A Lack Of Class

Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry died serving this country. In recognition of his service to this country, Rep. Darrell Issa sponsored HR 2668 - the Brian A. Terry Memorial Act - which renames the Border Patrol Station in Bisbee, Arizona in his memory. Having passed in the House it was sent to the Senate where last week it passed by a unaminous vote and was sent to the White House for the President's signature.

Rep. Issa said, in part, in a release about this bill's passage:

"All of Washington mourned with the Terry family when Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry gave his life in the line of duty in 2010. Today we stand just as unified for the purpose of honoring and preserving his legacy.

"The unanimous support with which the Brian A. Terry Memorial Act passed the United States Senate is a tribute to Agent Terry's career of service to our country and to the Border Patrol's distinguished history of intrepidity and sacrifice for the sake of homeland security.

"We recognize that Agent Terry's untimely passing is a tragedy that never should have happened. And while we continue to pursue answers regarding the circumstances surrounding his death, we resolve that his example of bravery and sacrifice will never be forgotten – especially in the city of Bisbee, AZ where he served."

While Rep. Issa may have thought "all of Washington" mourned, it is becoming apparent that Agent Terry's death at the hands of narco-terrorists was considered by the White House as an inconvenience rather than a tragedy. When it came time to sign the bill, President Obama did it privately as this release from the White House makes clear.

Matthew Boyle of the Daily Caller reports this on the signing:

On Tuesday, when Obama signed the bill into law, he did not hold a public signing ceremony with Terry’s family. The announcement that Obama had signed the memorial act into law was stuffed in the middle of a White House press release packed with other announcements not relevant to Terry.

The press release contained no quote from Obama or from White House press secretary Jay Carney about Terry.

Not only was this bill a non-event for the White House but US Customs and Border Protection did not even see fit to release a statement on the naming of the Border Patrol Station after one of their own who was killed in the line of duty.

Both the actions of the White House and Customs and Border Protection are reprehensible. It smacks of the former Soviet Union where inconvenient people - like evidently the late Brian Terry is to the Obama Administration - would become non-people or invisible. The Soviets did this to the dissidents, the Jews, and anyone who deviated from the party line.

To see this same treatment accorded to the late Brian Terry and his family is beyond the pale. It is disgusting and classless and contemptible.