Romney Low Profile on Fast And Furious a Retreat From NRA Speech

Mitt Romney
Romney Low Profile on Fast And Furious a Retreat From NRA Speech

USA –-(Ammoland.com)- A congressman is advocating that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney assume a leadership role in pushing for accountability in the Fast and Furious “gunwalking” criminal operation, The Daily Caller reported yesterday.

“I think Gov. Romney, with his platform of accountability, needs to bring this forward to explain what is wrong and why his administration won’t be anything like this, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., told reporter Matthew Boyle in a telephone interview.

“Romney has brought up Fast and Furious only twice during the current election cycle. In December, he demanded Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation over the scandal after initially balking at the question.” Boyle reported. “In early April at the NRA convention Romney repeated that call…”

“I applaud Congressman [Darrell] Issa and Senator [Chuck] Grassley for their work in exposing the Fast and Furious scandal,” Romney proclaimed to an enthusiastic assemblage of NRA members in a 27-minute speech that curiously only addressed the gun issue for about three of those minutes. Gun Rights Examiner has posted the speech recorded by C-SPAN in the sidebar for this column, and the candidate’s related remarks begin at around 18:40 into the video.

“And of course I applaud NRA leadership for being among the first and most vocal in calling upon Attorney General Holder to resign or get fired,” Romney added.

In spite of this rhetoric before a targeted audience, the candidate has not responded to repeated requests over the months for further comment on what he specifically believes needs to be done to hold persons responsible for condoning and abetting the smuggling of guns into Mexico—without the knowledge of the Mexican government—and the resulting deaths, including that of Border Patrol Brian Terry, whose murder scene included recovered “walked” guns. Nor has Romney acknowledged the criminality of these acts, but instead has limited his comments to addressing personnel issues—which is exactly how the present Administration is couching the issue.

Current Romney silence, coupled with a disturbing lack of leadership from the Republican leadership, has many concerned that the GOP fears allowing the Issa investigations to proceed in a meaningful way, as opposed to just being carefully meted out political theater. Some following the slow pace and seeming lack of progress have offered wishful speculation to this correspondent that there is a strategy behind the avoidance that will play out as the November elections near.

They should be careful what they wish for. Republicans exploiting this criminal outrage for partisan political ends will only confirm the core reason their Democrat opponents say they are pursuing Fast and Furious in the first place. That will not result in truth, that will not result in justice, and that will not result in a fire in the bellies of principled core constituents who hold on to notions the cynical would deem antiquated.

The only thing politicians from either party should be calling for—should be demanding—is an open, transparent and honest criminal investigation into what happened and what authorizations and cover-ups may have occurred, and then let the facts and resulting decisions for further appropriate legal actions fall where they may. Anything else is just posturing for gain, and doing it in blood.


About David Codrea

David Codrea is a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He is a field editor for GUNS Magazine, and a blogger at The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance. Read more at www.DavidCodrea.com.