Earlier this month, the Tubz were rattling over David Brooks’ plea for us all to know our places and respect our betters. And I was surely glad to see Radley Balko give Brooks and his Olde Establishment snobbery a good fisking.
But me, I laughed. Brooks’ demand for obedience to Authoritah (any old Authoritah) was so pathetic, so obviously a dying cry from the Ancien Regime, that it delighted me. Yay! We’re out of control! Hooray! We point and snicker at the undersized dangly bits and bloated bellies of our naked emperors! That’s just how things ought to be.
Today Michael W. Dean sends another opinion piece in that same ilk. But somehow this one seems harder to laugh at. Partly because real people are dying for this supposed “good cause.” Partly because this is about derailing (or at least wishing away) a hard-won investigation that’s still going on.
Here it is. “Don’t be nosy about Fast & Furious” by LZ Granderson of CNN. Key bits of evidence scooped out of Granderson’s elitist vomit:
I know that’s hard to digest in a society where pregnancies and marriages of D-list celebrities make the cover of People magazine, but there comes a point where the public’s right to know needs to take a back seat to matters like national security and diplomacy. …
Fast and Furious? Please. …
You see, freedom isn’t entirely free.
It also isn’t squeaky clean.
And sometimes the federal government deems it necessary to get its hands a little dirty in the hopes of achieving something we generally accept as good for the country. …
Project Wide Receiver and Project Road Runner — the earlier versions of Fast and Furious under President Bush — were executed with the hope that they will do more good than harm. Hardly anyone in the public knows the finer points of these programs.
Were they legal?
Hell no.
Were they effective?
Who knows?
Were they done as a way to keep America safe?
Yes. …
By allowing guns to infiltrate Mexico’s drug cartel, we thought we could trace them up the ladder to the leaders [Editor’s note: Never mind that, with F&F, no attempt was ever made to trace the guns up the ladder — or anywhere else]. Take off the head and the body dies. As for the innocent people who lost their lives? Collateral damage. That’s the uncomfortable backstory to this scandal. And there are likely other operations like it in our nation’s history that we don’t even have a clue about.
And maybe it’s better for us not to be so nosy, not to know everything because, to paraphrase the famous line from the movie “A Few Good Men,” many of us won’t be able to handle the truth.
Fast & Furious — Gunwalker — was uncovered by “little guys.” David Codrea. Mike Vanderboegh. ATF whistleblowers. Without “nosy” people, the ATF and DoJ would have gone right on sending guns to Mexican gangs so the regime could weep and moan about, and legislate against, the government-created problem. And now we’re all just supposed to shut up and let our betters handle the very situation they tried to bury? And we’re supposed to do it for our own good? Hey, Grander-than-thou — I’m usually too ladylike to say this, but … go fork yourself.
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Fixed: Misspelling of Granderson’s name. The actual spelling is not only … well, actual, but so very fitting.
Roger that. Twice!!
I can understand DC insiders’ respect for Authoritah. If you don’t suck up you don’t get access. It still doesn’t make it acceptable.
I’m old enough to have been raised with civics classes and pledging to a flag but there was still the idea that these were our representatives. I was never taught that our ruling class was above the law with no obligation to inform or justify. Some of the enablers point out that there were precursor programs under Bush. So what? It just goes to show there are no big scandals when one party controls it all. That’s another awful thing but besides the point.
One aspect of the Gunwalker that drives gun folk nuts is that it makes no sense. That leads to the sense that it was designed to make gunowners looks bad. Having been an engineer for large corporations I see another possibility: It could have been some dumbass idea by someone high up enough that nobody dared give an honest opinion. I’ve sat in meetings with bosses where they presented amazingly stupid ideas and I kept a straight face since I need the paycheck. Since it is all executive privilege we’ll probably never know and are free to speculate since that is all we can do.
I’ll bet Ganderson gets some exclusive interviews with Eric Holder. That’s the whole point of the game. I’d love to see it unwrapped further but if contempt is done, Mr. Holder will have to try himself. All I can hope is that Anonymous somehow gets the whole document trail one day.
Claire, you’re guilty of hate speech – or maybe a hate crime, I’m not sure which. Maybe both.
“LZ Granderson, who writes a weekly column for CNN.com, was named journalist of the year by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and is a 2011 Online Journalism Award finalist for commentary. He is a senior writer and columnist for ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com.”
I think the “collateral damage,” would take exception to Gandersons statements. We have to have accountability because that “collateral damage,” was peoples sons, daughters, spouses, loved ones etc. The administration aided and abetted arming Cartels that are killing around 10,000 Mexican citizens a year. Hell of a lot of collateral damage. Insufferable moron.
Hate crime? I never thought I’d commit any of those. Well, I guess that takes care of at least one of my three-a-day crime-committing quota. Only two more to go — unless of course I committed a few others already today without noticing.
Wow. That article is…
Reagan sort of kept the details of Iran/Contra under the rug, so that gives all subsequent presidents carte blanche? Really?
“Freedom isn’t entirely free”? Really??
“… to go much beyond the criticism of these men runs the risk of learning that this great nation of ours is heavily involved in doing some things that are not so great.” REALLY??? YOU RUN THE RISK OF @#$% LEARNING SOMETHING????
My head is exploding. Are all gay/lesbian journalists this insane, or only the award-winning ones who post their honors before their columns?
Jim Bovard; because someone wins awards doesn’t mean they can’t be an idiot. F&F has nothing to do with the Mexican cartel and everything to do with or current inept and corrupt top government officials attempt to build a case to go after OUR 2nd amendment. They got busted and when some honest columnist, with a “pair”, fills in the missing pieces F&F will make Watergate look like a junior birthday party.
Claire, keep up the honest reporting.
Amen, Joel. I’ve read Granderson’s article several times and every time I find something new to be mind-boggled about. From his conviction that ATF programs are designed to keep us “safe” (even as he admits he has ZERO idea what they accomplish) to his quaint belief that if you remove the head of a drug cartel — voila! — the whole cartel and the whole problem just go away … it’s a trip into the most bizarre reaches of Authorityland.
And of course, Matt, another, nailed the reality of Granderson’s disgusting disregard for the “collaterally dead.” Yeah, would he be so casual if it were his family members, or even if it were gay and lesbian strangers, being destroyed? Noooooo. Then we can be sure he’d be calling for a full investigation, without a single comma being missed.
Yep, bizarrity squared. I really don’t give a rat’s patootie about Mr. So-Grand’s race or sexual proclivities. But this is the kind of “journalism” you get when you’re so desperate to look “inclusive” that you promote a sports writer into a national affairs commentator based on qualities having zero to do with knowledge or reasoning ability.
Thank you, BC. I’m surprised F&F hasn’t blown up to Watergate proportions yet. I keep reminding myself that Watergate took nearly a year to really go big. But lord, people are dying here!
It hasn’t made big news because the press/media isn’t out to get Holder and his “boss”, who want this to cook awhile so they can work up a different game plan since they got caught.
The more I read from people like yourself, who are reporting what is really going on the more frustrated I become. We have become a country of lemmings and are headed for the cliff. I am of the age that it won’t matter that much but I worry about my kids and grandkids.
Don’t get your hopes up C. Arming “indigenous freedom fighters” is old Communist tac…
That is probably one of the most condescending pieces of trash I have ever wasted 30 seconds reading! I am not sure if it is pathetic or outrageous that such a pompous a** can actually write stuff like this with a straight face.
Regarding when it will blow up to Watergate level, the answer is NEVER. The press is what blew up Watergate and that was because Nixon was the target. Now that Obama is the target the press will go out of their way to protect him, which generally is done by not amplifying a story, but rather ignoring it like it isn’t news and they wonder why we don’t trust them!
If the U.S really wanted a war that would do good attack Souyh America. At least we would save some gas.
THe Mexicans showed on T.V. 27,000 weapons I mostly saw AK-47’s the Mexican offical said we even have a (one) M-16 and a Barrett 50 gal.
Americans are dunb and Hillary knows it those aren’t our guns.
With their money they get autos.(they said they where) by the plane and boat load. Bottom line they don’t need our semi auto’s nor does it look like they have any. Most Americans mostly buy semi auto Ak’s when they can’t afford better.
Just more B. S. But who will listen? I have written the same thing to Congressman. I guess they just say NO S–t.