Sunday, June 2, 2013

Why I still have AG Holder's back

If you look up at the top of this blog, you'll see a tab titled DOJ Watch. I started that one back in January 2011 for many reasons. But it was triggered by this article in the New York Times that reflected on what would change as a result of the 2010 midterm election with control of the House going to the Republicans.
When the Obama administration wakes up next month to a divided capital, no cabinet member will be facing a more miserable prospect of oversight hearings and subpoenas than Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.

Mr. Holder is a particularly juicy target because he presides over issues that have served as recurrent fodder for political controversy — including using the criminal justice system for terrorism cases, and federal enforcement of civil rights and immigration laws.

More than most administration officials, he has served as a proxy for Republican attacks on what they see as President Obama’s left-leaning agenda.
What the article didn't mention - but I was painfully aware of at the time - is that AG Holder had also been under attack from the purity left since day one of the Obama administration for not prosecuting Bush/Cheney for torture.

In other words, AG Holder was a lightening rod for attacks on President Obama from both the right and left. I set out to chronicle how he calmly and quietly went about fixing a department that had been horribly distorted during the Bush administration and tackling real problems that affect real people. Things like Medicare fraud, police brutality, reverse redlining, racial profiling, the Fair Sentencing Act and voting rights just to name a few. For an update on DOJ accomplishments, check out krebscycle (or @root_e as he's known on twitter).

As that NYT article mentioned, there is a reason people went after Holder - and its not JUST that he's the first African American Attorney General. Its because he has ACTED like he's the first African American Attorney General.

Today, the same reporter that wrote that article back in Dec. 2010 is one of three in the New York Times that joined in the pile-on...Charlie Savage. Why? Because its now his ox that is being gored by the DOJ investigation of leaks to journalists.
If Mr. Holder really thought he could escape controversy, the last few weeks have reinforced how inescapable controversy has become for the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. A furor over tactics in leak investigations, including secretly obtaining phone logs for reporters at The Associated Press and Fox News, has again engulfed the attorney general in allegations, investigations and calls for resignation.

Over the course of four and a half years, no other member of President Obama’s cabinet has been at the center of so many polarizing episodes or the target of so much criticism. While the White House publicly backed Mr. Holder as he tried to smooth over the latest uproar amid new speculation about his future, some in the West Wing privately tell associates they wish he would step down, viewing him as politically maladroit.
Notice the Politico-like "some in the West Wing?" The article goes on to repeat every concocted "scandal" the right wing has made up about Holder - from the New Black Panthers nonsense to his refusal to defend DOMA.

So it seems that the press thinks they can ride these fake scandals into an attempt to end Eric Holder's career at DOJ. From the beginning I've said that I'd have his back. I still do. Because he's always had ours.

9 comments:

  1. Real Brother here. I agree I would also add that Racists by losing in their fight to destroy Holder make him a viable Presidential Candidte along about 2024.
    TKCAL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Eric Holder will be 74 on January 21, 2025.

      Delete
  2. The liberal pundits, who can never see past the current cable/GOP generated panic outdo themselves on this one by being incapable of even considering what a confirmation process would be like for Holder's replacement - if the President was stupid enough to take their advice.

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    Replies
    1. Exactly!!!

      My fantasy is that if/when Holder decides he's had enough of this crap and retires, PBO will nominate Deval Patrick and sit back to watch the heads explode.

      Delete
  3. Luckily for us the President doesn't pay even the tiniest bit of heed to the far left and their silly advice. It's his administration and he can run it any way he wants. I think AG Holder has the spine to weather being the lightning rod for controversy. Remember that comment he made the last time he testified at Congress? Something about how Issa was conducting himself in a shameful manner. Pretty sure he can handle himself just fine.

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  4. I agree. The thing that kills me about the "fire Holder" left is that they expected him to prosecute Bush administration officials. When has ANY administration prosecuted their predecessor in this country's history? Never, of course.

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    Replies
    1. Hi J A,
      I am one who would have given one of my grand kids for Bush Cabal to be prosecuted. I finally realized that it was one of the Repugs primary fears. I also believe there would have been riots in the street by the racists. AA & other people of color would have had to rise up as well.

      As much as I wanted Bush et al prosecuted it is not to be by this admin. But I do revel in the way Atty Gen Holder makes heads explode in House and Senate.

      He is just so elegant, intelligent, classy and so far ahead of any of them pretending to represent Americans. I just love it. I believe the President has his back and appreciates what the Repug/traitors are trying to do to him. They are desperate for something to stick!

      Thanks again for supporting him.
      Smilingl8dy

      Delete
  5. Holder is building a solid body of work. Like his President he focuses on the real work of the people not the made-up work of the GOP and the press. The real scandals are voting rights abuses, medicare fraud, prison pipelines etc. Holder is going to get a break soon from this manufactured spotlight when B. Todd Jones' ATF confirmation hearings start. You think heads are exploding now...just wait.

    jds09

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  6. he's BLACK

    that's Holder's problem

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