Does 'fatally flawed' minority report on gunwalking 'absolve' administration? :: 02/01/2012

"Report by House Democrats Absolves Administration in Gun Trafficking Case," Charlie Savage of The New York Times would have us believe :

Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday are expected to publish a report on the disputed gun trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious, concluding that agents in Arizona - not Obama administration officials - were responsible for the tactics used in the inquiry and for providing misleading information relayed to Congress.

The "expected" report, that is, the report House Democrats gave their reliable mouthpiece a heads-up on, has been released , just in time to get defense plays and signals out there in anticipation of Attorney General Eric Holder's Thursday appearance before the full Committee (where he'll hopefully get to answer questions about why his people are pleading the Fifth and testimony from their underlings is being denied ):

Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued a 95-page minority staff report entitled "Fatally Flawed: Five Years of Gunwalking in Arizona." The report describes the results of the Committee's year-long investigation into the actions and circumstances that led to multiple gunwalking operations in Arizona from 2006 to 2010.

Or as Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars puts it , "Bloody Hands Cummings & White House issue a report saying that the Bushes made them do it, and besides, it was all Phoenix's fault."

That's because Cummings and Committee Democrats showed deliberate indifference to allegations by veteran agents of ATF management abuse back in 2009 when they controlled things. And he and they have since become the leading voices for diverting the thrust of the investigation into demands for more power for the very people who continue to abuse what they already have.