We won’t have Eric Holder to kick around anymore
Attorney General Eric Holder plans to announce Thursday that he is resigning from the Obama administration, a Justice Department official confirmed to Fox News.
That’s certainly a consummation devoutly to be wished.
However, not so fast:
The official said Holder has agreed to stay on the job until his successor is confirmed.
It’s hard to imagine that successor could be worse. But I wouldn’t underestimate Obama’s ability to find someone, however hard it may be.
Holder has been almost immeasurably useful to President Obama in his six and a half years as Attorney General. Many years ago I wrote that his tenure would be long, for the following reasons:
my gut senses a close identification between Obama and Holder, an almost-Vulcan-mind-meld between them on the legal issues involved in fighting terrorism. This is not a compliment to either man; I think both are sadly misguided.
Holder serves a purpose for Obama. If there is an issue on which the President is somewhat loathe to express his opinion fully, perhaps because he knows it will be unpopular or controversial, I believe that Obama purposely uses Holder as cover, to draw the opposition’s criticism and deflect it from himself.
Perhaps the proper word for the relationship might be “surrogate” or “mouthpiece.” This is not to say that Holder does not have opinions of his own. I am not claiming he is a puppet. But his opinions are so closely in sync with Obama’s on these issues that for all intents and purposes they are one…
Holder is also no ordinary Cabinet appointee for Obama. They have known each other since 2004, the year Obama first achieved a national profile. The two met at “a dinner party hosted by former White House aide Anne Walker Marchange, niece of Clinton friend Vernon Jordan.” Very soon after declaring himself a candidate in early 2007, Obama requested that Holder be part of his campaign, and “Holder served as a legal adviser and strategist and led Obama’s vice presidential search committee.”
Holder is a trusted adviser and member of Obama’s inner circle. It probably doesn’t hurt, either, that Holder is a graduate of Columbia and a former basketball player, much like Obama. But it’s their common attitude towards law that creates the strongest bond between the men. As Holder says, “We are on the same page.”
Why is Holder leaving now? We may never know. But it’s probably because he’s served his main purpose, and wants a change. I doubt very much that his departure represents any intent of the Obama administration for a different policy.
The whorehouse has had its victims executed and cleaned. Until new replacements are brought in from N A and Europe, temporary management will stay in to stay on course.
Oh if only I had Eric Holder right here to kick around. If only.
Holder is Obama’s ‘Consigliere’, “a position within the leadership structure of Sicilian, Calabrian and American Mafia. The word was popularized by the novel The Godfather.”
I too have little doubt that Obama will find someone to fill Holder’s shoes. There are certainly no lack of suitable leftist candidates.
American patriots refuse to believe they are in a war with the Leftist alliance, even as the Leftist alliance harvests their children for the sex trade and already believes they are at war with you.
For if it was otherwise, American patriots would have turned Leftist agents to the cause, and one of them would have found their way to DC by now, bringing in the goodies that a double agent always provides.
I have just heard on Boston Media that
Deval Patrick, (mini me, to NE locals) is on the *list* as potential replacement……
it ll be equivalent to replacing Grocho with
Curly
“As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron.”
– H.L. Mencken, the Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920
Holder protected Obama on the IRS / Lerner scandal. That was his most important accomplishment.
Two Lying Liars that are a disgrace to good black people everywhere. They are the Al Sharptons of politics.
A worse successor is indeed hard to imagine. That is because Holder was so very successful at supporting and defending Obama’s true left agenda. Partly that is because most blacks felt that Holder advocated for their sense of grievance. And, liberal whites would feel uncomfortable not going along with him.
One must conclude that Holder has an offer he can’t refuse.
I would expect him to be appointed to a plum job, Gorelick-style, in the housing finance sector.
It’s where Holder made his bones.
Readers would be shocked as to how tied in Holder and his old firm were to the Big Boys spewing out fraudulent mortgages and their bundlings.
Much worse: Holder to the Supreme Court, when one of them expires!
The speculation about Eric the Red going to SCOTUS has merit. While the Senate remains Democratic. In exchange for that old whithered hag-bag of bones. Won’t change the balance but better the new and redder blood.
What do you do with a Supreme who previously was found in contempt of Congress? How can he be hauled before the House again? Quite a crisis, unless you’re Tearful John the Boner. Probably the best shelter he can find, and Baraq will not have to pre-emptively pardon him, either…though Eric may want both.
Getting him ready – – and immediately available! – – for a Supreme Court nomination when they finally get rid of R.B. Ginsburg….
Correction. Holder’s creation of a culture contrary to the Rule of Law is the thing he will be remembered for.
Worst. AG. EVER. (Including John Mitchell.)
Bho has already decided who he wants to nominate to replace holder. He is waiting to see the results of the upcoming senate elections. I have no doubts that he has someone just as partisan and nefarious as holder in mind. Holder to SCOTUS is a scary thought, we can hope that eric the red would prefer to make lots of money in finance.
Remember Chris Dodds?
He’s head of the MPAA now, making the big money.
I doubt Holder would take a position that doesn’t net him millions.
And Hoe there will still be around to kick, until his replacement is shipped in.
Don’t be so quick to rejoiceand be careful what you wish for. According to the Hill, here are the possible replacements:
1.) Don Verrilli
Verrilli, who serves as the nation’s solicitor general, is a longtime Obama aide thought to be well liked within both the Justice Department and the West Wing.
A Columbia Law grad, Verrilli worked for 25 years in private practice, where he specialized in First Amendment law on behalf of corporate clients – famously leading copyright infringement cases by Viacom against YouTube and the recording industry against peer-to-peer file-sharing service Grokster. But Verrilli also devoted significant pro-bono time to defending death row inmates, and won a landmark Supreme Court case establishing specific guidelines for the right of “effective assistance” of legal counsel.
Verrilli earned his greatest national prominence when he argued on behalf of the Obama administration in the 2012 Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of ObamaCare. Although legal experts initially panned his performance, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s liberal bloc to uphold the vast majority of the law.
Verrilli was confirmed as solicitor general in a 72-16 vote in 2011, winning the support of 26 Republicans.
2.) Janet Napolitano
The former Arizona governor, state attorney general and federal prosecutor was said to be interested in replacing Holder at DOJ when she was still serving as Obama’s Homeland Security secretary. But Holder stayed and on and Napolitano left Washington last year to take a lucrative job as the first female president of the massive University of California system.
She unquestionably has the resume to lead the DOJ: former President Clinton appointed her U.S. Attorney for Arizona in 1993, and she later successfully ran for Arizona attorney general and governor in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Napolitano endorsed Obama over Hillary Clinton in 2008 – even though Clinton’s husband had helped launch her political career – and Obama brought Napolitano into his Cabinet as DHS secretary.
Still, it might be difficult for Napolitano to leave her current job after such a short time. She is right in the middle of trying to streamline the community-college-to-university transfer process and launching pet projects like a $250 million venture capital fund to finance start-up companies.
3.) Kamala Harris
California Attorney General Kamala Harris is widely considered as one of the Democratic Party’s rising stars, and is expected to eventually seek either the governor’s mansion or a U.S. Senate seat. A stint in Washington could help raise her profile for such a campaign, and she has prominent boosters on Capitol Hill – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) among them.
Harris has said that she opposes the death penalty and was among the most persistent state attorneys general in investigating banks for mortgage practices – two potential stumbling blocks with Republican lawmakers. She’s also signaled her support for San Francisco’s immigration policy, which prevents law enforcement from inquiring about immigration status during a criminal investigation. Her advocacy on behalf of gun control programs could also draw powerful interest groups like the National Rifle Association into a confirmation battle.
But Obama has spoken fondly of Harris – perhaps too fondly. Last year, the president created a mild controversy when, during a fundraiser, he called Harris the “best-looking attorney general in the country.” Obama later called her to apologize, and then-White House press secretary Jay Carney said the pair were “old friends and good friends and he did not want in any way to diminish the attorney general’s professional accomplishments and her capabilities.”
UPDATE: Shortly after this story was published, Harris put out a statement saying she plans to stay at her current position. “I am honored to even be mentioned, but intend to continue my work for the people of California as Attorney General,” Harris said.
4.) Preet Bharara
As the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Bharara is familiar with the high-wire political balancing act required of an attorney general.
As the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Bharara led the prosecution of Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law, scored the indictment against Switzerland’s oldest financial bank and aggressively pursued insider trading cases.
He also has threatened legal action against the Riker’s Island prison over civil rights abuses at the complex, and clashed publicly with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the Democrat’s decision to eliminate an anti-corruption commission.
Bharara has signaled his ambitions, appearing on the cover of Time magazine under the banner “This man is busting Wall St” and becoming a regular at high-profile political, media and celebrity events.
Bharara also has ties to Capitol Hill that could help in a confirmation fight, previously serving as chief counsel to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). But Bharara’s aggressive prosecution of Wall Street – as well as work helping to lead the investigation into the Bush administration’s firings of United States attorneys – could make it difficult to win over GOP votes.
5.) Tony West
Tony West, who earlier this month departed his job as the No. 3 official at the Justice Department to take a job at Pepsico, has deep roots both in the administration and Democratic circles.
West led the department’s civil division for much of the Obama administration, and implemented the decision to not defend aspects of the Defense of Marriage Act defining marriage as between a man and a woman. He also spearheaded the department’s efforts to force big banks to pay major settlements over the mortgage-backed securities that contributed to the financial crisis, although he caught some criticism for a reluctance to prosecute individual bankers for their role.
His wife, Maya Harris, is a senior fellow at the influential Center for American Progress, and his sister-in-law is California Attorney General Kamala Harris – another potential Holder replacement.
He might also be a favorite of Holder, who described him during his exit from the department as “a close advisor and good friend.” Holder also said he expected him to return to the agency before long, though he did not elaborate.
JANET NAPOLITANO AND HER GIRLFRIENDS????????
Artfldgr,
Outstanding. Mencken certainly hit the nail squarely on the head with that prediction!
“Holder to the Supreme Court”… now there’s a terrifying thought.
Why Ginsburg? Wouldn’t replacing a conservative with Holder be much more effective? Perhaps they’ll arrange an ‘accident’…
Townhall has an article saying the resignation is related to something to do with Fast and Furious documents.
Ginsburg is biologically the likeliest to fade soon.
As to accidents, the oppo should arrange a few.
In combat, the aggressor makes the rules.
Obama and the damn Dems know this all too well. Which is why their “errors” are usually not errors at all. Mentioning Ferguson, MO to the corrupt thuggees at the UN was no error, for example. The Commander-in-Chief ignoring the incarcerated active duty Marine (6 months now) in a Tijuana prison is neither error nor oversight.
And so it goes.
Gag, choke, puke.
The AP calls Eric the Red an “unflinching champion of civil rights.”
Do we have an extradition treaty with Barbados?
I seem to remember Napolie being the one that sent the kill squad to both Ruby Ridge and WACO.
Good omens if she gets elevated.
With the upcoming election there are some interesting dynamics in play. We’ll likely see an expedited nomination and confirmation process.
I feel like something may be going on that few are aware, that another shoe has yet to drop. Unfortunately, it’s very possible this shoe will drop in the same ear-damaging forest where no one can hear the falling trees.
With a resolution for impeachment winding its way through the House… Holder may well HAVE to take himself out of the spotlight.
The Senate races are that tight.
And… the timing sure fits.
Apparently Holder is no longer going to be able to hold back some (embarrassing) documents.
Since Fast and Furious was launched very early in by Soetoro, himself, there figures to be plenty of really damaging details in print.
This is unfolding EXACTLY like I predicted many months ago, right here.
The investigation was being slow-rolled so that it could mature right in front of the November elections.
That STILL figures to be.
Rumor has it Holder’s going to be running for office in NY with Anthony Weiner. According to insiders, the Weiner-Holder ticket has been a democrat party dream-team since 2010.
Two bad men who have harmed all of humanity and who are disgraces to America in every way possible.
May Justice rain down upon the unjust.
Walsh describes the Democrats as a Criminal Organization masquerading as a Political Party.
I think the Obama scandal dam is finally about to burst. Holder was the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike.
Here come the leaks…
Very good news.
The main reason I can think of is that if the Republicans take the House and Senate they can impeach him, convict him and remove him from office. And don’t think they wouldn’t do it. He leaves now, they bring in a new man with a clean record, confirm him with 51 votes in Harry Reid’s Nuclear Senate, and they can weather out the last two years.
I think the Obama scandal dam is finally about to burst. Holder was the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike.
Here come the leaks…
Very good news.
And thousands of Americans are being sent to Iraq, to repair Hussein O’s addiction to the joy burst he sees when watching Americans die.
WWI crushed the West’s spirit by destroying its generations of courage.
Hussein has been doing the same thing and people don’t even notice. You won’t have a “next generation” in America at this rate, to benefit from people’s “political back slapping”.
Ymarsakar, in reaction to my post you wrote:
“And thousands of Americans are being sent to Iraq, to repair Hussein O’s addiction to the joy burst he sees when watching Americans die.”
Ymarsakar, what’s your point? You want Holder should stay in office? I was simply stating that I view Holder as the chief agent of obstruction and that his resignation increases the chance that some justice will be done to the criminals in this administration. I am further surmising that he is not leaving voluntarily — perhaps someone has the goods on him. Perhaps the strain of multiple cover-ups has wrecked his health.
Anybody else who replaces Holder will know less, be less beholden to Obama, and have less power.
So isn’t it good news that Obama’s most trusted advisor after Valerie Jarrett is leaving?
Al Sharpton is advising the President on possible replacements. Not much chance we’ll get a color blind nominee for AG is there? 🙁
I think the Obama scandal dam is finally about to burst.
Ymarsakar, what’s your point?
I think the idea that some dam is going to burst while America’s next generation is being wiped out while people sit around here typing on keyboards, is what I don’t want to see.
As for what I do want to see, that’s not printable here.
As for it being good news, the idea that Hoe over there doing something you didn’t make the enemy do and which you didn’t know ahead of time, is somehow good is questionable.
When an enemy does something you didn’t predict and don’t know the reason of, you’re going to lose half your army soon because you wasted all the time from now until activation time, not planning for unknown unknowns. You’ll be 5 to 10 steps behind, scrambling to react to the news of enemy activities later.
That’s not so good. As for Hoe, he isn’t even out until his replacement, so that’s not good either.
It was Janet Reno as AG for Waco and Ruby Ridge. Compared to Holder, she was Dumbo. Malign but stoopid. In terms of legal education and skills, probably the dumbest AG in the last 100 years. Not evil, just dumb.
I can’t help but compare the Holder resignation to the Rescue 911 post below. According to Holder’s point of view, the rescuers are cowards because they didn’t have a conversation about race before saving a man’s life. The way to make race less of an issue is to focus on using your skills to get a job done. If you are part of a team, no one cares about your skin color.
Holdre and Obama and ALL Liberals make it about race because they want there to be racism, whether there is or not. They need racism to explain their own positions which they know they neither deserved nor earned.
Obama is the Affirmative Action President and Holder was his Affirmative Action AG. Liberals would NEVER win a national election without 90% of the Black Vote, assured by messaging racism all the time and everywhere.
Is it any wonder why things are worse for blacks anyway? That’s by design. They are in the end getting what they vote for too.
As much as I agree that Eric Holder has been a terrible AG, I was concerned when I heard this news. As many here have wrote, it almost certainly portends something, and that something is probably not good for the country.
I hadn’t thought about it, but some of you predict the play might be to make him the next Supreme Court justice. Oy! That would be awful. However, even if that is a goal the timing of this announcement still seems odd.
I don’t have a good feeling about this at all.
Here’s one theory about why Holder is leaving now–a federal court ruled that they have to turn over some Fast and Furious documents:
http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-statement-regarding-eric-holders-retirement/ utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=tweet&utm_campaign=092514
Oops. The link looked okay in preview. Maybe it will work better if shortened:
http://bit.ly/1sxrvSt
Sarah…
That was noted up-thread.
The timing is indeed most curious.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/world/africa/liberia-ebola-victims-treatment-center-cdc.html
OT ^^^
As posted weeks ago: the ebola crisis is entirely out of control in west Africa, and has been for some time.
“MONROVIA, Liberia – The family of the sick man, who had endured Ebola’s telltale symptoms for six days, took him by taxi to treatment centers here in the capital twice, only to be turned back at the gate each time for lack of beds. He died at home, his arms thrashing violently and blood spewing out his mouth, in front of his sons.
“We had to carry him home two times because they could do nothing for us,” said Eric Gweah, 25, as a team of body collectors came to retrieve the corpse of his father, Ofori Gweah, 62. “The only thing the government can do is come for bodies. They are killing us.” ob cit
The epidemic is wildly beyond the capacity of ‘the system’ — and this shall be proved to be true even when ebola erupts in the First World.
Victims are spreading the disease before they even recognize that they’ve picked it up.
It really is that simple.
Further, as shown above, even when it’s flamingly obvious that a victim is massively infected — the brainiacs ‘in charge’ turn the victim back out to infect yet others — because of their own perverted protocols.
West African weather is such that the over flow could be put on open cots without suffering the weather. Yes, the weather there is that mild. Mere blankets are enough.
West African medical authorities don’t even have the wit to administer terminal care — even when it’s obvious that getting victims out o circulation is CRITICAL.
This ^^^ is why a larger quarantine zone is essential. West Africa is totally hopeless.
As for our 3,000 troops — they are consigned to death. There is no protection available for them. Ebola is just going to jump on over — and infect them too.
Here and there, you’ll see staged photos of bodies being carried off by fully protected workers.
Such snaps are staged because absolutely no-one can wear that level of protection in that climate for any length of time. This limitation explains why countless doctors and nurses have become infected — and died.
Even now the MSM refuses to highlight this brutal reality: we don’t have ANY gear that isolates the diseased from care givers.
Eventually, every single attending physician is going to contract ebola. It really is that simple.
And, being a virus, it’s morphing like crazy.
Here and there I read fools positing that ebola will remain confined to Africa. IDIOTS.
Pandemic diseases — by definition — don’t stay confined. They are so virulent that they ALWAYS ‘travel well.’ That’s why they’re pandemic scale diseases in the first place.
That ebola has this character has been recognized for generations.
Viruses are the biggest killers ever — because they are so virulent. Whistling past the graveyard is not going to get the job done.
The figure 150 million just jumped into my head for the US Civil War II. Now that it seems Islamic Jihad wants in on it sooner than expected. And immigrants may transfer viral strains via an uncontrolled vector.
http://patterico.com/2012/05/25/convicted-bomber-brett-kimberlin-neal-rauhauser-ron-brynaert-and-their-campaign-of-political-terrorism/
Meanwhile, stuff like this is what I predicted, even before I just read it now.
DC is correct on the Janets.
Although after reading stuff like this, the government authorities don’t seem so dumb and innocent.
Fuster was convicted based in large part on the testimony of his 18-year-old wife, Ileana Flores, who pleaded guilty and testified against him.[5] According to a 2002 episode of Frontline, Flores maintained that “he was innocent, she was innocent and that she was coerced by Reno and others into denouncing her husband. She said she was kept naked in a suicide watch cell and given cold showers and that Reno visited her late at night in pursuit of her confession and damning testimony.”[5] Reno, then a candidate for Governor of Florida, refused to discuss her role in the case, leading one editorial to claim that she was “stonewalling.”[5]
Good old Democrat Janets, working on the same thing decades ago. KKK had something similar going on, when interrogating blacks and whites that refused to vote Democrat.
Where do you get “sadly misguided” from? Obama and Holder are not misguided but evil; they want to destroy the country – to turn it into something like Mexico or Brazil – and are succeeding.
“…legitimacy is based on three things. First of all, the people who are asked to obey authority have to feel like they have a voice–that if they speak up, they will be heard. Second, the law has to be predictable. There has to be a reasonable expectation that the rules tomorrow are going to be roughly the same as the rules today. And third, the authority has to be fair. It can’t treat one group differently from another.”
Malcolm Gladwell
“David and Goliath”
Future news
In an amazing coincidence, but fully in line with the catastrophic record of the government in recent years, most of the emails in the DOJ were lost just weeks after Mr. Holder and some of his deputies resigned from their posts to take lucrative assignments in law firms and charities.
Now, two years after that fact, administration attorneys have no email records to review.
Mr. Holder responded to questions with a few terse comments: “I wasn’t even part of the DOJ at the time of the data problems. No data disappeared under my tenure. Complain about lost data to the new and incompetent Republican administration. This is a political witch hunt motivated by crude racism.”
“How could I possibly know two years in advance that such an investigation would want my emails? How could I possibly be a part of a cover-up which supposedly happened after I left my position? You can look through my personal IPad, but I don’t know where my old blackberry would be. Possibly in some old desk drawer at the DOJ.”
A search of all the desk drawers at the DOJ have turned up nothing.
I was deeply comforted to learn that Rev. Tawana Sharpton has been asked to “Advise” on the replacement.
But, hey, at least we’ve gutted and diminished our armed forces to ready us for the ISIS faux war. After, ya unnerstan’, ABANDONING our massive VICTORY in Iraq.
Ohhh, Hell, at least Climate Change(nimble little turds renamed ‘Global Warming’ when none was found)is the BIGGEST thing we have to worry about and if we put huge UNILATERAL Limits on our producers, that’s work…Right..??
The Ghastly Pretender in Chief and his endless band of amateurs just keep going and destructing. Yep, Melanie Phillips, a World Turned Upside Down indeed.
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