USA –-(Ammoland.com)- “Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash added his name to the chorus of legislators demanding Attorney General Eric Holder resign over Operation Fast and Furious,” The Daily Caller reported Sunday.
“On Monday, Texas Republican Rep. Randy Neugebauer joined the surge in demands for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation over Operation Fast and Furious,” a related story informed us.
Those dragging this story kicking and screaming into the public consciousness since the beginning might be inclined to channel Bruce Willis’s “Die Hard” character and say “Welcome to the party, pal.” But a more appropriate response might be “Hold the phone.”
AWOL-to-date Republican opportunists resolutely licking their fingers and holding them up in the air to determine which way the political winds are blowing serve whom, exactly? This is a gift horse that needs to be looked squarely in the mouth—first, because what the hell took them so long to weigh in, and more seriously, is a non-commitment like “I think that maybe it’s time for Mr. Holder to step down” the hardest line these new evangelists are prepared to take?
Guns were walked, people are dead and he “thinks maybe”?
We’re then told Mitt Romney “applaud[ed] NRA leadership for being among the first and most vocal in calling upon Attorney General Holder to resign” at the just-wrapped NRA Annual Meeting.
Hold the applause, even though I’m told it brought down a skillfully-primed house.
Don’t get me wrong: I want more in Congress, the Republican party and gun rights advocacy groups actively working to oust Holder, but statements like this are as meaningless as that House Resolution some are making such great hay from, where an interminable litany of “Whereases” are followed by:
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress has lost confidence in the Attorney General of the United States.
That’s it? And this is supposed to do what to a dominating, radical agenda-driven career belligerent, backed by his president, his party and his press, who demonstrates his ongoing smirking contempt for their impotence with each day’s continued stonewalling?
The Johnny-come-latelies, whether wittingly or not, are helping Holder avoid accountability with their tepid, do-nothing half measures.
So what is the appropriate response? What goal should those interested in justice be marching toward?
“If Holder simply steps down, much of the incentive to pursue him will evaporate,” this column observed last November:
And if that’s the case, finding out what he may be culpable for, and what he and his boss may have discussed about the matter becomes even more problematic.
[T]he course of action I endorse is something stated many times before in Gun Rights Examiner columns: Conduct an independent investigation and if evidence of crimes is found, prosecute everyone responsible and punish the guilty.
That’s what we need to be insisting on. If that happens, political survivability could be the least of Holder’s problems.
Anything less will not uncover (and actually further obscure) the truth, and will not attain justice.
Anything less will validate the charges by doctrinaire regressives that this is simply a partisan witch-hunt being used for political advantage. Anything less will mean those whose sole priority is the truth are merely being used as pawns.
UPDATE: Now that’s more like it. Not a resolution. Not a demand to resign. A contempt charge. A good first step toward others. Make it so.
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.
