Fast and Furious.

So why did Obama fight so hard to withhold documents for which there was no privilege?

Answer:  Because the documents show that the purpose of releasing weapons to Mexican Gun Cartels was to justify gun control legislation in America.

Justification for New Gun Control Regulations

• ATF’s internal Public Affairs Talking Points show the agency was using Fast and Furious to help justify new gun control regulations–without telling the public that ATF was actually facilitating the delivery of weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
• The talking points (p. 15) state:

“These cases demonstrate the ongoing trafficking of firearms by Mexican DTO’s and other associated groups operating in Arizona and the need for reporting of multiple sales for certain types of rifles in order to ferret out those intent on providing firearms to these criminal groups.”

 Gunwalking Tactics

• While the Department of Justice was still insisting the gunwalking was a renegade operation conducted by rogue agents in Phoenix, the documents make clear ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. knew that weapons were being allowed to flow to Mexican drug cartels.
• For example, Fast and Furious began in October 2009. Washington D.C. talking points recount (p. 17) that:

“From October 2009 through October 2010, this organization, through the use of numerous straw buyers, purchased approximately 1.25 million dollars in firearms from FFLs [Federal Firearms License's] in the Phoenix area and trafficked the firearms into Mexico and other locations within the United States.”

• Another example is an October 12, 2010 funding request to ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. (p. 40) from Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Bill Newell. It stated, in present tense (making clear that ATF was aware, in real time, that the weapons were being transported by ATF suspects to cartels on a continuing basis):

“The firearms are then being trafficked into Mexico using non-factory compartments in various vehicles through various Ports of Entry (POE’s) in Arizona and Texas. Since the ATF case was initiated, agents have identified approximately twenty-seven straw purchasers who have purchased a large amount of AK-47 style rifles and pistols from various FFLs in the Phoenix Metropolitan area and Prescott, Arizona, since September 2009.”

The nice thing about having a Democrat in the White House is that there is no bad news.


John Stewart explains "Fast and Furious" to slacker viewers of Comedy Central.

Obama/Holder "stone-walled" Fast and Furious investigation... ...according to the Inspector General:

The White House’s refusal to release communications related to the Fast and Furious gun-walking program and the refusal of a White House official to be interviewed about the matter “made it impossible” for the inspector general (IG) of the Justice Department to “pursue that aspect of the case,” the IG, Michael Horowitz, testified. He added that the sought-after White House interview and communications constituted “a lead we wanted to follow.” At a hearing of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee on Thursday, Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Tex.) asked Horowitz, “You noted also in your report that the White House refused to share internal communications with you during your investigation of Fast and Furious. We've noted a connection into the White House through Kevin O'Reilly at the National Security Council. Do you think the White House’s refusal to share these documents limited the scope of your investigation? Would this committee be well served by pursuing an investigation into that avenue?” Horowitz answered, “Well, as we noted in the report, and as you know, congressman, we did not get internal communications from the White House and Mr. O’Reilly’s unwillingness to speak to us made it impossible for us to pursue that angle of the case and the question that had been raised." Farenthold: "So it would probably be worthwhile for us to pursue?" Horowitz: "Well, certainly we have sought to pursue every lead we could. So, I can tell you, from our standpoint it was a lead we wanted to follow.”

Where was the Democrat support?

Holder held in contempt on a vote of 255 to 67.

The GOP-led House voted Thursday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to provide key information pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious, making Holder the first sitting Cabinet member to be held in contempt.

The vote was 255 to 67. Seventeen Democrats joined the majority of Republicans in voting yes. GOP Rep. Dan Lipinski voted not present, and 65 Democrats left the floor before the vote.

The vote follows a roughly 16-month investigation by the chamber’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee into the failed gun-running sting known as Fast and Furious -- run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a division of the Justice Department led by Holder.

Update: This may be the answer.

Democrats plan mass walk-out during contempt vote.

Of course...when you want a cheap gimmick instead of maturity, you can always rely on the Democrats.

With a guy with a post-modernist view of truth, who invents composite girlfriends and developed his cutting edge sense of ethics in the leftist world of fabrication, nothing is too far-fetched.

These were the same people who began the roll-out of their "contraceptive attack" on the the Catholic Church with George Stephanopolis' question to Rick Santorum about contraception in a Republican primary debate.

In an alternate universe, the big campaign issue is how lax American gun laws are killing Mexicans. Mickey Kaus observes:

Don’t Be Paranoid. We’re Out to Get You: From the conclusion of Eugene Robinson’s op-ed attacking the GOP’s Fast and Furious investigation:

[C]ongress should look into the overall flow of firearms from the United States into Mexico. The Fast and Furious weapons were just a small part of a much larger problem. Mexican officials have complained for years that lax U.S. gun laws have the effect of worsening drug-related violence along the border. …

If Issa really wants to save U.S. and Mexican lives, he should convene hearings on banning the sale of high-powered weapons.

That will reassure Second Amendment enthusiasts who suspect the otherwise indefensible Fast & Furious fiasco was really an effort to lay the groundwork for a … ban on the sale of weapons (by confirming the Mexicans’ complaints about the origin of guns involved in Mexican drug violence).

The fickleness of celebrity.

Press Corps laugh at Obama spokesman's explanation on Fast and Furious:

Carney countered by saying that “the tactic began in the previous administration.” He was referring then to Operation Wide Receiver, in which the United States allowed guns to walk as part of an operation coordinated with the Mexican government track weapons smuggled from the United States to Mexico. Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed thousands of guns to enter Mexico, was not disclosed to the Mexican government. “At no time did we know or were we made aware that there might have been arms trafficking permitted,” Mexican Attorney General Marisela Morales told the L.A. Times. “In no way would we have allowed it, because it is an attack on the safety of Mexicans.”

As Carney continued to field questions, he appeared to forget the family name of border patrol agent Brian Terry, who was death ignited the investigation after he was killed by drug smugglers armed with weapons obtained through Operation Fast and Furious.

“We have provided Congress every document that pertains to the operation itself that is at issue here when you talk about the family that you referred to,” Carney said. When Tapper provided him the name, he repeated it — “the Terry family.”

And when Carney said that Obama’s decision to assert executive privilege over documents subpoenaed by Congress was “entirely about principle,” reporters openly laughed.