The Old Double Standard

Reported by Hans von Spakovsky at Breitbart:

The Department of Justice is asserting that the governor of Texas, as well as state legislators, have no executive or deliberative process privilege to shield documents -- even as Eric Holder and President Obama assert executive and deliberative process privilege to shield documents from Congress in its investigation of Fast & Furious.

and

It’s clear, when one compares the Justice Department’s position on executive and deliberate process privilege in the Texas voter ID litigation with its position on the privilege in the congressional investigation of Operation Fast and Furious, that neither Eric Holder nor Barack Obama want the same rules applied to them that they would apply to the governor of Texas and members of the state legislature.

 Sauce for the goose??

Who'da thunk it??

Well, the House of Representatives finds Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.  But when it comes to actually prosecuting Holder, well....that's a different story.  From Fox News:

The Justice Department moved Friday to shield Attorney General Eric Holder from prosecution after the House voted to hold him in contempt of Congress.

The contempt vote technically opened the door for the House to call on the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia to bring the case before a grand jury. But because U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen works for Holder and because President Obama has already asserted executive privilege over the documents in question, some expected Holder's Justice Department to balk.

Deputy Attorney General James Cole confirmed in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner that the department in fact would not pursue prosecution. The attorney general's withholding of documents pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious, he wrote, "does not constitute a crime."

"Therefore the department will not bring the congressional contempt citation before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the attorney general," Cole wrote, in the letter obtained by Fox News.

Yeah, let's go ahead and prosecute the boss.  All of which means that the calls for a special prosecutor were so important.  And, of course, so ignored by Obama.

Al Sharpton and Holder

Yes, this is parody.  But damned good parody, because it actually sounds like what Revered Al might say.  It's best read aloud - add in your own Sharpton dialect for maximum effect.  It's a bit long, so be sure to follow the jump by clicking the "Read More".  From The Daily Rash, via I Own the World.


Al Sharpton Grills Attorney General Eric Holder on MSNBC

WASHINGTON – Last night on MSNBC, news anchor Reverend Al Sharpton grilled Attorney General Eric Holder on everything from Fast and Furious to racism. Following is a transcript of that interview:

AL SHARPTON:  Welcome Mr. Secretary General of Defense. It’s a pleasure to sponsor you on my show.
ERIC HOLDER:  Thank you. It’s a pleasure being here.
AL SHARPTON:  I’m going to start off the show by saying two words and I want to get your response.
ERIC HOLDER: Sure.
AL SHARPTON:  Racism.
ERIC HOLDER:  (Looks confused)
AL SHARPTON:  Now, what does your judicated mind think when you hear those words?
ERIC HOLDER:  Uh, that we still have work to do fighting for civil rights?
AL SHARPTON:  Don’t those words define the biased white interlopers who’ve chosen to scrapegoat you, a premature African American man of power?
ERIC HOLDER:  Uh, yes, I am aware that my skin color may play a roll in the ceaseless attacks from the right side of the aisle.
AL SHARPTON:  Not just that Secretary Holder, but isn’t it true that President Obama is provocated from the aisle by the same Jim Crow fronts that would be clarified as abomable in a more just world?
ERIC HOLDER:  As you know Reverend Sharpton, I think the United States is a nation of cowards when it comes to race.
AL SHARPTON:  Not only cowards Secretary General, but isn’t the nation also a composite heap of partisan divide that threatens the very fabric of African American detrimentation?
ERIC HOLDER:  Well, uh, we do still have a lot of work to do.
AL SHARPTON:  And that leads me to my next question, General. With the issues of the Fast and Frisky gun profanities, isn’t it in the best interest of the country that the president intercept on your behalf to restrain matters of secrets in the attorney client prophecy?
ERIC HOLDER:  Uh, there is no question that certain information pertaining to Fast and Furious is privileged and should not be made public until after the election.

Afterburner on fire

I've been a big fan of Bill Whittle ever since his days at Eject, Eject, Eject!  This episode of Afterburner finds Bill giving Fast and Furious the one-two, and then a couple of more KO blows.



Whittle is, in my opinion, one of the best communicators in the new media, as well as in the conservative
sphere.  He knows how to talk, how to get his message across, and how to relate to his audience.  And here, he's as persuasive, and pissed off, as I've ever seen him.

Combine Fast & Furious with a complacent media and you have all the reasons in the world to be enraged.

Share this with your friends.  And buy a beer for Whittle if you see him.

Congressional video of the day

Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina has the hands-down winner, definitely for today and maybe in the all-time top 10.  After hearing the Democrats try to stall and delay, Gowdy lays it all out on why the contempt citation must go forward.  And then he later responds to the well-worn claim that "Republicans did it too".



Can you picture him as a replacement for Lindsay Graham?  I can.

Thanks to The Right Scoop for the video.

The Obama Presidency

Summed up in just one word.

Via The Looking Spoon.

Guns and F&F

Joe the Plumber Wurzelbacher has this new campaign video:




Go back to the 1:24 mark and hear Holder say: "We need to do this every day of the week, and just really brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way."  That's right, the Attorney General saying we need to brainwash citizens.

Regardless of whether or not you think Fast and Furious was a backhanded attempt to influence gun control legislation, those words are chilling.

Hat tip to I Own the World.

Translating Holder

Paul Mirengoff reports on the Fast and Furious executive privilege claim:

In requesting that Obama assert executive privilege, Holder said he is “very concerned that the compelled production to Congress of internal Executive Branch documents generated in the course of the deliberative process concerning its response to congressional oversight would have significant and damaging consequences.” This, he added, “would raise substantial separation of powers concerns and potentially create an imbalance in the relationship” between Congress and the White House.”

 Let's translate folks.

"Would have significant and damaging consequences" means "If the truth comes out, Obama loses and I go to jail".

"Create an imbalance in the relationship between Congress and the White House.” means that Obama won't be able to just do what he wants, irrespective of what the Constitution says.

Obama and Holder have upped the stakes.  Unfortunately for them, they hold the losing hand.  That is, as long as Issa and Boehner don't fold.  Issa won't, but I'm only 50-50 on Boehner.

Why in the hell

Is Eric Holder still Attorney General.  E.T. Williams Jr. poses the question.



Smitty at The Other McCain has this answer:

To answer Mr. William’s question, Holder is still the AG because he is both a Reliable Tool and, also, he Knows Too Much. My guess is that Holder has a signed presidential pardon in his safe. Would you exhibit the sort of cheek that Eric Holder offers before Congress without a Get Out Of Jail Free card in hot standby?

Makes sense to me.  I'm thinking about starting a pool among my conservative friends.  Guess how many presidential pardons are issued for administration insiders between November and January 19, 2013.  Closest to the correct number wins the pot.

No, that's not what I meant

I guess that's what Attorney General Holder was trying to say to Congress.  Even though the plain language belies his contention.  From CNS:

(CNSNews.com) – Attorney General Eric Holder claimed during congressional testimony today that internal Justice Department emails that use the phrase “Fast and Furious” do not refer to the controversial gun-walking operation Fast and Furious.

Under questioning from Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who read excerpts of the emails at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Justice Department oversight, Holder claimed that the phrase “Fast and Furious” did not refer to Fast and Furious but instead referred to another gun-walking operation known as “Wide Receiver.”

However, the emails refer to both programs -- "Fast and Furious" and the "Tucson case," from where Wide Receiver was launched -- and reveal Justice Department officials discussing how to handle media scrutiny when both operations become public.

Why yes....we used the term Fast & Furious, but it really didn't mean THAT Fast & Furious.

Does he really think we are that gullible?   Don't answer that....the country did elect Obama in 2008.

Our apolitical DoJ

In one of the most shocking displays of prosecutorial abuse, the US government prosecuted and convicted sitting US Senator Ted Stevens of corruption.  The timing of the case was shortly before his re-election vote and Stevens lost his seat.  It turns out that Stevens was wrongfully convicted with the help of prosecutor's misconduct during the trial.  But it was still enough to turn over the Senate seat from Republican to Democrat, and to provide a crucial vote for Obamacare.

The judge in the case had appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the DoJ attorney and their behavior.  As the report on that investigation gave details on the case:

The judge who presided over the Stevens trial appointed Henry F. Schuelke to investigate the prosecutors who handled the case. Schuelke’s 524-page report, which was unsealed this week, paints a picture of a  prosecution team so hampered by infighting that disgruntled attorneys cut corners by assigning document-review duties to FBI and IRS agents who were left largely unsupervised. Crucial information — including the  fact that trial witness Bill Allen had once bribed a child prostitute, whom he’d had a relationship with, to commit perjury, and that the home repairs in question were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars less than originally alleged — was never given to Stevens’ defense team.

Now the DoJ has concluded their own investigation.

The Justice Department has found that two prosecutors involved in the botched 2008 corruption trial of Senator Ted Stevens engaged in “reckless professional misconduct,” but it stopped short of firing the men, saying their mistakes were not intentional.

In a cover letter to a 672-page report provided to Congress on Thursday, alongside additional attachments and findings, the Justice Department said the two prosecutors would be suspended without pay — Joseph Bottini for 40 days, and James Goeke for 15 days….

There was at least one major difference, however: the special prosecutor concluded that Mr. Bottini and Mr. Goeke had intentionally withheld evidence, while the Justice Department investigation found that their mistakes — while showing reckless disregard for their disclosure obligations — were not deliberate.

So there you have it.  You can show reckless disregard in the conduct of a trial, but that's OK to the Obama DoJ.  Because you got what was important....a Senate seat on the Democrat side of the aisle.

Details from The Lonely Conservative and from Legal Insurrection.

Firing blanks?

Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News posts this report on the CBS News Investigates website:

For more than a year, CBS News has been investigating the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms' "Fast and Furious" operation and related cases that also employed the controversial tactic of "gunwalking." With Justice Department officials refusing all interview requests to date, CBS News requested numerous public documents through the Freedom of Information Act.

So far, all of the requests that have been answered have been denied in part or in full.

This week, we received a partial response to a request made more than a year ago. It asked for communications involving "Project Gunrunner," the umbrella program for Fast and Furious, from 2010 through April 2011. Specifically, it sought any communications to which any of the following top Justice officials were a party: Attorney General Eric Holder; Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division; Kevin Carwile, chief of the Capital Case Unit; and Deputy Assistant Attorney Generals Bruce Schwarz and Kenneth Blanco.

The response includes mostly-blank pages.

Attkisson has been the one MSM reporter who has doggedly stuck to working the Fast and Furious story.  Obama's DoJ, including Eric Holder, has been trying everything to make it go away.  Maybe those FOIA responses are written in invisible ink.  Or maybe the other things blank are the brains of those thinking they can make this all go away.  Remember the lesson of Watergate -- the coverup is always turns out worse than the original act.

Hat tip to The Lonely Conservative for the pointer.

Quote of the Day

"Eric Holder is the Chevy Volt of attorney generals."

-Greg Gutfeld

Reposted from Proof Positive.