Journalists' Frown Table: NPR Panel Wants 'Fast and Furious' Inquiry Declared DOA
All three journalists invited to the journalists' roundtable on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR Friday played down the Fast and Furious scandal as a loser for Republicans. Jeanne Cummings of Politico wanted Congress to drop it like a hot potato: "to create this big constitutional clash with the White House makes Congress, once again, look like it's just got its eye off the ball. This isn't what people want them to do... we're going nowhere here."
NPR reporter Ari Shapiro recalled how Bush attorney general Alberto Gonzales was dogged by a U.S. Attorney-firing scandal because Republicans were willing to harp on it. But the Democrats are united for Obama, so it somehow cannot be a scandal: "I think it's only when and if we see Democrats turning against Holder, which I don't expect we're going to see, that this will really enter a new phase." How convenient is that reasoning?
Doyle McManus was mildest, sticking to the line that anything that distracts from the economy is somehow a bad idea for Republicans to pursue (without anyone noticing the utter lack of pursuit by "objective" journalists):
McMANUS: It's not a great issue for the president or the White House. They are on the wrong side of this in that, you know, if you want to -- that, initially, when the Justice Department was asked about this program, about the gun -- what's called gun-walking into Mexico, they said, well it's not going on. We don't know anything about it. They've acknowledged that wrongdoing.
On the other hand, is this really what Republicans in the House want to be talking about and arguing about on television for months and months? Well, no, actually their agenda is -- of course, is supposed to be to talk about jobs, jobs, jobs. And so they run the risk of looking as if they're pursuing the administration on everything else but jobs.
Substitute host Terence Smith wondered where (if anywhere) this was going:
TERENCE SMITH: Jeanne Cummings, several reason attorneys general have had problems with Congress and been in tight spots with the executive refusing to turn over documents or whatever. What's the political impact to this? And look ahead to the election. Is anybody going to be talking about this?
CUMMINGS: No, they aren't going to be. And that's -- I mean, I agree with Doyle that it's not good for either side. But I think, on balance, this is -- Congress has just gotten itself, you know, in a patch where they should probably find their way out. I mean, if you look at any focus group with voters, all they care about is the economy. That's all they care about. And for -- to create this big constitutional clash with the White House makes Congress, once again, look like it's just got its eye off the ball. This isn't what people want them to do.
They are tired of the confrontations in Washington. They're frustrated by it. And they think that Washington doesn't understand their problems and isn't trying to help them. This just gives them one more reason to think that Washington is out of touch. And then, in the end, when you look at what would be the real impact of all of this, if they find them in contempt, that should be -- that contempt citation would be enforced by the U.S. attorney general who works for the Justice Department. So we're going nowhere here.
Then came the listeners with their (liberal) input:
SMITH; I have some emails here, including one rather sharply worded one from David on the subject of the contempt citation. He writes, "It appears that 85 percent of the country holds the Congress in contempt. Therefore, the hearings on Fast and Furious are an attempt to distract from the economic issues that the Congress is not able to handle. Isn't that the fact, Ari Shapiro? -- says David.
SHAPIRO: This is a point that Spokesman Jay Carney made at the White House yesterday in the briefing. He said, if Congress wonders why they are the most unpopular of any Congress in recent memory, maybe if they would spend their time working on the economy instead of what Carney called partisan fishing expeditions, they might see their numbers go up. You know what? As you mentioned, many attorneys general recently have been in this kind of trouble with Congress.
And I covered the Justice Department when Bush's Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was under fire for the U.S. attorney dismissals, which ultimately led him to leave the post of attorney general under a cloud. And one big difference between that controversy and this controversy is that when Gonzales was under fire in Congress, there were Republicans and Democrats calling for him to step down. Now, we've seen six Republican senators call for Eric Holder to step down, but the Democrats have been a united front. And I think it's only when and if we see Democrats turning against Holder, which I don't expect we're going to see, that this will really enter a new phase.
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Comments
Let's hear these comments without the spin cycle...
Submitted by James3 on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 3:30pm.
Turn off the liberal filter and what you hear is ''We, the MSM, do not want to talk about ''Fast and Furious'' right now because it reflects poorly on our candidate. Let's keep talking about civil issues like gay marriage and immigration. We will not talk about the economy. We will talk about those evil, greedy 1%-ers, those Wall Street tycoons, and the Koch brothers''.
Yep, Attack the Messenger
Submitted by tcm14 on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 3:45pm.
Corruption itself is no problem, it is Congress investigating corruption that is the problem.
Honestly though, if these shills would rather talk about the horrible economy than Fast and Furious, then Fast and Furious must make the Dems look bad indeed.
Yes, and Nixon only left because GOP Senators wouldnt save him
Submitted by merly1 on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 3:52pm.
Dem Senators refused such impeachment accountability with Clinton, who then stay on and helped
plant the Fannie time bomb in 1999. How did that work out for America?
Dems never hold their own accountable--> how else did mindnumbingly stupid Pelosi keep her spot
after the last election shellacking?
People claim Congress isnt popular, but what % of incumbents are reelected? Isnt it some ridiculous
number? I am sure NPR really wants to "help" the GOP with their advice to drop it ;oD
These are bold face lies on
Submitted by hoosherdaddy137 on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 3:59pm.
These are bold face lies on npr. I know it should be nothing new, but this time maybe a few people will begin to question the party. It actually blows my mind how these individuals can just speak out of the side of their necks with absolutely no fear of repercussion. What can any of us do about this? I have emailed every elected official in my state, I have shouted about F&F in class and to my friends. Is it doing anything?? no clue, but it does piss my sociology teacher off no end, and that's at least something.
Why does this administration hate brown people?
Submitted by Blonde on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:01pm.
There is no condemnation of the wanton slaughter of hundreds of our Mexican neighbors as a result of this bollixed-up "operation".
And no one has been held accountable. The operation was clearly approved by the DoJ. So......who is going to pay the butcher's bill?
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
B, apparently you missed
Submitted by motherbelt on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:06pm.
B, apparently you missed Bill Maher's synopsis of the situation:
It's not a problem:
MAHER: Anyway, Darrell Issa says this is a giant scandal. I’ve heard on Fox News this week it's worse than Watergate because 200 Mexicans have died. First of all, let me just say Republicans don't care about dead Mexicans. “A,” and “B,” I think those 200 dead Mexicans would be dead even if we hadn't sold them guns. They would have gotten the guns somewhere else. So is it really a scandal?
Does Bill Maher realize he has now just torpedoed the Dems'
Submitted by lsudolemite on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:14pm.
biggest argument for gun control? Because criminals can simply get guns elsewhere regardless of how many laws are on the books?
Watching the libs squirm like this is just ecstasy.
~Beat me to it
Submitted by Wrathful Brunette on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:22pm.
LOL
Maher is an intellectual flyweight like Alan Colmes
Submitted by lsudolemite on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:41pm.
but it's so funny watching him and his audience pretend he's smart.
Come to think of it, it's exactly like an Obama press conference.
~What Maher doesn't realize
Submitted by Wrathful Brunette on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:19pm.
is that with that statement he pointed out the utter uselessness of gun control laws.
Gosh, Bill
Submitted by Blonde on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:20pm.
I'm a Republican, and I care!
Mexicans are a gracious and lovely people, kind and welcoming.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Come on, J, everyone knows Republicans don't care about
Submitted by lsudolemite on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:44pm.
anyone. Especially the poor, the elderly, and of course THE CHILDREN.
Why do you hate Mexican children so much?
I''ve heard there has been a
Submitted by ricklail on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:21pm.
I''ve heard there has been a lot of reporting on F&F in the Mexican papers. One of our inmates got a paper from his hometown sent to him by his sister. He didn't know what this was all about because the American press was not covering it. The prison only has broadcast channels, no cable so no Fox. I explained it to him. He had talked to me a lot about the cartels and how they operated. He finished his sentence the first of May and was deported. I guess he knows all about it now.
For some reason. . .
Submitted by rickbren on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:04pm.
. . . "The guilty dog barks the loudest." comes to mind.
Well of course the liberal
Submitted by Slyrr on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:08pm.
Well of course the liberal media slaves of Obama want to put a stop to this investigation. By their own confession, they declared that it was 'their job to make Obama look good'. And this FF thing makes him look bad. Real bad. Well, they can't have that. Can't allow a little thing like the truth to pull down their 'sort of god'.
So once again, they throw truth, integrity, the credibility of their entire profession, and the well being of the entire country under the bus to serve their own petty schemes.
They don't care how many
Submitted by forest on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:26pm.
They don't care how many Mexicans get killed so long as they can help cover up for their guy. Why are we still subsidizing these degenerates?
F&F
Submitted by stan25 on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:59pm.
Did you guys hear what O'Reilly said to the emailer last night? Said that the Fast & Furious operation was not a back door run on the 2nd Amendment. Tell me then, Bill O'Reilly what is it, if it is not. Seems to me you are drinking some of that Obama Koolaide.
The fact that they would
Submitted by MrSnuggles on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 4:59pm.
The fact that they would prefer Republicans talk about the economy is proof enough for me that they know this is seriously bad shit and could bring Obama and potentially the entire democrat party down for the count.
Absolutely
Submitted by ant on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 8:05pm.
Until F&F could not be ignored any longer the leftist press was more than happy to point out any other shiny object in order to avoid talking about Obama's economy.
Fast and Furious
Submitted by mmilesll on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 5:33pm.
Amazing how fast libs want to drop something when they get caught. Now if it were a Republican who got caught-no matter how small the situation- we would have headlines galore. The libs got caught on this one big time-most of their readers/viewers didn't even know this was going on.
There's a little bubble over
Submitted by celator on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 5:33pm.
There's a little bubble over these four characters that says, "We're dancing as fast as we can for you, President Obama. Do you like us now? Are you pleased with us? Oh, please say you are."
celator ---
Submitted by matthewdean on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 5:49pm.
that was funny.
Good one.
MD
St. Obama can do NO wrong!
Submitted by rbosque on Sat, 06/23/2012 - 5:44pm.
St. Obama can do NO wrong! How dare Republicans try to smear our hero and saint! /s
That's pretty much what they're saying.
Barrack Milhous Obama
Submitted by Kuso Jiji on Sun, 06/24/2012 - 2:21am.
the statist media (which includes the taxpayer funded npr) knows damn well that high crimes and misdemeanors are a real possibility will pretend this isn't important for as long as they can in hopes of protecting Dear Leader.
Whenever liberals start
Submitted by pilgrim4jc on Sun, 06/24/2012 - 3:25am.
Whenever liberals start giving republicans "advice" to stop something - then whatever the republicans are doing is the right thing. :-) keep it up sounds like the LSM is a bit scared their little boy might not fool a majority again.
Can't control the narrative
Submitted by gwalt on Sun, 06/24/2012 - 8:46am.
The Libtard media can't control the narrative anymore. 2008 was CNNs highest
Ratings year......and 2012 has been the lowest in two decades. Coincidence? No,.....Obama cheer leading reached its high point in 2008. Reality hit in 2012.
"A lot of briefing for a 2 hr. special with Dan Rather. Saw the show & wonder why we bothered". Ronald Reagan
United in Crime
Submitted by minky on Sun, 06/24/2012 - 9:31am.
Shapiro says: "...the Democrats have been a united front. And I think it's only when and if we see Democrats turning against Holder, which I don't expect we're going to see, that this will really enter a new phase."
Remarkable!! Shapiro actually seems proud of the fact that Democrats are more committed to defending Holder than they are in seeing that justice is done. I shouldn't be surprised though. Democrats have consistently shown that there is no crime too great to overlook for sake of the Party or Dear Leader.
It's not a scandal until the Dems say so
Submitted by Netstatter on Sun, 06/24/2012 - 10:27am.
I guess no matter what the smell is, unless the Dems say it stinks, it is nothing?
This exchange should make us even more suspicious and determined to get to the bottom of "Fast and Furious".
Hmmm..."Holder Lied, People Died"...
Leftist Scum
Submitted by Tyler520 on Sun, 06/24/2012 - 1:50pm.
ANYONE who dismisses or trivializes Fast & Furious is a treasonous, seditious domestic terrorist and deserves to be zipped up in an orange jump suit and tossed in Gitmo
They are just so damn anxious
Submitted by ant on Sun, 06/24/2012 - 6:48pm.
They are just so damn anxious to get back to investigating a rock that said 'Ni##erhead on it'.
Excuse Me?
Submitted by Cappmann1962 on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:47am.
"This isn't what people want them to do... we're going nowhere here."
This person (ME!), and many others, do indeed want this. We want this incredible corruption of OUR goevernment exposed. We want this power grasping president held accountable and curtailed in his dismissals of his Constitutional powers. We want Holder exposed as the incompetant partisan hack he truly is. We want our elected officials to be held to the same accountability to OUR laws as the rest of us. We want everyone to know the lies being spewed by this administration.
As has been said several time in this post - when liberals are so vehement about dismissing this issue, you KNOW there's something to it. Holder has already been caught in so many lies and distortions, any criminal prosecutor would easily find just cause to pursue it. And we can't count on the LSM to bring it to light. I praise Issa for his determination in forcing this administration to cough up incriminating documents, as well as the contempt charge against Holder.