1 post tagged “arlen specter”
It seems that the possible storm brewing over Eric Holder's nomination as Attorney General is about to turn into a real storm. Sen. Arlen Specter called the nomination into question on Tuesday and officially threw down the gauntlet.
I have to applaud Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy for making the same point that I made 5 weeks ago:
“We need the new attorney general to be a person of experience and independence. Any effort to question his character is unfounded. Every Republican voted for Alberto Gonzalez, and felt his character merited confirmation. Certainly Eric Holder exceeds that test.”
Indeed.
Granted, Holder was tangled up in a really bad pardon decision, but it was not his decision, it was the President's decision. I said it before and I'll say it again: Alberto Gonzalez HELPED TO AUTHOR A MEMO THAT JUSTIFIED TORTURE!!!!! He helped find a "legal loophole" to make the Geneva Convention and International Treaties irrelevant under the guise of "protecting America." And this was BEFORE he was confirmed as Attorney General.
If we are going to stack up the legality, ethics and morality of these two men based on these incidents then there is no comparison. What Gonzalez (allegedly) did justified illegal interrogation methods (water boarding), lowered the nation's standing in the world and put lives at risk. Holder rubber stamped the pardon of a uber-wealthy fugitive who didn't pay his taxes, made some really bad business deals with some really bad people and MAY have asked his wife to give some money to the DNC and the Clinton library (then again, she may have done that on her own).
At WORST Holder helped to get a bad guy get off the hook too easy. But Gonzalez helped pave the way for violations of INTERNATIONAL LAW...oh, and then as A.G. he fired U.S. Attorneys for political reasons.
Undoubtedly Specter knows all of this. In fact, when Specter pulled his support for Gonzalez, the A.G. had no choice but to resign. So why put up the fuss? The buried lede in the Politico story is this:
The Pennsylvania senator went on to criticize President-elect Barack Obama for not consulting him prior to announcing Holder's nomination last month. “Had he done so, I could have given him some facts about Mr. Holder's background that he might not have known,” Specter said.
Ohhhh, now I get it. Specter is pissed because no one called him on the phone. This is a play for attention and also a reminder to the President-elect that he is still out there and, as a "moderate" Republican from a blue state, he is one of the key votes that can end a fillabuster on certain issues.
But wait, there's more. Specter also gets the added benefit of standing up to Obama when just about eveyone else is laying down. This tells his base back home that he is not going to roll-over for the new administration -- an important message to send knowing that you had a bitter primary fight four years ago and may have another one coming.
This is really a win-win for Specter: Holder will get confired (especially with Orin Hatch supporting him), so Obama gets his A.G. And Specter gets to show Obama that he is still relvant while pounding his chest for the right-wingers in PA.
I really resent that Specter is doing this, because I think it is a load of horse crap. But I understand why he is doing it and, from a political point of view, it is not a bad move. It just stinks that the politics of all this will further drag Holder's name through the mud.
