I wrote about Rep. Nancy Pelosi putting out the feelers on this ludicrous argument last week, and now it sounds like Democrats are actually going ahead with it. True, the idea that the Eric Holder contempt vote is connected to his efforts to fight “minority voter suppression” is deranged, not just because it makes no sense from a timeline perspective but also because it would require you to willfully ignore his repeated attempts to hinder the congressional investigation of “Fast and Furious.” Unless you want to try to argue that Republicans somehow forced him to be uncooperative with an investigating committee.
This Democratic pushback campaign is being led by none other than MSNBC “News Anchor” Rev. Al Sharpton, reports The Hill:
At the front of the push is a group of seven national civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton…scheduled to hold a press conference Tuesday about the effect that placing Holder in contempt of Congress would have on his ability to protect the rights of black and Hispanic voters, homeowners and immigrants.
“I’m not saying that this is because Holder is black, and I’m not calling [Republicans] racists. I’m saying what they’re doing has a racial effect, and that’s what we’re going to talk about [on Tuesday],” said Sharpton in a phone interview.
“The question one would have to raise is: If he is held in contempt, under that cloud, how does he fight for voter rights? This compromises the Justice Department from being able to do a lot of fighting.”
Do news anchors often hold press conferences to attack members of a political party? Congratulations MSNBC, your news channel is officially a laughing stock.
As for the argument about voter suppression, I highly doubt this will be effective. Democrats can’t defend Holder on the merits so they’re trying to change the subject — and people will see through that quickly.
There was a time I would have expected Democrat leadership to assume their constituency was fair and reasonable. That time is long past. They have, quite unabashedly striven to attract nondiscriminating minds by using simplistic ideas. Thirty years ago those ideas could be fit on a picket sign, today – a bumper sticker. Add that to the careful and persistent crafting of the conservative boogie-man, and viola: anything you say is right because they are bad. n nNo, it's nothing I would expect from fair and reasonable people. But that's a freedom – the most pernicious elements do get the advantage.
The Democratic Party leadership is using the Party itself, or at least trying to use it, to unravel the political fabric that at least used to hold our nation together. n nThey are incrementally jettisoning propriety and precedent, as they pertain to good government, to achieve partisan ends. They do this because they know they are right – to save the planet; to save humanity; etc. How do they know they are right? The MSM assures them all the time; that’s what its role has become. And if one does not pay obeisance to the cardboard cutout messiah in the White House, one is a racist. n nWhen you abandon morals, you also abandon shame. n
If Sharpton is right that Holder's being held in contempt will prejudice his ability to fight for voter rights (and one would assume his abilities to prosecute other duties that are less important to Sharpton would be prejudiced as well), the answer is not to halt an important investigation with which Mr. Holder has failed to comply. Rather, the answer is for Mr. Holder to either provide the requested information or resign.
Ironically, African Americans are bound to benefit from an Obama defeat and a return to sound economic policies. I'm 65, and in my lifetime Afircan Americans have fared worst under Obama than under any other President.