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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

CNN Troll Can't Handle the Truth

CNN has been going downhill for quite awhile, and at this point, I think they’re just trolling to try and get better ratings. Case in point, the latest op-ed from “CNN Contributor” LZ Granderson in which he provides his valuable insight on the hearings that the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is holding on the DOJ’s Fast and Furious operation and claim of executive privilege that is being asserted by the Federal Executive Branch.

Oh, you haven’t heard of CNN Contributor LZ Granderson? Here’s how CNN describes him:
A senior writer and columnist for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com, Granderson has written several guest columns for CNN.com on topics ranging from Sarah Palin to Charlie Sheen to the younger Barbara Bush’s endorsement of same-sex marriage. His pieces have been among the most widely read and commented on by CNN.com’s users.
Basically, he’s a professional troll.

So, what deep insight does Mr. Troll have for us on the topic of a Congressional oversight committee seeking documents that have been refused under the claim of executive privilege?
I know that's hard to digest in a society where pregnancies and marriages of D-list celebrities make the cover of People magazine, but there comes a point where the public's right to know needs to take a back seat to matters like national security and diplomacy.
Snooki’s pregnancy and the Kardashian divorce aren’t exactly in the same ballpark as a Federal agency being asked questions by a Congressional Oversight Committee. The whole point of an oversight committee is to provide “oversight”. You know, being accountable to the people’s elected representatives? Nevertheless, LZ doesn't need facts! He's ready to start making some serious decisions.

Heads should roll because of the Fast and Furious debacle. We don't need every detail of that operation to be made public in order for that to happen.
Great. Exactly whose head “should roll”? If we don’t need the details of who decided to green-light the operation and/or cover it up, are we just going to start drawing names out of a hat? Some people like to have all the facts before they decide who loses their job and possibly faces criminal charges, but ol’ LZ, he’s ready to start axing people now.
Much in the same way, Project Wide Receiver and Project Road Runner -- the earlier versions of Fast and Furious under President Bush -- were executed with the hope that they will do more good than harm. Hardly anyone in the public knows the finer points of these programs.
Were they legal?
Hell no.
Were they effective?
Who knows?
Were they done as a way to keep America safe?
Yes.
So the Department of Justice is acting illegally, and we don’t know if it the illegal operations are even effective, but since these illegal operations were done with good intentions, so STOP ASKING QUESTIONS! Just roll some heads! Any heads!
LZ brings his tolling to a dramatic conclusion with this:
By allowing guns to infiltrate Mexico's drug cartel, we thought we could trace them up the ladder to the leaders. Take off the head and the body dies. As for the innocent people who lost their lives? Collateral damage. That's the uncomfortable backstory to this scandal. And there are likely other operations like it in our nation's history that we don't even have a clue about.
And maybe it's better for us not to be so nosy, not to know everything because, to paraphrase the famous line from the movie "A Few Good Men," many of us won't be able to handle the truth.
You can’t handle the truth? Dude, have you even seen this movie? Col. Jessup is insulting Lt. Kaffee when he says that.

But if that’s what you want, fine. The adults in the room are going to handle the tough decisions and hear about the bad things that go on in the world. If you don’t want to hear about the bad things, or make tough decisions, you can go play outside with the rest of the children and assume that everyone does everything with the best intentions. Seriously, how childish are you, LZ? Man up.

Personally, if I was going to go with a Nicholson line from A Few Good Men on this topic, I would have gone with the best line from the whole movie:


Maybe AG Holder just wants the Committee to ask him nicely.

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