Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden stepped down from the No. 2 spot at the Justice Department. The reason, we are told, is that he really didn’t get along with the attorney general, the career lawyers, or the political appointees. And the White House didn’t care for him. Well, sometimes things just don’t work out.
But that means we’ll have a confirmation hearing for the position responsible for a great many things in the Justice Department, including criminal matters and “federal programs” (Guantanamo). A high-profile confirmation hearing provides the Senate with the opportunity to get some answers out of a very tight-lipped Justice Department.
For starters, what’s become of the internal investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility over the dismissal of the New Black Panthers voter-intimidation case? This week, Congressmen Frank Wolf and Lamar Smith penned a letter to Holder that read in part:
We remain concerned that the Justice Department is prolonging OPR’s investigation as a pretense to ignore inquiries from Congress and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights into the sudden and unexplained dismissal of voter intimidation charges against the New Black Panther Party. Any written report by OPR will be prepared exclusively for the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, with no guarantee that it will ever be made public.
After five months of unanswered questions, the American people can tell a cover up when they see one. If the Justice Department had any credible reason for dropping these charges, what do they have to hide by providing those answers to Congress?
Perhaps if the confirmation of DOJ’s No. 2 is at issue, Holder will cough up some answers. And by the way, why was the case dismissed?
Then there’s the decision to give KSM a civilian trial. It seems that other than the lefty lawyer brigade at DOJ, Holder didn’t consult with anyone but his wife and brother, not even the New York City Police Department or the Department of Homeland Security. What process does Justice go through? Was the White House really never consulted? Which lawyers were involved, and what consideration was given to the release of national-security data? A key confirmation hearing is the time to get some information. I’m sure the most transparent administration in history will be willing to share all.
There has been precious little oversight of the Holder Justice Department by the Democratic Congress. Now senators will have their opportunity to ask some hard questions. It is, as they say, a teachable moment.
Strange bedfellows. Commentary, home of the author of Making It and now his Dauphin, defending small-town America against the city slickers. Why not move the editorial offices to Johnston, Pa.? Rents are no dobut cheaper and the huntin’s probably a damn-sight better.
Here’s a snippet by a West Coast songwriter, presumably liberal but mostly a satirist:
Johnstown.
It all started with ” Easy Rider”.
I don’t think you can really say New York Magazine = the mainstream media.
what’s the conservative equivelent of New York magazine: rush limbaugh? whatever it is i’m sure they would have something equally smart aleecky about the dems.
and yes, neocons posturing as populists is a little much. Bill kristol is no “yahoo”
Its not just small town people they look down upon it is all republicans. They cannot fathom even a single issue where someone might be attracted to a Republican candidate.
They have this construct that we are all stupid and evil, which is strange dissonance to reconscile, but they have no problem thinking that we have tricked everyone into believing us, even though we are so stupid.
Such a uniter, that Obama. I haven’t seen Americans erupting in such a paroxysm of mutual admiration and common purpose since… since… oh, fugeddaboudit.
Do you ever read a little rag called The National Review? The cover this week is an extremely unflattering picture of Michelle Obama with the headline, “Ms. Grievience”.
Just try to imagine the frenzy of outrage that would ensue if a right-wing journal were to put on its cover Barack Obama’s face in a bulls-eye, along with the words “Target: Jeremiah Wright-Backing, Surrender-Loving, Foreign Policy-Clueless Slickster.”
Yeah, I think the Secret Service might have an issue with that.
Really, did you think before you wrote that? Or is there a perfectly innocent reason why you think it would be OK to put a bulls-eye on a picture of a black man?
To me, a person born and raised in a town of 350 people in the middle of flyover country, the bulls-eye represents a target that one shoots at. What does it mean to you, city boy? Something to shoot suction-cup tipped darts at?
This is hilarious!
The simple difference between these two statements:
“John McCain : “Target: Bush-Backing, Surge-Loving, Economically Clueless Geezer.” and
“Obama : Jeremiah Wright-Backing, Surrender-Loving, Foreign Policy-Clueless Slickster.”
is that the McCain statement is based on verified facts and the Obama statement is based on false GOP propoganda. McCain does back Bush, he clearly loves the surge, and he admits that he is economically clueless. You dislike liberals so much because they see reality based on the facts while you prefer to to let people like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh define your reality.
Do your research on John McCain. Visit http://www.therealmccain.com or http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14763.html for his ever expanding list of Flip-Flops.
J Lichty wrote: “Its not just small town people they look down upon it is all republicans. They cannot fathom even a single issue where someone might be attracted to a Republican candidate. They have this construct that we are all stupid and evil, which is strange dissonance to reconscile, but they have no problem thinking that we have tricked everyone into believing us, even though we are so stupid.”
That is not the construct at all, J. 1) Single issue? Well, the “Solid South” used to vote consistently Democratic, but after the Civil Rights Acts in the 1960′s the Southern white vote is mostly Republikkkan. So it’s no leap of logic to infer that extending equal rights to blacks is a very big issue with Republikkkans, or at least, the Southern ones. 2) Stupid and evil? Not quite – the leaders are evil; the followers are stupid; only the Southern followers who switched allegiance over the Civil Rights Acts are both. 3) Tricked everyone into believing us? Not everyone. Just those Republikkkans who continue to place party ahead of country. I for one left the GOP a long time ago, although personally it feels more like the party left me.
jmaster – well said; and, indeed the Party did leave you, me, and many well-intentioned fiscally conservative, socially moderate types.
Today’s Repug Party only cares about two attributes: Are you White? Do you have Big Money?
(Exceptions will be made in some cases for A, if you have B.)
Anyone else moronic enough to support these gutless cowards, well, you’ve all gotten your way and your wish these last 8+ years.
St. John would be the coup de grace.
As for the Dems, only their incredible ineptitude keeps them in the running as the Avis of our time.
Vote Libertarian!
That’s the straight ticket.
Just imagine if a liberal were to run an ad showing McCain morphining into Osama binLaden. Consertaves would freak, soil their panties and faint.