Careful Reading Tuesday

Marc Ambinder dove into the tank for Adam Serwer of The American Prospect with his "Myth-busting Monday" round-up, which included this:

No, the decision not to pursue the Black Panther case from election day was not made by political appointees. The political appointees who would have made the decision had not been confirmed yet, reports Adam Serwer

Seriously?  Adam Serwer completely fluffed the timeline and the allegations, and is back-pedaling faster than the Knick officials who promised their fans LeBron.  [And Bonus Backpedaling from Dave Weigel, who was my target of scorn yesterday.]

A brief recap of the Serwer contribution:

His first Big News was that the case was downgraded to a civil charge by BushCo before it was filed in Jan 2009.

No kidding - mainstream reporting (e.g., NY Times, Fox, John Fund of the WSJ, Fox from May 2009) have described it as a civil suit. The real controversy revolves around the DoJ decision in May 2009 to more or less drop the suit *after* they had won a default judgment. Needless to say, by May 2009 some of the Obama people were in place.

2. Serwer's other Big Breakthrough is that Ms. Fernandes, who allegedly told the Voting Rights division not to pursue black-on-white fraud or intimidation cases, could not have been part of the Black Panther decision since she wasn't at DoJ in May 2009.

Again, who cares? J. Christian Adams, the aggrieved DoJ source, never said she was part of that specific case; he has specifically alleged she was part of other decisions, such as not pursuing motor voter fraud or felon purges.

Here is a Serwer UPDATE to his original post where he digs in a bit:

UPDATE: I should make it clear that I'm not the first person to mention this (Media Matters has been pointing this out for a while) Perez revealed the date the case was downgraded in his public testimony to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in May. It's been part of the public record for weeks--which is why I don't understand why so little of the coverage of this story mentions it. I'm simply pointing out that none of the political appointees being blamed for dismissing the case were even at the DoJ when the case was dismissed.

Then a follow-up retreat:

A few commenters on my previous post about the Obama administration not being in office when the decision was made not to pursue a criminal case against the New Black Panther Party are arguing out that conservative outrage is over the subsequent decision, made in May, not to further pursue the civil complaint after obtaining an injunction against the individual who was holding a baton. That decision was made by a career official at the Justice Department after an evidence review and reportedly approved by an Obama political appointee, Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli. The decision was still made by career lawyers in the section; there's no evidence, beyond J. Christian Adams' statements, that Perrelli had the case dismissed.

Mr. Serwer then goes on to explain that, well, even though Obama appointee Perrelli was in place, no one has proved he was involved (and he won't testify), and anyway, it was a reasonable decision.  Gee, that is almost the same as the first story, except for being utterly reversed.

On Ms. Fernandes (a former Student of Barack) we get this cursory confusion:

At any rate, the decision to approve not going forward with the civil case was still made a month before Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandes joined the DoJ and sometime afterward supposedly issued a decree against cases involving minority defendants.

So contra the Ambinder summary, Serwer now admits that the Obama people were just where the critics said they were in time to do what they are alleged to have done.  For whatever reason, that new post is not getting as much play. 

RELATED BASHING:  Keith Olbermann does the full swan dive into the tank with Serwer's non-news.  Larry O'Connor of Big Journo and Battlin' Bob Somerby have more.

LET'S HAVE A QUICK 'DASH TO DUMB':

The first entrant in our moral inequivalence watch will be Dave Weigel, explaining why the New Black Panther case is No Big Deal:

All that said, the problem I have with the new obsession with this is, really, that there's no evidence the NBPP's clownish Philadelphia stunt suppressed any votes, or that they'll try such a stunt again.

Ben Smith is a strong entrant:

As I noted on the day, the two uniformed Panthers were staking out a heavily Democratic polling place -- it had gone 95% for Kerry -- and you don't typically intimidate your own voters.

So this November, if a few rednecks waving Confederate flags in a mostly white district chase away a few stray ethnics, these two will be OK with it?

Please - no news outlet will cover anything else, and Weigel and Sully will race each other to blame Sarah Palin.

3:10 TO PIMA:  In a bold attempt to get ahead of, or at least alongside, the next likely sally from the Serwer/Weigel duo, what about the 2006 incident in Arizona that was never pursued by Evil BushCo?  Over to Media Matters:

Christian Adams' case continues to implode: Bush-era DOJ declined to charge Minutemen for voter intimidation

July 01, 2010 12:44 pm ET - by Jeremy Holden

Conservative media figures are busy hyping the unsubstantiated allegations of GOP activist and former Justice Department attorney J. Christian Adams that the Obama administration improperly dismissed voter-intimidation charges against members of the New Black Panther Party for racially charged political reasons. As Media Matters previously noted, Adams' allegations are based on hearsay and on charges made by others. But his allegations become even flimsier when considering the fact that he worked in the Bush Justice Department in 2006 when attorneys declined to pursue charges that members of the Minutemen were intimidating Hispanic voters in Arizona, charges based on nearly identical circumstances.

"Nearly identical" circumstances?  Nearly!  We will uncover a difference or two before the end.

Mr. Holden does a bit of legwork and provides this contemporaneous coverage from the November 8, 2006, Arizona Daily Star:

A crew of anti-immigrant activists, meanwhile, visited several South Side polling places in what one poll-watch group called a blatant attempt to intimidate Hispanic voters.

Anti-immigrant crusader Russ Dove circulated an English-only petition, while a cameraman filmed the voters he approached and Roy Warden stood by with a firearm in a holster.

Diego Bernal, a staff attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), said the trio was trying to intimidate Hispanic voters. "A gun, a camera, a clipboard before you even get to the polls - if that's not voter intimidation, what is?" he asked.

If it's not intimidation, what is it?  Possibly street theatre:

Bernal said his group encountered the men at the Precinct 49 polling place at South 12th Avenue and West Michigan Street and began documenting the scene with their cameras. "There was an interesting period where they were taking pictures of us taking pictures of them."

Hmm, did the monitors outnumber the intimidators?  In a first class example of the power of blogs, a Kossite actually took to the streets on election day 2006 to track down these scary guys.  The story:

"Men With Guns Harass Latino Voters" blared the headline on Daily Kos. I clicked and read a quote from a TPM Muckraker post:

I just spoke with a Latino election monitor in Arizona who said that a trio of men, one with a handgun visible, is harrassing Latino voters as they go to the polls in Tucson, Ariz.

Tucson? That's where I live. I read more and found that this incident took place "at a polling place in Tucson's Iglesia Bautista precinct." Which is less than 2 minutes from my home. I jumped in the car and grabbed my camera. I'm a photographer and a student of photojournalism at Pima Community College.

And the gist - the three agitators went to heavily Latino/Democratic districts with lots of Dem monitors around, observed the 75 foot rule, and asked a few people to sign an 'English-only' petition.  That seems to be legal; as to whether it is intimidating, well, I am trying to imagine two or three of the New Black Panthers pulling their shtick in a 95% white neighborhood while surrounded by local cops and monitors. 

In that scenario, and speaking as a middle-aged white guy, the only fear I would have is that I would lose a contact lens while giving them the eye-roll.  Perhaps I am made of sterner stuff.  OK, perhaps not.

ON TO POST C AND PLAN C:  Adam Serwer is back with yet another clarification; his latest gambit is to simply insult the intelligence of his readers:

So, I just wanted to clear something up: I wrote my post yesterday about the Justice Department's decision not to pursue criminal charges against the NBPP during the Bush administration because I had seen conservatives arguing that it was made by the Obama administration. It wasn't. I did not mean to suggest that the civil case, which the DoJ dropped in May of last year after receiving a preliminary injunction against the only NBPP member in Philadelphia who was walking around with a baton, was dismissed during the Bush administration. I apologize if any of my writing has been unclear on this point or any confusion has resulted because I misstated the accusation of who wanted the criminal case dismissed.

He's sorry it was unclear, but his response was really directed at one episode of The Factor and one Washington Examiner editorial that complained about the dismissal of charges in May 2009 and could be fully corrected by changing one word from "criminal" to "civil" (they mischaracterized the initial filing).

Let's see - the lead of his first post was this:

I did an interview with New York Daily News Columnist Errol Louis about the New Black Panther Party case today and realized that there's a specific data point that has been lost in all the breathless coverage of this case and whether or not it represents a racist agenda from the Obama administration: The decision not to file a criminal case occurred before Obama was even in office.

So really, when he wrote "lost in all the breathless coverage", he meant, and were supposed to know, that he meant 'misstated occasionally'.

Conservative activist and former Voting Section Attorney J. Christian Adams identified United States Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli as the person who ordered the case dismissed, but he wasn't confirmed until March, three months after the case was downgraded.

How could that confuse or mislead anyone?  Surely a knowledgeable reader will know that, hmm, Perrelli was in office when the case was dismissed, so I am not sure what a knowledgeable reader would conclude.

All of which kind of puts a rather large wrinkle in the right-wing fantasy that the decision to pursue a civil rather than criminal case against The New Black Panther Party members was a racist decree handed down from the racist leadership of the Obama administration.

A civil/criminal "right-wing fantasy" held by few in the right wing, since the real objection is to the dismissal of charges in May.  But Mr. Serwer intended that passage to be clear.

And from his first Update:

I'm simply pointing out that none of the political appointees being blamed for dismissing the case were even at the DoJ when the case was dismissed.

Other than, of course, the ones who were, by May 2009.  Uh huh.  And I am simply pointing out that either Serwer was absolutely at sea as to the facts and should admit it, or he should come back with an even more creative Plan D (Maybe the dog ate his notes?  Or maybe BP spilled oil on them!  Yeah, that's the ticket!).  But this apology for being unclear?  He was perfectly clear - he was also perfectly wrong.

And lest you wonder, Mr. Serwer has not built up so much credibility that I am interested in his insights into the customary application of these laws.  If the right Dem flack told him they only applied to extra-terrestials, that would leap from TAP to Olby by Friday.

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

I wonder if TM has a way of sending these critiques to Armbinder et al., or if he just has to hope that they'll read them.

[A great big gob of green leafy spinach, please.]

I'll gladly pay up Tuesday for the macedoine over the weekend.
==========

[REDDi, get set, go!]

Like the World Wildlife Fund explaining to the pretty little head of some reporter quizzical about AmazonGate. 'We tend not to comment in contexts where there doesn't seem to be a desire for balanced coverage.' Now they tell us.
========

[Janesquaredance]

George Steinbrenner died

[Clarice]

I sent it to him just now, DoT.

That'll give the Atlantic all stars a chance to come up with yet another story for TM to skewer.

[Danube of Thought]

Good for you, C. Nice to know these clowns can't assume they're fooling everybody.

[Clarice]

Since I could find no contact info I had to put it in the comments section--available for reading by anyone who reads the piece.

[Topsecretk9]

If Ambinder does have the stones to take it up I'm betting he'll do his level best to pooh pooh all the obvious problems Adam Serwer's misfire and twist it into conservatives sniping over little details. Sort of like how he insists there is a birther problem yet seees no issues with his colleague's Trig Birther obsession overall.

[Clarice]

TS9!! How nice to see you.

How is the Atlantic staying afloat with all this wackiness anyway?

[Old Dad]

Dave Weigel also "broke" this big news yesterday in The Daily Dish. Don't know which Atlantic flunky stole it first.

[narciso the harpoon]

The Amvinder link, leads to Serwer's piece, which has some push back, in the comment section

[Gabriel Sutherland]

Splendid. Ole farm hand Marc Ambinder is still tending to his young crops. They need more water Marc, not more sunlight. Break out your fire hose before Serwer burns himself alive.

[Sue]

I thought Journolist disbanded.

[Topsecretk9]

Hi Clarice

Nice to see you too.

One aspect of Townhouse/Journolist is it shows what a bunch of children they are as you see all these conservative hating liberals apply the "no oxygen" rule to facts that get in the way of their agreed upon narratives,and when the facts get too much to deny they all -- like little sheep -- twist the story into petty little grievances.

They just can not admit they screwed up.

[Rick Ballard]

Sue,

I don't think it's possible to disband a hivemind.

[narciso the harpoon]

True, Rick, the Borg were proven to be loath to disconnect from the collective. So they are paid to be third rate scribes the kind
that Orwell sketched out like Syme, yet they
offer this puerile Minitrue blather

[Ignatz]

--They just can not admit they screwed up.--

These aren't matters of opinion; they're basic, elementary facts.
Is there no such thing as an editor anymore?
Are fact checkers no longer employed by anyone?
There just don't seem to be any adults to take the color crayons away from the kids when they start writing on the walls anymore.

[Sue]

Rick,

Me either. They just culled it a little.

[Rob Crawford]

F the press. I hope they all get the fates they so richly deserve.

[Appalled]

Serwer is updating himself again. LUN. I think he's syaing that the Black Panther case that he was talking about was not the Black Panther case TM and other critics were talking about. And besides, all those complaining justice department officals are a bunch of right wingers, anyway. Frankly, his article reads like code, and I have misplaced my Little Orphan Annie Progressive Detector Code Ring.

[Neo]

... but this proves that Barack Obama probably wasn't involved in the JFK assassination (he would have been 27 months old) ..

.. but if he finds the same "time machine" that Trig Palin uses to go back in time to become Andrew Sullivan's father, it could be possible but not probable.

[Porchlight]

RIP Steinbrenner. Sad. I know he was the man everyone loved to hate, but he was legend nonetheless.

[martin j smith]

now there is an election coming up this November. Are there going to be Black Panthers at voting stations with uniforms or clubs. I hope if they are there are cameras to give everyone a good show.

[Janet]

The constituents know more than the Congressmen!

(I've been posting this about 3 times, so if a lot of them show up...I'm sorry!)

[Danube of Thought]

As an owner who produced results, Steinbrenner was second only to Jerry Buss of the Lakers. But it's a distant second. RIP

[JM Hanes]

Gabriel S:

I think your nugget in the previous thread is worth posting again:

Julie Fernandes was an Obama student in Chicago -- and is listed as a group member of :

Former Students of Barack Obama
This is a group for former students of Barack Obama to network with each other.

By registering to be a member of the Former Students of Barack Obama group, you consent to have your name and your email address be accessible by the official representative of the Former Students of Barack Obama group, and to be identified as a Former Students of Barack Obama group member in your profile and the LinkedIn search results. If you do not wish to give such consent, please do not register.

Gotta love that group's avatar. Has anyone ever mapped out all these Chicago links graphically? It would tell quite a story.

It's not just that Obama soaked up the Chicago way, it's that he's never known anybody outside of Chicago. When he runs out of Chicago appointees, he's dependent on other more experienced Chicago hands, like Rahm and John Podesta, to fill in the blanks.

[Janet]

Here it is (very tiny!)

Is it in the shape of an acorn? Maybe not.

[narciso the harpoon]

It would be like that powerpoint from hell on Afghanistan, JM, so I guess she didn't read
the civil rights cases,except out of a Derrick
Bell primer either

[JM Hanes]

Speaking of Chicago, in the process of trying to track down Eric Holder's "Nation of Cowards" speech, I ran across this odd Blagojevich connection from 2004:

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan laid out her case Thursday that the taint of organized crime has sullied Rosemont, putting pressure on the state's Gaming Board to reject the northwest suburb as a casino site.

Robert Stephenson, a Rosemont attorney, said Madigan's charges would be refuted by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, named Tuesday by Gov. Blagojevich as a special investigator into the casino matter.

That was a $300,000 assignment, btw. How did Blago light upon Holder, I wonder? Elsewhere, the Sun-Times observed that:

Holder enjoys deep ties to Obama's team. His wife, an obstetrician, delivered incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel's daughter.

But rest assured, there's a Gorelick Wall between the White House and the Atty General when it comes to controversial decision-making at the DoJ.

[Janesquaredance]

But rest assured, there's a Gorelick Wall between the White House and the Atty General when it comes to controversial decision-making at the DoJ.

Yesterday it came out that every time the DOJ had to make a decision on the NBP's case, someone from DOJ met with Cassandra Butts at the WH - hours before the decision was due.

[mefolkes]

Wow, there was just an amazing cat fight between Megyn Kelly and Kirsten Powers over the New Black Panther Party case. Andrea Tantaro just sat back at the end, as the two blondes did battle. I hope someone posts it to You Tube.

[narciso the harpoon]

It wasn't a fair fight from what I understand,
Kirsten, often is clueless on most of these
matters,

[Neo]

Riddle me this Batman ...

The Obama administration would quickly send home six Algerians held at the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but for one problem: The men don't want to go. Given the choice between repatriation and incarceration, the men choose Gitmo, according to their lawyers.

[JM Hanes]

That's about the most unsurprising news we've had all week, isn't Jane? Major congrats and big hugs for your move to the Hub!

[narciso the harpoon]

The Sport et Musique, makes Gitmo seem like summer camp, you don't get the confy barcalounger and the cable over there

[Clarice]

You just have to keep torturing me with that, jmh...don't you?

Good catches on Blago and Fernandes.
well if Fernandes learned con law from "Prof" Obama, no wonder she thinks unconstitutional behavior is okay.

In the end-all the incompetence of this administration may not cost O as much as Holder's dumb moves on the NBP party and Az.

[jimmyk]

OT: Hmm, surpising:

"Job openings dropped in May from the previous month and layoffs edged up, fresh evidence that employers are reluctant to add workers."

LUN

[mefolkes]

Narciso, who cares if the fight was fair or not. Two hot blondes with tempers flaring was fun to see. Actually, I think that Powers is one of the fairest and calmest of the Dems, but she has her moments when she is very frustrating. Powers actually did seem clueless. You are right in that.

[narciso the harpoon]

Allah's going to have a hard time when he posts the clip, picking ahem sides

[Old Dad]

Weigel weasles over at the Dish.

[Clarice]

Video here:

http://stephenkruiser.com/2010/07/13/megyn-kelly-pwns-kirsten-powers-on-nbpp-case/>Pwned. Was Kirsten reading Atlantic?

[JM Hanes]

Lots of things in the Holder CV seem more interesting in retrospect -- here's just a simple juxtaposition from Wikipedia. First this:

In 2004, Holder helped negotiate an agreement with the Justice Department for Chiquita Brands International in a case that involved Chiquita's payment of "protection money" to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a group on the U.S. government's list of terrorist organizations. In the agreement, Chiquita's officials pleaded guilty and paid a fine of $25 million. Holder represented Chiquita in the civil action that grew out of this criminal case.

That would be Colombia, currently on the list of soon-to-be-former allies. Does anyone else recall some rumored Congressional/ Administration links which showed up on captured FARC computers?

Fast forward to 1999, where I found myself revisiting some details of Holder's 2nd most notorious recommendation for clemency:

Holder was also involved in Clinton's decision to reduce the criminal sentences of 16 members of the Boricua Popular Army, an organization that has been categorized by the FBI as a terrorist organization. The clemency request was initially opposed in 1996 by U.S. Pardons Attorney Margaret Love. When Holder was elevated to Deputy Attorney General in 1997, he was asked to reexamine the issue by three members of Congress. In July 1999, Holder recommended clemency to Clinton with a report from then U.S. Pardons Attorney Roger Adams that neither supported nor opposed clemency. [Holy Shades of Salazar!]

A month later, Clinton granted the clemency. According to The Hartford Courant, the clemency was unusual because it was opposed by the FBI, the federal prosecutor and the victims. According to the newspaper, it was also unusual because, before the commutations, the Boricua Popular Army members were not required to repudiate their actions, and they were not asked to provide any information concerning the whereabouts of Victor Manuel Gerena, a co-conspirator and one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, or the millions of dollars stolen by the group in a 1983 robbery of Wells Fargo in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Eric Holder, the indispensable Igor.

[Janesquaredance]

Awwww JMH - those were the days!

[Clarice]

JMH, He seems to have found a unique way of findng new clients.

[JM Hanes]

I can stop any time!

But not before I post an excerpt from the speech I originally set out to find, and which got thoroughly subsumed in the reaction to Nation of Cowards:

And today the link between the black experience and this country is still evident. While the problems that continue to afflict the black community may be more severe, they are an indication of where the rest of the nation may be if corrective measures are not taken. Our inner cities are still too conversant with crime but the level of fear generated by that crime, now found in once quiet, and now electronically padlocked suburbs is alarming and further demonstrates that our past, present and future are linked. It is not safe for this nation to assume that the unaddressed social problems in the poorest parts of our country can be isolated and will not ultimately affect the larger society.

I'm not seeing a lot of daylight between Holder and Julie Fernandes.

[jgreene]

Eric Holder is the most corrupt and incompetent AG in the history of our Nation. Of course, he serves the most inept Marxist ideologue to serve in higher office.

[centralcal]

Ace has the video of Megyn and Kirsten, for those interested.

[Janet]

In the video, I love how the constituent is better informed than the Congressman....actually many constituents from the boos heard in the video.

[JM Hanes]

Jane:

Mark Steyn will be saying, "I knew her when," any day now.

[narciso the harpoon]

It's like the Bizarro Atty General, a flack for terrorist, front men for the mob, the company that created 'hillbilly heroin' the
facilitator of the 'rendition' of Elian back
to be state property, It's a tough call but I'd say he's the worst of Obama's high profile
appointments

[Janesquaredance]

I think Holder and Obama are arm in arm on just about everything.

[centralcal]

Sorry - looks like Clarice had the video link, I didn't see!

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

This should help the NAACP cause:

Per Fox News (Megyn Kelly), NAACP passes resolution finding parts of Tea Party racist, and calling or repudiation of racist views.

The NAACP is a one trick pony. Desperately trying to keep redistributionist policies in place. Its moral force is becoming nil, sounding more like the Reverend Jackson, who became just another Chicago thug.

[Neo]

In its first stride into sovereign debt, Dagong Global Co. gave a taste of its view for creditworthiness around the world, placing more emphasis on the wealth creating capacity than other ratings agencies.

According to Dagong the U.S. has dropped to a AA rating, while France and the United Kingdom edged down to AA-. Belgium, Spain, Italy and Malaysia are all ranked at A-.

China received a rating of AA+ from the agency, due to its massive reserves and its expected economic growth of 8 percent to 10 percent this year. Germany, the Netherlands and Canada each joined China with AA+ ratings from Dagong.

Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand each received AAA ratings.

"The reason for the global financial crisis and debt crisis in Europe is that the current international credit rating system does not correctly reveal the debtor's repayment ability," said Guan Jianzhong, Dagong's chairman.

Dagong has been known in China for rating companies, but it said that its goal is to “correct the defects” in the existing system used by credit rating agencies and wants to offer a counter-weight to Western ratings.

[fdcol63]

Congrats, Jane!

[Clarice]

You think the Megyn/Kirsten smackdown was something? Wait till Jane and I have a final mud wrestle for Steyn. FAIR WARNING.

[fdcol63]

Only if you wear thongs.

Nude is too much, but a little material hides just enough to retain some mystery.

LOL

[JM Hanes]

"NAACP passes resolution finding parts of Tea Party racist, and calling or repudiation of racist views.

When will the Tea Party's Jeff Foxworthy appear?

If you're a typical white person.... you might be a racist.

If you've only been speaking truth to power since the Stimulus Bill passed.... you might be a racist.

If you drive a pick up truck.... you might be a racist.
If you drive a pick-up truck from Wrentham.... you're probably a racist.
If you have ever driven a pick up truck across the Mason-Dixon line.... you're a doubleplus ungood racist.

If you're a black conservative.... you might be an Uncle Tom, which is the only thing worse than being a racist.

If you're black and voted for Obama.... you are not a racist.
If you're white and voted for McCain.... you're a racist.
If you're black and voted for McCain.... you're a traitor to your race, which obviously makes you a racist.

If you don't think Sgt. James Crowley is stupid.... you might be a racist.
If you think Boston Police are Boy Scouts.... you might be wrong.

If you make politically incorrect jokes about racism.... you might want to change your screen name if you aspire to public office.

I can stop any time.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Please don't JMH. LOL

[JM Hanes]

Oops, left out:

If you're white and voted for Obama.... you're not a racist anymore.

[Janesquaredance]

Can I put that on You Too JMH?

[Tom Maguire]

Eric Holder is the most corrupt and incompetent AG in the history of our Nation.

As to corrupt, I'll pass, but incompetent? By this point in her tenure Janet Reno was at the one year anniversary of burning eighty people to death. Elian Gonzalez was just a gleam...

[Captain Hate]

Shouldn't the NAACP change their name to NAAPoC?

[bmcburney]

For those that followed the link to Battlin' Bob, according to my copy of "Black's Law Dictionary" the word "prosecute" can apply to both civil and crimnal actions. Thus is O'Reily vindicated and the Lefties beclowned.

[Danube of Thought]

Saw Powers over the weekend talking about SB 1070. Slam dunk for the feds, she said, because "states can't pass a law dealing with foreigners--period. It's in the Constitution."

Help me...

[Clarice]

She didn;t used to be so dumb. Is she hanging around t the Atlantic?

I think we ought to start a National Association for the Advancement of Americans.

[JM Hanes]

Jane:

Sure. You might want to change the attribution to JMH, though.... which would be OK with me. :-)

"If you're white & voted Obama" was supposed to go after "if you're back & voted McCain."

[Captain Hate]

Allah's going to have a hard time when he posts the clip, picking ahem sides

Neither has what beta-boy is looking for in a woman: tats, piercings, excess body fat, strap-ons.....

[NK]

"Eric Holder is the most corrupt and incompetent AG in the history of our Nation."

AG Rankings:

Most Corrupt = Robert F Kennedy
Most Incompetent = Janet Reno
Most Ideological = Eric Holder and A. Mitchell Palmer

While Holder and Palmer have almost opposite ideological orientations (Palmer hating anachists, commies and other leftists -- Holder hating conservatives, liberterians and other righties) they both use their ideological progressive zeal to go after enemies and protect friends with means fair or foul. Holder is a zealot, but he's not incompetent (a shame) and he's not proven yet to be personally corrupt. He's the Admin's hatchet man and he revels in it.

[JM Hanes]

NK:

How are you defining corruption?

[narciso the harpoon]

I don't get that about RFK, surprising considering where I'm from,

[NK]

JMH,Narcisco--

RFK and corruption? professional-- using his office in congress and AG to persecute the weak to obtain higher office; taking the job of AG to use legal muscle for political ends his brother could not accomplish as pres.; doing the Mafia's bidding -- for whatever reason-- I choose to believe he did it for the worst possible reasons; personal corruption: prostitutes, serial adultery, neglecting his wife and kids. That's enough for me.

[Rick Ballard]

"Hmm, surprising"

Not to mention unexpected.

jimmyk,

Tie it together with the 4.4% decline in personal tax deposits and the NFIB - No Joy report for a trifecta of "unexpected" (only by credentialed morons "in the know").

The Dems need to ditch the jackass as party symbol and switch to Wile E. Coyote staring between his feet at the canyon floor - a lonnnng way down.

[Janet]

JM Hanes -

The ....you might be a racist idea is GREAT!

[narciso the harpoon]

Really, when I think of RFK, I don't think of him knuckling down to the Mob, if anything one might suspect the opposite got him killed.
now you could question his go between role during the missile crisis, but I don't get it

[Parking Lot]

((Are fact checkers no longer employed by anyone?))

when the product is propaganda, evidently not

[Gabriel Sutherland]

2004 was a really fruitful year for Mr. Holder. Sheesh.

[lyle]

Apropos of nothing, I give you Eleanor Clift, writing in Newsweak:

One key difference: Obama hasn’t done as good a job as Reagan of blaming his predecessor. Jimmy Carter for years served as the GOP’s version of Herbert Hoover while Obama let George W. Bush slip away into the ether, a former president so invisible that he might as well be in a witness-protection program.

Cut-n-pasted from RCP today.

If mendacity or obtuseness could be measured in a pharmaceutical grade purity scale...

[Rick Ballard]

It's a shame that Jane and Clarice are in such a bitter competition over Steyn's favors. Were it not so, Clarice could link Jane's JMH "You Might Be a Racist" list in this Sunday's Pieces.

The list is a great idea - Brava, JMH.

[JM Hanes]

Sheesh. Eleanor Clift is not the only lefty who thinks Obama is just not shouting loudly enough. GWB deliberately chose to be invisible as a monumental courtesy to Obama. I loved the recent Laura Bush interview where she joked that everybody in the family has taken up blaming George for everything too. Obama may not have blamed Bush persuasively, but it's hardly for want of trying.

[Clarice]

well, I was thinking of stealing it anyway, Rick. Just to keep in practice.

[NK]

Narcisco--

the mafia got JFK/RFK prostitutes and drugs. RFK got Hoffa convicted and the Mafia took over the Central States Teamsters pension fund for 20 years, turning it into the "mafia's bank". RFK and Hoffa did business with the mafia and both thought they were too big for the mafia to "touch". Hoffa's bad judgment and attempted come back cost him his life. RFK/JFK? -- history has no proof, I choose to believe the worst about them and the mob. Occam's Razor says too many connections to be coincidence.

[Stephanie]

JMH did you see the article that says that Mooveau Riche is furious that Laura's new book isn't all about Mooveau?

LUN

[lyle]

"Sheesh. Eleanor Clift is not the only lefty who thinks Obama is just not shouting loudly enough."

Blame Bush is, apparently, sort of a Unified Field Theory on par with AGW.

Kind of sad to hear that Eleanor has spent the last 18 months never having heard a word O has spoken. Has she fallen deaf? Poor dear.

[Jane says obamasucks]

You Might be a racist if - is up.

And I think Rick is brilliant!

[jimmyk]

People like Clift are so mired in their echo chambers that they don't even notice when someone routinely blames Bush for everything. It's like that background hum that you only notice when it stops.

[JM Hanes]

Thanks, Janet, Rick! I think the possibilities ..... might be endless. I'd say lyle's Unified Field Theory has some real potential too.

Stephanie -- It's like she's playing painting in the attic to Barack's Dorian Gray.

[JM Hanes]

What fun, Jane!

A whopping Thunderstorm has stalled out smack dab over my house. Probably a sign that I should back away from the computer.

[Old Lurker]

Neo thanks for your 3:05.

When all the rating agencies agree the emperor has nice clothes, a new guy backed by those who have money in the game will come along to tell the truth. If not Dagong, somebody like them is past due.

When those ratings gain acceptance and start impacting borrowing rates more, it will not be long before the Mark emerges from the Euro. It already explains why it is so painful to trade dollars for SwFr...

[Danube of Thought]

I'd say John Mitchell has to be included in any pantheon of corrupt AG's. Dude was the only one ever to do time in stir.

[Frau Indianerfrau]

Re: Holder - As to corrupt, I'll pass, but incompetent? By this point in her tenure Janet Reno was at the one year anniversary of burning eighty people to death. Elian Gonzalez was just a gleam...
The power behind the throne? Remember whose shoulders Reno cried on all those years.

Putting so many guilty, corrupted and unindicted folk in his cabinet and czardom parallels protecting, er, putting Gorelick on the 9/11 Commission.

[JM Hanes]

I'd like to have been a fly on that Commission wall, Frau, just to see Gorelick in action. When folks finally noted her massive conflict of interest, it was like every guy on board was competing to play her knight in shining armor.

[NK]

Hey Danube--

Not to split hairs but Mitchell was convicted of conspiracy/obstruction for actions as CREEP chairman not AG. Personally, protecting the pres. to me --even though it was criminal-- is less corrupt than anything RFK, Holder, Palmer or even Reno pulled. Mitchell also stuck by a mentally ill and alcoholic wife. Now a better corruption case against Mitchell is all of the 1960s municipal bond deals he floated, those probably stunk to high heaven.

[NK]

JMH--

agreed, Jamie Gorelick is the most corrupt -- and moronic-- Deputy AG ever.

[narciso the harpoon]

The left will always find a distaff Republican
to deliver a death blow to any center right figure they feel needs to be taken out, they
couldn't take out Cheney, so they aimed for Libby, with all the shrapnel they could loose
upon the target

[Topsecretk9]

Hans von Spakovsky just makes mincemeat of Adam Serwer:

...Indeed, the person who would have been responsible for making a recommendation on whether to file a subsequent criminal charge against the individual New Black Panther defendants was Mark Kappelhoff, the “career” chief of the Criminal Section and a former ACLU lawyer. Besides being a big contributor to Democratic candidates like Barack Obama and John Kerry, as well as the DNC, Kappelhoff was considered such a liberal loyalist that he was moved into the political position of chief of staff to the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights by the Obama transition team almost as soon as they came in the door.

Sources tell me that Kappelhoff never recommended a criminal case against the baton-yielding thugs, so the claim that the Bush administration is somehow responsible for “downgrading” this case is complete nonsense...

He also explains that most of the cases are civil or start out as such -- read the whole thing at LUN

[Danube of Thought]

Point taken, NK--but he was at CREEP at the same time he was AG, so I don't tend to cut him any slack.

[Clarice]

JMH, YOU PUSSY--I STAYED RIGHT HERE THRU THE LIGHTING BOLTS EVEN THOUGH MY APPLE TEMPORARILY VANISHED.(sorry about the caps--didn't notice the lock was on....)

[JM Hanes]

CLARICE, YOU HUSSY -- I WENT OUTSIDE AND THREATENED THE STORM GODS WITH A GOLD CLUB!

[JM Hanes]

(sorry about the d in golf club, but my hands are still cramped from holding the thing aloft...)