In a nation where the unemployment
rate is 8.2 %, where 23 million people are now out of work,
and long term economic growth is a
serious concern, A Congressional Panel on Wednesday recommended that
the House of Representatives cite Attorney General Eric Holder for
contempt over issues dealing with the now defunct “Fast and
Furious”Program.
Fast and Furious was a program started
under the George W. Bush Administration where ATF agents allowed guns
to be “walked” across the border into Mexico so they could be
tracked to higher profile criminals including those in Mexican
Drug cartels. The unfortunate death of U.S Border Patrol Agent
Brian Terry by a gun that may or may not have been involved in
Fast and Furious has lead to an arduous and painstaking congressional
investigation.
To be clear, the death of Agent Terry
is a tragedy, and the Fast and Furious program should be
investigated, in fact how such a dangerous and reckless program was
put in place at all is beyond me, that being said it did began under
President Bush and was abruptly stopped by Attorney General Holder
after he was made aware that it was going on. California
Congressman Rep. Darrell Issa, the committee's chairman has not
subpoened anyone from the Bush White House however, including Michael
Mukasey, the Attorney General at the time Fast and Furious was
enacted.
Issa who has never met a camera or a
microphone he doesn't like was given the ability to waste tax payer
money with the investigation by the GOP takeover of the House in
2010. He also has been spurred on by right-wing apologist like
Sean Hannity to Ann Coulter to pursue this matter with extreme
vigor and put Holder in his place, Issa has called Holder every name
possible with the exception of “uppity and “boy”
The entire Dog and Pony show is about
one thing and one thing only, the desire of a GOP controlled House
and the Republican Party in particular to embarrass the Barack
Obama White House. Eric Holder has been a right-wing target since
day one, If it wasn't for Fast and Furious the right would be
saying Holder has overstepped his
bounds regarding Florida Governor Rick Scott's voter purge in
Florida, apparently the GOP is fine with Scott turning himself into a
modern day “Bull” Connor by suppressing the votes of Blacks,
Latinos, and the elderly. There are also cases like the Department of
Justice's refusal to defend The Defense of Marriage Act and
their challenging of the State of Arizona's crackdown on
undocumented workers
What the right won't admit to you is
that they have got the wrong black man in the hot seat, Republicans
want Barack Obama gone from the White House so bad they can't see
straight, and by the President invoking executive privilege
over documents that would not help congress get to the bottom of the
situation (and also keeps him from breaking the law by releasing
them) more fuel has been thrown onto the fire. Charges of White
House cover-up and Obama's Watergate are now being thrown
around conservative stomping grounds.
The Administration's refusal to back
down is encouraging though, The President didn't have to step in, and
given the fact that this is the first time he has used an executive
privilege in his first 3 ½ years in office, all signs point to him
not wanting to. By taking this step Obama is clearly saying he is
behind Holder and thinks this is a witch hunt of the highest order.
There has never been an Attorney General who has been held in
contempt of congress in the history of the nation, John Ashcroft and
Alberto Gonzalez should have been cited on numerous occasions for
lying about everything under the sun.
This unfortunately is what we will see
from now until Barack Obama is no longer President, whether that is
in November or 2016 John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell and
every other prominent Republican in D.C will be on the lookout for
everything from government overreach to whether or not Obama washed
his hands after a trip to the restroom. The GOP has never taken
partisianship to this extreme and the Fox News spin machine will
continue to beat the drum.
I want to know what you think, please e-mail me a ebrew79@live.com ebrew79@live.com or follow me on twitter!
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