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| Home Front: Politix |
| Holder Confirmed As Attorney General |
| 2009-02-03 |
| The Senate confirmed Eric H. Holder Jr. as the nation's first African American attorney general by a vote of 75 to 21 yesterday. The Senate vote occurred four days after Holder overcame concerns by a small but vocal group of GOP lawmakers over his position on national security and gun rights, as well as his recommendations in two controversial clemency decisions by President Bill Clinton. Holder's advocates marshaled critical support from a broad base of federal and state law enforcement groups as well as a bipartisan coalition of former Justice Department leaders, including onetime deputy attorney general James B. Comey, former FBI director Louis J. Freeh and President George W. Bush's terrorism and homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend. His service in the Clinton years invited criticism from GOP lawmakers, who also questioned his approach to hot-button terrorism policies. At a grueling, seven-hour hearing last month, flanked by his wife and three young children, Holder labeled as "torture" the simulated drowning technique called waterboarding and vowed to make national security his top priority. Holder also said that he would look askance at efforts to "criminalize policy differences" but did not conclusively rule out prosecution of Bush administration officials for their involvement in detainee questioning and warrantless surveillance operations. That issue emerged as a pivot point for conservatives such as Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), who voted in opposition to Holder. Another nay vote came from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). Coburn concluded that Holder's recommendation of "neutral leaning toward favorable" in the last-minute 2001 pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich "should disqualify him from higher office." |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #10 We'll have to go to faxes or hand copies like it was done in the former Soviet Union: "Samizdat." Buy more PostIt Notes nao! |
| Posted by: .5MT 2009-02-03 23:53 |
| #9 buy more ammo |
| Posted by: bman 2009-02-03 14:52 |
| #8 Besides choosing their fights, having the dirt on somebody as powerful as attorney general gives them some leverage in the future. May help keep him in line. They overlooked Obama's birth certificate and other controversial issues, too, but it may come in handy to have an ace or two to play. |
| Posted by: ThealingBorgia 122 2009-02-03 14:22 |
| #7 I didn't realize the senate trunks were going to fight. I thought they were just going to make sure they got their fair share of pork. Like the Caliphornia trunks. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-02-03 13:55 |
| #6 This is politics, Lagom. They must pick their fights... and the fight over the stimulus package is much more important. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-02-03 13:48 |
| #5 Have the Republicans in the Senate simply given up the fight? To acquiesce to such a bad nominee would be unthinkable to anyone with courage of convictions. |
| Posted by: Lagom 2009-02-03 13:02 |
| #4 At a grueling, seven-hour hearing last month, flanked by his wife and three young children He made his wife and kids sit thru a day-long Senate hearing? That sounds like torture to me. A little strange too; like when you bring your Mom with you on a job interview. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-02-03 12:14 |
| #3 We'll have to go to faxes or hand copies like it was done in the former Soviet Union: "Samizdat." |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2009-02-03 11:24 |
| #2 It's entirely possible we won't. Purely in the interest of fairness, of course. |
| Posted by: Fred 2009-02-03 09:38 |
| #1 Will we still have 'burg? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-02-03 08:25 |