Election year politics are fun for the junkies among us who can’t get enough of the verbal sparring and behind-the-scenes machinations that help fuel the news cycle. The unfortunate by-product of this sort of activity is the need for politicians to rabidly purse agenda-laden causes that defy common sense and decency. In the case of Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured) and the “Operation Fast And Furious” fiasco, congressional Republicans have been licking their chops after a House of Representatives committee found Holder in contempt for withholding documents.
RELATED: Eric Holder Held In Contempt Of Congress By House Committee
While the attacks on Holder have been a largely partisan effort, it appears that some House Dems may be pressured by the National Rifle Association (NRA) to vote for contempt against the Attorney General. Gun rights supporters, along with the NRA, allege that the botched “Fast and Furious” operation was nothing more than a ploy by the Obama administration to get tougher on gun control laws. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, said last Sunday that e-mail correspondence from the White House show that the administration intended to use the operation as a scapegoat to push for a weapons ban.
It’s no secret that powerful lobbying groups like the NRA have ways to sway the minds of elected officials to serve their own interests. The NRA will put the pressure on Democrats to vote contempt, especially in states friendly to gun rights laws.
A Democrat, fearing loss of financial and voting support, would probably find it best to follow the NRA’s suggestion – even if the claims are ludicrous and unfounded at best, but as Rev. Al Sharpton asked Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, recently on his “Politics Nation” program, could race be at the core of the debate?
Rep. Cummings, an attorney himself, didn’t deny that Holder being Black may be a reason Republicans in the House do not like him. But beyond that (reasonable) leap in logic, Cummings raised another fine point: No other Attorney General has faced the level of scrutiny Holder is enduring now and the Maryland Democrat even said that he’s satisfied with how Holder has handled the fiasco.
What this entire ordeal is beginning to look like is an attempt to undermine Obama’s regime, weaken his position in the polls, and bolster the Republican vote – not exactly shocking news in a potentially tight presidential race.
It’s been reported time and again that Holder immediately halted “Fast and Furious” the moment he was alerted that tracked guns were crossing in to Mexico over the border. Holder has provided an ample number of legal documents under the law, with House Speaker John Boehner saying on Wednesday that the contempt vote will continue on even though Republicans and other legal experts say this is nothing more than pomp and performance.
If the Democrats yield to the pressure to vote against Eric Holder, the rumblings across the nation that the Dems are a weak-willed group of individuals doing nothing but serving their own selfish agendas and keeping powerful lobbyists in their pocket will ring true.
What do you think?
