Bare Knuckle Politics: The Fast and The Furious

Obama has invoked executive privilege to suppress Fast and Furious documents that the Republican house wants Eric Holder to release. This has made Republicans ... uh ... really upset and done it very quickly. What the heck is going on?

What IS Going On?
If you read the link, the operation was basically like a medical radioactive dye experiment where they inject the dye and then use a machine to see where the blood is going. In this case the "dye" was guns, the bloodstream was the Mexican firearms black market, and someone got killed by an "injected weapon." So: clusterfuck.

The Republicans have called for Eric Holder's resignation--or, at least, that he release the documents that will, presumably show that:

1. Maybe Obama knew all about this? He says he didn't know this all was going on--so if the docs show he did? Scandalicious!
2. That the DOJ/ATF is out of control--which would get Holder out of there and make Obama look bad.
3. Maybe other stuff happened too? Right? Congress got a right to know!

Why Won't Obama Release The Docs?

We don't know--but the theories are:

1. Because it'll make him look bad because there's, uh, bad stuff in there.
2. Because no matter what's in there, the Republicans will use it as a battering ram.
3. Because he doesn't have to (?) and doing this infuriates his opponents.

What Do I Think?

I think Hot-Air asks the right questions: (1) is this legal and (2) is it politically positive? They find "no" to both and I think their thinking on (1) is pretty good. As for (2)--I'm not so sure. I watched everyone try to pin-the-tail-on-the-Clintons over Whitewater and for whatever reason, no one cared. Whitewater was dull and boring and this, at least, has guns and blood--but I still think that ATF shenanigans are not high on most people's priority list.

What is visible is:

1. Republicans going after Eric Holder.
2. Obama stuffing them.
3. A really high level of rhetoric.

I'm not sure this looks good for anyone but I'm not sure it looks especially bad for Obama--especially compared to what might be in those documents.

That said, it doesn't look good for Obama.

What do I think about the operation? I think the idea of selling guns to see where they go is kinda bold. Did we need that information? I'm not sure. I do know this: the guns those guys are using come from all over. It's not like they just get their guns from ATF agents. They seem to have no shortage of weapons period. I don't see how this made things much worse, really. It's just kind of a fuck-up.

Would I like to see the papers? Yes. Obama blocking this infuriates his enemies but it also makes it look like he has something to hide. How much, I'm not sure--but I'd like to know and I presume it's in those documents.