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Darrell Issa calls for special prosecutor on Fast & Furious.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  September 23rd, 2011 at 01:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

UPDATE: Carol Greenberg of Conservative Outlooks – who was on the original call – reported that Issa did not quite call for a special prosecutor.  This may be a nuance issue on Issa’s part: I was not able to participate in this particular call myself, so I couldn’t say authoritatively.

Yes, my brothers and sisters: it’s that magical time in an administration where the old tradition is observed of cursing Jimmy Carter’s bones and liver for signing the Independent Counsel Act.  Because Darrell Issa called for a special prosecutor earlier this week:

House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa on Tuesday called for a special prosecutor to investigate the growing “Fast and Furious” scandal, in which the Obama administration allowed guns to walk to Mexico, where they fell into the hands of drug lords and were found at the murder scene of at least one U.S. border agent.

Issa complained in a conference call that, “there is ongoing cover up of a pattern of wrongdoing that can’t be explained by any ordinary people (who tried) to do the right thing but made a mistake.”

(More here and here) Entertainingly, Attorney General Eric Holder would be the one who would have to appoint the person investigating… him; even more entertainingly, this actually makes it more difficult for Holder to stonewall things.  It’s irrelevant, in fact, that Barack Obama will not want an independent investigation into Operation Fast & Furious*: it is a truth that no administration ever likes to appoint a special prosecutor.  This is mostly because appointing a special prosecutor is like pulling the pin on a hand grenade and throwing the grenade down a ventilation shaft: you don’t know what’s going to go BOOM, but something will.  And the BOOM never benefits the party in power, which is why the ICA is simultaneously loathed and left alone.  Because what goes around, comes around; and the hypocrisy on hating/supporting the practice is so widespread and persuasive that in an odd sort of way it stops being hypocritical.  It’s all very Orwellian.

So.  Let’s get that special prosecutor up and running!  I mean, if Eric Holder and Barack Obama are truly innocent then they have nothing to worry about: only the guilty should fear transparency, right?

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*Short version: The US government deliberately let guns get run into Mexico, where they were promptly lost to sight until Mexican narco-terrorist groups started using them to kill people.  The Mexican government, in particular, is not amused.

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  • RJD

    to see which Democrats fight this and which ones do not – from the power-broker seats. Might be telling about Obama’s stature in the party (which we already know is trending down).

    Not to thread-jack, but if some Democrats did want Obama to not run for reelection, this would be as good a vehicle as any to encourage him to explore other opportunities. And, might even deflect potential party strife. Republicans need to tread carefully here.

  • youngling

    A situation where people have ended up dead – killed by people armed with weapons our government INTENTIONALLY supplied to drug dealers and then LOST TRACK of those guns – is not an issue that should be analyzed through a politically partisan screening process.

    There are things that are right, and they should be done because they are right regardless of how they might influence Democrat party politics. IF Obama decides not to run for reelection because of this investigation and a “more popular” Democrat runs in his place (I’ve already seen calls for Clinton to run) then that changes the election race, taking away those people who would simply be voting against Obama – but that (hopefully) turns the race into what it should be – about whose ideas are best for the country and who can explain those ideas best to the voters.

    To let the issue slide because we are worried Democrats would use it to pressure Obama to step aside and let someone else run instead is cowardly and immoral. We shouldn’t be looking to score political points from this – we should be looking to find justice for those families who lost people at least partially through the negligence of our DoJ and ATF and whoever else was making the decisions regarding Operation Give Guns to Bad People.

    The political points will or won’t happen, but they shouldn’t be the point in a case like this.

  • bobojake

    Call you Congressman and Senators and let them know you support a Special Prosecuter for Fast and Furious and Solyndra.

  • http://www.usdebateboard.com usdebateboard

    The DOJ is now a political arm of the White House, used to firewall harmful testimony from Congress. In this case, they kicked the ATF principals upstairs. In the Solyndra case, they raided their plant and homes and began investigations so as to force the perps to take the fifth and avoid self-incrimination.

    A special prosecutor is the only way to combat this cynical technique.

  • http://www.scragged.com petrarch

    …they wouldn’t be Democrats.

    Of course they’re going to view this, and act, purely through a partisan political screen. It’s all they know how to do.

    As will the media, for the same reason.

  • runner12

    for placing these weapons in the hands of murderers. Gotta love Issa. Who knew a politician that gutsy could come from CA nowadays?

    The last one was RR.

  • Adjoran

    by allowing them the out when challenged, “I can’t speak about an ongoing investigation.”

    Mexico should be outraged. Someone in their government should have been consulted or at least advised of what was going on.

  • lobovnvmc

    Holder gets to pick the Special Prosecutor. Do you really think he would pick someone that will do ?do diligence?? Even if (and that?s a big if) he were to pick someone that would eventually find a person to bring to justice the finding wouldn?t be until after the elections. I?m not real sure how an investigator that would bring everything out can be selected. If Darrel Issa has enough evidence to call for a Special Prosecutor, why not convene a Federal Grand Jury and bring indictments, but again it would be Holder doing the prosecutorial duties.

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    nt

  • youngling

    I don’t care how Democrat pols will react to the issue. I was arguing against Republican politicians being “careful” with how they pursue this investigation because of the possibility that it would be good for Democrats while being bad for Obama.

    We should do what is right, because it is right, and let the political pieces fall where they may.

    In situations where there isn’t a clearly right or wrong path, political considerations are valid and important, but we should never allow political considerations to turn us aside from honor, justice, and a morally right action.