Clarion Ledger Calls Out “Control of guns reason for F&F?”
Daniel L. Gardner writing for the Clarion Ledger in an op-edit titled “Control of guns reason for F&F?” notes that “conspiracy theories abound.”
He makes a couple of key points the mainstream media continues to ignore:
“You may have heard the Obama administration or the Bush administration saying 90-percent of guns going to Mexican drug cartels come from U.S. gun store sales. Officials in the Bush administration routinely quoted this figure to justify any number of law enforcement operations. Officials in the Obama administration continue using the same figure even though actual documented figures show no more than 20-percent of these guns come from U.S. gun stores.”
We have been tracking the use of that 90 percent figure for years, and do note that the Obama administration has continued to cite it. Gardner then adds:
“But that’s not the story worth pursuing. On Dec. 14, 2010, a killer used an AK-47 – one of the F&F guns – to murder Brian Terry, a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Why would anyone in Washington approve an operation not only to facilitate sales of guns to cartels in Mexico, but also to use taxpayer money to purchase these guns? Thousands of guns have ‘walked’ into Mexico from the U.S. as a result of Operation Fast & Furious. Wouldn’t someone know that sales of assault weapons to criminals would escalate crime and violence? Some have speculated that F&F was a political plot ‘to prove’ lax gun laws in America contribute to drug violence on our border with Mexico. Such proof could be used to justify stricter gun control laws.”
Clearly we aren’t the only ones who see that the mis-cited 90 percent number, added up with the approval of Fast and Furious, coupled with calls for gun control could add up to a conspiracy. We’re not saying we believe this to be the case, but it is does make you wonder.
Factor in that President Obama uttered the words “under the radar” when he said he was working on gun control, and add in the calls for an assault weapon ban by three Democratic Senators including Charles Schumer, Dianne Feinstein and Sheldon Whitehouse and the conspiracy theory doesn’t sound so farfetched.
Media Matters to the Rescue of Eric Holder
Liberal leaning media watchdog Media Matters for America took aim at The Washington Examiner for calling for DOJ firings. We have making the same argument for months, noting that someone at DOJ has to go. But Media Matters seems to think this is wrong writing:
“In an editorial this morning, The Washington Examiner claims that Attorney General Eric Holder ‘should fire his aides — or get fired himself’ due to what the editorial suggests is either incompetence by the aides or a lack of candor about what Holder knew about the failed ATF sting Operation Fast and Furious and when he knew it.”
The post then adds:
“But according to DOJ, Weinstein’s references to ‘guns that have walked’ wasn’t to Operation Fast and Furious, but rather to ‘Laura’s Tucson case,’ which Justice Department sources identified as the Bush-era Operation Wide Receiver. According to DOJ, as in Fast and Furious, Wide Receiver involved ATF allowing guns to be trafficked in hopes of tracing them and taking down a trafficking network. DOJ says Trusty and Weinstein did not know that guns had been walked in Operation Fast and Furious at the time of their email exchange.”
This is again a twist on the “Blame Bush” strategy, which basically says that since Bush did it, than Fast and Furious should be his mess. But let’s consider another point as in “according to the DOJ,” which basically means that we have to trust the DOJ as a source for the mess that the DOJ is in. If Eric Holder and DOJ say, “we knew about Wide Receiver” but “never heard about Fast and Furious,” are we just supposed to believe them?
FoxNews: Issa Acknowledges Gun Probes ‘Similar’ — Not Identical — to ‘Fast and Furious’ Under Bush
Today Fox News is reporting that Darrel Issa noted this weekend that there was an operation under President Bush that was similar but not identical to Fast and Furious. The key word to us is “similar,” as Fox News reports:
“Rep. Darrell Issa acknowledged Sunday that operations ‘similar’ to the controversial ‘Fast and Furious’ gunrunning probe were conducted under the Bush administration. But the House Republican spearheading an investigation into the operation under Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department claimed the past operations were different in that they were ‘coordinated with Mexico.’”
We have a feeling this will still continue to spawn the “Blame Bush” card, as numerous outlets look to try to tie President Bush to the debacle happening under President Obama’s watch.
Newsbusters Notes Media Silence on Fast and Furious
This weekend our friends at Newsbusters noted the disgraceful handling of Fast and Furious in a post titled, “Issa’s Gunwalker Subpoenas a Virtual Non-Story; AP Furiously Spins False ‘Bush Did It Too’ Meme.”
Yes, it seems that when the media isn’t being mostly silent on Fast and Furious they are playing the “Blame Bush” card, a fact we’ve been noting as well. As Newsbusters stated:
“Had this scandal involved John Ashcroft and the Bush Administration, does anyone doubt that the story would have led the nightly half-hour ‘puppet theater’? Or, that it wouldn’t have been covered like a blanket by all news departments from the moment the blood of Brian Terry dried in the desert sands of Rio Rico?”
Another shameful display of the mainstream media to be sure.
Huff and Puff Also Plays “Blame Bush”
There must have been a huge sigh of relief at the offices of The Huffington Post last week. They were able to run the story, “Justice Department Investigating Bush Administration Program Similar to ‘Fast and Furious’” complete with a big sized photo of former President Bush for the world to see.
This is a way to tie Bush to Fast and Furious and to play the now popular, “Blame Bush” card. The comments to the story further expressed the opinion that Rep. Darrel Issa “probably was trying to hide this information.” How would that even matter?
This is sort of saying “two wrongs make a right.” Imagine if anyone said, “we learned there was another Holocaust,” so the Nazis weren’t the first. Yes, we’re making that statement, because it did happen. During World War I the Ottoman Empire had a program where somewhere between 1 million and 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population. The Ottoman Empire had similar programs in place against the Assyrians and Greeks. Now by no means are we serious that the Nazis should get a pass, but that is basically what is happening with Fast and Furious.
But let’s consider this statement too:
“Earlier this month, it was disclosed that the gun-walking tactic didn’t begin under Obama, but was also used in 2006 under his predecessor, George W. Bush. The probe, Operation Wide Receiver, was carried out by ATF’s Tucson, Ariz., office and resulted in hundreds of guns being transferred to suspected arms traffickers.”
So this was hundreds of guns, compared to the thousands, and we need to ask… where any of those Bush era guns tied to crimes? Did any border control agents die? of course those are points the mainstream media ignores. But they can do so, because they know they can just “Blame Bush” some more.
AP/WaPo Continue Blame Bush on Fast and Furious
Last Friday The Washington Post offered an “AP Exclusive: Tactic of ‘letting guns walk’ surfaces in second Bush-era gun-smuggling probe.” The main point is that ATF had run similar tactics before under President Bush, so therefore Fast and Furious shouldn’t be such a big deal.
This is typical in the way the media handles the Obama administration with kid gloves, and worse plays the “Blame Bush” card.
But the story further adds this passage:
“Even those cases against low-level straw buyers are problematic for the ATF. There is no federal firearms trafficking law, making it difficult to prosecute cases. So law enforcement agencies resort to a wide variety of laws that do not carry stringent penalties — particularly for straw buyers.”
In this statement the AP and WaPo show that clearly the ATF needs less restriction while there needs to be greater laws for firearms trafficking. This of course would only make it that much harder for law abiding citizens in the process, but we know that’s always been an agenda from the left-leaning media.
The Hill Tries to Play the “Bush Did It Card” to Defend Holder
This week The Hill attempted to defend Eric Holder in reporting on the Fast and Furious debacle, in a story titled, “Let’s get the facts straight on Holder.” Instead of just addressing the most basic facts, which is the fact that ATF allowed the guns to walk and that this happened under Holder’s watch, The Hill attempts to make several points beginning with:
“If ever there were 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.”
How “hyper-partisan” was this, well according to The Hill:
“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.”
Even if this is the case, a few points need to be made. The most obvious is this the “two wrongs make a right” defense? Second, were the guns in Wide Receiver used in crimes that resulted in the death of American border agents?
What the author attempts to do is not so much give Holder a pass, but instead tries to say that this is becoming a partisan issue that isn’t solving anything. And here Lanny Davis is correct. But the problem is bigger than just the attacks on Holder.
President Obama, who is ultimately responsible for Fast and Furious, also takes the “I didn’t know” defense, and he allows Holder to use this as an excuse. Why isn’t the ATF cleaning house? And at the same time why are other Democrats aiming back at Issa and those who want answers. Davis may say, “enough,” but the truth is that Democrats too, including Holder, are more than partially responsible for making this a partisan issue.
While Holder’s resignation wouldn’t fix the problem, it would show that ultimately he is the guy that needs to take the fall – especially since it is beyond obvious that Obama won’t!
Does Truth Matter to Media Matters About Fast and Furious?
Last week left wing media watchdog Media Matters for America offered the latest surreal take on Fast and Furious in a post titled, “Right-Wing Media Target CBS News in New Fast and Furious Conspiracy.”
The post offers this take:
“This is starting to feel like a house of mirrors, as conservatives begin to hatch conspiracies within conspiracies about the Fast and Furious story.
“As Media Matters has chronicled for the last year, the far-right press, led by Fox News, has been incessantly pushing the ATF’s failed Fast and Furious gun operation, convinced the White House and the Department of Justice are covering up high crimes. Now as a subplot, conservatives have hatched a mini-conspiracy. The claim: CBS News is ‘silencing’ its Fast and Furious reporter. And doing it on behalf of the White House!
“The reporter in question, Sharyl Attkisson, was celebrated by the right-wing this week when she appeared on conservative talker Laura Ingraham’s radio show to push her Fast and Furious work and promptly announced she had been yelled at by administration officials, critical of her reporting. (Right-wing bloggers thought the revelation was hugely important and damning, proving once again few of them have ever worked in a big-time newsroom where animated push back is not uncommon.)”
Our response first asks where is the outrage that this story happened at all? If it were not for the right-wing media few would know about an operation that cost the life of an American border control agent. And why doesn’t Media Matters note that the story has gotten virtually no coverage on ABC or NBC? The nightly news can devote nearly half the news cast to the death of Steve Jobs this week, take endless looks at the royal wedding last spring and cover protests around the globe, but fails to note that the Attorney General may have lied to Congress!
Media Matters suggests that Fox News is convinced the White House and DOG are covering up high crimes, but the truth is that the media is doing a good job itself by not covering this story.
And finally, why doesn’t it matter that Attkisson was “yelled at” by the White House? Wouldn’t there be outrage if this had happened when President Bush was still in office?
WaPo: Bush did it, so Fast and Furious Not so Bad
The Washington Post shows its continued anti-Bush bias, noting again this week, “Earlier ATF gun operation ‘Wide Receiver’ used same tactics as ‘Fast and Furious.’” The paper reported:
“Republican lawmakers for eight months have been leading the probe into ‘Fast and Furious,’ the controversial ATF gun operation, and trying to determine who in President Obama’s Justice Department knew what, and when they knew it. But it turns out there was another gun operation run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives years before, using the same tactics of allowing guns to flow illegally onto U.S. streets and into Mexico. This operation was conducted under the Bush administration’s Justice Department.”
Is this the “two wrongs make a right” argument? And another point that WaPo has conveniently failed to mention is that a border agent was killed with guns that was allowed to walk in Fast and Furious. So far no gun from the so-called Wide Receiver has been reported to have been tracked to such a crime.
WaPo also tries to deflect blame from Eric Holder too:
“But Wide Receiver, conducted in the Bush administration, has not received a lot of attention. According to Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler, some of the e-mails used in the attempt to discredit Holder were referring to the Tucson case, Wide Receiver.”
This is a flimsy argument, since if Holder knew about Wide Receiver he likely would have either ordered that similar programs not be conducted or would have given their go ahead.
But clearly WaPo would like to give Holder a pass. But the question remains, even if Holder didn’t know, why didn’t he know? That should still be enough that he should step down!
Gawker Calls Melson Move “Great ‘win’ for the NRA!”
This week Gawker covered Kenneth Melson’s move from head of the ATF, but as usual the left-leaning gossip site interjected with its usual bias and misleading reporting:
“The Obama administration picked a quiet late-summer day to finally remove acting ATF director Kenneth Melson over the botched ‘Fast and Furious’ operation that ultimately put assault rifles into the hands of criminals along the border. Melson wasn’t fired though — merely relocated to a new Justice Department job. This is a great ‘win’ for the NRA!”
This is not a win for the NRA, this is really a loss for all Americans, and it cost the lives of two agents. This is a debacle beyond words, and Melson should have flat out resigned. The Obama administration has dragged this out for months, and Attorney General Eric Holder continues to deny knowing about it. How is that possible, and why isn’t he being moved to a new position, such as bat boy for a minor league baseball team? Even that might be too much responsibility for him. No, this is not a win in any sense of the word.
Of course this wasn’t all Gawker had to say, and the post continued:
“It was a terrible self-inflicted error from the ATF on which the administration’s enemies were quick to pounce. But in the long-run, it’s just another victory in the National Rifle Association’s permanent war to delegitimize the ATF as an institution. ‘B. Todd Jones’ will only ever be an acting ATF director, just as Melson was only ever an acting ATF director, and just as whoever else comes along next — especially in a Democratic administration — will probably only ever be an acting ATF director, serving without a mandate to turn the bureau into a more effective one. The Senate has not confirmed an ATF director since 2006, thanks to the NRA’s successful lobbying efforts. 2006! They’ve all been acting directors since then. So if we want a better ATF, then the first step should be not subverting its very existence at every turn.”
Gawker of course seems to imply that the ATF ultimately failed because the Senator has not confirmed an ATF director since 2006. What is missing from this story is that prior to 2006 ATF directors were not confirmed, but this came up because a prior director spent a small fortune decorating his office. Before this ATF directors were not confirmed by the Senate.
But Gawker plays politics suggesting that the NRA will stand in the way of a Democratic administration and possibly Democratic controlled Senate. But the truth is that the Senate never confirmed anyone during the President Bush’s term when it was controlled by Republicans. Much of this is because many of the nominees have shown their true colors about the issue of gun control. So yes, the NRA has done its job of working to block the confirmation. Is this really a problem.
Both parties attempt to block confirmations, and while the media plays up when Republicans do it, the Democrats also work to block confirmations. This is how the game is played in Washington, D.C. It is just clear that Gawker doesn’t like the rules. But they were the ones who said this was a ‘win’ for the NRA. Maybe we should take those wins when we can get them!
