New York Times stacks deck so Holder can play race card :: 12/25/2011

"A Partisan Lightning Rod Is Undeterred," Charlie Savage of The New York Times writes in a December 17 page one exclusive political ad for Attorney General Eric Holder.

The tone is set. Any Fast and Furious investigation is a partisan power grab. Savage, one of the leading apologists (some assessments are more scathing ) for the administration on the Fast and Furious story, makes full use of the amplifier and loudspeaker that are at his disposal. In just one "report," the uber "Authorized Journalist " can reach more readers than a year's worth of investigative effort by lowly bloggers.

And reach them he does, with a meme familiar to those who disagree with the administration on policy and actions: Smear anyone challenging them as a racist .

But Mr. Holder contended that many of his other critics - not only elected Republicans but also a broader universe of conservative commentators and bloggers - were instead playing "Washington gotcha" games, portraying them as frequently "conflating things, conveniently leaving some stuff out, construing things to make it seem not quite what it was" to paint him and other department figures in the worst possible light.

Of that group of critics, Mr. Holder said he believed that a few - the "more extreme segment" - were motivated by animus against Mr. Obama and that he served as a stand-in for him. "This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him," he said, "both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we're both African-American."

Yeah, right. Walked guns have nothing to do with it. Dead law enforcement personnel and dead Mexicans have nothing to do with it--nor do their mourning families. Veteran agents coming forward and risking retaliation and ruin or worse have nothing to do with it. Institutionalized lies and stonewalling have nothing to do with it.

By David Codrea , Gun Rights Examiner