THE LAST REFUGE OF A SCOUNDREL

[Geee]

Powerline:

In today’s world, it is playing the race card. There are two notable miscreants in the news today. The first is Eric Holder, who, in a weekend interview, suggested that criticism of his job performance in relation to Fast and Furious and other issues is–sometimes, anyway–racist:

Mr. Holder contended that many of his other critics — not only elected Republicans but also a broader universe of conservative commentators and bloggers — were instead playing “Washington gotcha” games, portraying them as frequently “conflating things, conveniently leaving some stuff out, construing things to make it seem not quite what it was” to paint him and other department figures in the worst possible light.

Of that group of critics, Mr. Holder said he believed that a few — the “more extreme segment” — were motivated by animus against Mr. Obama and that he served as a stand-in for him. “This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him,” he said, “both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we’re both African-American.”



So who, exactly, is criticizing Holder because of his race? The Justice Department won’t say. Is he talking about Darrell Issa? Or the 60 congressmen, two senators, Republican presidential candidates and two governors who have called on him to resign? Or the seventy-five congressmen have signed a House resolution for a vote of “no confidence” in Holder as attorney general? Or is Holder referring to people on the internet who have written about Fast and Furious, and criticized the Justice Department’s role in that scandal–like, say, me? Does he mean to include the 43% of voters who have an unfavorable opinion of him, compared to 19% whose impression is favorable?

Eric Holder has politicized the Department of Justice to a degree not seen in modern times. He also has been the administration’s front man with respect to some very unpopular initiatives (e.g., trying to overturn voter ID legislation). And his department is up to its ears in a scandal of major proportions, involving hundreds of people who have been murdered–a scandal about which DOJ has stonewalled Congressional requests for information, and now admits that it supplied false information to Congress. Frankly, if Holder can’t defend himself against legitimate criticism without invoking utterly unsupported claims of racism, he isn’t up to the job of being Attorney General.

[righteousmomma]

But of course! SAD!!!