The Disastrous Tenure of “Obama’s Enforcer”
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Townhall.com ^ | June 28, 2014 | Ed Feulner
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I don’t know who the next U.S. attorney general will be. But I know I pity that person. Restoring the Justice Department’s reputation in the wake of Eric Holder’s tenure will take a lot of work.
You can find out just how big a task it will be in “Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department,” a new book by John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky. Even at a relatively slim 217 pages, it’s quite a bill of indictment.
It’s one thing to read about certain cases as they pop up in the news cycle -- an article about a civil-rights investigation here, a blog post about Operation Fast and Furious there. It’s another to assemble them in one place and get the big picture in one sitting.
Holder is the first attorney general in U.S. history to be held in contempt of Congress. Considering his behavior toward the legislative branch, it’s not surprising. He stonewalled, for example, when the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned him about the scandal that erupted when it was revealed that the IRS was targeting conservative organizations.
Or take the testimony he gave the House Judiciary Committee when asked about prosecuting the press over publishing classified material. Holder swore that he had never been involved in that or even thought about doing so.
Yet the committee subsequently learned that Holder had approved a search warrant for Fox News reporter James Rosen’s emails by “swearing to a federal court that Mr. Rosen was a co-conspirator in a national security leak investigation.”
How did Holder explain this gap between his answer and the truth when the committee asked about it? He didn’t. He refused to answer.
Then there’s the deplorable way the Civil Rights Division has been run under Holder and Thomas Perez, an assistant attorney general from 2009 to 2013.
In their chaper “The (Un)Civil Rights Division,” Fund and von Spakovsky detail numerous instances in which Holder and Perez “pursued a militant civil rights agenda intended to help Democrats win elections and implement …. a socialized America where racial, ethnic, and sexual quotas are required in everything from college admissions to public employment to school discipline.”
But Holder will probably be best known for overseeing Operation Fast and Furious, which put more than 2,000 guns into the hands of a Mexican drug cartel and led to the deaths of hundreds of Mexican citizens and a U.S. Border Patrol agent. When federal lawmakers began investigating, Holder again opted not to cooperate, but to cover up.
Any claim “that ATF ‘sanctioned’ or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them to Mexico is false,” Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) in February 2011. “ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation into Mexico.”
But nine months later, after weeks of foot-dragging and attempts to find “dirt” on those who had blown the whistle on Fast and Furious, the Justice Department finally came clean. In November 2011, Holder admitted under oath that the gun-walking had, in fact, occurred. The February denial was rescinded.
To some observers, the idea of a truly ethical Justice Department is something of a pipe dream. As far as they’re concerned, the attorney general is nominated by a president who’s either Democrat or Republican, so we shouldn’t be surprised when he conducts business is a partisan manner.
Such a cynical view, though, is unfounded. Many fine attorneys general have served ethically defensible terms under both Republicans and Democrats. The tenures of Edwin Meese under Ronald Reagan and Griffin Bell under Jimmy Carter, for example, prove that the Justice Department can be run in an entirely independent, professional way.
Holder’s term as attorney general represents the other end of the spectrum: driven by politics, tainted by scandal and mired in corruption. The need for an attorney general that will, in fact, uphold the Constitution in a fair, impartial and ethical fashion has never been greater.
To: Kaslin
Obama and his cronies have DESTROYED the reputations of many government agencies. I suspect it will take a generation to,build their reputations back up again.
2 posted on 6/28/2014, 3:57:18 PM by Star Traveler (Remember to keep the Messiah of Israel in the One-World Government that we look forward to coming)
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To: Kaslin
3 posted on 6/28/2014, 3:58:53 PM by Slyfox (When progressives ignore moral parameters, they also lose the natural gift of common sense.)
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To: Kaslin
We’ll have to wait two more years.
4 posted on 6/28/2014, 3:58:56 PM by skeeter
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To: Kaslin
If I were a sheriff in a particular county in the US, and Holder entered my jurisdiction, I would have my deputies surround him, and take him into custody.
5 posted on 6/28/2014, 4:01:31 PM by Ouderkirk (To the left, everything must evidence that this or that strand of leftist theory is true)
To: Ouderkirk
The House 'Leadership' could have Holder arrested this very minute. Inherent Contempt
8 posted on 6/28/2014, 4:08:19 PM by Count of Monte Fisto
To: Slyfox
REMEMBER ELIAN, Holder directed the his abduction and return to Cuba.
Eric Holder and Seizing Elian
By Byron York
November 18, 2008
nationalreview.com
One of my favorite Eric Holder stories involves his role in the Justice Department’s handling of the Elian Gonzalez case. In the period before armed agents seized the child, the Justice Department had been leaking its intention to avoid any sort of armed intervention. It would all be done quietly, they suggested. When top Department officials were asked about it, they said nothing to change that impression. About two weeks before the raid, Tim Russert asked Holder, “You wouldn’t send a SWAT team in the dark of night to kidnap the child, in effect?” Holder answered, “No, we don’t expect anything like that to happen.” Then the Department did precisely that.
9 posted on 6/28/2014, 4:16:54 PM by Dqban22
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To: Kaslin
“Don’t go there, buddy!” - Holder to Congresscritter.
10 posted on 6/28/2014, 4:20:28 PM by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (Why does every totalitarian political hack think that he knows how to run my life better than I do?)
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To: Count of Monte Fisto
REMEMBER BRYAN TERRY  
11 posted on 6/28/2014, 4:28:34 PM by Dqban22
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To: Kaslin
Now what would people say to the proposition that the Constitution is ‘Fundamentally Flawed.’ What The Regime has shown us is that criminals in government have few restraints. Does anyone honestly think that Holder will be held to account and punished either now or under any future administration. He is going to get away with it unless a bolt of lightening strikes him down. There are no teeth in the Constitution because it assumes goodness in our elected officials. And as for the issue of ‘Standing’ in our laws... ... !!!
12 posted on 6/28/2014, 4:59:33 PM by I am Richard Brandon
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To: Kaslin
The only way to restore the credibility of the Federal Government is to prosecute Holder, Obama and all the rest of the criminals and put them behind bars. Then fire all the useful idiots who helped them but may not have committed criminal offenses.
Then prosecute all of those outside of government who were complicit in the Obama era corruption.
Then pardon all the patriots and soldiers Obama put in prison.
Then get control of government spending and eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse.
Then, and only then, can you begin to govern.
13 posted on 6/28/2014, 5:00:50 PM by detective
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To: detective
VOTER FRAUD AND INTIMIDATION 
14 posted on 6/28/2014, 5:08:09 PM by Dqban22
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To: Kaslin
Even RFK, who was JFK’s attack dog, was never like this. But then again, even a liberal Democrat was a different thing in those days.
15 posted on 6/28/2014, 5:13:33 PM by livius
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To: Dqban22
Don’t forget Jaime Zapata. Holder has his blood on his hands as well, along with God knows how many Mexicans.
16 posted on 6/28/2014, 5:16:36 PM by Trod Upon (Every penny given to film and TV media companies goes right into enemy coffers. Starve them out!)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
Thanks Kaslin.“Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department,” a new book by John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky
17 posted on 6/28/2014, 5:17:19 PM by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv
A criminal in charge of the “justice” department? Who would have thought?
18 posted on 6/28/2014, 5:21:06 PM by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: Kaslin
Trey Gowdy would have that straightened out in about two years with a president behind him for back up. He would dump all the Obama kiss asses and put in real Constitutional people. Gowdy for AG!!!
19 posted on 6/28/2014, 5:28:27 PM by fish hawk (no tyrant can remain in power without the consent and cooperation of his victims.)
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To: Kaslin
Holder is a racial supremacist. Holder hates whitey. Holder hates America.
The next president and AG need to fire each and every single in the justice department and make them all re-apply for their jobs. The next conservative president needs to use all the power Obama has taken and use it to destroy the liberal virus that has infected the country. Let them squeal like stuck pigs and cry and moan.
20 posted on 6/28/2014, 5:41:17 PM by Organic Panic
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To: Trod Upon
 
21 posted on 6/28/2014, 9:35:30 PM by Dqban22
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To: Kaslin
Saw good review of the book with Fund and Spakovsky tonight on C-Span2 - will probably be repeated several times over the next few days - Holder was actually number two at DOJ under Clinton, specifically because they didn’t expect that Reno would follow Clinton’s political orders very well and needed an operative there to do the dirty work - most discouraging was the authors’ opinion that so many leftwing ideologues/operatives had by now been put into career legal positions in the Department that it will take years to clean them out and get ethical, non-partisan lawyers in their place - well worth watching if you can catch the program.....
22 posted on 6/29/2014, 12:12:54 AM by Intolerant in NJ
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To: Star Traveler
Precedent has been established. There is no going back.
23 posted on 6/29/2014, 8:12:00 AM by Jacquerie |
