans, who are known to emphasize law enforcement, would be providing the ATF and other law enforcement with the maximum number of tools to control and track these guns. These include closing loopholes in laws that facilitate following guns across the border and imposing strict reporting requirements for gun purchases to help combat gun trafficking. Unfortunately, many of those most vocal in criticizing Holder have opposed this legislation.
Americans have become so tired of politicians in Washington politicizing virtually everything.
Mistakes can never be honest. Motives are always questioned. Members of the opposition are not only the subjects of policy disagreements; they must be demonized.
I say respectfully to Republicans responsible for these unfortunate attacks on Eric Holder what I have previously said to Democrats who unfairly personally attacked Bush Attorney General Gonzales:
Enough.
We are all sick of this — in both parties.
Enough.
Lanny Davis is the principal in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Lanny J. Davis & Associates, which specializes in strategic crisis management. He served as President Clinton’s Special Counsel in 1996-98 and as a member of President Bush’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board in 2006-07. He is the author of “Scandal: How ‘Gotcha’ Politics Is Destroying America” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). He can be found on Facebook and Twitter (@LannyDavis).
This weekly blog appears in The Hill, The Daily Caller, Foxnews.com, Newsmax.com, The Huffington Post and The Jakarta Globe every Thursday.
Lanny! Lanny! Lanny?
Where’s the poof, Lanny?
Lanny Davis - now THERE’s a name you can trust.
Bush’s fault!
>>We are all sick of this — in both parties.
We are sick of. We’re sick of people like Lanny Davis telling us that every Republican mistake is on the same level as the Holocaust, but when a Democrat orders a law enforcement agency to make a private citizen break the law and it results in the death of an American, its just a harmless “mistake”. What I’m sick of is democrats using valuable oxygen!
Lanny? boobie?
what a dooooosh you are..
so if you hold Holder’s (ergo zer0’s) feets to the fire....you are a racist...
if you make up crap about Cain? that is for the good of the Marxist American Future.
Pakistani Lanny at it again.
To Lanny Davis: Were you aware that Holder was a bagman in the Clinton administration. He arranged presidential pardons for some of the most corrupt people in federal prison if they could contribute to the administration. What a guy. For someone that tall, he can stoop real low.
Lanny is a shameless liar, even by lawyer standards. I’m waiting for lightning to hit him.
just like the libs laid off W?
Big problem here.
First of all, it’s Lanny Davis, so we can safe;y say that everything that comes out of his mouth/pen/computer is total bullcrap.
To make the point witness the following statement: “There is no question that the program was botched...”
This was NOT botched. They intended exactly what happened - except getting caught in the act. They were trying to create a narrative that didn’t exist to justify limitations on the right to bear arms. This was what obama was talking about when he told the Brady Campaign that they were working under the radar on gun control measures.
We will lay off Eric Holder when hell freezes over or he resigns, whichever comes first.
From where I am sitting it sure looks like he’s an accessory to murder. Him and his worthless boss, too.
So bite me, Lanny whoever you are.
No, Obama should lay off Holder. Then the voters should lay off Obama.
Sure...the same way Dims layed off Alberto Gonzales.
Lanny is a Commie Pinko hack. Holder is as corrupt as they come. Anyone remember the FALN and Frank Rich pardons? Holder should be in jail.
Maybe Lanny’s right—we shouldn’t be blaming Holder for “Fast & Furious.” We should be blaming Obama.
I think that Holder should be laid off. Obama as well. The rest of America is laid off, why shouldn’t they be?
Hey...Pakistanin Lanny, splain me sumpin.......Holder is not expected to remember, but Scooter Libby is ?
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