A lot of baloney flying fast and furious
As previously noted, the “Fast and Furious” program run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. attorney in Arizona was a badly conceived operation made worse by incompetent leadership. It began as an effort to track the illegal flow of guns from U.S. gun shops across the border to Mexican drug cartels, with the hope of using the information to break up those cartels, and in the end it may have contributed to scores of deaths, including the death of a U.S. Border Patrol officer.
Nobody — with the exception of some who were directly involved — disputes that it was a bad idea gone wrong. And as a result, most of those in the ATF and the U.S. attorney’s office in Arizona who planned and led the effort have been fired or reassigned.
So what’s the controversy in Washington all about? Republicans have two working theories about Fast and Furious, and through the House Government Oversight Committee are attempting to find evidence to support those pet theories. But so far, despite having subpoenaed a veritable haystack of documents from the Justice Department, they have been unable to find the needle that they seek.
The response to that failure has been to demand still more haystacks to search. Committee Chairman Darrell Issa insists that the Justice Department release thousands of additional documents that go right to the core of ongoing criminal investigations in the case, even though as a matter of law and practice such documents are considered exempt from congressional subpoena.
Attorney General Eric Holder, backed by President Obama, has refused to release those documents, which is why he is now in danger of joining a long list of officials in both parties to have been held in contempt of Congress over the years.
Issa and his colleagues believe that somewhere, documents exist that will show that Holder and others at high levels in the Obama administration helped to plan and execute Fast and Furious, although again, there’s no evidence that is true. But what really drives the investigation is a deeply held conviction among many conservatives that instead of being an effort to track guns back to the drug cartels and then arrest cartel leadership, Fast and Furious was a government plot intended to make guns look bad and to build public support for undercutting the Second Amendment.
Here’s how Rush Limbaugh explained it to the faithful yesterday:
“Now, we all know what the purpose of this was. The purpose of this was to gin up anti-Amendment 2 sentiment among the people of this country. The objective was — and this is where the irony steps in — the objective was to have news stories where everybody was shocked and stunned and saddened, guns purchased by drug cartel members in America. Look how easy it was, end up in Mexico, owned by violent drug gangs, and used in the commission of heinous crimes. Why, our gun laws are too lax. The sentiment in this country among the people is to maintain the Second Amendment. The America people don’t want, by a vast majority, any gun control legislation. But that doesn’t matter to people like President Kardashian or Eric Holder or any of the Democrat Party or the left.
They don’t want you to have guns, and so it doesn’t matter about the Constitution and it doesn’t matter about the will of the American people. If they don’t want you to have guns they’re gonna try to find a way to make sure that you don’t. And that’s what Fast and Furious was, as simply put as I can make it.”
The theory has no more basis in fact than do claims that Obama is a Kenyan plant or that he intends to confiscate all firearms in private hands. It also ignores the reality that the Bush administration had run similar if smaller scale operations, and that Fast and Furious — botched though it was — was simply an extension of those previous programs.
Unfortunately, these days a story with a basis in fact is much less valuable than a bogus story line that gets people stirred up and angry, certain that their country is being stolen from them as they watch.
– Jay Bookman
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609 comments Add your comment
getalife
June 21st, 2012
12:27 pm
Yeah, the libs said w destroyed our country and it turned out he did.
They did not have to lie about everything like our cons do today.
Adam
June 21st, 2012
12:27 pm
Adam, I would be curious to know of a specific example of a law that the Supreme Court made. There are many which have been upheld or struck down, but I am at a loss for a law they have made.
I will admit it is a matter of interpretation. Decisions that they make determine how law is interpreted from then on. You can see the effects of that in most major decisions.
barking frog
June 21st, 2012
12:28 pm
Just start a business,
the world will tell you
how to run it.
TV has no comments and
it is more pervasive than
Luckovich, not that he’s
pervasive.
Brosephus™
June 21st, 2012
12:29 pm
I fail to see what the problem is with releasing the requested documents to a committee sworn to secrecy if there is no issue with national security. Care to edify me?
The problem is called political gamesmanship. Issa could have already had the documents he wanted, but he simply refused to “compromise”.
In recent weeks, Issa has narrowed his request to documents relating to “internal deliberations” over the operation. Justice officials have insisted that they do not have to hand over those files based on long-standing executive branch policy. They have also said that many of the documents delivered to the inspector general pertain to ongoing criminal investigations and legally cannot be released to Congress.
In a bid to head off a contempt vote, Holder met with Issa and several other lawmakers Tuesday evening. The attorney general agreed to turn over documents that Justice officials think would answer Issa’s questions if the committee would consider the subpoena issues related to Fast and Furious to be “resolved.” He told reporters afterward that the set of documents “pretty clearly demonstrates that there was no intention to mislead, to deceive.”
Issa declined the offer, however, saying he would not make such a determination until he saw the documents.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fast-and-furious-scandal-obama-exerts-executive-privilege-house-panel-moves-forward-with-contempt-vote/2012/06/20/gJQAGImIqV_story_1.html
MoreRightthanLeft
June 21st, 2012
12:30 pm
@Adam….again, repubs do the “divisive game”, really? i read enough to see both parties are guilty with that…and agree there is nobody in either party looking for economic restructuring…9 billion spent for solar and wind projects…yielded 910 jobs… recovery huh?
and calculating saved jobs? youre kidding right? whats that equation look like?
larry
June 21st, 2012
12:30 pm
From Wikipedia……….
The Supreme Court confirmed the legitimacy of this doctrine in United States v. Nixon, but only to the extent of confirming that there is a qualified privilege. Once invoked, a presumption of privilege is established, requiring the Prosecutor to make a “sufficient showing” that the “Presidential material” is “essential to the justice of the case.”(418 U.S. at 713-14). Chief Justice Burger further stated that executive privilege would most effectively apply when the oversight of the executive would impair that branch’s national security concerns.
Jay
June 21st, 2012
12:30 pm
sfd, I also recall him bragging early in the life of this blog that he would run me off as well…
You might want to ask him how that one turned out for him.
barking frog
June 21st, 2012
12:31 pm
Nine lawyers making a
decision is a miracle.
Mighty Righty
June 21st, 2012
12:31 pm
The day after the election, the very media that is now claiming fast and furious is no big deal and praising the the illegal executive order last week making the “dream act” law without the legal process, will be citing these among others as the reason Obama was defeated.
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
June 21st, 2012
12:31 pm
This is so funny…
Breaking from Newsmax.com
Romney Asks Fla.’s Scott to Downplay Job Gains
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign asked Florida Gov. Rick Scott to tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash with the presumptive Republican nominee’s message that the nation is suffering under President Barack Obama, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Scott, a Republican, was asked to say that the state’s jobless rate could improve faster under a Romney presidency, according to the people, who asked not to be named.
What’s unfolding in Florida highlights a dilemma for the Romney campaign: how to allow Republican governors to take credit for economic improvements in their states while faulting Obama’s stewardship of the national economy. Republican governors in Ohio, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin also have highlighted improving economies.
Scott should follow the advice of the Romney campaign and it won’t undermine his own message, said Mac Stipanovich, a political strategist and lobbyist in Florida.
“This is one of those situations where you could have it both ways and there’s enough truth in it that it would resonate,” Stipanovich said. “It would be better if everybody was singing from the same hymnal.”
Romney’s campaign is eager to sell its economy message in Florida, one of the most competitive electoral battlegrounds, where the past three presidential races were decided by 5 percentage points or less. Obama leads Romney, 46 percent to 42 percent, in a Quinnipiac University poll released today, a shift from May when the Republican was in the lead, 47 percent to 41 percent.
A Romney adviser made the request this week to Scott’s staff after press releases from the governor’s re-election campaign and Internet messages from the Florida Chamber of Commerce trumpeted the state’s drop to 8.6 percent unemployment rate in May from 8.7 percent in April, the people said. The national unemployment rate is 8.2 percent.
Scott’s news release said the jobless rate had dropped 11 consecutive months in Florida and asked supporters to “spread the news” on Facebook, Twitter and by emailing their friends.
Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an email that Romney frequently praises governors “for their ability to overcome the job-stifling policies of the Obama administration.” Scott spokesman Lane Wright didn’t return phone calls seeking comment.
Romney hasn’t campaigned with Scott, a first-term governor, whose approval rating is 39 percent, according to a poll yesterday from Quinnipiac. That’s down from 41 percent on May 24.
Romney’s staff has concluded there’s no benefit in appearing with Scott, said two campaign advisers who asked for anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter.
The state Republican party ran a television ad in March crediting Scott, who is a year and a half into a four-year term, for drops in the unemployment rate.
“Companies are hiring, expanding, putting more Floridians to work,” the ad narrator said. “Florida’s unemployment rate continues to get better.”
Florida’s jobless rate was 11.1 percent in December 2010 before Scott took office and 8.2 percent two years earlier when Obama was sworn in.
“The first time I saw that ad I initially thought it was an Obama ad,” said Brad Coker, managing director of the Washington-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. “They’ll have to tamp it down.”
Two months later, Crossroads GPS, a super-political action committee that is supporting Romney, was on television in Florida with a spot featuring a female character saying her kids “can’t find jobs.”
“Unemployment Rate Stays High,” says a mock newspaper headline in the ad.
In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich has been publicly touting the state’s falling unemployment rate and 75,700 jobs added during the past year. Rob Nichols, a Kasich spokesman, said the Romney campaign hasn’t asked the governor to change that message.
Kasich’s comments may appear to conflict with Romney’s. The two Republicans campaigned at an April 27 event at Otterbein University in suburban Columbus where Romney described a difficult job market for graduating seniors and Kasich talked about the state’s unfilled jobs.
Asked about the conflict after a May 17 speech in Columbus, Kasich told reporters that although Ohio’s economy is improving, “uncertainty” from the president’s policies on health care, taxes and regulation “puts wind in our face” that would change if Romney were elected.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on June 19 called Michigan “the comeback state of the United States,” noting its jobless rate dropped to 8.5 percent in May from 14.2 percent in August 2009.
“We still need to do better,” Snyder said. “The whole country needs to do better.”
Geralyn Lasher, a spokeswoman for Snyder, said the Romney campaign hasn’t asked the governor to downplay economic improvements.
In Virginia, Gov. Robert McDonnell’s Opportunity Virginia political action committee aired an ad in April that touts gains in the economy since he took office in 2010.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said economic progress was a key component of his successful defense against a June 5 recall election. Walker pointed to the state’s unemployment rate, which was 6.8 percent in May, down from 7.7 percent when he took office in January 2011.
In Florida, signs of a sagging economy remain.
The 18 percent of Florida mortgages in foreclosure or 90 days past due is the highest rate in the country, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Commercial buildings remain vacant across the state.
“Until you start seeing physical signs of those things starting to fill up again, I just don’t think people are going to believe a government statistic that life is getting better for them,” said Coker, the Mason-Dixon polling executive.
© 2012 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved.
Joe Hussein Mama
June 21st, 2012
12:31 pm
Towncrier — “But a ploy used by advertisers all of the time – like Coke’s claim years ago that “this is it”.
Which is unquantifiable. For a competitor to have any cause of action, or for the FTC to punish Coke for such a claim, “It” would have to be something measurable or testable.
Towncrier
June 21st, 2012
12:32 pm
“As to the blog, Mike’s a cartoonist, not a word guy, and running a blog isn’t in his job description. They did allow comments on his cartoons for a while, but as some of you may recall, it became an unmoderated free-for-all that they had to shut down.”
To me, that is an unsatisfactory solution. They should perhaps have stricter moderating software for an unattended blog.
josef
June 21st, 2012
12:33 pm
BROSEPHUS
I never even intimated that it was an ideological thingie…it’s just questionable editorial policy, imauo.
Adam
June 21st, 2012
12:33 pm
again, repubs do the “divisive game”, really? i read enough to see both parties are guilty with that…
And saying both parties is just another way of getting people not to actually deal with issues. It’s a distraction, a way of “muddying the waters” so that distrust in government persists and grows stronger – which is another right wing goal. The divisive messaging and the accusations that amount to projection that come from the right are all part of this same tactic. The whole purpose is to avoid issues that help the American people, and instead allow Republicans to maintain power and get their way in as many things as possible.
Towncrier
June 21st, 2012
12:33 pm
“Which is unquantifiable. For a competitor to have any cause of action, or for the FTC to punish Coke for such a claim, “It” would have to be something measurable or testable.”
Exactly. Agreed.
Bernie
June 21st, 2012
12:34 pm
The Feigned OUTRAGE by the Republican Party and its Tea Party supporters go far beyond the PALE of political reasonable LOGIC. Here it is, they have already supported FULL THROAT ED the most, less than enthusiastic Presidential CANDIDATE in modern times.
Especially during a time when the economy and the issue of JOBS is the primary concern on the American Peoples Kitchen Table. Instead of acting on those concerns ,These particular politicians are spending most of their time BELLY ACHING over the handling of a Sting operation that was initially started and failed by a member and LEADER of their own PARTY!
As Charlie Brown would say…”GOOD GRIEF”
larry
June 21st, 2012
12:34 pm
As i repeated time and again on the last blog, it seems the Repubs do not want this President to have the same power that his predecessors had in regards to executive privilege.
And if the economy isnt improving, why is the Romney campaign telling Repub governors not to brag about improving job numbers in their states.
carlosgvv
June 21st, 2012
12:34 pm
Billybob – 11:52
And just EXACTLY what laws has Obama not upheld?
barking frog
June 21st, 2012
12:34 pm
When a comment is longer
than the host’s post editing
is desirable.
Grasshopper
June 21st, 2012
12:36 pm
“It’s therefore pertinent, IMO, to ask how come thousands of *other* deaths with a plausibly political association don’t necessarily become *thousands of tragedies.* Because if they aren’t, then it’s *Grasshopper,* IMO, who’s being dismissive of certain deaths.”
It’s certainly pertinent to ask that question. But that is not the subject at hand. Being dismissive of one mans death because others have died for political reasons is an obfuscation. Deaths in wars are by definition political.
Dismiss the fact that an agent is dead and nobody is responsible. Obviously, that makes you feel better intellectually .
Towncrier
June 21st, 2012
12:39 pm
“The problem is called political gamesmanship. Issa could have already had the documents he wanted, but he simply refused to “compromise”.”
Well, I don’t think Issa should have had to agree, in advance, that he would ask for no more documents before seeing the ones in question. That seems peculiar. I am NOT for witch hunts, but neither do I trust Obama – he has simply not told the truth (even in his own memoir) or broken his word on too many occasions.
carlosgvv
June 21st, 2012
12:39 pm
Grasshopper – 12:36
Whoever pulled the trigger and shot the agent is responsible.
Liberal is NOT left enough
June 21st, 2012
12:40 pm
Our President should continue to refuse to cooperate w ANY request from the traitor cons. He should put them in jail for all of their obstruction over the last 3+ years. If Our President had only been allowed to merely speak new laws, we would have zero unemployment and b in our rightful position in the world – somewhere behind China and the Europeans, which is what we deserve for all the years of evil, white, hetero, Christian actions against the better people of the world
getalife
June 21st, 2012
12:40 pm
The robme cartel got the guns.
LUCIFER
June 21st, 2012
12:40 pm
Those of us with brains are well aware that Limbaugh is a college dropout idiot. He spoon feeds his hate and conspiracy theories to Dittoheads who keep him comfortable with a $60 million annual salary, a jet and various other amenities that lounge his lard ass. You got to hand it to Rush — he does have a sweet gig in keeping an audience capitivated that is a whole lot dumber than he is. That said, Issa is also a wingnut and let’s not overlook the fact that Fast and Furious began under jarhead George W.
Brosephus™
June 21st, 2012
12:41 pm
I never even intimated that it was an ideological thingie…it’s just questionable editorial policy, imauo.
I know you didn’t state it as such, but the initial debate was about him vs a conservative cartoonist. THAT makes it ideological. My point is that it could all be a financial decision. If they asked me to babysit people who posted like they do here, I would be able to retire at 50 if they paid me what I asked for. In other words, hiring me to moderate a blog based on his drawings would cost the AJC far more that what it would cost them to just block comments.
Towncrier
June 21st, 2012
12:42 pm
“I never even intimated that it was an ideological thingie…it’s just questionable editorial policy, imauo.”
Agreed. Though it may, as Brosephus has suggested, be more about money (not realizing moderation can be effectively handled by software if desired).
getalife
June 21st, 2012
12:42 pm
rush would be a lib if the money was right.
1811/0311
June 21st, 2012
12:43 pm
“USURPATION” !! (”an act of usurping; wrongful or illegal encroachment, infringement, or seizure.”)
O.K. guys ……………. here’s what I am trying to get across with my earlier comments.
Once you start down the road of cheapening/prostituting/USURPING the Constitution (and both sides do it) then you are in BIG trouble. It’s gets out of control, there is little to no repsect for that “contract between the American people and their government” and each side just continues to do what they want instead of what the Constitution provides for.
George Washington said it best:
“If in the opinion of the People, the distribution or modification of the Constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.”
josef
June 21st, 2012
12:43 pm
LIBERAL is NOT
@ 12:40
That’s just plain nasty tempered and does not serve any positive purpose other than to alienate white, heterosexual, Christians, many of whom ARE “the better people of the world.”
Grasshopper
June 21st, 2012
12:44 pm
“Grasshopper – 12:36
Whoever pulled the trigger and shot the agent is responsible”
That’s not the way Bloomberg feels.
Brosephus™
June 21st, 2012
12:44 pm
Well, I don’t think Issa should have had to agree, in advance, that he would ask for no more documents before seeing the ones in question
I don’t think that was what Issa would have been agreeing to. I have not seen anything that said that the committee could not issue additional subpoenas if they needed more information.
Joe Hussein Mama
June 21st, 2012
12:44 pm
Grasshopper — “It’s certainly pertinent to ask that question.”
Your concession is noted and appreciated.
“But that is not the subject at hand.”
Actually, it is.
“Being dismissive of one mans death because others have died for political reasons is an obfuscation.”
It would be, had someone actually done that. Fortunately, no one has.
“Deaths in wars are by definition political.”
Rejected. They may be political in a macro sense; in the sense that international politics are in play, but that’s not the area we’re discussing right now. And, by the way, thanks for dismissing the deaths of our military men and women in war.
“Dismiss the fact that an agent is dead and nobody is responsible.”
Nobody’s done that, but clearly, that’s not going to stop you from fantasizing that numerous people have.
“Obviously, that makes you feel better intellectually.”
Mindreading Attempt Status: UTTER FAIL
josef
June 21st, 2012
12:45 pm
And I come back to…if you can’t afford the fare, don’t take the ride…that simple to me.
ByteMe - Political thug
June 21st, 2012
12:46 pm
Guns don’t kill Federal agents. People kill Federal agents.
So says the NRA.
MoreRightthanLeft
June 21st, 2012
12:47 pm
Adam…you are one-sided…divisive messaging, you mean like black vs white, rich vs poor, 1% vs 99%, hollywood vs everyone else, govt vs individual, tax payers vs 49% non taxpayers, like those democratic messages?
i admit it happens on both sides, but one thing that is true, the economy still sux and the leadership in office has done nothing..and arguments and new weekly headlines to deter from it…wont work…
1811/0311
June 21st, 2012
12:47 pm
P.S.
All through our history, the Executive Branch, Congress and even the Supreme Court itself have “usurped” power not given in the Constitution.
If unchecked ………. that will eventually (given enough time) be the death of this Republic as we know it.
How is that checked? By human self-restraint on the quest for power ………….. not a very good thought is it !
Grasshopper
June 21st, 2012
12:47 pm
“Your concession is noted and appreciated.”
Like I care about your appreciation.
Analyze that.
ByteMe - Political thug
June 21st, 2012
12:47 pm
If unchecked ………. that will eventually (given enough time) be the death of this Republic as we know it.
Warm up the fainting couch!
Towncrier
June 21st, 2012
12:48 pm
“Adam, I would be curious to know of a specific example of a law that the Supreme Court made. There are many which have been upheld or struck down, but I am at a loss for a law they have made.”
The SCOTUS doesn’t draft legislation but their rulings can have the effect of de facto law – the legalization of abortion at a federal level (over and against state laws) is a perfect example of this. The 1896 ruling that segregation was constitutional (which arguably allowed for the proliferation of institutionalized terrorism in the form of the KKK – how ironic now given our war on terrorism) is perhaps another.
ty webb
June 21st, 2012
12:48 pm
“fact that Fast and Furious began under jarhead George W.”
same lie second verse.
Joseph
June 21st, 2012
12:50 pm
You still haven’t taken back your lie Jay. Rove was not held in contempt… I realize just the mention of his name makes drool run from your mouth but blantantly lying is just plain wrong….
Towncrier
June 21st, 2012
12:50 pm
“All through our history, the Executive Branch, Congress and even the Supreme Court itself have “usurped” power not given in the Constitution.
If unchecked ………. that will eventually (given enough time) be the death of this Republic as we know it.
How is that checked? By human self-restraint on the quest for power ………….. not a very good thought is it !”
Well said, Scout. I agree.
larry
June 21st, 2012
12:50 pm
George Washington said it best:
George Washington also used executive privilege………….
In the context of privilege assertions by US Presidents, “In 1796, President George Washington refused to comply with a request by the House of Representatives for documents related to the negotiation of the then-recently adopted Jay Treaty with the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Senate alone plays a role in the ratification of treaties, Washington reasoned, and therefore the House had no legitimate claim to the material. Therefore, Washington provided the documents to the Senate but not the House.”[3]
josef
June 21st, 2012
12:51 pm
Here’s my perspective on the cartoon thing. Number one I am a HUGE fan of political cartoons and I consider Luckowich one of the finest and the AJC is lucky to have him.
That said, as some of you know, I grew up in a newsroom back in the stone age of hot type. As a young Turk one of my jobs was to triage the letters to the editor. Those in response to the editorial cartoons outnumbered all the rest by the quire. I daresay that this feature has had more impact than any other in American (and foreign) journalism.
GT
June 21st, 2012
12:52 pm
The right look for short cut augments. When Joe Wilson from South Carolina called the president a liar, it was like a Klansman using the N word to look big in front of his associates. Wilson could have just as easily yell it out in a church when the minister said there is a God in heaven. These things appeal to thugs and narrow minded, who use bullying as a substitute for intelligence. It use to be to call someone a liar you had to be superior to that person, like a father mad at his son, now it is a common way or common men to debate superior intelligence. One thing about the truth, you don’t own it, it owns you. To win an argument on technicality does not protect you from the truth, though it does win you an election. To call someone a liar or declare yourself a winner like Bush did too early in the Iraq War does not make it so, and the truth will catch up with you every time.
That is not to say honest men can’t get their facts wrong too. No man is perfect, but to be called out as a liar makes the incontrolable look worse that the lie itself.
Liberal is NOT left enough
June 21st, 2012
12:52 pm
All that we need is Our Great President and a committee of liberals to rule us. The constitution was written by old, dead, white, heterosexuals and doesn’t need to b followed anymore. Those of u who don’t want to allow Our President to rule as HE sees fit are only doing it for one reason, racism!
Joe Hussein Mama
June 21st, 2012
12:53 pm
Grasshopper — “Like I care about your appreciation.”
Of course you do; otherwise you’d have flamed out on me and either left in disgust or gotten a time-out from Jay.
“Analyze that.”
Done. (laughing)
Joseph
June 21st, 2012
12:54 pm
The really bad stuff for Obama is coming up over the next few weeks. I guess having this scandel is kind of better for him. The Supreme’s are going to uphold the Arizona immigration law and strike down Obamacare… Hoepfully they will stagger this bad news over the next few weeks so Jay will have ample time for damage control… LOL… What a pathetic President…
ty webb
June 21st, 2012
12:55 pm
“That is not to say honest men can’t get their facts wrong too.”
and liars purposely lie.
Joseph
June 21st, 2012
12:56 pm
Libs are even running for cover on this issue… LOL…
Towncrier
June 21st, 2012
12:56 pm
“In the context of privilege assertions by US Presidents, “In 1796, President George Washington refused to comply with a request by the House of Representatives for documents related to the negotiation of the then-recently adopted Jay Treaty with the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Senate alone plays a role in the ratification of treaties, Washington reasoned, and therefore the House had no legitimate claim to the material. Therefore, Washington provided the documents to the Senate but not the House.”[3]”
I would not call that an instance of “executive privilege” – no more than if the mayor of Boston has requested the documents. Washington was on solid constitutional grounds and decided the matter himself well before the SCOTUS arrogated to itself the right of judicial review in 1803.
Mr Right
June 21st, 2012
12:56 pm
It’s good Obama’s spin doctor (Jay) is back, since things are beginning to spin out of control for him!
Williebkind
June 21st, 2012
12:58 pm
Hail King Obama and greetings to his subjects…and jesters. The Noble Holder has done more than Liddy and Liddy went to jail. Noble Holder has violated his oath more than Gonzalez and yet King Obama’s subjects and jesters not only surrender without lamentations but continue to place him on a pedestal. HAIL KING OBAMA!
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 21st, 2012
12:59 pm
and liars purposely lie.
The smoking gun is the mushroom cloud.
josef
June 21st, 2012
1:00 pm
Mr Right
Oh, I’ll grant you the Imam’s a pretty good spin doctor, but even he can’t compete with this
“Now, we all know what the purpose of this was. The purpose of this was to gin up anti-Amendment 2 sentiment among the people of this country.”
Joseph
June 21st, 2012
1:00 pm
Obviously Obama failed math in school. He’s running the country the same way he’s running his campaign. Spending more money tahn he’s taking in… LOL… What a miserable failure.. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-20/obama-spends-more-than-he-raises-as-aides-see-romney-advantage.html
godless heathen
June 21st, 2012
1:00 pm
I thought Limbaugh lost all his sponsors and went away after he called that girl a slut.
gm
June 21st, 2012
1:01 pm
Never mind ObaRma and Holder have intervene and saved possible millions of American lives by killing these terrorist groups who are trying to destroy America.
President Obama why continue to work and save the lives of scum bags like Rush, Hannity and the right wing nut jobs?
barking frog
June 21st, 2012
1:01 pm
A lot of baloney flying fast
and furious…PROOF that
Jay knows what you will
write before you write it.
Williebkind
June 21st, 2012
1:02 pm
Joseph
June 21st, 2012
12:54 pm
I agree with your statement except for the Arizona law. You could be right but it may turn out better than you think. If not, do like King Obama and not enforce the law.
Williebkind
June 21st, 2012
1:03 pm
gm
June 21st, 2012
1:01 pm
I dont remember seeing King Obama on the battlefield or areas of interest.
James
June 21st, 2012
1:04 pm
Jay is there no limit to what you’ll do to defend the left wing liberals? They can do no wrong in your eyes and the Republicans can do nothing right!
Joseph
June 21st, 2012
1:05 pm
Well folks liberals have left the building!!! LOL.. Hopefully the loons won’t even go to the polls this November and waste their vote for Oblama…
Towncrier
June 21st, 2012
1:05 pm
“Oh, I’ll grant you the Imam’s a pretty good spin doctor, but even he can’t compete with this
“Now, we all know what the purpose of this was. The purpose of this was to gin up anti-Amendment 2 sentiment among the people of this country.”
Agreed. That thought never entered my mind. I just suspect that Obama may have signed off on a very bad operation and does not wish to own it.
East Cobb RINO
June 21st, 2012
1:07 pm
“Obviously Obama failed math in school. He’s running the country the same way he’s running his campaign. Spending more money tahn he’s taking in… LOL… What a miserable failure”
************************************
Have you seen the Gingrich campaign finances?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 21st, 2012
1:07 pm
Well folks liberals have left the building!!! LOL
Well sport, looks like you called that one early. LOL
Williebkind
June 21st, 2012
1:07 pm
We should shoot right over to CNN and even out the ratio of liberals to conservatives. Now that place is a pool of looney toons.
barking frog
June 21st, 2012
1:08 pm
James
Republicans can do nothing right.
….
Excellent.
Joe Hussein Mama
June 21st, 2012
1:08 pm
Joseph — “Well folks liberals have left the building!!!”
No, it’s just that most of the regulars don’t even bother to respond to you any more.
Recon 0311 2533
June 21st, 2012
1:09 pm
I think Obama and Withholder are in trouble over this one and factoring in the dismal economy its Nobama in 013.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 21st, 2012
1:09 pm
We should shoot right over to CNN and even out the ratio of liberals to conservatives.
Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out, sport.
Williebkind
June 21st, 2012
1:09 pm
“Well folks liberals have left the building!!! LOL.. ”
I think they are googling for help right now. Then they will copy and paste to display their high level of intellect and education.
gm
June 21st, 2012
1:09 pm
Great job Holder and the Obama adminstration for the last 3 years, you have kept this country safe from another 911 attack unlike war crime GW, you have been on top of it, 3 years ago this country was walking around in fear from boarding boats to air planes.
My, My, how soon the right wing nut jobs forget”””’
Towncrier
June 21st, 2012
1:10 pm
“I think Obama and Withholder are in trouble over this one….”
“Withholder” – cute.
josef
June 21st, 2012
1:10 pm
Shoot, there I was just getting ready to run an errand, and here comes Joseph with a head count…
HEY, Turkey, mark me present…even if I do have an early dismissal…
Williebkind
June 21st, 2012
1:13 pm
“Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out, sport.”
Well, Kamchak I am pleased I will be missed. But I can comment on CNN/AJC. Imagine that!
poison pen
June 21st, 2012
1:15 pm
We need to vote BUSH out of office so he quits screwing up! Oh wait! we did that 4 years ago.
Jay, let’s face it, Obama is going to get creamed this November, you know it, I know it and so does everybody else.
The only people who don’t know it have their heads stuck up their – - -
gm
June 21st, 2012
1:16 pm
Lets see, the right take their orders from Rush, the high school drop out, former top 20 DJ, ex druger
man never marched, protest or taken up in cause outside of sitting behind his mic and spewing hate to low middle class whites who can not research for them self.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 21st, 2012
1:17 pm
…you know it, I know it and so does everybody else.
Who specifically, granted you the authority to speak for “everybody”?
Old Timer
June 21st, 2012
1:19 pm
I like Luckowich myself, but I do agree that he should have comments. He is on the editorial page.
Luckowich is the proverbial big fish in a small pond. There are about 50 other news publications that would love to hire him. Why should he subject himself to the abuse he would get from thousands of knuckle-draggers, particularly given the proven history of that abuse at the time he did open his cartoon up for comment? If you don’t like his cartoons, don’t read them. It’s called choice.
poison pen
June 21st, 2012
1:19 pm
Kammy, Pull your head out.
TaxPayer
June 21st, 2012
1:19 pm
“Shut the Door! You’re letting all the winter out.” – Robert Heinlein
Towncrier
June 21st, 2012
1:19 pm
“…the right take their orders from Rush…”
I don’t even listen to the man (though I might agree with a number of his points). He does those of us on the right no favors with his over-the-top and often mean-spirited rhetoric.
OBIWAN
June 21st, 2012
1:20 pm
The whole reason that the baloney is flying around is due to the most transparent administration ever, oh wait I got that wrong didn’t I? If Holder did what congress asked there would not be all this baloney…By the way how does the congressional oversight committee do their job without the all the facts?
TaxPayer
June 21st, 2012
1:20 pm
Luckovich probably got tired of cleaning up after con bloggers. They’re such a filthy bunch.
TaxPayer
June 21st, 2012
1:22 pm
Cons do not listen to a word of the right wing junk they post. At least that’s what they would have others believe.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
June 21st, 2012
1:23 pm
El Rushbo says: “Now, we all know…”
pp says: “…you know it, I know it and so does everybody else.”
A classic case of monkey see, monkey do
JamVet
June 21st, 2012
1:25 pm
…and the Republicans can do nothing right!
James, at least you got half of the equation correct…
Towncrier
June 21st, 2012
1:25 pm
“Why should he subject himself to the abuse he would get from thousands of knuckle-draggers, particularly given the proven history of that abuse at the time he did open his cartoon up for comment?”
If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. His cartoons are mean spirited (as sarcasm often is – in Greek the word means “flesh tearing”) at times (go google some of the things he has said in interviews and the like to get a sense of his mindset) and he should take the heat for that.
Joseph
June 21st, 2012
1:25 pm
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes Joe Hussein Mama:
There ya’ll are… Probably sitting next to each other in the public library in a soiled pair of underwear. So what’s your take on the new failure of the administration? Not caring about the Terry family and helping them find answers as to how their son died… Is there really any way to cover for this on the left?
ZoSo
June 21st, 2012
1:26 pm
This bologna has a first name,
It’s B-A-R-A-K (artistic license)
this balogna has a second name,
It’s O-B-A-M-A,
If Eric Holder has his way, the truth won’t see the light of day,
so keep on feasting every day, on B-O-L-O-G-N-A.
larry
June 21st, 2012
1:26 pm
This is the only Rush i’ll listen too……………….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjJeO1h-yjI
godless heathen
June 21st, 2012
1:26 pm
gm, You are hilarious, sometimes I think you are serious.
Jack
June 21st, 2012
1:27 pm
FNF has had some headlines recently. Was sorta surprised that Bookman took this long to blame Bush for the whole thing.
carlosgvv
June 21st, 2012
1:27 pm
Grashopper – 12:44
I don’t let Bloomberg do my thinking. Do you?
Donovan
June 21st, 2012
1:28 pm
A federal agent is killed and you liberals are going into overdrive to minimize the blood on your hands. Speaks volumes for your character.
What do we get from your mentor? A lousy look-up on Rush Limbaugh’s commentary and a reference that the Bush administration started the process. Unbelievable!
Transparency in the Obama administration? Liars! Drain the swamp? Right! Little knowledge of Fast & Furious? Liars! Executive privilege ? Cowards!
The American people know what the score is. Democrats have a nasty habit of lying on TV, in Congress, and in the media. Ask Bill Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Eric Holder, Rep. Wiener, Sec. Geitner, Rep. Boxer, etc. You people have a tax cheat running the Treasury Department, a tax cheat dethroned from the House Ways & Means, a criminal running the DOJ, a plegarist for a VP, a left wing radical sitting on the Supreme Court having no credentials other than being Dean of Harvard Law, and an incompetent community organizer pretending to be POTUS.
getalife
June 21st, 2012
1:28 pm
Mike’s blog was a blast like this one.
All good things must come to an end and if the gop win, our country is history.
Joseph
June 21st, 2012
1:29 pm
Williebkind:
I don’t think they can even find copy and paste spew. They tried to use the lie that this program started under the Bush administration but a simple Google search debunks that right away.. LOL… Its probably better they just ignore this… The more they talk the more regular folks beleive they are guilty..
MiltonMan
June 21st, 2012
1:30 pm
“Most Americans could care less about this spun up nonsense. Polls are showing that Romney’s rose is falling out of bloom anyhow. It is going to be an easy Obama win in November. Even Obama is showing leads in Florida right now.”
Oh yes, the libs are their continued love affair with polls. The same polls that predicted sKerry, Gore & even the whack job Roy Barnes winning.