GOP Platform names Fast and Furious, blames DOJ

The Republican Party platform that was adopted this week points the finger of responsibility for operation Fast and Furious directly at the Eric Holder - led Department of Justice. The Hill (h/t Sipsey Street) excerpted a portion of the platform that speaks to Fast and Furious but here is the entire quote:

We condemn the reckless actions associated with the operation known as “Fast and Furious,” conducted by the Department of Justice, which resulted in the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent and others on both sides of the border. We applaud the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives in holding the current Administration’s Attorney General in contempt of Congress for his refusal to cooperate with their investigation into that debacle. We oppose the improper collection of firearms sales information in the four southern border states, which was imposed without congressional authority.

Throughout the Fast and Furious investigation, the Republican with the most power in Congress - John Boehner - has come across countless times as not wanting to deal with the scandal, despite it being akin to Watergate with murder. The only reason it got as far as it did was because it was pushed - in large part by the aforementioned Sipsey Street blog. Even then, Boehner scheduled the Eric Holder contempt vote on the same day as the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare.

That leads to this past week. At the convention, Boehner was asked about the Party platform and said he hadn't read it, nor did he know anyone who had. Instead, he attempted to liken the idea of a one-page Party platform to that of single-page legislation, which the Tea Party embraces.

Nice try, Mr. Speaker but that's mixing apples and oranges. Your congressional body writes thousands of pages of legislation constantly. The purpose of those bills is, more often than not, to put more restrictions on the people. Your collective bosses (the people) seem to welcome those single pages of legislation. In fact, it might be nice if the next Congress spent all of its time repealing existing legislation instead of writing more of it.

Conversely, the Republican Party platform of this magnitude comes out every four years and the actual substance of it is approximately 50 pages. There may be some debate about how much teeth is in it but it is a document designed to hold YOU and your congressional colleagues accountable to what your collective bosses have said they want from their party. One page every four years won't cut it and shouldn't be the standard.

Given Speaker Boehner's inclination to avoid the Fast and Furious scandal whenever possible, it's interesting that by refusing to read the entire Party platform, he can ignore the part about the Party wanting him to hold the Department of Justice accountable.

Here's video of Boehner responding to a question about the Party platform after it had been adopted. Note how he says the American people might read it if it were one page. The more American people who read it, the better, for sure. However, it would seem to me that the people who most need to read it are the ones who are supposed to adhere to it while in office.

That would include you, Mr. Speaker.