In Which My Texas Senate and Fast and Furious Updates Converge

October 12th, 2011

Former Texas Solicitor General and current senate candidate Ted Cruz calls for a Special Counsel to investigate Fast and Furious. The text of his announcement:

Today, I’m calling for the appointment of a Special Counsel to investigate Justice Department corruption in the weapons-trafficking scheme, “Fast and Furious.” The facts require a serious investigation. We cannot trust the Attorney General to “investigate” himself. The grave nature of these allegations—and the appearance of multiple obfuscations and evasions—demand an investigation free of political second guessing from the Obama White House.

The more we learn about Fast and Furious, the more disturbing the revelations are. The public has a right to know who knew what and when. Americans deserve an open, transparent investigation free of political spin. It is clear that this case has now reached a critical point where an impartial investigator is required.

Attorney General Eric Holder has been far from forthcoming in this investigation. Questions about what Holder and his staff knew about the operation, and their repeatedly changing stories, warrant an outside review.

Everyone has the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty, but the continual stonewalling in this case has undermined the public trust. That trust can only be ensured by appointing a Special Counsel to review the case.

As part of the Fast and Furious operation, more than 2,000 weapons were provided to Mexican drug cartels as part of a failed attempt to identify weapons smuggling networks. Many of those weapons have turned up at Mexican crime scenes. Two weapons were found at the scene of the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

And then a link to an email for to join the call for the investigation (and, no doubt, provide a handy list of potential Cruz supporters).

There may be a few national gun bloggers reading this who haven’t heard of Cruz, but that will no doubt change when the issue of National Review with him on the cover hits the stands. This is another example of Cruz getting a jump on his main rival, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, in addressing vital issues for movement conservatives.

More Fast and Furious information here.

More Texas Senate Race information here.

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Posted in Border Control, Crime, Elections, Guns, Obama Scandals, Texas | 5 Comments »

Fast and Furious Update for October 11, 2011

October 11th, 2011

Either I’m getting a little better handle on things, or Fast and Furious revelations have slowed down just enough for me to keep up.

  • Looks like a subpoena is heading Eric Holder’s way.
  • Holder does not look like a happy camper:

  • The DEA appears to be even more involved with Fast and Furious than previously reported.
  • Obama’s popularity is dropping steeply with Hispanics…and Fast and Furious isn’t helping.
  • The MSM seems to have noticed that the Mexican cartels employee heavily armed paramilitary units, which anyone following the story on blogs would have known for, oh, at least a year.
  • The myth of the good drug cartel.
  • Report from the front lines of the Mexican drug war.

    • (Hat tips: Sipsey Street, Say Uncle, and the usual suspects.)

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    Posted in Crime, Democrats, Guns, Obama Scandals, video | No Comments »

    Texas Senate Race Update for October 11, 2011

    October 11th, 2011
  • Ted Cruz got Lots of good press for his appearance at the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit:

  • Cruz also picked up the endorsements of over 115 leaders of the Texas Federation of Republican Women.
  • David Dewhurst puts in an apperance in Austin.
  • He also toured the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Houston. I’m not sure that Ye Olde Political Photo-Op is the best use of a candidate’s time in the 21st century.
  • Tom Leppert appeared at Grayson County Republicans’ Fall Roundup in Sherman, which strikes me as a better use of a candidate’s time in advance of a primary.
  • Elizabeth Ames Jones delivered the keynote address at the National Energy Services Association meeting in Bastrop. Which is probably good use of her time as Railroad Commissioner, but not effective at campaigning. With Cruz and Leppert campaigning full-time (and Dewhurst getting there), it’s hard to treat Jones as a serious candidate when she seems to put more effort into her day job, especially since she was already trailing so badly in buzz and fundraising.
  • There will be a Senate Candidate forum in Tarrant County Tuesday night starting 6:15 PM at the Richland Hills United Methodist Church at 7301 Glenview Drive, Richland Hills, 76180. Attending will be Cruz, Leppert, Jones, Glenn Addison, Andrew Castanuela, Curt Cleaver, and Lela Pittenger. Once again, Lt. Gov. Chupacabra will be nowhere to be seen.
  • And speaking of people avoiding the limelight, this week Ricardo Sanchez…did absolutely nothing. Nattional Journal says that his campaign has gotten of to “a slow start.” Actually, “slow” doesn’t really cover it. Try “glacial.” Is it really that hard to update your Facebook, Twitter and website on a regular basis?

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    Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »

    Fast and Furious Update For October 10, 2011

    October 10th, 2011

    You know, when I started doing Fast and Furious updates, I didn’t realize I’d have to update this daily. But events are moving at a pretty brisk pace:

  • Rep. Daarrell Issa says to Holder that he owns Fast and Furious, no matter how much distance he may put between himself and the scandal.
  • Sipsy Street puts up a third post on Hillary Clinton’s possible involvement.
  • In the Washington Post, Marc A. Thiessen calls Eric Holder “Obama’s albatross,” and lists a litany of bad decisions coming out of his office.
  • You know what’s worse for Obama than if Eric Holder is lying? If he’s telling the truth.
  • The Truth About Guns explores why Fast and Furious seemed to be arming the Sinola cartel in particular.
  • M. Catharine Evans compares Holder to Anthony Weiner.
  • She also links to this April 2009 transcript of a joint White House press conference with Mexico President Felipe Calderon, in which arms being smuggled to Mexico is the central topic.
  • Investors Business Daily says that “Either Holder is the most aloof attorney general in American history or the most incompetent — or worse.”
  • Large swathes of the press may love Obama, but David Zurawik of The Baltimore Sun says that Fast and Furious shows that Obama doesn’t return the favor, at least when reporters actually do their jobs. “Team Obama is in full campaign mode, and because of their fundamental contempt for the press, that means they reward those who come on bended knee and they punish those who dare to question them. The bended knee boys include Brain Williams, the bowing anchorman. Have you noticed how many “exclusive” interviews Obama has given NBC recently? Oh yeah, NBC is kowtowing to Obama.” Zing!
  • The economics behind weapon smuggling. Don’t expect anything to change soon…
  • Indirectly related: Jeremy Schwartz at the Statesman has been doing some interesting reporting on the La Familia cartel, which has been using Austin as a base of operations.

    • Finally, not related at all (except also involving guns), but I wanted to point out that Adam Winkler, author of Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America, points out that yes, the roots of gun control in America are racist in nature.

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    Posted in Austin, Crime, Democrats, Guns, Media Watch, Obama Scandals, Texas | 1 Comment »

    Fast and Furious Update for October 9, 2011

    October 9th, 2011

    Updates to the Fast and Furious scandal are coming…well, you know.

  • Here’s the complete text of the memo that Sharyl Attkisson quoted from on Friday. It’s even less believable and more self-serving than the excerpts alone.
  • Rep. Darrell Issa is going to issue some new subpoenas.

  • Ten Arizona Sheriffs call for a special consul to investigate Holder.
  • Mexico is not wild about Fast and Furious either.
  • Richard A. Serrano reports that many Fast and Furious weapons were found in a Mexico cartel enforcer’s home.
  • A primer on the big differences between Operation Wide Receiver and Operation fast and Furious. At least Wide Receiver attempted to track the guns being sold.
  • Texas Sen. John Cornyn says Holder has to come clean:

  • And, by way of Sipsey Street and Belmont Club, here’s the inevitable Hitler parody:

    • (Hat tips: Instapundit, Sipsey Street, etc.)

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    Posted in Crime, Democrats, Guns, Obama Scandals, video | No Comments »

    Fast and Furious Updates for October 8, 2011

    October 8th, 2011

    I’ve been following the Fast and Furious scandal for a while, but haven’t been blogging about it much since so many other fine bloggers were on the case. I didn’t want to just post a chunk of text only to add “what Dwight said” or “what Sebastian said”.

    However, since I was able to make my own original contribution, and since, despite a few breakthroughs here and there, the MSM still isn’t covering the story, I thought I would add my voice to the chorus and start doing regular Fast and Furious Updates.

    If you check Snowflakes in Hell or Sipsey Street Irregulars (who have been one of the leading blogs on Fast and Furious, and who I just added to the blogroll) daily, you’ll probably see a fair amount of things you’re already familiar with, but I’ll also try to have some original bits from time to time.

    So, without further adieu, here’s today’s Fast and Furious Update:

  • If you want to get up to speed on the scandal, here’s a handy timeline.
  • Sipsy Street looks at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s involvement in Fast and Furious. Could the entire gunwalker program have been an attempt to bolster her absurd claim that 90% of drug cartel guns originated in America? (We may have to wait for part 3 to find out.)
  • Add Frederick Hill, spokesman for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee headed by Rep. Darrell Issa that is investigating Fast and Furious, to the list of people deeply skeptical of Holder’s latest denial:

    If Attorney General Holder had said these things five months ago when Congress asked him about Operation Fast and Furious, it might have been more believable. At this point, however, it’s hard to take at face value a defense that is factually questionable, entirely self-serving, and a still incomplete account of what senior Justice Department officials knew about gun walking.

  • Over at Pajamas Media, Bob Owens notes the curious case of the dog that didn’t bark, i.e., how the Brady Bunch and gun-grabbing Democrats have recently fallen strangely silent on Fast and Furious.
  • Mark Steyn, filling in for Hugh Hewitt, cuts to the heart of the matter: “There were hundreds of dead Mexicans from a gun running program run by the United States.”
  • If you hadn’t heard, sales to Mexican cartels weren’t just through dealers; sometimes the ATF ordered one of its own agents “to purchase firearms with taxpayer money, and sell them directly to a Mexican drug cartel.”
  • Some Fast and Furious guns ended up in El Paso.

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    Posted in Border Control, Crime, Guns, Media Watch, Obama Scandals | No Comments »

    Holder Goes With The “I’m Incompetent and Let My Subordinates Handle All Memos” Defense

    October 7th, 2011

    CBS lets Sharyl Attkisson decloak long enough to print Eric Holder’s “I didn’t lie, I swear, I was just incompetent” defense for the Fast and Furious scandal:

    Holder says that his testimony to Congress, stating he first heard of Fast and Furious earlier this year, “was truthful and accurate… I have no recollection of knowing about Fast and Furious prior to the public controversy about it.”

    In other words: I’m so out-of-the-loop that I didn’t know my underlings were involved in a massive, illegal, and deadly plot to break the law resulting in over 200 deaths. Way to be on top of things, Mr. AG!

    Holder maintains he didn’t know about the controversial gunwalking tactics used in the case.

    The Sgt. Schultz defense.

    The Attorney General says that while he was sent received memos on Fast and Furious, they are “actually provided to and reviewed by members of my staff and the staff of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General.”

    The Richard Nixon “I was out of the loop” defense. Didn’t work so well for him either.

    As CBS News has reported, the Deputy Attorney General during Fast and Furious, Gary Grindler is now Holder’s Chief of Staff. Documents provided to Congress indicate Grindler received a detailed briefing on Fast and Furious in March of 2010 and made handwritten notes on briefing materials.

    However, in the letter, Holder says Grindler “was not told of the unacceptable tactics employed in the operation in his regular monthly meetings with ATF…”

    “I now understand some senior officials within the Department were aware at the time there was an operation called Fast and Furious although they were not advised of the unacceptable operational tactics being used in it,” says Holder’s letter.

    There’s a word for this sort of denial: it’s called bullshit. Bureaucracies are good at one thing: Following the rules. Even as stupid as some of the cowboys in ATF are, there’s no way some field-level supervisor got the bright idea: “Hey, let’s directly violate the federal laws we’re supposed to enforce! Plus I won’t tell anyone higher up! What’s the worst that could happen?” Doesn’t pass the smell test. You don’t isolate top officials from this sort of info, you make sure they’re in the loop to cover your own ass. Fast and Furious is so far off the reservation that the order for it had to come from way up high. Not necessarily Holder (though that’s a distinct possibility), but someone far enough up the food chain to make such an outrageous order stick. Like Obama.

    Plus this:

    In his letter, Holder also criticized the House Committee investigating Fast and Furious, saying he cannot sit idly by “as law enforcement and government employees who devote their lives to protecting our citizens be considered ‘accessories to murder’.”

    Well then, maybe you should have, oh, I don’t know, provided enough oversight to make sure they weren’t accessories to murder. Shouldn’t be that hard.

    There are two possibilities:

    A. If Holder knew about Fast and Furious, he’s an accessory to murder, and shouldn’t be Attorney General.
    B. If Holder didn’t know about Fast and Furious, then he’s manifestly incompetent, and shouldn’t be Attorney General.

    There is no option C.

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    Posted in Crime, Democrats, Guns, Media Watch, Obama Scandals | 7 Comments »

    LinkSwarm for October 6, 2011

    October 6th, 2011

    A smattering of news on this and that:

  • Michael Totten recommended this Theo Padnos piece in The New Republic on Assad’s Syria and the personality cult the Assads have made of Alawi.
  • Stratfor says that not only was the Anwar al-Awlaki killing itself a blow to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but it also got Samir Khan, the creator and editor of AQAP’s English-language magazine: “individuals who possess the charisma and background of al-Awlaki or the graphics and editorial skills of Khan are difficult to come by in Yemen.” Evidently graphics designers aren’t big on hanging out in Yemen and preaching jihad. Who knew?
  • The Club for Growth agrees with me (and Ted Cruz) that the China currency bill is a bad idea.
  • University of Wisconsin-Stout caves in over their stupid Firefly poster mess.
  • Finally, not a link, but I did want to note that I received a mailer for State Representative Dr. Charles Schwertner, declaring his candidacy for the Texas State District Senate District 5 seat currently held by the retiring Steve Ogden. I thought it was notable since I don’t think I’ve ever received a political flyer this far out (the primary is March 6, 2012), much less for a local race. I suspect this, along with the mention of the $300,000 he has in his war chest, is a preemptive show of strength designed to deter other candidates from jumping into the race. So far it seems to be working, as I haven’t seen reports of anyone else running.

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    Posted in Foreign Policy, Jihad, Texas | 1 Comment »

    Joaquin Castro Raises $500,000 To Unseat Lloyd Doggett

    October 5th, 2011

    State Rep. Joaquin Castro raised $515,000 in Q3 in his effort to unseat Lloyd Doggett in the Democratic primary for the newly created 35th U.S. Congressional District. That’s serious money for a single quarter for a House race.

    But don’t count the old liberal warhorse out yet; Doggett had more than $3.1 million cash on hand as of the end of Q2 (and the campaign says they won’t release final numbers until they’re official next week). But between Castro’s fundraising and the new San Antonio Hispanic majority district, Doggett probably has the toughest fight on his hands of his Congressional career.

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    Posted in Democrats, Elections | No Comments »

    Obama by the Numbers

    October 4th, 2011

    Well done, and in convenient video form. Put together by the folks at Minnesota Majority, based on original work by the folks at Ace of Spades.

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    Posted in Budget, Democrats, Economics, video | No Comments »

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