Will the House Contempt Vote Turn Out to be More Bipartisan than ObamaCare? (Updated)

Shake the Magic 8 Ball…

The chief Democratic House head counter, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, declined to tell reporters how many defections he expected, but acknowledged that some in his party would consider heeding the NRA’s call for a “yes” vote.

One of those Democrats, Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah, said, “Sadly, it seems that it will take holding the attorney general in contempt to communicate that evasiveness is unacceptable. It is a vote I will support.”

He isn’t the only Democrat bailing on Holder.

When House lawmakers vote Thursday on GOP recommendations that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder be held in contempt of Congressfor stonewalling an investigation into a bungled gun-running operation, Georgia Democratic Rep. John Barrow will break partisan rank to censure the president’s choice for the nation’s top law enforcement post.

An unnamed Congressional aide to Barrow confirmed the decision on Wednesday to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s one-man D.C. bureau Daniel Malloy.

So that makes two. More will likely follow, especially from the red state Democrats.

But even the two known yes votes do two things: They make holding Eric Holder in contempt of Congress more bipartisan than ObamaCare, which Barack Obama described as having been passed by a “strong majority,” (the final bill didn’t get a single GOP vote in passage) and they make Tuesday’s sad show by civil rights groups all the more obviously partisan and pathetic. Those groups predictably accused Republicans of racism for trying to find out why Holder’s departments ran an operation that ended up resulting in the deaths of two American agents and hundreds of Mexican citizens. These groups have made themselves such obvious functionaries of the Democratic Party that their credibility is completely shot.

If there’s racism in the Fast and Furious case, it’s in protecting Holder and disregarding those Mexican citizens killed by FnF guns. Why is one American official’s political career worth more than the blood his departments’ actions apparently spilled, and which Holder is covering up? The most obvious answer: Because Eric Holder is black.

Update: Rumors are flying all over Washington that maybe eight, or as many as 21 Democrats could vote to hold Holder in contempt tomorrow.