Eric Holder Testfies in Fast and Furious

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 12:33:12 PM EST
Tags: Fast and Furious (all tags)

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Attorney General Eric Holder testified today before the Korematsu McCarthy Star Chamber Renewal Committee (aka the House Oversight Committee, led by Darryl Issa.) When I tuned in, Holder was castigating one of the House members who had just finished questioning him for his lack of civility and disrespect for the Justice Department as an institution. It must have been quite an attack because the next questioner, a Republican, agreed with Holder that his colleague's approach was unfortunate and should not have occurred.

The last Republican who spoke said no one on the Committee is accusing Holder of having actual knowledge about Fast and Furious. Just goes to show these Republicans are not out for the truth, but for Holder's head.

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Eric Holder Testfies in Fast and Furious | 13 comments (13 topical)

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When the DOJ is up to... (none / 0) (#1)
by kdog on Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 01:15:04 PM EST

so much dirty the Attorney General can't/won't stay up to speed on it all, that in and of itself is a scandal.

Brand R is grilling him for purely partisan reasons...but imo the guy has explaining to do and house cleaning to do.

They Can Have Holder (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by ScottW714 on Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 01:32:07 PM EST

It is funny to see republicans going after policies they surely don't mind. Gunz, drugs, and Mexico aren't exactly traditional Democratic pet causes.


There is no way (none / 0) (#3)
by AngryBlackGuy on Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 01:42:17 PM EST

that an admin at that level can know about every initiative going on in every state all of the time.

You designate people to do that for you. The bottom line appears to be that even the people designated weren't in the loop.


Thats part of my point... (none / 0) (#4)
by kdog on Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 01:49:29 PM EST

we've got too many initiatives, and too many of the too many are dirty initiatives.

Fast & Furious is the type of initiative that should have never seen the light of day under the best stewardship and administration. It's police state madness run amok.


It's also (none / 0) (#5)
by AngryBlackGuy on Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 02:02:55 PM EST

How they bring down drug kingpins.

I am no fan of this program, but letting small crimes occur so that we can get higher level criminals is Miami Vice 101.

This was a bad program though.


I know... (none / 0) (#6)
by kdog on Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 02:16:06 PM EST

a way to bring down drug kingpins without playing gunrunner to the cartel...end prohibition.

Drug prohibition rots and pollutes the criminal justice system, this program is just one example of many. Address that and maybe the DOJ can be worthy of the respect Holder seeks from the committee.


sure (5.00 / 1) (#11)
by TeresaInPa on Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 06:40:56 PM EST

make it all legal and those drug cartels will give up their cash cows and take up legal careers in child care or something.
Why, by gum, all drug trade will be orderly and cross the border accompanied by bluebirds singing and flowers blooming in the desert singing and swaying to the music with big smiles on their flower faces.
I can see the Colombians now, all in their matching spiffy new uniforms and spit shined shoes driving dog food across the border because of course now all heroin is produced right there in TX and they know they can't compete and it just wouldn't be right to try and do so, you know, illegally.


: Let them try to compete... (none / 0) (#12)
by kdog on Fri Feb 03, 2012 at 08:45:54 AM EST

when is the last time you bought your liquor in an alley? They can't compete with a legal drug trade.
Of course they're not gonna go flip burgers, they'll turn to other rackets, for less money and influence, with less cooperation from the general public. But if you wanna put a hurtin' on violent gangsters the best way to do it is to take away their # 1 source of revenue. A prohibitionist is a gangster's best friend.

: You lack a sense of history (none / 0) (#13)
by SeeEmDee on Fri Feb 03, 2012 at 01:34:29 PM EST

The Mafia was only able to continue to survive after alcohol Prohibition ended because it was already into supplying other illicit drugs; the 'seed money' from alcohol stills was invested in poppy fields. All of their other operations (numbers rackets, prostitution, etc.) could never have equaled the revenues from illegal drugs.
The drug cartels will be forced to disband largely because they will not be able to pay their members. Much of the illegal drug trade runs on credit, with the supposition that this week's shipment will remain as profitable as last week's.
Come the end of drug prohibition, a severe price drop will ensue, thanks to market forces, and those cartel members not at the very top of their respective organizations, with secret bank accounts in the Caymans and elsewhere, will find themselves in need of other employment...and as has been pointed out, other illegal avenues of revenue simply cannot compete for profitability.
They'll fold, alright. But probably not before they decide to settle scores with each other in a final paroxysm of violence.

Agreed (none / 0) (#7)
by AngryBlackGuy on Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 02:32:41 PM EST

: Listen to us... (none / 0) (#8)
by kdog on Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 02:42:01 PM EST

a couple Ron Paul "crazies" we are! ;)

And if They Weren't So Busy Raiding... (none / 0) (#9)
by ScottW714 on Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 02:53:30 PM EST

...MM folks in California & Colorado, and chasing phantom drug dealers in Africa and Europe, maybe they would have a little more time and focus to implement effective policy.

And sorry, but MM is not Miami Vice 101, chasing the big bad drug dealers and making absolutely no dent in the availability of drugs, while simultaneously ramping up the violence, is Miami Vice 101.

If that city or show is what you think is the blueprint for effective drug control/policy, well then... Even Crockett & Tubbs quit in disgust with policy.

I thought silly fantasy productions of how the government should combat the bad guys died with Bush and 24. I stand corrected.


Issa should be glad I'm not Holder (none / 0) (#10)
by scribe on Thu Feb 02, 2012 at 04:22:53 PM EST

If Holder's response was proportionate to the kind of crap I suspect Issa was shoveling and I were AG, Issa and the rest of his band of merry pranksters would be looking down the business end of a GJ subpoena in short order.

No way you get to be in politics that long and in that high an office without both having done someone wrong and having done enough sketchy stuff that an indictment would stick.

This is, BTW, not to defend Fast & Furious or a lot of the other cockamamie initiatives DoJ has puked up of late. (A lot of those clowns should also be under charges.) But, regardless of that, if you head a principal department of the Executive Branch, you do have to defend your turf. And if that means blowing up a drycleaners every now and again (to use one of Poppy Bush's metaphors), so be it.