So why did Eric Holder stepping down as attorney general of the United States as soon as a successor is confirmed?
Is it just a coincidence that two days prior to the announcement a federal judge ruled that the Justice Department had to turn over to Congress documents that House Republicans have been seeking for more than two years about Operation Fast and Furious?
You remember that botched arms deal that the Justice Department authorized, don’t you? It’s how a Mexican drug cartel got the weapons it used to murder a bunch of its opponents, including a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
When the Justice Department stonewalled a congressional investigation into the controversy, the House of Representatives voted to hold Eric Holder in contempt. It’s the first time that an attorney general of the United States has ever been held in contempt by Congress.
But Holder’s malfeasance in office didn’t stop there. He politicized the Justice Department more than any other attorney general in history. He was eager to attack opponents of the Obama administration, while refusing to investigate such federal abuses of power as the IRS’s targeting of conservative organizations.
Holder refused to defend the Defense of Marriage Act. And he even said it was OK for state attorneys general to refuse to prosecute under laws they didn’t like.
Holder also personally approved a search warrant of the private emails of Fox News reporter James Rosen. Rosen was accused of doing what most people would agree was a reporter’s job: digging out information from a source. But his source was a former intelligence analyst who was accused of leaking classified information.
Holder’s Justice Department released a classic, cover-your-butt statement about the incident:
After extensive deliberations, and after following all applicable laws, regulations and policies, the Department sought an appropriately tailored search warrant under the Privacy Protection Act.
Don’t you just love the title of the legislation the Justice Department cited? George Orwell, who coined slogans such as “war is peace” in his novel 1984, would have been impressed. There’s nothing like using a “privacy protection act” to snoop into a reporter’s emails.
Holder, of course, was the nation’s first black attorney general. He loved to wave the race card, and he once said that we were “a nation of cowards” for refusing to face up to our prejudices.
No wonder that Holder had the support of Al Sharpton, one of the country’s most notorious race-baiters. And here’s a really scary thought: Sharpton said he will have a lot to say about whomever Barack Obama nominates as Holder’s successor. Although, frankly, it’s hard to imagine Obama picking anyone who adheres more slavishly to a left-wing agenda than Holder did.
So why did Holder pick now to submit his resignation? Clearly, it was done with his boss’s approval. Could it be that the Obama team recognizes that it will face a Republican majority in the Senate this coming January and that it will be a lot easier to get the Senate’s approval of another liberal lackey now?
In a lengthy interview with Steve Kroft that was broadcast by “60 Minutes” this past Sunday night, Barack Obama pasted a confident smile on his face and predicted that the Democrats would maintain their Senate majority in the coming midterm elections. But that sounded a lot like whistling past the graveyard to me.
No, I think Holder realized that the hot seat he’s been occupying will only get hotter. If he were to hang around the Justice Department much longer, he’d face more congressional subpoenas, followed by some very tough questioning on Capitol Hill.
He’s going to head for the hills — and some very plush financial rewards — while he can. All I can say is good riddance.
Until next time, keep some powder dry.
Chip Wood was the first news editor of The Review of the News and also wrote for American Opinion, our two predecessor publications. He is now the geopolitical editor of Personal Liberty Digest. This article first appeared in PersonalLiberty.com and has been reprinted with permission.
