House panel votes to cite Holder for contempt of Congress

[steve2470]

Source: USA Today

WASHINGTON — A House oversight committee voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt, marking an escalation of the long-running dispute between Republicans and the Justice Department over internal administration documents related to Operation Fast and Furious.

The 23-17 vote to hold Holder in contempt of Congress came as President Obama on Wednesday morning invoked executive privilege of certain documents related to the controversial botched gun-trafficking sting.

Rep. Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Holder met late Tuesday for about 20 minutes in an unsuccessful, last-minute effort to head off Wednesday's contempt hearing. Holder told reporters following the meeting that he offered to provide the documents on the condition that Issa give his assurance that doing so would satisfy two committee subpoenas and resolve the dispute.

But Issa said the conditions that Holder tried to set were unacceptable.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-06-20/holder-contempt-House-vote/55717644/1

[LiberalEsto]

1. Wow! I, too, have contempt of Congress. nt

[cstanleytech]

9. +Infinity

[MADem]

25. Ooooh, yeeeaaaaah! nt

Those Republican nitwits are really working hard to appeal to the flake-n-fringe wing of the party...this is going nowhere for them, but they're too stupid to see it.

[msongs]

2. politicians never learn: it's the appearance of cover up, not the crime nt

[bluestateguy]

3. .....

So?

[Stuart G]

4. Do you think that many will remember what a waste of time it was to impeach Clinton? I hope so..nt

[KansDem]

5. What?!! Doesn't the GOP believe in strongly-worded letters?

Guess not...

[toopers]

6. Why would Holder/Obama withhold the documents?

Just wondering.

[Stuart G]

7. That is easy. documents name informants, very dangerous to get in public hands..for informants..

[toopers]

8. I understand releasing sensitive information

Normally, you can edit/hide parts of documents or even specific words phrases within the documents. But that is not what is being suggested. As well, you could easily require secrecy of the smaller committee.

[cstanleytech]

11. If the documents mention specific times and or dates though when the information was recieved

that could be why as well, its a tricky balance however I believe they should consider releasing them to a select committee who can review them.
After all we really should leave the douche bag like Bush tactics in the past of slapping secret on anything and everything.

[toopers]

33. Why did President Obama use his executive order to deny turning the documents over?

I thought, though I am no expert, that executive order could only be used for communication between the President and others.

[cstanleytech]

42. I was under the impression that the powers were broader than that. If they werent then Cheney

wouldnt have been able to hide the minutes from his secret meetings with the energy executives that he had.

[IndyJones]

40. Don't they normally black out that information? That's not the reason.

[MADem]

27. They are part of an ongoing IG investigation and federal law prohibits their release.

They include names of informants and their statements and grand jury testimony; things of that nature.

Darryl Issa, a Republican LAWMAKER, is asking the Attorney General of the United States to BREAK THE LAW, and if he doesn't, he's going to hold Holder in CONTEMPT--for upholding the law.

Issa thinks he's ABOVE THE LAW, and can compel the Attorney General of the United States to break the law.

[Iliyah]

10. Holder gave them the documents

but Issa is never satisfied, therefore let them do what they alway wanted to do because this will bite the GOP In ass. I remember the impeachment hearings which was also a waste of time.

These fucktards refuse to create jobs and but love to go witch hunts. Reminds of Salem.

[toopers]

12. Holder gave them about 8% of the available documents

roughly 7 thousand and of 84 thousand pages.

[emilyg]

17. What - about 7%?

[Peaceful Protester]

13. RE: Bush-era initiative ATF operation

If what they sincerely seek, is a thorough bipartisan inquiry, instead of a partisan "witch hunt", then why haven't they called on Alberto Gonzales and Michael Mukasey to testify alongside Eric Holder?

[toopers]

14. Maybe they have not seen their names in the documents.

And maybe they would if the documents indicated a cover up by those folks.

[valerief]

15. Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!

Made me laugh.

[RBInMaine]

16. Issa is a god damned right wing fascist asshole. This is a bunch of political CRAPOLA.

[PavePusher]

19. Please tell that to Brian Terry's family.

I'm sure that will make them feel better.

Edit: Oh wait, it probably won't.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/20/brian-terry-family-releases-statement-on-obama-executive-privilege-assertion/

Brian Terry's family releases statement on Obama's executive privilege assertion

Terry family attorney Pat McGroder released the follow statement Wednesday from Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's parents, Josephine Terry and Kent Terry Sr.:

"Attorney General Eric Holder's refusal to fully disclose the documents associated with Operation Fast and Furious and President Obama's assertion of executive privilege serves to compound this tragedy. It denies the Terry family and the American people the truth. Our son, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, was killed by members of a Mexican drug cartel armed with weapons from this failed Justice Department gun trafficking investigation. For more than 18 months we have been asking our federal government for justice and accountability. The documents sought by the House Oversight Committee and associated with Operation Fast and Furious should be produced and turned over to the committee. Our son lost his life protecting this nation, and it is very disappointing that we are now faced with an administration that seems more concerned with protecting themselves rather than revealing the truth behind Operation Fast and Furious."

[October]

20. Thanks for the FoxNews link/source.

/nt

[PavePusher]

23. I'd love to have found it in a liberal media source....

but I was at work still, had limited time for a search, and that was the first one on the Google page.

I'll check again: Search term "Brian Terry mother statement"

And we now have Fox, Breitbart (not going to link there), The Blaze, Daily Caller, NRA videos.....

Looks like our side is avoiding this with all their might.

Regardless of the source, does Brian Terry's mother have a legitimate complaint? One government agency handed weapons to criminals who used them to kill people in another government agency. The families, and the American people, want to know what the hell is going on, and who was in charge of this shit.

The operative phrase here is "government by, of and for the people". The government is answerable to the people. Where are the answers?

[MADem]

44. WTF? Your posts are beyond belief---"our side is avoiding this with all their might?" Please.

Enough with the OUR shit--another one with a squirrel in his pocket.

Your attempt to marry this Congressional witch hunt with the pain of a family who has lost a loved one is CRAVEN and straight out of those Faux headlines you claim are the only resources available to you.

The connection you keep deliberately ignoring is between Issa and the NRA.

As long as Issa keeps fucking with Holder, he's not going to get shit, that investigation will not be completed to provide closure to Terry's family, AND resources to combat voter suppression in Florida are being diverted.

Happy? Why do I think you are?

I just love the transparency here. Clear as day.

[PavePusher]

46. Fine, you tell me.

Who was responsible for F & F?

[MADem]

48. Holder. Even if he did not have full knowledge, he was Captain of the ship.

If you're underway, and you're the skipper, sound asleep in your cabin, and the OOD puts your ship on the sandbar, it's your fault--even if you didn't know, even if you were not on the bridge, even if you'd only taken command a day prior.

How hard was that?

Now, if you think his error was a hanging offense, I'll take issue. He fucked up. It happens. He fixed his fuck-up and he's investigating it. Or trying to, if a crying whinebaby asswipe named Issa would get the fuck out of the way and let the man do his job. None of this is a state secret, you know. The Federal government has reporting relationships, just like the military does. Holder is top dog at Justice and that's his hit for bad management--even if the seeds of the operation were scattered from back in the BushCo years (and his boys never paid for the bullshit they pulled, but, whatever--IOKIYAR).

A guy named Kennedy fucked up big time in a place called the Bay of Pigs...just saying.

[may3rd]

62. Captains orders often have him sail in harms way

Is he an Ollie North?
Then I say make it a prime time TV event. TV sux as it is

[MADem]

63. He's already said the program was a fuckup. He's not tried to hide a thing.

In order to be an Ollie North, he'd have to lie, cheat and steal and encourage prevarication and destruction of evidence by his staff. He hasn't done any of that.

[wordpix]

59. now you need to read & see the vid about what's really going on

snip

The whole mess, however, has its origins in the fevered imaginings of Alabama militiaman Michael Vanderboegh, a blogger and writer of Timothy McVeigh-inspired anti-federal government fiction. Vanderboegh, who, when health care reform was passed in March of 2010, urged conservatives to commit acts of violence against Democratic headquarters across the country.

“If you want to send a message that Pelosi and her party cannot fail to hear, break their windows,” he wrote on his blog when the Affordable Care Act passed, “Break them NOW. Break them and run to break again. Break them under cover of night. Break them in broad daylight. Break them and await arrest in willful, principled civil disobedience. Break them with rocks. Break them with slingshots. Break them with baseball bats. But BREAK THEM.”

A wave of anti-Democratic vandalism struck multiple party offices in several cities. Vanderboegh wasn’t done yet, though. It’s Vanderboegh who cooked up the conspiracy fantasy that “Fast and Furious” is all part of President Barack Obama’s sinister master plan to take away America’s guns. snip

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/21/rachel-maddow-explains-what-the-hell-fast-and-furious-is-all-about/

[MADem]

30. Here--read this. It's a Government of, by and for The People source.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/June/12-ag-776.html

Holder is prohibited--by FEDERAL LAW--from releasing the materials that Issa wants. Issa knows this and is giving Holder this choice--break federal law or I will hold you in contempt.

Issa is scum. He has the brass to call his whiny, crybaby ass a LAWMAKER, while he behaves like a THUG? While he attempts to extort Holder with a frigging Sophie's choice?

In essence, he is saying to Holder, "You can break the law or I'll break your legs." Tony Soprano has more class. Issa's a despicable pig.

[PavePusher]

34. There are ways to handle the classified parts of the documents requested....

that would not violate Federal law or put agents at risk.

I have been in the USAF for 21+ years, and am passingly familiar with the practice.

Both sides are being fucktards and someone needs to break the deadlock before it causes any additional harm.

[MADem]

37. Uhhh....that's what has been DONE, but Issa will not acknowledge that he has no right to grand jury

testimony, informant information, or ongoing investigation materials--despite federal law expressly controlling access to these documents that bears out Holder's redaction of them. Holder has tried to provide amplifying information without compromising sources in NINE visits to the Hill, but Issa has been told by the NRA that if he doesn't hold Holder in contempt, he won't get a 100 percent rating from them.

I was in USN longer than you've been in USAF, and this is not a FOIA issue or a classified material control issue. This is a different thing entirely. This is FEDERAL law we're talking about--Federal wiretap statutes and other controlling rules and regulations affecting branches of the Federal government--not military classifications. It's a completely different issue--there can be no "declassification" or "SCI clearance" to play the "get around" game.

Bottom line: Issa is simply NOT authorized to see the shit he wants to see. He never will be authorized, unless he gets a job at DOJ.

[PavePusher]

41. I think we've strayed a bit afield here.

The way I understood it, Issa wants to know who authorized this debacle, who was briefed in and when. Holder has been avoiding releasing this info. I don't think it's classified or sensitive to ongoing operations/investigations. It certainly seems to fit into the "transparancy" frame to me.

[MADem]

43. No we haven't. The one who "strayed" and is playing gimme-gimme is Issa--and he's doing lobbyists'

bidding, and we KNOW that because we've seen the NRA letter that threatens him and other GOP legislators up for re-election if they don't deliver a contempt ruling.

So no--we haven't strayed 'a bit afield' in the slightest. Unless you're talking about Issa--he's completely off the page. He is earnestly and purposefully shirking his duty to his constituents, and attempting to exercise authorities he does not possess/subvert law for partisan political gain.

Transparency doesn't extend to in camera communications, informant testimony, Grand Jury product, and other materials that are part of an ongoing investigation. Go read Cummings' release -- it's all spelled out very plainly.

[October]

52. Thanks, MADem. /nt

[MADem]

28. This isn't about Terry's family.

This is about your buddy Darryl Issa asking the Attorney General of the United States to break federal law and release documents he is legally prohibited from releasing.

But you know that already.

[may3rd]

61. The point missed is the mexican cartels use whatever means necessary in their war on drugs

Chainsaws are big in dealing with police,citizens and tourists that happen to be in their way.

Why is it nobody wants to talk about the real issue ? A shame and unfortunate thing that can't be fixed ?

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/news-item/mexico-freedom-of-expression-still-under-attack-as-six-journalists-killed

[Tx4obama]

18. Kick!

[Peaceful Protester]

21. Law Enforcement

Last edited Thu Jun 21, 2012, 03:54 PM - Edit history (2)

I know it's very difficult for anyone to lose a loved one, but Law enforcement requires a willingness on the part of officers to expose themselves to high risk situations; sometimes resulting in death. Sadly, a law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty every 57 hours in America.

According to the following quote, it sounds like the family already knows what happened:

"Our son, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, was killed by members of a Mexican drug cartel armed with weapons from this failed Justice Department gun trafficking investigation."

In fact, ATF officials wrote in 2007 that the gun walking tactic had "full approval" of the U.S. Attorney's Office. It was Holder who finally ordered an end to the program, and several people were either fired, reprimanded or reassigned.

Unfortunately, if nothing illegal transpired, then no one involved in the operation can be held responsible for the death of this officer; other than the person who pulled the trigger.

[PavePusher]

24. Weapons were handed to criminals by a government agency....

no effort made to track or stop the criminals, the Mexican government was not notified, and you insinuate that "nothing illegal transpired"?

[Grassy Knoll]

22. These F & F'ers are just like the Birthers and truthers.......

nothing more, weak sauce claims without proof.
Bush started it, Holder ended it, all else is a witch hunt.
This is revenge for gonzales stepping down, the new BPP, the stop
on voter purge, AZ immigration halt and anything else Fox news hates about Obama's AG.

[Savannahmann]

26. I've been saying for a while we screwed this up royally.

All day I've been trying to wake people up to the trap we've just walked into. We walked into the trap and now we get to decide how the hell to get out. Executive Privilege is going to burn us. People hear that, and automatically remember that the first time they heard it was in school when discussing Nixon during Civics class. Issa is going to court to compel the release of the documents, and we act like he wouldn't dare.

So imagine this. John the dolt who votes one way one election, and the other way the next election, depending on where the whim drives him, finally starts to pay attention. Then the lead story on the news is how a three judge panel has agreed to issue a stay on the order requiring President Obama and Attorney General Holder to release the documents to congress. One of our side is there crowing that this proves that President Obama is absolutely within his rights to use Executive Privilege.

Here is what John the Dolt Public hears. "President Obama is allowed to keep incriminating evidence from Congress." It is the same thing we all hear when we see somebody testifying before Congress taking the Fifth. They are guilty, and aren't going to tell anyone about it. It may be political bullshit, but we mismanaged it from day one. Can't you hear the Republican Lawyers talking on the news, and in court, on TV channels like CNN and FOX and probably ABC about how the precedent for this case. Congress versus Nixon clearly shows that President Obama needs to surrender the documents.

They'll keep linking it. They've already started. Drudge is photoshopping President Obama's eyes into Nixon's face. WE are being linked to Nixon people. Laugh now, because we just got screwed. I bet money that the Supreme Court will agree to hear an expedited appeal right about October 12th. So the last two or three weeks of the election cycle is how President Obama is using Nixonion tricks to avoid answering to Congress. Is that how we want to go into election day?

[MADem]

38. Do you have a squirrel in your pocket? What's this lameass "WE" shit? Turn on your television.

The Democratic push-back against Issa is very clear, very loud, and being heard. Of course, if you are only listening to Faux, you won't hear that, but all of the networks, CNN, MSNBC, and the local regional cable outlets are providing Elijah Cummings', et. als.' rebuttals.

So no, "we" did not get screwed. Unless you're allying yourself with the GOP--because they are getting an ass-walloping they will not soon forget.

Sure you didn't take a wrong turn somewhere?

[Veracious]

29. BITCH SLAP THIS DOWN!

Cheney indicted for War Crimes!

[BamaFanLee]

31. This is why we need to take back Congress

This would never see the light of day if Democrats were in charge of the House. We need so bad to re-elect President Obama and get a super majority in the House and Senate so rediculousness like this never happens again.

[Savannahmann]

32. We may need to, but the odds are now not in our favor.

Because for the next four and a half months this is going to become a more important news story all the time, gathering more coverage, and more experts as they describe the legal positions in terms people can understand. The Rethug Lawyers are going to use the Nixon example time and time again. Making the link in the minds of the voters. Now, who would vote for Nixon again? When the Rethug Lawyers start to explain why this is worse than Nixon, will you see a good opportunity to take back Congress?

We threw them into the Brier Patch, they live there.

[MADem]

45. Oh bullshit. You have a squirrel in your pocket, too? Enough with the "we" nonsense.

Turn off Faux and watch ANY other network--you'll see that your perception is not reality. But I have a feeling that you don't care.

[Savannahmann]

49. Hey I'm cool with it.

By WE I meant We Democrats. We got our President into the White House in a Historic First. All of us. We got Afordable Healthcare. Not everything WE wanted, but most of it. It is the foundation of our future. We were screwed in 2010 when the Rethugs stole the House from us. We were screwed on messaging, and we were screwed on the news cycle.

Of course, then WE said that the people were too smart to fall for the lies of the extreme right. WE were wrong. Since that time we have had massive gridlock and a determined effort to destroy OUR President. This Fast and Furious thing is going to keep getting bigger, and bite us in the ass. The Retugs aren't backing down, they aren't doing what we think they should. But as you say, We don't care.

Fine. I'll leave it alone. But I promise you this. If WE lose this election, We all will suffer with four years of a Radical like Romney in the White House.

[MADem]

50. You are wrong--people are already going after Issa's bullshitting and criminal record.

People want to know why a witch hunter with two car thefts, gun charges, arson charges, and intimidation and a host of shady dealings--a fucking criminal, in essence--is even the chair of the Judiciary Committee?

I'd hardly say that it's big and getting bigger. I'd say the focus on ISSA is big and getting bigger, and he's gonna be dogged like the dog he is.

We won't lose this election, if everyone GOTVs. We won't lose this election, if everyone gets the word out and knocks down bullshit rightwing memes like "Holder's on the ropes because FauxSnooze says so."

Read, learn, stay up to date--this hardly looks like "the Repubs aren't backing down"--at least on this issue.

http://technorati.com/politics/article/darrell-issas-fast-and-frivolous/

Despite frequently invoking the slain agent’s name when the cameras are rolling, Issa and the House Republicans are not investigating the death of Brian Terry. No recent activities of the committee have focused on this event.

...Darrell Issa is the Congressman who famously earmarked highway dollars to a road where it only “coincidentally” increased the value of property he owned. In 2010, when Issa was appointed Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, he said, “I want seven hearings a week, times 40 weeks [a year.]” He said he planned to investigate the Obama Administration’s role in economic stimulus, bank bailouts and the collapse of housing prices. He promised to investigate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Countrywide Mortgage, Toyota, and steroids in baseball. He said he would look into “presidential earmarks” (there is no such thing) and presidential grants (there aren’t many.)

Two years later (at election time) It looks like Chairman Issa is staring “Epic Fail!” straight in the eye. His political job — to paint the Obama Administration as a criminal and hypocritical enterprise — is left with this: A botched ATF initiative that relied on proven investigative techniques. A single “scandal” that was in respon

se to a real and widespread crime involving international drug cartels. And just one “investigation” of a program that began during the Bush Administration.

For Darrell Issa, what a letdown it must be.

You will have to click on this and read it--they do not allow cut and paste: http://www.mainjustice.com/2012/06/22/issa-denies-accusation-he-asked-for-breuer-scalp-for-ending-contempt/


Report: Issa Staffer Offered To Stop Holder Contempt Vote For DOJ Scalp
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/report_issa_staffer_offered_to_stop_holder_contempt_vote_for_doj_scalp.php

DOJ officials think the offer to drop the contempt vote in exchange for Breuer’s scalp was further evidence that Issa’s investigation was more about making headlines than determining facts.

“The reason that this contempt motion happened is that Issa didn’t come up with any evidence and didn’t get a scalp,” Matthew Miller, DOJ’s former communications director, told Klaidman. “When you set expectations that high and you don’t deliver, you have to explain why.”

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/21/12345698-white-house-blocking-doj-documents-is-no-cover-up

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/21/1101851/-2008-Darrell-Issa-Voted-YES-to-Fund-Project-Gunrunner-Merida-Initiative

1) Rep. Darrell Issa voted "yes" specifically to Fund: "Project Gunrunner" in June 2008.
2) In January 2008: ATF went to Congress and asked Congress to Fund Project Gunrunner for 3 years.
3) In 2008, HR-6028 combined "Project Gunrunner" with the "Merida Initiative" also known as the "Merida Program."
4) The Title of the Bill HR-6028 is:
Assistance for Mexico and Central America for Anti-Drug Programs (Merida Program)
5) A SubSection of the Bill HR-6028 is Titled: PROJECT GUNRUNNER INITIATIVE
6) Among other things, Project Gunrunner is directly funded through Merida Initiative
7) In 2007 the Congress held hearings on Merida Initiative
8) Merida Initiative is complicated because it is an initiative that crosses through: Homeland Security, Secretary of State, ATF, FBI & DoJ.

Merida is kind of like an octopus as Merida has many tentacles that go through many different areas of US security departments.
The notion that Darrell Issa had never heard of Project Gunrunner is bullsh!t since Issa voted "yes" to specifically fund Project Gunrunner in 2008.

And let's not forget dear Darrell's criminal past:

http://www.newser.com/story/109882/darrell-issas-criminal-past-back-in-the-spotlight.html

Darrell Issa is eager to investigate the Obama administration, but he's got plenty of skeletons in his own closet. In a lengthy profile, the New Yorker dredges up a series of scandalous allegations from the House Oversight Chairman's criminal past. Among them: Issa has been accused of burning down a building and arrested for carrying a concealed weapon (he paid a fine, got 6 months probation) and stealing a red Maserati (case dismissed).

That's just the frost on the tip of the iceberg with that crybaby little shit.

[October]

54. Really!!! This Issa character is beyond belief!!!

Nastiest of all -- I nearly threw something at the TV when Bill Maher accorded him with such undeserved civility. OMG did he have Issa ALL WRONG!

I'm glad for one thing in this mess -- that people are finding out what Issa (crybaby, didn't win I mean STEAL the California governorship) is all about.

[wordpix]

58. here is what this investigation is about (links) - Rachel explains it well

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/21/rachel-maddow-explains-what-the-hell-fast-and-furious-is-all-about/

snip: The whole mess, however, has its origins in the fevered imaginings of Alabama militiaman Michael Vanderboegh, a blogger and writer of Timothy McVeigh-inspired anti-federal government fiction. Vanderboegh, who, when health care reform was passed in March of 2010, urged conservatives to commit acts of violence against Democratic headquarters across the country.

“If you want to send a message that Pelosi and her party cannot fail to hear, break their windows,” he wrote on his blog when the Affordable Care Act passed, “Break them NOW. Break them and run to break again. Break them under cover of night. Break them in broad daylight. Break them and await arrest in willful, principled civil disobedience. Break them with rocks. Break them with slingshots. Break them with baseball bats. But BREAK THEM.”

A wave of anti-Democratic vandalism struck multiple party offices in several cities. Vanderboegh wasn’t done yet, though. It’s Vanderboegh who cooked up the conspiracy fantasy that “Fast and Furious” is all part of President Barack Obama’s sinister master plan to take away America’s guns. snip

[jeff47]

51. Congratulations on recovering from that coma

Being in a coma during the Clinton administration is the only reason I can think of to believe that resignations would have caused the Republicans to back off from their witch hunt.

So, I hope your recovery continues well.

[MADem]

56. You win the thread!

Thank you for my guffaw of the day! That was a "premiere" post if I ever saw one!

[wordpix]

60. this thing started with a McVeigh-styled Ala. militiaman who was behind Crystallnacht of Dem HQs

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/06/21/rachel-maddow-explains-what-the-hell-fast-and-furious-is-all-about/

Does that tell you anything?

[Savannahmann]

64. Actually, it started Under Bush. In 2009 the name was changed

From Wide Receiver to Fast and Furious.

But the Maddow piece is interesting. However, the KNOWN facts don't support it.

What I have wondered since I learned of it is this. What the hell were we Democrats thinking. I can't understand why our appointee's didn't shut it down ten seconds after learning about it. I can't for the life of me figure out why we didn't just release the documents when it was blown, and give a narrative the people could understand. It would not have taken a paragraph in January 2011.

"A weapons tracking program started in the Previous Administration was continued in this administration. The intent, while never realized, was to learn all the paths that the criminals were using to access the weapons purchased illegally in the United States. This intent was not realized, but the objective was to eliminate all methods of accessing the illegal firearms. We wanted to get all of them, and then starve them of weapons, or set up a massive sting which would have allowed us to break the backs of the Cartels in one well executed operation. Unfortunately, one of the weapons we were tracking was used to murder a Border Patrol Agent. The decision process used in this case is currently under review."

If we had gone that route, it would have been news for a week, or two max. Now, it's a contempt vote, and the Rethugs have managed to hang the entire thing on us. Public Perception is what matters, not a detailed understanding of the nuances involved. Nobody is going to bother reading as much as many of us have. They are going to get a sound bite from the news, and let their moronic imaginations fill in the blanks. That is why they are linking Nixon and Obama in their press releases. That is why we can expect to see commercials about it. There will be a court case about it, with the Rethugs asking a Judge to set aside the Executive Privilege claim and order the Justice Department to surrender the documents. Now, how does the Obama Admin, us in other words, fight that and not look Nixonian?

[October]

53. Get real Savannahmann.

Only Republican voters are drooling over this story.

[MADem]

55. +1,000 nt

[Peaceful Protester]

35. Don't Miss The Obvious

Republicans are trying to lay the ground work for impeachment in case Obama is reelected.

[slackmaster]

36. They would need 60 seats in the Senate in order to do that

It's not going to happen.

[MADem]

39. Indeed--the "concern" around these parts is fascinating! nt

[Peaceful Protester]

47. Very Clearly

The real concern is not impeachment, but the things Republicans are willing to do in order to create the illusion that this administration is corrupt, behaving unconstitutionally and therefore eligible for consideration of an impeachment.

With just months until the election, it already appears this is the game Republicans are willing to play. The point being, if Obama is reelected, expect Republicans to continue this same line of attack.

Understanding this line of attack is the Republican strategy allows us to get out in front of their messaging and deal with them more effectively.

[KatChatter]

57. During the vote all the Dems need to cough 'blow job' ala Animal House

it would be hilarious to see on c-span.