From the beginning of the New Black Panther Party scandal, the Obama Justice Department insisted that the decision to dismiss a case of egregious voter intimidation was made by career attorneys. Now we are learning that there was significant involvement by political appointees, including the attorney general himself. In a prepared testimony before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which opened its hearing today, Rep. Frank Wolf explained:
“According to the Appellate Division memos first disclosed in the Times article, Appellate Chief Diana K. Flynn said that ‘the appropriate action was to pursue the default judgment’ and that Justice had made a ‘reasonable argument in favor of default relief against all defendants.’
Flynn’s opinion was shared by a second Appellate Division official, Marie K. McElderry, who stated, ‘The government’s predominant interest is preventing intimidation, threats and coercion against voters or persons urging or aiding persons to vote or attempt to vote.’
Given these troubling disclosures, I have repeatedly called on the attorney general to re-file this civil suit and allow a ruling from the judge based on the merits of the case, not political expediency. The career trial team should be allowed to bring the case again – per the guidance I obtained from the Congressional Research Service’s American Law Division in its July 30 memo – to allow our nation’s justice system to work as it was intended: impartially and without bias.
Sources within the department stated that Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, a political appointee, in conjunction with the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights, Ms. Loretta King, and her deputy, Mr. Steve Rosenbaum, overruled the career attorneys in the Voting Rights section. Earlier this week, the department finally acknowledged that the Attorney General was made aware – on multiple occasions – of the steps being taken to dismiss this case.”
Wolf may be referring to the Justice Department’s supplemental response to an interrogation from the Commission, a copy of which I have received. The Department confirms, “The Attorney General was generally made aware by the then-Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and the Associate’s staff that the Civil Rights Division was considering the appropriate actions to take in the New Black Panther Party litigation case.” The response states that Holder was “likely provided a brief update” but “did not make the decisions regarding any aspect” of the case. Did he weigh in? Did he advocate a position? Did his underlings? We don’t know.
But one thing is certain: if the case was significant enough to brief the attorney general on, you can bet that the decisions were approved if not instigated by political appointees. The veil is beginning to be lifted. Now it is time to put Holder and Perrelli under oath and find out what they knew and when they knew it. And then we can determine whether the Justice Department has been covering up the politicization of the enforcement of civil rights.
Does Bush have the time to do this? What would Obama Messiah do? Putin is an evil..evil person. ptuin will create his own WTO and OPEC and all the evil regime can join in.
The Greatness of the One is being made more clear every day. No doubt Obama is having high level discussions about this while out on his surfboard. Or at least high level thoughts. He hasn’t taken questions because he knows all of the media, with the possible exception of The Nation and Air America, is fascist and in the tank for McCain.
Others have described Obama’s delivery of his masterfully written statements as “halting.” I prefer to think of it as “magical.”
I have it on good authority that Obama’s personality is so powerful that when he meets with Putin, he will convince the Russian leader to accept all of the US positions, whatever they may be. And what’s really wrong with Russia invading Georgia? Sure Georgia is a “democracy”, but that just means they’re no better than Amerikkka.
Your all purpose (not real) troll
You are relentless in your half truths and insinuations Jennifer. And you get paid for it too.
Congrats for your part in polarizing America.
This is a legitimate concern about Obama. I had one that was depressingly similar about Bush this past week. I hope that was another instance of Bush’s PR being inadequate, as it has been so often. Apparently Rice will indeed be heading into Georgia, along with airlifted US aid. There are more things we can do than that, and convening a meeting of the Atlantic Council should top the list.
There is a possibility that Russia has announced cessation of her advance because of back-channel pressures from Bush (possibly even a multi-nation high-level effort coordinated by the US). Short of that, it is hard to see what would have induced Moscow to halt in place. The West’s PUBLIC reaction has been dithering and inconclusive. Of course everyone condemns the invasion, but that has never stopped an invader before. If non-public pressures were applied, we can imagine that they included the threat of holding up Russia’s WTO membership for the foreseeable future.
(The long-term inadvisability of weak public rhetoric, even if there is private arm-twisting going on behind the scenes, is another post entirely.)
Expelling Russia from the G-8 should be held in reserve, as a sanction to be used if Russia won’t back off. This, however, doesn’t mean Russia should be included in all G-8 business as usual. The G-8 policy body has its own bureaucracy and vehicles for continuity, and measures can be taken in those venues to disadvantage Russian initiatives for the time being.
My bottom line remains the same: if Russia officially absorbs South Ossetia at the end of this, and has reason to think that she achieved that goal by forcing the issue with this invasion, the price she should pay for that is dramatically increased US presence and influence in the Black Sea region. An airlift conducted by the US Air Force is a good start, but visible and material support for Georgia, Ukraine, Romania, and Turkey needs to erupt with the stealth of a Sousa fanfare. There is much we can do that we are good at in reality, and Russia can only simulate through “Potemkin” stage-managing. We need to play to our strengths here.
The media focus seems to be on the lobbyist ties to Georgia with the McCain campaign, with shadowy suggestions that he’s somehow corrupt for standing up for an ally. Pravda couldn’t have written it better. So I guess that’s the Obama pushback and the media is more than willing to help him with it. The MSM is completely in his pocket, so…
J.E. Dyer,
Mostly good points.. I think, from the sound of it we are headed in a similar course to what you described. I do not think russia will absorb South Ossetia as it really doesn’t matter to them and would not be worth it for them.. South Ossetia itself is really not that important. Sending a message to pro western border nations was the important part of this for Russia.
I still fail to see how Obama is viewed negatively on this issue. He stated he fully supports bush on this. He does not have access to all the information about what is actually happening like the president and his avoiding a knee jerk reaction was the most prudent thing to do.
“hid from direct questioning from the media for five days during an acute international crisis?”
If he immediately flew back stateside and started fielding questions you would have branded him as presumptuous again. His response was entirely appropriate. Not being available to field questions is not hiding.
“It is not becoming of a presidential nominee to go to the movies while war erupts and our international credibility teeters on the brink of utter collapse”
This is retarded… “international credibility” where was this when we preemptively invaded Iraq? What did McCain do besides give his own separate knee jerk reaction with out consulting our administration like Obama did. McCain being all alone in calling for Russia to be kicked out of the G8 months ago is the only thing that alarms me here.
“It’s certainly not inspiring confidence in his ability to navigate during an international crisis. Voters should take note.”
A well thought out response and a statement of full support of our governments position is exactly what was called for. That is what Obama offered.
Rob,
You are right. Insinuation of those ties meaning anything is slanderous and doesn’t help anything.
Add it to the list of conservative policy failures. Bush inherited a record surplus, moral authority to lead the world, a global rush toward liberalization and democracy, and peace with Russia. Gone. Gone. Gone and Gone. Well played, right wingers!
I must admit that I like Bush’s use of the military to deliver humanitarian aid. Artful. Would that he were this inventive before hostilities broke out.
RE: Obama’s vacation. He’s right to keep quite at this stage. Obama has no power over foreign policy, and he is wise not to be seen as undermining or criticizing the president during an international crisis. What would be the point in sending a message to the Russians that might conflict with Bush’s? Why show any daylight? How could that possibly be in America’s best interests, or Obama’s, particularly when the clock is running on Bush’s administration?
Funny, isn’t it, that Obama’s actually building his lead while he’s on vacation? McCain can’t even move the needle when he has the stage to himself. The Real Clear Politics average now has Obama plus 5. He’s pulled ahead of McCain in Alaska! And his favorables gap over McCain has widened. Still a little early to say whether Georgia has had any impact, but so far, so good.
Question: If we go to war with Russia, would that be World War V? I’ve lost count.
Raj,
I’ll agree that Bush’s first term was an epic failure. But, I actually think with the ousting of Rove (who was a big part of continuing the permanent campaign that was started by Clinton) and Rumsfeld (should be in prison) his second term hasn’t been all bad. We started doing the right thing to get ourselves out of the various messes we are in. Our military is hurting, our economy and the dollar need to rebound, and anti-Americanism is on the rise.. but most of that is tied to his first term.
As far as Obama winning.. this Georgia issue is a huge loser for McCain. The moderates tie McCain vs Russia with bad memories of the cold war and that is definitely not a winner. As long as this issue is in the news I see it as bad for McCain. Conversely if race is injected into the story again it will help McCain.
This race is far from over.
The steps outlined by the Washington Post editors are not enough. Russia surely contemplated them and accepted them in her calculations before invading Georgia. She can live with all that, easily. Russia needs to be abashed by a response she did not expect.
I propose, President Bush declares the transfer of our 35,000 troops now in Afghanistan to Georgia and requests our NATO allies accept full responsibility for keeping Afghanistan safe.
That would not be a bad bargain for Europe which has even more reason than we to want to show the bear his limits. If NATO refuses to fill in for us in Afghanistan, whatever tragedy then eventuates there will be Europe’s fault, while we were doing Europe’s work in Georgia.
And we can afford to lose Afghanistan. We can not afford for Russia to regain its empire.
whoo! russian stocks taking off. MTL up nearly 15%
yeah, I’d say russia made their point
It’s curious. You slam BHO for acting like he’s already President.
When he steps back and lets the current President be President, and merely issues a statement, he’s “reclusive.”
Actually, he shows good sense in taking a vacation before the convention and the rigors of the fall campaign. We had a workaholic President (Carter), and look at the good that did us.
I’m more bothered by the lip service BHO gave to the lame idea of NATO expansion.
Hank — we’ll have to disagree on Russia’s designs against South Ossetia. Russia has publicly asserted her claims over South Ossetia for the last decade and more, and has absorbed and occasionally had to reabsorb the area for the last two and a half centuries. So insisting that Russia has no political interest in subsuming South Ossetia is saying that Russia’s view of her natural borders and security requirements has changed from what it has been, since well before there was a Soviet Union. Russia has kept troops stationed in South Ossetia since the mid-1990s, not something a nation normally does if it doesn’t regard a border province as important to its security or political integrity.
You know, regarding Obama, the people who oppose him politically, for a variety of reasons, are of course going to focus on what’s wrong with his particular responses. The error is in thinking that right-wing commentators doing that, or left-wing commentators doing it about McCain, is what is polarizing America. America is polarized to begin with. A whole lot of people believe different things, before they even start looking around for politicians to represent them.
And that’s OK. It gets tedious and stupid sometimes, but it’s not going to change. It’s human nature. If you think it hasn’t always been thus, everywhere, I can recommend reading things like Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War, the Bible’s historical books about ancient Israel, the Indian statesman Kautilya’s wonderful tract on politics and government, The Arthashastra, Machiavelli’s The Prince, or the Nihongi compilation of the early history of Japan (very tedious through much of it, but with periodic, highly rewarding vignettes of human political nature).
Politics doesn’t make us, we make politics. I find it much more useful to focus on the rights, wrongs, facts, and probabilities of a situation than on what political partisans are saying about each other. Meanwhile, we can be thankful we have the freedom to conduct politics as it occurs to people to do it, and not under the oppression of a government that thinks it knows how much polarization and division we — and IT — can handle.
“we can afford to lose Afghanistan” — nacl
Yeah, you guys deserve another term in the White House. Lord help us.
nacl really?
Wouldn’t that be like countering one overreaction with another overreaction?
Why would we go to Georgia alone? I assure you the rest of NATO would not be willing to accept full responsibility for keeping Afghanistan safe.
Russia isn’t trying to regain an empire… take a look around nacl.. this is a power play for more respect. They will not take over Georgia… don’t worry yourself. We do not need to send troops. The only troops we should send should be dressed as U.N peace keepers to South Ossetia if we send any at all.
well, if this was some sort of mutual russian/ western test for whaty would happen if “someone” attacked iran, I’d say this is a big loss for the west. clearly this is no inertia outside of the beltway or wall street for this and unlike 03, a general interest in both sides of the story neither of which are too pretty in this case.
Of course, when they had a REAL democratic hero they threw her under the bus and that was sister benizer bhutto RIP
Oil is up big today, too, another very positive outcome for the Russians from this.
#8 “Funny, isn’t it, that Obama’s actually building his lead while he’s on vacation? ”
It is funny. But understandable, in view of the pre-vacation polls
showing that about half the population think they see too much of him.
Now they see less of him – and they like that.
Maybe he should just disappear till Nov 4, and then he’d win handily.
A long absence may make him, again, Mr. Blank Slate that so many
people supported so enthusiastically.
J.E.
My belief is that this polarization is dangerous. We live a new age of information, media, and communication. People with political agendas are harnessing it to paint distorted world views that help their politics.
Look at our media.. it is a joke. It wasn’t always that way. The truth is getting more and more distorted.
See how people are menipulating this “world crisis” in Georgia for political gain already?
We have media spewing hate for the other view points all day and all night.
J.E. people on this site have already equated Obama with chamberlain based literally on nothing. I get emails suggesting Obama is like Hitler. I get emails suggesting McCain is an adulterous war monger.
These guys are likely our next president and they very well may both be good candidates.
Freedom of the press is key. Look at China and Russia and that is all you have to say. But could it be we have found a new unhealthy place where the majority of our media is controlled by powerful people with specific interests feeding us a narrative that supports only one side while attack the other as un-american, racist, greedy, warmongering ect.. ect..?
I think we have. I would like to break up media conglomerates under a more strict version of our current anti-trust laws.
#11 lester Says: whoo! russian stocks taking off.
MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) – Russia shares were lower in late afternoon trade [...]
At 4:55 p.m., the RTS index was off 22.71 points, or 1.26 percent, at 1,781.11.
The rouble-denominated MICEX index declined 20.03 points, or 1.38 percent, at 1,429.31.
first hand- I stand corrected. teaches me to use MTL as an indicator!! seriously, I know nothing about russian stocks. I have mainly chinese brazilian and greek (shipping)
also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkEOHVuOJIk
^here’s your social -democratic georgian hero unleashing police on protesters
Hank in Michigan
nacl really? … this is a power play for more respect.
You moron.
nacl,
way to make your point.
nacl it would be political suicide to remove our troops from Afghanistan for anything less then direct national defense right now. Your case could never happen in this reality. I didn’t want to be so harsh but you went with “you moron”.
(19) “We have media spewing hate for the other view points all day and all night.”
As you do for Jennifer Rubin’s viewpoint?
Hank
“nacl it would be political suicide to remove our troops from Afghanistan…”
Politically it would be more than acceptable to turn Afghanistan over to Europe and NATO, while we came to the protection of a real friend and a real democracy and our real interests, including our oil interests.
It is the Left that has since 2002 insisted that we get enmeshed in an open ended war in Afghanistan, where we have no substantial national interests; Obama still demands that.
There could be no better move, than showing the Left and Obama to be the real hawks in a theater where we can only lose lives and money and have nothing important to gain.
Whereas there is nothing more important than facing down the Russian bear at his first aggressive growl, at the first swipe of his filthy paws.
Raj–I checked RCP regarding Alaska–McCain leads in each poll. Perhaps you need to read a bit more carefully?
Hank — the principal adjunct of personal freedom is the presence of other people’s opinions, expressed freely. How wonderful it would be if that were not the case. But it is. I appreciate your frustration with tendentious media, but the real danger in them is not their smear campaigns but their selective reporting of facts.
The good news is that there are always alternative media. I often check to see how media from different orientations are reporting the same thing. The fact that not everyone does isn’t something that you need to fix. Freedom of thought IS the freedom to decide for yourself where you’ll get your news, whose opinions you’ll read, and how you’ll see the world.
People aren’t actually all that dumb. They smell spin halfway around the globe, even if they can’t always parse it analytically. Jennifer Rubin isn’t pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes about Obama, you know. You know that, right? She sees him, and the world, differently from how you see it. She honestly thinks Obama would be a bad president, based on the policies he espouses and his political associations. (So do I.)
What do you think she will do if Obama’s elected? Or anyone else at the Commentary blogs, for that matter? Accept the election outcome, and proceed to criticize the Obama actions she disagrees with for the next four years? That is, the same thing Republicans or Democrats do EVERY four years? And this is a problem why?
contra.. I am not the media and Jennifer doesn’t have an honest view point.
J.E.
Depends on the generation… the older the person is the easier it is to feed them a line. Partly due to the fact that commercials and media was so simplistic in their formative years and partly due to the fact that they are literally thinking slower. That said the younger generations are skeptical of anything and everything as they have been exposed to advanced marketing, polarizing media and scandal and lies from supposed leaders(wmd’s, extramarital affairs etc.. ). The down side is they couldnt organize themselves out of a wet paper bag because they don’t trust anything.
Jennifer would court Obama supporters had Hillary won, like she courts Hillary supporters now. It is just about winning regardless of ethics, morals, and what is right. She will tear down and attempt to make Obama seem like the greatest threat to man kind when he is, more likely then not, a good man. Now you say you agree with her that Obama isn’t a good man… but you know that it didn’t matter that it was Obama.. she would demonize who ever was running against the republicans. IT IS SICK and is worse now then it has ever been since McCarthy.
Oh look another crazy dude shot the democratic party chairman in Alabama.
Moby in Michigan,
“Depends on the generation… the older the person is the easier it is to feed them a line.”
That would be why older Americans reject obama as their Saviour, and young snot noses buy into his vapid campaign slogans. Experience leads to wisdom, ignorance leads to failure. The strengths and weaknesses of the candidates are reflected in their supporters. Accomplished Vs. unaccomplished. The MTV, Ipod, Camera phone, video game, rap music generation is a pampered joke. It’s the most uneducated, ignorant, clownish, sissified and arrogant electorate this country has ever had.
Jennifer Rubin is not running for election and so has no need to court hilarry supporters or anybody else. Her observations about your Anointed One are belated, but wholly accurate. If they weren’t, you’d be able to refute them. Hypocritical projection against Rubin and Republicans isn’t going to do the trick.
Good men don’t lie constantly and claim racist hatemongers as their mentors.
“Oh look another crazy dude shot the democratic party chairman in Alabama.”
Is that a McCarthyite accusation of guilt by assosiation? Did you interview the shootist and determine his political affiliation?
Thanks for the moderate, middle of the road libel, Moby.
You are what im talking about smilin… and fearful man who feels better when he is told he righteous and others are not.
Keeping score of the candidates is a fun way to measure performance, or lack thereof.
So far, McCain leads 2 to 0 over surfer dude.
http://blog.topicaltopics.net/2008/08/crisis-scorecard/
Wank in Michigan/John Hartland,
you couldn’t refute a single point I made and didn’t even try. As usual, you resorted to a typically ineffective, left-wing ad hominem attack.
Thanks for the moderate, middle of the road response. Do you honestly believe you can still fool anybody with your sorry act? You’re an Obamaton troll–AND EVERYBODY HERE KNOWS IT. Time to come up with a new alias and start over.
Try not to fall off the short bus, tard boy.
Russia has the Marx given right to annex as many of its democratic neighbors as it wants. America doesn’t have the moral authority to object because we freed Iraq from tyranny and allow our southern neighbors to invade our country with impunity. Georgia started it by insisting on its right to exist, just like America started the 1400 year old islamic war against humanity by daring to exist out from under its yoke. President Bush is the root cause of all the evil in the world and Russia is only reacting to the unwarranted provocation of his warmongering. Satellite states like Georgia need to be taught their place and stop being so uppity. Ethnically inferior mongrels must submit to their superior Slavic neighbors.
If you have a problem with ANYTHING I’ve written, you aren’t a leftist and you don’t support the Anointed One for Messiah of the United States of America.
Raj,
I don’t see how you can state in a supposedly factual manner that President Bush inherited “a global rush toward liberalization and democracy, and peace with Russia”.
Although the US administration did not know it (and this is intelligence gathering incompetence that Bush did inherit), at the time he was sworn in 20 Arabs were completing flight training with high hopes of committing the most devastating terrorist attack in modern history.
Add to this the long list of totalitarian regimes Pres. Clinton did not deal with (especially Iran and Iraq), the growing Muslim population in Europe calling for Sharia law, half of Colombia controlled by FARC terrorists, North Korea completing work on nuclear devices, and the list goes on.
And as for peace with Russia- as far as I can tell, there never really was peace with Russia. Remember Yeltsin flattening Chechnya in the winter of 1995? Remember NATO deploying to Kosovo to stop the Serbian ethnic cleansing- and how Russia opposed the intervention and supported Serbia? Does this seem like a peaceful country, one with the lofty goals of democracy and liberalization always leading their foreign policy?
I also think Putin differs from his communist predecessors only in title, but definitely not in behavior.
As for Obama staying quiet- I think it’s optimistic thinking that he’s trying not to undercut Bush’s message to Russia. But I’m sure that’s not why he hasn’t given a proper statement of his own.
I believe the reason is that Obama does not have a foreign policy agenda- simply calling for restraint on both sides and a start of diplomacy sounds like a parent trying to break up a sibling rivalry. All that’s missing in this statement is – “I don’t care who started it- both of you say you’re sorry and shake hands.”
By giving a bunch of different written statements to the press, I think Obama and his staff have taken the unbeatable moral high ground. If the cease-fire in Georgia holds up and talks between the sides start- he can claim that restraint is always the right way and talking to your enemies will always bear fruit.
However, if fighting starts again- he can say that their wasn’t enough of an effort for diplomacy (easy to blame this on the Bush administration for not bringing the peace) and that he would have done things differently.
Obama shouldn’t forget he’s still a Senator (from the opposing party, nonetheless) and now he’s running for President- people need to know what his thoughts are, and not only in retrospect. In a democracy one is encouraged to speak his mind- especially if he disagrees with current policy and even if his thoughts are unpopular.
Hank — you continue to betray your youth, especially with comments like this: “… the older the person is the easier it is to feed them a line. Partly due to the fact that commercials and media was so simplistic in their formative years and partly due to the fact that they are literally thinking slower.”
Do you honestly think that when today’s “older people” were in their 20s, they weren’t skeptical and proud of it, just like you? When you speak of “older people” more readily accepting “lines,” to whom do you refer? John Podhoretz, perhaps? Meryl Streep? Dan Rather? Catherine MacKinnon? John Bolton? Dara Torres?
It’s actually hilarious that you think older people have less discernment about lines being fed to them than younger people. But I remember being in my 20s myself, and determined not to get that joke.
With respect, your determined skepticism hinders you in recognizing when people are being honest. That’s what it often (usually?) takes time and experience to learn. Any fool can adopt a committed, indiscriminate cynicism; it takes wisdom to discern the shortcomings of that posture as a way of life.