On Tuesday’s Fox and Friends, the co-anchors were beside themselves over the news that the prime gunwalking suspect was held by ATF but let go. “This scandal is back in the news!” co-host Brian Kilmeade proclaimed. “Possibly the most alarming thing has now come to surface!”

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R – S.C.) was a guest on Fox & Friends Friday morning, and took the opportunity to blast both the Inspector General and Congress for an incredibly slow-moving process that has become, in his opinion, overly politicized. Gowdy, a former prosecutor, expressed dismay at not being able to get information from the Depatment of Justice in a timely manner.

During a hearing Thursday over the Fast and Furious scandal, Attorney General Eric Holder lit into Congressman Raul Labrador, after he displayed slides depicting statements Holder made about President Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich.

GBTV’s Amy Holmes spoke with South Carolina’s Sen. Jim DeMint about the ongoing investigation into Attorney General Eric Holder‘s knowledge of / role in the White House’s failed “Fast and Furious” gun walking program.

Holmes asked DeMint whether he’d lost confidence in Holder to the point of asking for his resignation.

In the world of the microscopic news cycle, a year is a mighty long time. Think “dog years” on steroids. Over the course of the past year, in thousands (around 7,500 ) of articles and millions (between 3 and 4 million) of words, Mediaite has covered the ups and downs of that whizzing, ricocheting media world. In case you lost track in that sea of information, we’ve compiled a list of 2011 Media Winners and Losers that we hope will be the start  of a conversation, not the end of one. Here, in no particular order, are Mediaite’s 2011 Media Winners and Losers.

As the mission to determine what (and when) Attorney General Eric Holder knew about the White House’s “Fast and Furious” gun walking operation continues, Holder is prepared to denounce the entire operation and shift blame to Congress for not having adequately supported the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Currently, the news catnip du jour for conservatives are Solyndra and Fast and Furious. Today, conservative media watchdog Newsbusters expressed outrage that a Fast and Furious question was left out of ABC News broadcasts of Jake Tapper‘s exclusive interview with President Obama. Fortunately, we’ve got the exchange here.

This morning on talk radio, John King received rare praise from Rush Limbaugh for pointing out the suspicious chronology in between the first time President Obama discussed the burgeoning Fast and Furious arms scandal and the time frame Attorney General Eric Holder gave for hearing about it himself. On tonight’s program, King thanked Limbaugh for the kind words, but refused to allow his report to corroborate conservative plotlines he considered to be “a huge stretch.”

On Face the Nation today, Congressman Darrell Issa updated the public on his latest attempts to investigate the Justice Department for its possible involvement in the ATF “Fast & Furious” gun sting, but was careful not to accuse any of the involved parties of criminal conduct. Bob Schieffer asked Issa to respond to charges that he’s merely “showboating” by issuing subpoenas.

FoxNews.com is reporting this morning that congressional investigators looking into the failed “Fast and Furious” gun-running operation are sending a subpoena to Attorney General Eric Holder in an effort to suss out who, exactly, within the Department of Justice knew about the project and when, with a particular focus on “Holder, his chief of staff, Gary Grindler, and the head of the department’s criminal division, Lanny Breuer.”

The ‘Fast and Furious‘ story appears to be turning a major corner with the news that Congressional investigators, led by Rep. Darrell Issa, are sending a new subpoena to Attorney General Eric Holder over the DOJ’s failed gun running operation. The subpoenaing of the head of the Department of Justice is big news, but it seems that only viewers of Fox News channel are hearing much about it – and boy are they ever: a simple search of a television transcript database indicates that FNC has covered this story ten times more than its cable news competitors, MSNBC and CNN.

The dust-up between CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson, and spokespeople from the White House and the Justice Department over her reporting on Fast and Furious, has become a cause celebre for the right, and a meta-story all its own. Jay Carney responded obliquely to the incident at yesterday’s briefing by pointing out that “tough conversations” are all in a day’s work. Mark Hemingway, of Bill Kristol‘s Weekly Standard, adds another layer to the onion by asking if CBS News is “Silencing Fast and Furious Reporter” Sharyl Attkisson.

At Wednesday’s White House daily briefing, Fox News Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry asked Press Secretary Jay Carney to respond to a report that a White House official had “screamed and cussed at” CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson, over the unfolding Fast and Furious story. Carney said he didn’t know about that specific conversation, but elaborated in his response that, in general, “hard-bitten journalists” ought to be able to handle “tough conversations” and “an extra decibel or two in a phone conversation.”

On Wednesday night, Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren paid a visit to the Hill to interview California’s Rep. Darrell Issa (R) about the work he’s been doing looking into “Fast and Furious.” When asked if the Department of Justice was cooperating with him “100 percent,” Issa answered that it was closer to “zero percent.”

Republican Congressman and Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrell Issa spoke with Lou Dobbs about “Operation Fast and Furious” and how he is determined to learn exactly who knew what and when about the illegal gun trafficking program. Despite President Obama declaring that Attorney General Eric Holder was not aware of the program, Issa believes some evidence might suggest otherwise.