Transparency For Thee, but None For ME!

The morning that Attorney General Eric Holder was to testify (yesterday) before Congress, and was extremely likely to face a Contempt of Congress citation for failing to cooperate, the Department of Justice (which Holder leads) called the White House and was told they could claim Executive Privilege to prevent further disclosures in the Fast & Furious gunwalking cover-up investigation.

On Sipsey Street Irregulars, there is a report that one of the President's MOST influential advisors, who is in on literally everything important and who has the President's ear, is on paper as part of the scandal. Denis McDonough (remember that name, folks) is now outed as one of the people who heard the complaints coming in up the chain of command, that we were letting guns walk - and then the guns were still ordered to be allowed to continue walking. If this McDonough guy knew, it is very likely it was mentioned to the President face-to-face. If this guy knows the President knew, that is also possibly on paper somewhere. They don't just shred the e-mails like they used to. Somewhere, in a file or a hard drive, is a very interesting communication. But we don't get to see it (yet?).

We now have the Chief Executive claiming Executive Privilege to prevent disclosure by the Department of Justice of documents related to Operation Fast and Furious. His personal advisor is in on the Operation. We are officially ONE degree of separation from blaming the President himself for this illicit program. Conspiracy theorists may now be excused for going on and on about how the international-act-of-war-gun-smuggling-program-for-political-advantage-gone-wrong-because-it-was-found-out was truly known to Obama, if not directly his idea.

But don't be surprised.

I heard several people call in to Boortz's show today and say it (the F&F scandal) is just a conspiracy by the Republicans. A distraction.

Hold on there.

If it is a Republican invention, your boy just made a stupid move. This is the FIRST time in his entire Presidency that President Obama has invoked Executive Privilege as a reason not to have documents disclosed. But wait. Executive privilege is to protect disclosure of WHITE HOUSE communications. It is just not the way things are done, to have lower members of the Executive branch protected by Executive Privilege claims. What this privilege claim is telling the world is:

"I don't want you to know what I knew, when I knew it, and/or what I said, did, or didn't do about it. Piss off; you Republicans are not going to nail this one on me." -Barack Obama (paraphrased)

But you know what? This Privilege claim puts us only that single degree from Obama being in deep on Operation Fast and Furious. The last degree, if it can be closed, means that the President of the United States was responsible* for the illegal (by national laws on both sides and international treaty) smuggling of guns into Mexico, where hundreds or thousands of Mexican nationals were murdered. Furthermore, the drug wars were perpetuated by the use of these guns. And allowing these horrors to take place . . . was the whole reason for Operation Fast & Furious.

This is an act of war. On our nearest neighbor and one of our main trading partners. And he did it for domestic political purposes. The idea was that you would be outraged by the Mexican gun violence and demand tighter regulation of American civilian-owned guns. But then the gun smuggling (by the USA government) was found out - and then the reason for it was found out. And now we have a cover-up in progress.

THAT, friends, is why Obama doesn't want you to close that last degree of separation. This if nothing else would be an impeachable offense, if not a cause for open warfare between our nations.

Ouch.

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(*everything his government does is ultimately his responsibility)