This evening the Senate voted by a significant majority to confirm Eric Holder as Attorney General of the United States, proving once again that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Mr. Holder has been gunning for this position since the days of Clinton administration and even though his clearly unconscionable role in the Marc Rich pardon has been well-documented, perhaps Mr. Rich’s fugitive mindset has somehow replicated like a rogue virus, magically contagious and able to spirit away the memory cells of our current crop of public servants. But many outside the Beltway are immune from such funky diseases, and I’m not the only one who remembers that despite the fact that pardons are by definition granted post-conviction, Marc Rich neither took responsibility for his actions nor served any sentence. He scuttled off to lay low in Switzerland to avoid prosecution for tax evasion, racketeering, and trading with the enemy while his minions here wormed their way into the White House. Riding on coattails fashioned out of blue cloth that some say bears an uncanny resemblance to a dress once worn by Monica Lewinsky, courtesy of Mr. Rich’s ex-wife, a Clinton friend and major donor to both the Democratic Party and the Clinton Library, the deal was greased and condoned by none other than Mr. Holder. Who was already on the record as hoping for the Attorney General position in a Gore administration.
It was a brazen and outright piece of brown-nosing but has finally paid off handsomely for apparently Mr. Holder’s alleged “good qualities”, combined with the Senate’s incomprehensible ignorance of history, outweigh the fact that he is a patsy when it comes to standing up to those who wield power and money.
A fact that I dare say is apparently intended to serve President Obama well in the days to come. Everyone needs a “good lawyer” in their back pocket.
I’m sure the FALN* members pardoned by former President Clinton agree. Holder was responsible for signing off on their clemencies, despite the fact that “the FBI was unequivocally opposed to the release of these terrorists under any circumstances and had so advised the DOJ.” (Louis J. Freeh, former Director, FBI)
Mr. Holder also supported the District of Columbia in its case banning ownership of handguns (see District of Columbia v. Heller) that was…ahem… shot down by the Supreme Court and he believes the Second Amendment does not support the individual’s right to bear arms.
Don’t you feel safe now that our nation’s law enforcement is in such good hands?
* – The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (English: Armed Forces of National Liberation, FALN) was a Puerto Rican clandestine paramilitary organization that, through direct action, advocated complete independence for Puerto Rico. At the time of its dissolution, the FALN was responsible for more than 120 bomb attacks on United States targets between 1974 and 1983. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies the FALN as a terrorist organization. (Wikipedia)