Operation Fast and Furious XXXIII

White House knew about BATFE gunrunning scandal

At a lengthy hearing on ATF`s controversial gunwalking operation today, a key ATF manager told Congress he discussed the case with a White House National Security staffer as early as September 2010. The communications were between ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office, Bill Newell, and White House National Security Director for North America Kevin O`Reilly. Newell said the two are longtime friends. The content of what Newell shared with O`Reilly is unclear and wasn`t fully explored at the hearing.

Read About It: The Weekly Standard Blog

BATFE 'stonewalled' agents on botched gun probe, report says

U.S. officials kept their Mexican counterparts in the dark about a widely criticized gun trafficking probe even as rising numbers of weapons reached the hands of Mexico's drug cartels, a congressional committee reported Tuesday. The Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also held back key details about "Operation Fast and Furious" from agents based in Mexico City when they raised alarms, according to the report.

Read About It: CNN

Would The Mainstream Media Be This Quiet If “Fast and Furious” Had Happened Under Bush?

It wasn’t that long ago that George W. Bush was president.  Perhaps you remember him: he’s the president whom the mainstream media (MSM) blamed for making up reasons to go to war in Iraq, for giving tax cuts to the rich, for being too dumb to be president, for making America look bad on the international stage, and for sacrificing the planet at the feet of big, bad oil companies.

For the eight years Bush was in office it was a fact of life that anchors like Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann could barely go a broadcast minute without bashing him. And the whole of the MSM couldn’t keep from telling us how deceptive and criminal the Bush/Cheney White House was.

(Remember how Keith Olbermann used to get so mad at Bush that he’d get that spittle in the corner of his mouth but just keep right on talking anyway?)

Sitting here, I wonder what the MSM would have done if they’d learned that the Bush administration had overseen the sale of 2,500 guns to “straw purchasers” who were expected to illegally transport those weapons into Mexico and get them in the hands of cartel members? Moreover, what would they have done had they learned that of those 2,500 guns, only 1,300 were ever recovered (thus leaving 1,200 in the hands of criminals throughout Mexico and along the U.S. southern border)?

In other words – if “Fast and Furious” had taken place under Bush instead of Obama, would the New York Timeshave reported it as quickly as they reported our phone-taps to the enemy?

You know they would have.

What would the MSM have done if Bush had set aside $10,000,000.00 for “Gun Runner” the way Obama did or if Attorney General John Ashcroft had bragged about overseeing the implementation of operation “Gun Runner” the way Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder did? Wouldn’t they have held hands and chanted “impeachment” during a candle light vigil on the National Mall?

Again, you know they would have.

But as it now stands, apart from Fox News, the BIG sites, Pajamas Media, Free Republic, and other members of the new media, there’s very little mention of “Fast and Furious” at all.

Bush was accused of doing things he hadn’t done, and the MSM couldn’t quit talking about it. Obama and Holder stand accused of things they have done, and in some cases have bragged about doing, yet the only thing the MSM can talk about is how Bush handed Obama an economy that was bad to start with (which is another lie).