Issa's Gunwalker Subpoena a Virtual Non-Story; AP Furiously Spins False 'Bush Did It Too' Meme
On October 9, an unbylined Associated Press story reported that Congressmen Darrell Issa "could send subpoenas to the Obama administration as soon as this week over weapons lost amid the Mexican drug war." On Wednesday, October 12, Issa did just that.
Mike Vanderboegh's Sipsey Street Irregulars blog has a succinct summary (HT Ed Driscoll) of the establishment press's coverage of Issa's actions since the subpoenas' issuance:
As evidence, ladies and gentlemen of the jury of history, I present the undisputed fact that on the evening news shows of NBC, ABC and CBS this week not one -- NOT ONE -- mentioned the unprecedented subpoena by a Congressional committee of information regarding the entire top echelon of the Justice Department in the Gunwalker Scandal.
Had this scandal involved John Ashcroft and the Bush Administration, does anyone doubt that the story would have led the nightly half-hour "puppet theater"? Or, that it wouldn't have been covered like a blanket by all news departments from the moment the blood of Brian Terry dried in the desert sands of Rio Rico?
It appears that only Fox News did cover the subpoena's issuance the day it occurred.
Searches at the main site of the Associated Press aka the Administration's Press on "subpoena," "subpoenas," and Congressman Issa's last name indicate that the self-described Essential Global News Network has not reported the subpoena's actual issuance.
It would appear that the wire service wants to keep the following people mentioned in the subpoena and accumulated by M. Catharine Evans at the American Thinker out of its subscribing news outlets' publications and broadcasts as much as possible:
Executive Office of the President employees, including but not limited to Associate Communications Director Eric Schultz;
Eric Holder Jr., Attorney General;
David Ogden, Former Deputy Attorney General;
Gary Grindler, Office of the Attorney General and former Acting Deputy Attorney General;
James Cole, Deputy Attorney General;
Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General;
Ronald Weich, Assistant Attorney General;
Kenneth Blanco, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;
Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;
John Keeney, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;
Bruce Swartz, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;
Matt Axelrod, Associate Deputy Attorney General;
Ed Siskel, former Associate Deputy Attorney General;
Brad Smith, Office of the Deputy Attorney General;
Kevin Carwile, Section Chief, Capital Case Unit, Criminal Division;
Joseph Cooley, Criminal Fraud Section, Criminal Division;
James Trusty, Acting Chief, Organized Crime and Gang Section;
Emory Hurley, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona;
Michael Morrissey, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona;
Patrick Cunningham, Chief, Criminal Division, Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona;
David Voth, Group Supervisor, ATF;
Hope MacAllister, Special Agent, ATF
AP's coverup of Issa's subpoena is so complete that its existence isn't even mentioned in an over 1,000-word "Bush really, really did it too" story by Pete Yost on Friday. This Sipsey Street post ("Selective document releases from the White House help prove Issa's case") and Bob Owens at Pajamas Media ("New Documents Highlight Differences in Bush-Era, Obama-Era Gunrunner Investigations") have pulverized Pete's pathetic prose, so I don't have to -- except to ask one question of Yost: "How many Border Patrol agents died in the Bush-era operations?"
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
- Tom Blumer's blog
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Comments
The media can spin all they
Submitted by jkwtrading on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 11:03am.
The media can spin all they want but accessory to murder is a crime and it is punishable.
Sauce for goose
Submitted by lrgon on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 11:25am.
"...How many Border Patrol agents died in the Bush-era operations?" ---Tom Blumer
Compean and Ramos were railroaded by the Bush people. The borders remained wide open to terrorists and illegal aliens of all stripes to enter our country for 8YEARS. What did the cloneservatives in the media do about that?
With a new president in office the clonservatives raise a stink because Obama's Gun runners aren't being exposed with the degreee they deserve to be exposed by the Main Stream. I agree the media is covering up this very illegal action by a totalitarian administration. But how many in the cloneservative media ( there were a handful) complained of the blackout of this story by the Main Stream Media when Compean and Ramos were being dragged off to prison?
and the question remain
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 11:35am.
how many died due to President Bush's policy or failed border policy due to our send guns to Mexico? I love idiots that excuse bad behavior by pointing at someone else and saying "Yeah but look what so and so did". Listen fool, that kind of misdirection no longer works and does not buy someone a pass for doing the same (perhaps) or worse (how many thousand guns did holder send to Mexico).
Geez another liberal idiot that lacks reading comprehension.
Submitted by gmaniac1 on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 12:07pm.
And this is the excuse for getting an agent murdered that somehow Bush "railroaded" two Border agents?
That's the best you could come up with huh? That is very desperate and childish, but children will be children.
The old "conservative media didn't complain" hogwash
Submitted by metaphorsbwithu on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 12:14pm.
RE: "But how many in the cloneservative media ( there were a handful) complained of the blackout of this story by the Main Stream Media when Compean and Ramos were being dragged off to prison?"
Sorry, but there was a HUGE outcry across the conservative media including talk radio about the Compean and Ramos story and the facts behind the case that were ignored in the msm.
More than a "handul" of complaints too.
You see, conservatives have the intellectual honesty to criticize their own when they disagree with them
Zheesh ...
Submitted by Tom Blumer on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 12:52pm.
... besides your complaint being irrelevant misdirection, there's this:
- search on "Fox News" compean, 1/1/2002 through 10/31/07 -- 413 results, before increasing for similar items. Among those also mentioned, and objecting: Human Events, Fox, Patterico, Gateway Pundit, righty blogs too numerous to mention, Glenn Beck ... enough.
- Also, Noel Sheppard at NB in December 2006.
I'm sure I could and would find so much more, but if you don't get the point by now, which is that you're pretending that there was disinterest in the plight of these gentlemen when that was not the case, you never will.
To be fair, you also peripherally complain about the open-borders mindset of outfits like the Wall Street Journal and many of the RINO elites in Washington. That's a legitimate, bigtime problem. But again, you seem to have forgotten that in 2007 most on the right strongly opposed the Bush-Reid-Pelosi attempt at amnesty -- and stopped it.
Apparently, there was enough coverage
Submitted by ckc1227 on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 2:19pm.
I'm pretty sure Bush wouldn't have commuted their sentences otherwise.
Irgon, were you living in a cave at the time?
Submitted by Dave. on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 6:22pm.
We were raising hell about what happened to Compean and Ramos all over the pages of NB, and a lot of other conservative blogs were all over it as well.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
And I'm also sure
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 11:31am.
that President Bush let Black Panthers that were standing outside voting booths with clubs walk too.
Thanks, Tom
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 11:33am.
There's some serious backstory being written prior to this next appearance of Eric Holder.
I can only hope that even Democrats care when law enforcement officers are killed. Of course we have the occasional marxist who thinks the police act stupidly, but I'm hoping there are still Americans who care.
I'm even holding out hope Congressman Elijah Cummings is a man of some integrity.
"Of course
Submitted by ThisnThat on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 4:28pm.
we have the occasional marxist who thinks the police act stupidly".
o'bama (the marxist): The Cambridge police acted stupidly.
__________
“Didn't win the Medal of Honor? Didn't even serve? Then lie about it. We'll support you." — 9th Circuit Court
Don't hold your breathe oover
Submitted by ricklail on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 5:59pm.
Don't hold your breathe oover Cummings. He is the one that want to hold minority hearings. He tried from day one to make it about gun control.
Obama is a criminal and
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 11:37am.
Obama is a criminal and Holder is a murderer, blaming Bush doesn't change that.
Operation Wide Receiver
Submitted by ricklail on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 5:11pm.
They did run an operation under Bush but no guns made it to Mexico. The Mexican government knew about it. Holder knows his ass is grass and Issa is the lawnmower. Don't look for any of the Democrats on the comittee to say anything against Holder. It ain't going to happen. The media is going to be their sorry selves.
The US television media is
Submitted by Pinetree3 on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 11:47am.
The US television media is complicit in a coverup of this scandal.
The AP is nothing more than a bunch of slimy Demoncratic
Submitted by gmaniac1 on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 12:11pm.
operatives. Instead of investigating why someone who protects their freedoms gets killed they would somehow use nonsensical behavior to cover up his death all the while blaming Bush.
As usual in the liberal world, no shame, no gain.
irrelevant democrat media refuses
Submitted by ohio granny on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 3:24pm.
Irrelevent democrat media refuses to cover a relevent story. Why? because the crooks and criminals are democrats in the White House, the AFT, DOJ, ICE, etc. At some point in time they will have no choice but to cover it, maybe when someone goes to jail. Hopefully serveral someones are going to jail.
Granny
Submitted by ricklail on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 5:16pm.
There is some speculation that the State Department was involved also. In all honestly they are going to stonewall at least until the November elections. More redacted documents and more rope a dope by those subponed. Look for the Democrats on the committee to try to turn it into a gun control issue.
Rick,
Submitted by Ashrak on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 7:40pm.
All of the alphabet agencies, departments and bureaus were in on this. The FBI had to play in order for the NICS checks to "go through" just like State, ICE and BP had to play in order for the guns to get across the border.
The pages of NewsBusters
Submitted by Ashrak on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 8:00pm.
The pages of NewsBusters itself were among the very first to point to SipseyStreet, both directly and indirectly, and many missed it......some still do. There is no pointing to Mike without pointing to David and there is no pointing to David without pointing to Mike - not where GunWalker is concerned. Hand-glove, pea-pod. True Heros, the both of them, humble as both may be.
Make no mistake, this country and everyone in it owes them both a great deal for refusing to stand down this story before a Establishment media that has, all along, made every effort to hide it all. Visit their sites and share their links, and we will all be better off for it.
MSM Approach is --...if we don't Report it, it didn't Happen!!!
Submitted by scottyusmc on Mon, 10/17/2011 - 9:16am.
However, we all know what is gong on without the MSM, so their impact is insignificant to the facts - but at the same time telling of their bias... Result is conservatism wins on both counts...
Justification?
Submitted by AdrianVance on Mon, 10/17/2011 - 1:28pm.
Why do major media people that someone has gotten away with breaking the law in the past justifies the crime in the present? This is the height of stupidity.
The Two Minute Conservative at http://adrianvance.blogspot.com has political analysis, science and humor. Now in the top 3% on Kindle.
AVance,
Submitted by Agnostic on Mon, 10/17/2011 - 1:34pm.
Well, when you make up the part about the law being broken in the past is it really too much to suspect that they are just trying to justify the actions of the current regime for political/propaganda reasons?