Fast And Furious

The GOP’s gunnning for Attorney General Eric Holder. How you see the fury depends on where you stand.

Talk about two Americas.  In one, the uproar over the Justice Department’s botched “Fast and Furious” gun sting is a roaring blaze of fury itself.  The Second Amendment, honesty, decency, life and limb, all under attack.  A party-line GOP House committee vote yesterday to cite Attorney General Eric Holder with criminal contempt.

Turn the political corner and there’s a whole different view.  A botched operation, yes.  But it’s all political.  Bush did it too.  It’s election year grandstanding.  Bring on the executive privilege.

This hour, On Point:  guns, politics, and the fury over Fast and Furious.
-Tom Ashbrook

Chris Cillizza,  writes “The Fix”, a politics blog for the Washington Post. He also covers the White House for the newspaper and website.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Republican Congressman representing Utah’s 3rd District. He sits on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Robert Raben, president and founder of the Raben Group, a D.C.-based lobbying and consulting firm.
He was Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs in the Justice Department in the Clinton Administration.

Washington Post "President Obama asserted executive privilege over documents related to the “Fast and Furious” operation Wednesday as a House panel moved to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt after he failed to hand over documents related to a congressional inquiry into the scandal."

Rolling Stone "Holder duly agreed to produce some of the documents, and Issa indicated a willingness to back down. But the situation is volatile, and a contempt hearing could still happen as early as Wednesday."

CBS News "Documents obtained by CBS News show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discussed using their covert operation "Fast and Furious" to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales."

New York Times "As a sign of the pride Representative Darrell Issa takes in annoying the Obama administration, consider his account of a recent exchange with Rahm Emanuel, a former congressman and now the White House chief of staff. In describing the episode — a chance encounter outside the House gym — Mr. Issa smirked and raised his middle finger. "