Across the top of Page 1 of the Feb. 19 Washington Times is the following headline:
“HOLDER CALLS U.S. ‘NATION OF COWARDS'”
Eric Holder is the just recently confirmed attorney general of the said United States.
At the Justice Department’s event to commemorate “Black History Month” on Wednesday, Holder made some more black history. For he declared:
“Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards.”
He went on from this unbelievable malediction of our country’s courage to the following preposterous claim:
“Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.”
Is it possible that Attorney General Holder believes he can follow Obama in being elected president – if only average Americans spend more of their time discussing skin shade?
Reported the Washington Times:
Tom Fitton, president of the conservative Judicial Watch, said Mr. Holder’s remarks suggest he will pursue a “radical” agenda as attorney general:
“I just think he’s out of touch with the everyday American’s experience on race. I think we’re going to revert to the bad old days of the federal government pushing quotas and race-conscious public policy.”
He rebutted Mr. Holder’s remarks calling America cowardly, saying that if the presidential election of Barack Obama “doesn’t prove the nation’s bravery, I don’t know what will.”
… Attorney Cleta Mitchell chided Mr. Holder for not realizing he is “chief law enforcement officer of the United States, not a camp counselor.”
“I deeply resent Attorney General Holder’s comments” because “I think it is bad manners to ‘discuss’ someone’s race with them. What’s to discuss? It is like someone wanting to discuss my Oklahoma accent with me. What’s to say? ‘Hey, you talk funny?'”
… Fitton said Mr. Holder will use the civil rights division to champion liberal causes and seek to marginalize conservatives who work there.
“The civil rights division is going to be turned upside down,” he said.
Then there was Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, who, on Dec. 2, 2008, wrote a column that included the following:
Holder was Clinton’s deputy attorney general, and he played a significant role in the pardon. When asked by the White House what he thought about a pardon for Rich, Holder replied “Neutral, leaning towards favorable.” These four words have stalked him since.
Marc Rich was a commodities trader who amassed both a fortune and some influential friends in the 1970s and ’80s. Along with his partner, Pincus Green, he was indicted in 1983 on 65 counts of tax evasion and related matters. Before he could be prosecuted, however, he fled to Switzerland.
There he remained, avoiding extradition and eventually arranging to be represented by Jack Quinn, a Washington lawyer and Clinton’s onetime White House counsel – in other words, a certified power broker. Quinn did an end run around the Justice Department’s pardon office and went straight to Holder and the White House. With a stoke of a pen, justice was not done.
Holder was not just an integral part of the pardon process, he provided the White House with cover by offering his go-ahead recommendation. No alarm seemed to sound for him. Not only had strings been pulled, but it was rare to pardon a fugitive – someone who had avoided possible conviction by avoiding the inconvenience of a trial. The U.S. attorney’s office in New York – which, Holder had told the White House, would oppose any pardon – was kept ignorant of what was going on. Afterward, it was furious.
Holder, whatever his other qualifications, could not say no to power. The Rich pardon request had power written all over it – the patronage of important Democratic fundraisers, for instance.
Holder was involved, passively or not, in just the sort of inside-the-Beltway influence peddling that Barack Obama was elected to end.
During his nomination hearing to become U.S. attorney general, Holder said to the committee:
“I wish I had done some things differently with regard to the Marc Rich matter. Specifically, I wish that I had ensured the Department of Justice was more fully informed and involved in this case.”
But Holder was also involved in President Clinton’s decision to reduce the sentences of the Boricua Popular Army, an organization categorized by the FBI as “Terrorist.”
Holder recommended clemency even though opposed by the FBI, the federal prosecutor – and the victims.
Boricua was not required to repudiate their actions or to provide any information concerning the whereabouts of Victor Manuel Garena, co-conspirator and one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives – or of the millions stolen by the group in a 1983 robbery of Wells Fargo, in West Hartford.
Only 21 United States senators voted against the Obama nomination of Eric Holder to be attorney general of the United States.
In view of the fact this highly questionable man was in this high office for less than a month before declaring that the United States is “a nation of cowards,” those 21 U.S. senators who opposed his nomination should begin now amassing past and future evidence on this usually smooth and handsome extremist.
