The Fast and Furious Story Without the Hype

Huffington Post contributor Adam Winkler described it clearly and simply.

Now that Republicans in Congress won important concessions from President Obama in the debt ceiling debate, the next partisan battle is likely to be over what promises to be the first major scandal of the Obama administration: the botched gun sting known as "Operation Fast and Furious." The administration should waste no time and come clean about what happened, who approved it, and how it can be avoided again.
Unfortunately, the early signs are that Obama is going to handle this controversy as poorly as he handled the debt ceiling debate.

Professor Winkler goes on to point out that the cover-up is probably worse than the crime. Sting operations are used by law enforcement all the time. Sometimes you have to allow smaller crimes to occur so that you can capture the people behind far bigger crimes.
 
The real problem is all the attempts to stonewall and shirk responsibility. The NRA, which has long demonized Holder for his support of gun control, will continue to put pressure until he goes down, if possible. Naturally they'd try to destroy Obama with this too.
Around here we've written about this a number of times, including a wonderfully brief synopsis that JadeGold submitted.

Now, this is not to say any operation that is ill-advised or poorly executed shouldn't be investigated and those responsible demoted or fired, if need be.  But once more, the gunloons, in their phony outrage, have overreached. 

"Phony outrage" is exactly what it is. On the Sipsey Street Irregulars it's daily fare. And Farago is next in line with the exaggerated coverage (propaganda).
So, what's it really all about?  I'll tell you. It's the NRA vs the ATF. It's that simple. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is reviled by the NRA and many gun onwers as the symbolic representation of gun-rights opposition. ATF agents literally appear as the jack-booted oppressors who stand at the van of all common-sense gun control movements. As such they are the enemy of the Constitution and deserving of opprobrium.
Here's phoney outrage personified. 
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