Debt ceiling got your blood pressure up? Here’s something that will make you even madder. From my New York Post column today:
Operation Fast and Furious — the Obama administration’s lethal gun-running fiasco — keeps getting uglier and uglier.
In a series of hearings, Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley have been systematically dismantling the administration’s preposterous claim that no one in the Justice Department — which oversees the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — knew anything about the so-called gun-tracking operation…
On Tuesday, the ATF agent in charge of the Phoenix office, Bill Newell, told Issa’s House committee that he discussed the operation with the national-security director for North America, Kevin O’Reilly, an old friend, in the form of a “you didn’t get this from me” e-mail in September 2010. (The White House insists the e-mail had nothing to do with Fast and Furious, but instead concerned the larger, legitimate Project Gunrunner gun-tracking program.)
We already knew that the debacle also involved the FBI and the DEA (both part of DoJ), but Newell also revealed that even more agencies were part of the program, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Homeland Security) and the IRS.
As Bob Dole used to say: where’s the outrage?
“This is the perfect storm of idiocy,” said the ATF deputy attaché to Mexico, Carlos Canino — who testified that he and his boss, Darren Gil, were astonished by the sudden surge of American weapons into Mexico but were kept in the dark by officials in Phoenix and Washington.
Idiocy? It looks a lot worse than that.
Special prosecutor, anybody? (Thanks, Glenn.)
As one legendary special prosecutor, Thomas E. Dewey, famously said about the criminal organization masquerading as the Democratic Party in Hot Springs, Ark. (yes, where you know who is from): “The whole crowd are a complete ring: the Chief of Police, the Chief of Detectives, the Mayor and the City Attorney.” And all Dewey was trying to do was extradite Lucky Luciano from the protective clutch of my gangster, Owney Madden.
Something tells me this one is going to get worse before it gets even worse.
Well, there IS a T-shirt that says "Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a Convenience Store, not a Government Agency," but I do not think that this is what they had in mind.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm not clear on how this sort of thing works; who, outside of the administration, has the authority to appoint a special prosecutor?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Idiocy? It looks a lot worse than that."
Sure does. With the administration now attempting to further regulate manufacturers and dealers -- as I understand it, those efforts are related to "long guns" -- this program looks more and more like a purposeful ruse to increase regulations on American weaponry.
In any event, there is no other logical rationale for why ATF would turn itself inside-out to eviscerate their own mission -- to stop illegal weapons trafficking.
At least two ATF agents are dead as a result of this debacle. Most likely, the government officials who hatched this scheme and those above them who approved it are accomplices to murder.
And that is fraught with all sorts of peril for those concerned (beyond the dead agents, of course). So, I certainly expect the denials to get worse before they get even worse than that.
As I recall, were we not told that Bubba's WH only had "5" raw FBI files on registered Republicans? The grand total was 900+.
Experience as one's guide compels the prediction that the number of dead agents will surface to be more than 20.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm convinced this was a plan to undermine the 2nd Amendment. The "under the radar" work. The reason behind proposing stricter reporting regulations on legal gun dealers in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Proposals to restrict long guns to what the government defines as "sporting". The speeches over the past 2 years about how "legally" purchased guns were being used in crimes by Mexican gangs etc.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFor a long time, the only thing keeping this from greater public attention was that it only got coverage from NRO, FOX, talk radio, and other generally conservative outlets. But now that the Washington Post and ABC have noticed, the only thing keeping it out of the headlines is the debt ceiling crisis.
Within days, the debt ceiling crisis will be settled. When the media is looking for something else, few things will be more tempting to cover than Fast and Furious. I imagine that Eric Holder is hoping for a tsunami, or another congressional sex scandal, or something else big to absorb attention.
Cause this is big, and he's in it, and with the election coming, he's sure to see the underside of a bus.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI wouldn't hold my breath while waiting for the appointment of a special prosecutor. Much of the MSM seems to be ignoring or at least downplaying this story, perhaps because they are carring water for the Obama administration or perhaps because it seems unbelievable (kind of like the alleged Mena airport/drug smuggling operation that Bill Clinton was accused of). Either way outside of conservative blogs and media like Fox it is not big news. So long as this is the case there is will be little clamor for a special prosecutor. My guess is that the Obama administration is hoping this doesn't change until 2012 and that they will both the White House and the House and afterwards it will be simply forgotten.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf "This is the perfect storm of idiocy" it's got to have Napolitano's fingerprints all over it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIssa & Grassley are playing this out perfectly, and I see it exploding this fall or winter and dragging through spring and summer 2012 - perfect.
There is much more to this than currently reported. Holder's involvement is virtually certain, with only the hearings process of securing testimony and documents proving it left to do.
And it gets better (for Obama opponents, of course).
The Kevin O’Reilly cited in the quote portion of Walsh's bit is the national security director for North America. He works out of the White House. He knew of the idiotic plan gone awry. Is it reasonable to believe he consulted with absolutely no one in the White House? Of course he did, at least some of Obama's closest advisors, and certainly with pertinent department heads like Nappy, et al.
The CW is that it's not so much the original sin that brings people down, it's their coverup of it. In this case, the original sin caused deaths and is quite bad all on its own. The slowly unraveling coverup is just gravy. Holder, et al, have resisted cooperation from the gitgo. The scandal is already bad and we're still at tip of the iceberg level.
This thing has the potential to at least gut the Obama administration and paint it irrevocably as corrupt and opaque, and at worst it could take it down like Watergate took down Nixon. The timing couldn't be better for 2012.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLike you, Henry, I have followed this one fairly closely, and I agree with your analysis. I would only add that the closeness of the election makes impeachment unlikely, since the people will judge Obama before congress can get the case lined up.
But this gets, as you say, better (for Obama opponents, of course). This criminal scandal will taint the administration at a time when the public already despises his signature accomplishment (Obamacare), the economy is still creeping along, and the jobless rate remains stubbornly high despite his very confident, very specific prediction. Secondary issues, such as foreign policy and his handling of the pursuit of terrorism, will only add to the impression of weakness (the killing of bin Laden being the major exception to this impression).
Overall, re-election prospects look very dim. As November 2012 draws, Republicans who now seem out of the mainstream will look better and better. Remember how the Democrats were hoping for the unelectable Reagan to go up against Carter? I predict a repeat.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHe's doing this debt stunt so people don't pay attention to his Fast and Furious Gun Running he signed off for with the 2009 stimulus money
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTouche' Mr.Obama! He really is pretty smart!
Holding Veterans checks and Social Security they paid into all their life is sheer genius! You have to hand it to this bunch of Chicago Boys!He has Mayor Daley's brother working with him !
Now it's Chicago time for the whole USA.
Wooo Hoo ! Obama and his Chicago boys are way smarter than y'all ! Goooo Obama! August 4th is his birthday and he has a big bash planned for Aug 4 with Herbie Hancock and OK GO and various other big name acts!
Some people say he's getting even all the suckers that he thinks oppressed him when he was younger making them dance to his tune!
His net worth is up from $303,000.00 to over $4mil in just 2009 (when he was using the stimulus money to buy those guns)They really were telling you the truth they were guns from US gun shows HAW!
And he's telling you the truth about being out of money too!nothing is going to happen about this gun running allegation!
If you keep pushing this you're going to get another calamity to divert the attention from it.
You don't understand the way things work in Chicago if you think anything will ever come of this.
Cry all you want.
He's smart....you're stupid.
What I gather from Mike Vanderboegh latest post on Sipsey Street Irregulars is that his intel is that there are dozens of emails to support the questioning and claim by the Oversight Committee and that LA Times article Emails to White House didn't mention gun sting by Richard Serrano only included the evidence of a few emails they had access to. Mike Vanderboegh said in his blog and I quote "Inferring rather more from the available evidence than is supported by it, aren't we Richard? "Not immediately told"? Well, that's a bit of a leap, because I have been told by my sources that there are in fact dozens of emails between the two, as well as phone and personal conversations, all covering the years 2009 to 2011."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGowdy is a former DA, Labrador is an immigration attorney and Patrick Meehan was a former federal prosecutor don't you think they had bunches of info in which to ask the questions they asked. The LA times is going on few bits of info they have and not the whole enchilada. Keep up the great work Michael Walsh!