It was around this time in the Clinton presidency when unhinged Republican lawmakers started wondering whether the then-president was guilty of murder, or at least accessory to murder. Right on cue, GOP lawmakers are back to their old tricks.
Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona told The Daily Caller on Wednesday that Obama administration officials responsible for Operation Fast and Furious might be accessories to murder.
“We’re talking about consequences of criminal activity, where we actually allowed guns to walk into the hands of criminals, where our livelihoods are at risk,” Gosar said in a phone interview. “When you facilitate that and a murder or a felony occurs, you’re called an accessory. That means that there’s criminal activity.”
Wait, the GOP still cares about the Fast and Furious flap? Shouldn’t they have moved on by now?
Either way, the fact that a far-right member of Congress is using words like “murder” and “accessory” in the context of administration officials suggests it really is the mid-90s all over again. It’s only a matter of time, I suppose, before prominent Republican officials are shooting melons in their backyard and sending the White House subpoenas about the president’s pet.
I am curious about something, though. It turns out that House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) was also briefed on the “Fast and Furious” plan last year, never raised any objections, and later pretended to be surprised that the program even existed. Under Gosar’s reasoning, would Issa be an accessory, too?
For that matter, it turns out the Bush administration had a “Fast and Furious” program of its own. Is Gosar, or Issa for that matter, equally interested in this, too? Or are ridiculous allegations about accessory to murder limited to Democrats?
