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TheDC Morning: White House still furtive about Fast and Furious

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1.) White House still furtive about Fast and Furious — The Fast and Furious scandal, AKA Watergate with a body count, keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. TheDC’s Matthew Boyle reports: “Late on Friday the Obama White House disclosed a new avalanche of documents related to Operation Fast and Furious, in response to demands from Congressional investigators. The documents show how often and how extensively Bill Newell, the lead Fast and Furious agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives communicated with senior Obama administration National Security official Kevin O’Reilly. Among the documents the White House released was a map that Newell sent O’Reilly, documenting the final destinations in Mexico of the weapons ATF was tracking. In an email to O’Reilly, Newell described each arrow on the map as ‘the ultimate destination of firearms we intercepted and/or where the guns ended up.’ ‘The arrow chart is really interesting — and — no surprise — implies at least that different [Drug Trafficking] organizations in [Mexico] have very different and geographically distinct networks in the US for acquiring guns,’ O’Reilly responded… The White House claims senior administration officials didn’t know Newell and the ATF were ‘letting guns walk’ into Mexico, facilitating the trafficking of firearms to Mexican drug cartels through ‘straw purchasers’ who could legally buy weapons in the United States but were doing so with the intention of selling them to drug cartels south of the border.” O’Reilly is currently on assignment in Iraq, because they couldn’t find anyplace else on earth that’s farther away from Darrell Issa.

2.) Dick vs. Barry (again) — As Chicago once sang, “It’s hard for me to say I’m sorry.” The same thing goes for Chicago on the Potomac, as TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports: “Former Vice President Dick Cheney praised President Obama’s authorization of a drone strike in Yemen last week –the strike that killed al-Qaida propagandist and leader Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen. ‘Well, I think it was a very good strike. I think it was justified,’ Cheney said Sunday on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ defending the president from critics who raised questions about the extrajudicial killing of a U.S. citizen. ‘I think it is a very effective use of our drone technology.’ Cheney did say, however, that the president ought to apologize for comments he made in a 2009 speech in Cairo, Egypt, some of which Cheney thought defamed the Bush administration. ‘The thing I am waiting for is for the administration to go back and correct something they said two years ago when they criticized us for — quote — “overreacting to the events of 9/11,”‘ Cheney said. ‘They in effect said we had walked away from our ideals, or [were] taking policy contrary to our ideals when we had enhanced interrogation techniques. They have clearly moved in the direction of taking robust action when they feel it is justified. In this case, it was. But I think they need to go back and reconsider what the president said in Cairo.'” Silly Cheney. Pouring water on a terrorist’s face goes against our values as Americans. You gotta blow him into a million pieces by remote control. And it’s only murder if a Republican orders it.

3.) Herman Cain thinks Chris Christie is too liberal — And not just with his between-meal snacking. TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports: “Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain predicted on Fox News Sunday that GOP primary voters will find New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie too liberal if he decides to join the race for the White House. Moderator Chris Wallace pointed out Christie’s views on gun control, civil unions, immigration, global warming that may not be conservative enough for Republicans, and asked Cain if Christie is too liberal to be the GOP nominee for president. ‘Yes,’ Cain responded. ‘I believe that a lot of conservatives, once they know his position on those things that you just delineated, they are not going to be able to support him. I think that it is absolutely a liability for him if he gets in the race.'” Which he definitely won’t, unless he does. You have to give Christie credit: for a bigger guy, he sure is comfortable sitting on the fence.

4.) Gaga and Obama, sittin’ in a tree, C-R-I-N-G-I-N-G — TheDC’s Laura Donovan reports: “‘Mother Monster’ Lady Gaga makes many people uncomfortable. Even President Obama. Speaking to gay advocacy organization the Human Rights Campaign over the weekend, Obama recalled seeing the 25-year-old pop sensation and gay rights advocate last week at a bay area campaign fundraiser. ‘I appreciate the chance to join you tonight. I also took a trip out to California last week, where I held some productive bilateral talks with your leader, Lady Gaga,’ the president said of the Grammy Award winner. Obama seemed puzzled and uneasy by Lady Gaga’s outfit for last week’s fundraiser… ‘She was wearing 16-inch heels,’ Obama said of Lady Gaga’s style choice for the presidential gathering. ‘She was eight feet tall. It was a little intimidating.'” To give you an idea how ugly and outlandish a woman’s outfit has to be in order to unnerve Obama, keep in mind that he’s married to Michelle Obama.

5.) Today’s words of wisdom from Alec Baldwin’s Truther, er, Twitter feed — “Original ALIEN is still the greatest.”

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