Eugene Robinson at The Washington Post predictably joins the chorus of voices on the left excusing President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder for their coverup of Operation Fast & Furious.
He starts his piece with a popular liberal talking point: Operation Wide Receiver! He said in 2006 the administration came up with a DUMB idea to allow guns to walk into Mexico to nab big-time criminals who give weapons to the ultra-violent Mexican drug cartels! This is true. It’s a dumb idea. But does Mr. Robinson criticize this administration for continuing this incredibly dumb idea? No! He also claims the ATF did gunwalking one more time, which is wrong. Sharyl Attkisson has provided evidence there are more gunwalking operations, including one that led to the death of ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata.
According to Mr. Robinson, these facts don’t “justify the partisan witch hunt by House Republicans who threaten, without legitimate cause, to hold Attorney General Eric Holder, in contempt.” Here are some other facts Mr. Robinson left out. These guns have led to the deaths of 300 Mexicans, including the brother of a Mexican official. These guns have been found at 12 crime scenes across America. The ATF had their prime suspect in custody back in April 2010 but let him go. The wiretap applications prove senior-level Department of Justice officials knew about Fast & Furious in March 2010, nine months before Agent Terry’s tragic death.
But the most important fact Mr. Robinson leaves out that proves the Oversight Committee does have legitimate cause is the subpoena that was issued October 2011. As Representative Trey Gowdy said, a regular citizen (like you and me) would be thrown in jail if we ignored a subpoena and lied to Congress.
Also, in a slew of letters between Chairman Issa and Mr. Holder last week, they came to an agreement of handing over 1,300 pages of documents post-February 4, 2011. Mr. Holder said he would show up to their June 19 meeting with them in hand, along with a briefing of the documents they didn’t bring. He showed up empty-handed. He lied.
And by lying, not only is Mr. Holder denying the committee answers, he is also denying answers to Agent Terry’s family.
That’s what shows Robinson’s priorities. Instead of concentrating on the Republicans or politicians, he could concentrate on Agent Terry’s family. Forget Chairman Issa and the other Republicans on the committee for a minute. Doesn’t Mr. Robinson care about Agent Terry’s family? Don’t they deserve to know the answers? How about the families of the 300 dead Mexicans?
And yet, Mr. Robinson completely undercuts his own argument. He says Congress should be investigating “how officials in two administrations convinced themselves it was sensible to stand back and watch as powerful weapons passed into the hands of Mexican drug smugglers.” Did Mr. Robinson NOT watch the contempt vote? Does he NOT watch the interviews with the Republicans or the Terry family? How many of them stated all they want to know is who thought of Fast & Furious, who authorized it, and how far up the command chain it went. That is the real story here; the very investigation Mr. Robinson wants is happening, and he can’t see beyond his partisan blinders to support the forces fighting corruption and deception.
Of course, no liberal take on Fast & Furious would be complete without a shout to–you guessed it–gun control! Robinson scolds, “If Issa really wants to save U.S. and Mexican lives, he should convene hearings on banning the sale of high-powered weapons.”
Baby steps, Mr. Robinson. I think we can all agree at the present moment that what first needs to stop is the sale of weapons by the federal government to Mexican drug cartels. After that, we’ll have it out on gun control.