Sen. John Cornyn Makes AG Holder Squash Fast And Furious "Bush Did It Too" Argument

I have been hearing about all these programs that were going on during the Bush Administration that were just like Fast and Furious.  The only thing is, they weren’t just like Fast and Furious.

Sen. John Cornyn must read the same sites I do, because he hammered Holder on it so much, Holder admitted the programs weren’t comparable:

It has become clear that for administration apologists, the favored approach for dealing with the “Project Gunwalker” fallout is to loudly shout “Bush did it too!” (as if that would somehow mitigate the atrocity of our government aiding in the murder two of federal law enforcement officers and hundreds of Mexican citizens).  If this had not been obvious before yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General Eric Holder, it certainly is now, with Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) enthusiastically beating that drum.

In 75 seconds of pointed questioning of Attorney General Holder (see sidebar video), Senator John Cornyn has perhaps left the excuse makers scrambling for something better.  In that time, he asked Holder if he knew that Operation Wide Receiver (the Bush-era operation) actually did involve an attempt to track the firearms, while Fast and Furious did not.  Cornyn then asked Holder if he knew that Operation Wide Receiver was run in conjunction with the Mexican government, while Fast and Furious was kept secret from not only Mexico, but from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) attaché to Mexico, Darren Gil.  Gil, in fact, after discovering on his own what was going on, was basically pushed into retirement when he balked at the near act of war of “walking” guns into Mexico without the Mexican government’s knowledge or permission.

Holder was eventually forced into the position of having to put the “Bush did it too” excuse out of its misery himself:

Senator, I have not tried to equate the two–I have not tried to equate Wide Receiver with Fast and Furious. . . .  Again, I’m not trying to equate the two.