Tag: Eric Holder

So. About that 2008 church burning in Wasilla, Eric Holder…

Not to pile on Eric Holder or anything, but on December 12, 2008 somebody tried to murder several women and children at Sarah Palin’s old church in Wasilla, Alaska.  The assailants did this by pouring accelerants on the doors and then setting the place on fire; and you would think that a Justice Department which was about to be headed up by the first African-American Attorney General would take a dim view of somebody trying to burn down a church with people inside of it, just to score some political points. However, there has been absolutely no resolution of this.  The Justice Department seems to be remarkably indifferent to what happened, back then.

Why?

White House: Will no Democrat ask us to fire this meddlesome AG?

This is what we in the business call a hint .

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. But the latest attacks may stiffen the administration’s resistance in the near term to a change for fear of emboldening critics.

See, this administration never gives in to terrori… no, wait, sorry: I was thinking of the Bush Administration.  This administration never wants to give into Republicans (which is not even remotely the same thing, fever dreams of the Online Left to the contrary).  So they’re not going to want to escort Eric Holder out of the door simply on my say-so*.  But if they can get a bunch of Democrats to regretfully say that it is of course a shame that the GOP is politicizing this issue, blah blah, that it’s so unfair that Holder is a target of a witch hunt, yadda yadda, but nonetheless the reality must be faced that Republican intransigence has put Holder in an untenable position, etc, etc, etc… we all know how the game is played by now, yes?

Continue reading White House: Will no Democrat ask us to fire this meddlesome AG?

Reuters: Eric Holder signed off on the raid of reporter James Rosen’s email account.

Such a bald statement from Reuters about the Department of Justice’s targeting of Fox News reporter James Rosen: “The Justice Department said on Friday that officials up to Attorney General Eric Holder vetted a decision to search an email account belonging to a Fox News reporter whose report on North Korea prompted a leak investigation” (Bolding mine). But there are three things that we can safely enough deduce from this:

  1. The decision to try to criminalize what is pretty standard journalistic behavior – simply put, the government has always reserved the right to punish leakers while also accepting (usually through gritted teeth) that they had to keep their hands off of reporters – was ultimately made by Attorney General Eric Holder.  That is known.  They just admitted it.
  2. It is virtually impossible to credit that Barack Obama has regulated his government in such a way so that Eric Holder does not feel either obligated or required to go to his boss and say Oh, by the way: we’re going to name a journalist as a flight risk and potential co-conspirator in a leak case so that we won’t have to tell his news organization that we’re tapping his email.  Which does not mean that many people will not try to get around that rather commonsense observation.
  3. Eric Holder maybe will survive today, more’s the pity. He may even make it past next Friday. But even the Huffington Post has given up on this guy.

Continue reading Reuters: Eric Holder signed off on the raid of reporter James Rosen’s email account.

Barack Obama finally cops to ordering a drone strike on an American citizen…

…while killing rather more citizens accidentally.

The New York Times baldly says why (bolding mine): “One day before President Obama is due to deliver a major speech on national security, his administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged that the United States had killed four American citizens in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.” Best to have that finally on the record before said speech, eh?  – Particularly since the administration needs to tread the difficult path of following George W Bush’s basic counter-terrorism policy while still roundly criticizing George W Bush’s basic counter-terrorism strategy*.  Thus pleasing nobody, but then this administration has rarely shown any sort of concern that their actions might be offensive, annoying, or (these days) even comprehensible to others. I understand that it’s part of their, and I use the term loosely, ‘charm.’

Continue reading Barack Obama finally cops to ordering a drone strike on an American citizen…

Barack Obama has ‘complete confidence’ in Eric Holder.

And Twitter just started the resignation watch.

…Well, at least my Twitter neighborhood did.

Eric Holder may have an *exquisitely* painful day today over at House Judiciary.

I know, I know: you are wounded unto death about such a thing occurring. Wounded unto death.

Attorney General Eric Holder will testify before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday, where Republicans say they’ll grill him about the Justice Department’s secret review of Associated Press phone records and the IRS targeting of conservative groups for extra tax scrutiny, among other issues.

The oversight hearing had already been scheduled for 1 p.m. on May 15. But Republicans now plan to use the time to address the two issues that came to light this week.

The real question is, though: will it just be the Republicans piling on? Possibly not: the National Journal is kind of hinting* that maybe Democrats on Judiciary will be wanting to put some distance between them and the Obama administration’s exciting new game Wheel of Scandal. The AP thing would be the place for House Democrats to do it, too. Of the (current) Big Three scandals going on right now (Benghazi, IRS, AP): the narrative on Benghazi is locked down among Democrats. No way are any of them going to admit that the White House deliberately lied about the origins of that attack because they were in the middle of a Presidential election. The IRS issue is kind of problematical: the Democratic progressive base simply seems intellectually incapable of understanding why it looks horrifically bad when the IRS confesses that they targeted the administration’s political enemies. Best not to push that one too far… but the AP? Yeah, that’s reasonably safe. Particularly since the House passed a federal shield bill in 2009 that would have protected all those fine, upstanding journalists. So, yeah, they’re on the side of the angels on that one. Continue reading Eric Holder may have an *exquisitely* painful day today over at House Judiciary.

QotD, Start With Eric Holder, Joe Biden edition.

From the New York Times’ glum realization that no, the President has no stomach for a fight with pro-gun civil rights activists over the 2nd Amendment comes two sentences that really did deserve a directed lightning strike.

In addition to limits on high-capacity magazines and expanded background checks, Mr. Biden’s group is looking at ways of keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and cracking down on sales that are already illegal. One possibility is tougher laws against straw purchasing with longer prison terms for those who buy guns for others.

Unless they work for the Obama administration, of course.  In that case there’s apparently no need for prison terms at all.

Moe Lane

PS: It must be distressing, having a President from one’s party who is also a coward.  I wouldn’t know, of course: I’m a Republican.

Barack Obama tacitly admits Eric Holder is as guilty as sin about Operation Fast & Furious…

…in other words, the former is having the latter stay on as Attorney General.

President Obama is holding on to Eric Holder as the nation’s top law-enforcement official, The Post has learned.

The newly re-elected president asked his controversial attorney general to stay for the second term, and Holder has agreed despite enduring a firestorm of criticism from Republican lawmakers.

Because, of course, now that the election is over Democratic lawmakers no longer need to worry about offending the sensibilities of Mexican-American voters (I’ve had folks argue privately that they never were worried about offending said sensibilities; I see their point, but do not share it). So if you were hoping for any kind of justice, here, stop hoping that the Democrats will be involved.  It’s Issa or nobody, at this point.

Continue reading Barack Obama tacitly admits Eric Holder is as guilty as sin about Operation Fast & Furious…

A look at the horrific, graphic Univision Fast & Furious excerpt.

The below is not the entire Univision Operation Fast & Furious expose: it’s merely about ten minutes of it.  Ten very graphic, very infuriating, and very embarrassing ten minutes of it.  Don’t watch it if you have a physical/mental problem with seeing people being murdered on-screen, and for real:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y1Zz3otzos

(see also this ABC article)

It’s a useful primer for what happened: which is to say, Mexican drug cartels decided to buy guns from US shops and the US government (ATF Special Agent William Newell* is mentioned by name, but he’s not the only one caught up in this mess) decided to not only let them; they decided to track illegal gun sales by waiting to see when and where guns known to have been sold illegally showed up at Mexican crime scenes.

Please pause for a moment to think about it.  And possibly participate in a calming exercise. Continue reading A look at the horrific, graphic Univision Fast & Furious excerpt.