No accusations here but when it comes to politicians - especially ones of the establishment / RINO persuasion - history is on the side of the skeptics. Besides, there's nothing wrong with a bit of preemptive accountability when it comes to holding said politicians accountable. Trusting them almost always gets you burned. So why do it now?
Consider a post by Mike Vanderboegh over at Sipsey Street about sources telling him that John Boehner, Mitt Romney, and the RNC (by extension) could be looking for ways to prevent the truth about Fast and Furious from coming out:
Said one source, "Romney wants this to go away, so the RNC wants it to go away, and they're putting more pressure on Boehner who never wanted to get this far down the road in the first place but he's been pushed along by Issa and the stand-up guys on his committee." He added, "The NRA making this a 'scored' vote means that if it comes to a vote, it will happen with as many as two or three dozen Democrats as well. The leadership now thinks that the only way for this to 'go away' like Romney wants is to short-circuit the vote."Again, I'm not making the charge but if that last sentence is true and House leadership is doing anything to sabotage the vote, they would already be accomplices in the coverup. Not only that but it would mean the presumptive Republican nominee for president - as well as the RNC - would be party to the biggest political scandal in perhaps the history of the country, before even winning the general election.
Another interesting aspect to this comes courtesy of the Washington Post (h/t Sipsey Street). They imply that a possible reason for House leadership scheduling the contempt hearing on Thursday is to coincide with the expected Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare on the same day.
Republican leaders plan to bring the issue to the floor on Thursday, meaning lawmakers likely will vote on contempt charges on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court is slated to announce its ruling on the constitutionality of the 2010 health-care reform law.To his credit, when Boehner speaks publicly about Fast and Furious, his words are in support of getting to the bottom of the scandal. To his discredit, these concerns just keep rearing their heads. Maybe if he spoke a little more like Congressional freshman, Rep. Trey Gowdy and less like a politically guarded politician, that would stop.
The timing likely deprives advocates for contempt charges of the big headlines they might have received if the vote were held another day this week.
As for Romney, he had a golden opportunity - when Obama announced amnesty for illegal aliens nearly two weeks ago - to point to Fast and Furious being a program that is responsible for hundreds of dead Mexicans. The implication would have been clear: If Obama cares so much about the welfare of Mexican nationals, why hasn't anyone been held accountable for a program that led to the deaths of hundreds of Mexican nationals.
Romney didn't do it and that is another example of why skeptics are, well, skeptical.
E-mail or call Speaker Boehner's office by clicking HERE.
E-mail or call the Romney campaign by clicking HERE.
E-mail or call the RNC by clicking HERE.
**UPDATE** POLITICO has written that Issa has sent a letter to Barack Obama demanding answers about why he asserted Executive Privilege. Toward the end of the article, we have more anecdotal indicators that may lend more credence to the claim that House Leadership wants this to go away:
Unlike Issa’s last letter to the administration, this note didn’t contain the signatures of House GOP leadership.Compare that behavior with that of Congressional Democrats in 2009 - 2010 when it came to ramming Obamacare through.
The contempt motion is sure to pass, but House Republican leadership is not whipping their members. Speaking aboard Air Force One en route to New Hampshire, White House press secretary Jay Carney declined to say whether the administration was trying to keep Democrats in line.
Quite the contrast, eh?
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