Obama invokes Executive Privilege after long stall by Holder
Can Holder & Co. stall beyond the election?
I’m playing catch up on this, because I had to attend to some things this morning (let the conspiracy theories begin!).
At the request of Eric Holder and the Justice Department, Obama invoked Executive Privilege to shield documents the House committee investigating Fast and Furious has been seeking for over a year.
It’s the old one-two stall.
First Holder pretends he will cooperate, but doesn’t. Then he stalls with negotiations. Then he stalls some more by promising to cooperate again, but doesn’t. Then, when his back is up against the wall because a vote is scheduled to hold him in contempt, he runs to Obama for some legal protection, which will result in the matter being thrown into the courts for more delay.
As with most things damaging to Obama, all they care about is pushing the bad news off until after the election.
What all this means, of course, is that Holder has been withholding documents responsive to the House subpoena which have not been turned over. So he has not complied with the House subpoena, since it only was today that he obtained the protection of an Executive Privilege claim from the White House.
Darrell Issa and his Republican committee members deserve a medal. Keep pushing.
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Kudos to Issa, but I am not sure about the medal. It has been clear all along that this was a stall, but we do not know the extent to which Issa has had to fight Republican leadership resistance to get even this far.
The last-minute invocation of executive privilege should get a few non-believers to understand Obama’s bad faith.
It’s about time the three branches of government began acting out their parts. Animosity and mistrust of the others is the oil that keeps the wheels turning. The collusion and complacency that has dominated the system the past decades has rusted the republic our founding fathers implemented. Both sides need total revamping. The right has seen the emergence of the Tea Party toward that end. What has the left done? Lurched further left.
There’s a lot of buzz out there and calls for articles of impeachment; however, I don’t think that would be good at this time because he will be seen as a martyr and the opposition (MSM, etc.) will say that he’s being picked on because of ___ (insert whatever word you want here). My question though is, can he exert executive privilege on third party’s papers, or only his own-those coming from him? What was his involvement? Is this ‘fessing up that he knew all along? Many questions, few answers.
Sorry. Shouldn’t write when not feeling well. That should be “assert” not “exert”.
Good question! Just as attorney’s “work products” enjoy a degree of confidentiality, so should memos and correspondence generated by administrative staff of the president. But memos from field agents and non-governmental entities have no business being included with that lot. They are not “staff members”.
The obvious conclusion these clowns leave us is that there is criminal collusion at the highest level mixed up in all this, and they simply want it to all go away. Hope it doesn’t, but leads to a change in administration, instead.
There is precedent for department-level and agency-level privilege when there is no White House involvement, but it applies only to deliberations on policy. The mere receiving of factual information from field offices, or communicating about who authorized and/or knew about a particular operation and when, ought not be subject to privilege.
So with a privilege claim, DOJ could theoretically withhold all the communications discussing options for dealing with the policy, but not who approved it, when, or who was copied on the memos.
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Heh. THAT won’t stop a contempt vote.
AND it WILL involve the courts, I bet/hope.
Plus, it says in neon letters…”HEY, we have something under this rock…!!!”
Excellent.
I concur. The Committee should hold the contempt vote, forward it to the full House and the House should find Atty. General Holder in Contempt of Congress.
Now, Holder can then go to the Courts to try to have it stayed while the courts figure out the Executive Privilege claim (which is ENTIRELY bogus) but that way the Contempt finding is there, on paper, ready to go the moment that a Court finds that Executive Privilege doesn’t apply to so much as ONE of the documents that Chairman Issa demanded in the subpoena.
This is how you fight the war when the enemy is stalling. PRESS ONWARD AND KEEP ATTACKING. Eventually the weakest portion will buckle, and expose a larger flank to attack.
Man, what is in those docs that the Most Transparent Adm. Ever Seen doesn’t want seen?
Possibilities include the One’s college/law school transcripts, SAT/LSAT scores,
How ’bout dead-bang evidence that Holder committed perjury?
That is my bet.
And, perhaps, so did the President when he said the White House was not involved.
Yes. The only reason they would scramble this wildly on such a “gimme” case is because it was instigated on orders from Teh Won, and the records will reflect it. And some illogical people still consider him to be a genius.
Holder quite likely committed perjury, but that’s not the worst of it since Obama was always going to pardon him anyway. Or at least that’s what Holder thinks.
Remember Obama early on telling the Brady gun control group he couldn’t get new legislation through Congress but that there were “certain things I can do under the radar . . .”? Ever wonder what those things were? Or if they included a program that makes it seem as if Mexican drug lords were illegally buying guns in the this country which later were used in murders in Mexico and the USA?
Most corrupt administration ever. Can they impeach???
The House could impeach Atty. Gen. Holder, but the Senate would NEVER convict him (on partisan lines alone). Even with the current mis-matched Dem heavy election coming up, there aren’t enough Dem seats in play to make this a campaign issue for the Dem Senators.
Using it would SEVERELY damage the chances of holding the Dem Senate seats in play (IF USED PROPERLY), but it wouldn’t succeed in actually removing Holder from office.
The way to play this is to “consider” impeachment but not actually take it forward until about election time, and then hold off because with an administration change the issue is moot. That would be the time to file criminal charges – after Teh Won is no longer able to issue a last minute pardon.
I can’t but have this nagging suspicion that Boehner let out a sigh of relief that Dear Leader invoked Executive Privilege.
Boehner needs to go. I truly feel that he could care less about this whole issue and that the Tea Party is causing this mess for him.
Actually, Sharyl Attkisson at CBS solely did virtually ALL of the early investigative reporting on the story. She got interested in the story after border agent Brian Terry was killed with one of the “walked” guns, which prompted some of Terry’s colleagues to resign and blow the whistle. Attkisson was really the only member of the MSM to latch onto the story, and she refused to let the story go even when, a few months ago, reports came out that she had been screamed at and ridiculed by members of the Obama administration for her persistence.
It is not clear to me that Issa would have gotten involved and devoted so much time and energy to the inquiry had Attkisson not been so persistent in her investigative reporting. She recently received an award for her work on the story and it is well deserved.
So if we’re giving out medals, she needs her award upgraded to a gold medal.
From just last week …
When I heard the story about the award recently, I was under the impression it was given to Sharyl only. But based on the blurb you found it sounds like she and others on her team recieved the award. I didn’t mean to short change in my comments the producer, editor or others on the team who also got the award. Thanks for the clarification.
Au contraire! Ms. Atkisson learned much of what she knows from Mike Vanderbough and David Codrea at Sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com. She is simply the only person in the MSM with enough fortitude to report, and continue reporting, the story. If you go to Vanderbough’s website, on the far right of the page, you will see the ENTIRE story from Day One. By no means do I wish to diminish her work, but Vanderbough and Codrea deserve credit where credit is due : )
How many deaths both here and in Mexico does it take for this administration to come clean on who exactly allowed 2000 guns to be transfered to the drug cartels in Mexico?
Politics aside its a very simple question that I have yet to see asked…let alone answered by this administration and its allies in the MSM.
Dear Leader is the person he’s been waiting for, so it doesn’t matter how many deaths (Mexican or otherwise)occur.
300 Mexicans were murdered in cold Blood, including US citizens and uniformed Officers of the US Government. The program that caused this to happen is clearly designed to provide the weapons to commit these murders and for no other reason anyone can ascertain. this program on the face of it violated federal law as well as treaties with Mexico. These documents are critical to the oversight functions of Congress regarding the proper conduct of several important agencies. Combined with the severe lap, and the claims by administration officials, I don’t see how any court could see this as nothing more than frivolous defense in the face of a horrendous and immoral abuse that may even rise to the charge of Treason for providing Arms to America’s enemies for nothing more than cynical political gain.
After the District court in DC gets a hold of this, the judge should immediately verify the contempt finding and have Holder led out of court in cuffs. America needs to see what happens to criminals at the highest levels of government. These ideas of immunity are bumpkiss and apparently foster corruption, treason and murder.
You hit the nail on the head. The idiots in Congress need to like the deaths of “hundreds of Mexicans along with US law enforcement agents Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata!”
Linkage…linkage…linkage!!! Link these murders together. Everyone I know on this side of the border with relatives in Mexico are related to, or know someone murdered, wounded or put out of work by the cartels. Tie that to Obama and Holder, and while it may not play well at the NY Times or WaPo, it’ll sure get a good run on Univision and in the Spanish media.
This is so obvious, it hurts…
ERRATA: You hit the nail on the head. The idiots in Congress need to
likelink the deaths of “hundreds of Mexicans along with US law enforcement agents Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata!”I recall this exchange from one of the several hearings that Holder testified under oath in front of the committee-
Issa: Do you intend to assert Executive Privilege?
Holder: No. Executive Privilege does not apply in this case.
(can’t find the exact link, Google is chuck full of today’s events)
As I recall from previous presidents’ claims of privilege, privilege applies only to communications with the President. If that is correct, internal communications within the Justice Department don’t even come close. Maybe that’s what Holder was referring to.
I believe there was also an exchange where Holder denied, under oath, White House involvement/knowledge of FF.
Since Executive Privelege can only by used for communications to/from the President personally, there’s no way he can now testify that such occurred without proving himself guilty of perjury. The very act of requesting Executive Privelege may be enough to prove him guilty of perjury.
Scooter Libby went to prison for less.
This is simply not true. Reagan asserted the privilege for intra-agency communications on mining leases on the basis that these deliberations were part of executive decision-making.
The internal discussions at DOJ about the policy before it was implemented or how to deal with it after it began might well be covered by EP. However, the simple facts of who made the decision (not how they made it), when, and who knew it had been made, would not be covered.
This WILL, I believe, wind up in the courts.
Remember, this is how Nixon really pooed the scruch in Watergate.
So…GunGate?
And…oh, baby…that WILL require the documents in question are submitted to the courts.
Pres. Composite has kicked the Tar Baby (can I say that…?).
Heh, heh, heh.
Pity the poor liberal consumer of news from old MSM news sources who fancies himself to be well-informed, unlike those fly-over yokels.
“What the hell is Fast & Furious?” is the main echo in the chamber today.
News that percolates through the layers and layers and layers of editors and fact-checkers has a certain flavor removed until one ends up with a watery cup of light, light, light brown lite coffee filtered of all impurities to enjoy with the morning newspaper.
Meanwhile, at the far table in the chopped-liver lepers section of this eatery, sits an actually well-informed and up-to-date blog-reading group drinking straight black unfiltered java with the grinds as they smear their laptops orange with their grimey, Cheetos-Breakfast-Burritos devouring hands.
A rare time when it’s good and right to be considered low class.
One of Chuck Schumer’s 3 branches of Gov’t .. the House, Senate, and President is down as Obama claims Executive Privilege on investigation of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
President Obama … “This is the right thing to do for
the American peopleuhm err ah .. ME.”Personally my first demand would be proof that EP could be invoked at all. E.g. cough up a document showing that the White House and the President were involved. Especially since Obama is on the record having stated that he wasn’t involved and neither was the White House. Additionally Holder testified that the White House wasn’t involved.
No document, no EP. They produce a document, now the White House staff and the President are in play and could therefore be a target of investigations.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) criticized the White House. “How can the president exert executive privilege over documents he’s supposedly never seen?” Mr. Grassley said.
You have to wonder what MSNBC’s 6 viewers are thinking (if they think at all) about “Fast and Furious,” considering MSNBC/NBC has had all of 10 seconds of coverage over the last year and a half.
5 viewers today. Cameraman called in sick.
How bad must the truth be that Holder views the contempt of Congress as his best option? Justice has never been able to get out in front of this scandal. Citing executive privilege simply heightens the insecurity of Holder’s underlings as they start scrambling to position themselves free of the eventual fallout. The peons will break ranks looking for Issa to help cushion the fall, especially if it looks like Obama is going to end up a one-termer. Citing executive privilege in order to buy time won’t help since they don’t have any time left to buy. The way Issa keeps squeezing leads me to believe he’s had a mole or two inside Justice all along. All Holder has been able to do is react each time Issa plays a new card. Holder has been funneled down a chute from the beginning.
We all know this is bigger than the ATF, the Justice Department or event Holder/Obama. This will be found to be a backdoor provocation to degrade the Second Amendment by ‘proving’ claims made by the Tides Foundation, the Center for American Progress, et al that American guns were “flowing over the border,” thus requiring tougher gun laws.
I think this may be more closer to the truth than we might realize: http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/w362/TrooperJohnSmith/Holder-Soros-stonewall-them-01.jpg
Highly likely, as the “gun violence in Mexico and on the border” was the basis for the BATFE attempting to institute unlawful requirements for record keeping of sales of certain firearms and for limits on sale of non-pistol firearms in South-Western states.
This was ALL about attempting to degrade the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. My guess is somewhere in the documents that Atty. Gen. Holder is not releasing, somebody actually put that thought to paper and it would DOOM the entire Justice Dept senior staff and EVERY staffer involved would be run out of the DOJ for attempting to violate the Constitution and justify it by saying “well, there’s violence.”
Moles have to be protected. That often means alternative sources of the damning information has to be uncovered before the info obtained from the mole can be disclosed. That’s probably why this has proceeded at a more cautious pace than many wish.
[…] – The Great Stall By Obama And Holder – via […]
Isn’t Holder guilty of what Roger Clemens was just acquitted of?
I can already picture the lede in the Nightly News tonight:
“Today, the White House asserted Executive Privilege over documents related to nothing. Onto the heat wave gripping the Mid-west….
Bush White House asserts Executive Privilege over documents related to Fast and Furious…
Obama declares waterboarding is on the table.
Like most people, I’m frustrated with the kabuki-like stalling on the part of Holder and his Just-Us Department. At what point will everyone in Congress – both sides of the aisle – realize that we’ve created an imperial, and in this case, an imperious, presidency that works well outside the Constitutional framework.
I don’t see any ‘checks and balances’ inside the Beltway, unless it’s seven-figure checks to cronies and Credit Suisse balances.
As for Executive Privilege, I think there are people whose necks are in the noose, and this is the card of last resort. However, I think with the eviscerated Congress, lap-dog press and obstructionist Just-Us Department, any ‘Contempt of Congress’ and follow-on actions will come to naught. And someday, some bright, inquisitive person will mine the dusty old Fast and Furious archives and find some amazing things, perhaps things of Pulitzer quality… and then we’ll know.
And someday, some bright, inquisitive person will mine the dusty old Fast and Furious archives and find some amazing things, perhaps things of Pulitzer quality… and then we’ll know.
Assuming the documents continue to exist. Remember Sandy Berger.
Romney, together with Congressional Republicans and governors of affected states, should call on Obama to ensure that the documents are not tampered with. He should state that tampering or destruction would be major, possibly treasonous felonies and his administration would treat everyone involved accordingly.
Careful. You just used a noose reference in relation to a group that contains a Black individual. They will come accusing you of a hate crime just to silence you.
In all likelihood Issa has a source inside Justice, probably a high ranking career employee. Part of the snail’s pace is to protect that person by creating other possible sources for the information. Otherwise Issa is morally little better than Obama’s people blabbing sensitive national security information to the press.
Time for “Frog Marches”, including the First Nutritionist the hell out of OUR White House!
Can I type “White House”, or is that (could become) RACIST!
Obama had no problem throwing his pastor of twenty years and even his own grandmother, and I doubt he’d have any problem cutting holder loose when it became politically expedient. Yet, less than five months before his reelection, Obama is giving Holder cover at deep political risk.
Methinks the Most Transparent Administration In History knows the withheld documents include evidence that Holder and the White House itself coordinated Fast & Furious.
“Obama had no problem throwing his pastor of twenty years and even his own grandmother.” UNDER THE BUS
*sigh*
Wow… Just wow.
As Chief Brodie famously quipped, “You’re going to need a bigger boat!”
While illegal and likely to end his career, perjury before a Congressional Committee is pretty small potatoes. Holder’s boss could pardon him on his way out. I fail to see what the big deal is here for Holder.
But we now are treated with tangible evidence of what I, along with many others, have suspected – that this is a criminal conspiracy involving Holder and Obama.
And like the commenter above, I believe that the express purpose of this operation is to foment an attack upon the Second Amendment.
Forget impeachment. He was in violation of his oath of office the scone he took the oath.
This is an attack upon our very inalienable rights for partisan political purposes.
This is the very Constitutional definition of treason.
With a charge of accessory to murder for dessert.
Barry is in very deep doodoo.
This raises the question will Barry be the first ex in a gazillion years to not end up well-treated and generally respected? And I apologize if that question seems “racist”.
That there could be legally definable criminal activity involved in all this seems almost a given, unless one has a hyper affinity for coincidences.
Of course it could be the result of stupidity, but then how could Teh Won have been the smartest ever if that were the case? Strange……..
Holder appears to have been caught in 3 lies pertaining to F&F including being breifed by his predecessor, Att. Gen. Michael Mukasey, about similar program under Bush.
Any bets on when Obama throws Holder under the campaign bus?
Obama may be criminally joined at the hip to Holder on this and unable to throw him under without going down with him. Anyway, that’s my greatest hope.
“Obama may be criminally joined at the hip to Holder on this and unable to throw him under”
Maybe, but they do act Stooge Like at times. Larry and Moe in search of a Curly.
Oh, absolutely! One possibility is that early on in F&F, Obama and Holder just couldn’t foresee such an ugly outcome and did not practice communication cut outs to afford Obama plausible deniability, therefore the withheld documents incriminate both Holder and the White House.
As Grampa Hawkins used to say, pride goeth before an ass whuppin’.
Yea, I love how that works-
Holder tells a lie under oath, gets caught, then simply “withdraws” his lie.
So… could Clemons not do that?
Oh, wait… ol’ Roger didn’t lie!!
Let’s see how Holder does with 12 of the unwashed sitting in judgment.
The technical term for that is a ‘Geithner.’
It is all about dragging it out to past the election. Not sure if they are going to make it.
The scariest thing about this election is what Obama will edict via EO’s, enforcement/non-enforcement etc if he gets reelected. The nightmare quote is his open mic moment with Medvedev.
Point made in the committee hearing this morning.
This investigation officially ends with the swearing in of the next Congress….and Holder knows it.
Remember that Nixon dragged out Watergate past his ’72 landslide election. That’s how we got President Ford.
Could we be seeing a President Biden down the road? Sheesh…
For that to happen Republicans would also have to nominate their version of George McGovern.
Zippity doo dah, zippity ay! Gettin’ my Nixon on today!
The dems are snortin’ n spinnin’ in the committee today ahead of the contempt vote. Most galling: Remember when Rep Cummins promised slain Border Patrol officer Terry’s mother … we won’t rest until everyone involved in this, is identified and brought to justice?
Don’t remember? Don’t feel bad. Apparently Cummins doesn’t either.
“Until now, everyone believed that the decisions regarding ‘Fast and Furious’ were confined to the Department of Justice,” Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said in a statement.
“The White House decision to invoke executive privilege implies that White House officials were either involved in the ‘Fast and Furious’ operation or the cover-up that followed. The Administration has always insisted that wasn’t the case. Were they lying, or are they now bending the law to hide the truth?” Buck said.
———————————————
Snowball, gathering the Big Mo….
That’s uncharacteristically strong language coming from a Boehner-ite! I would much rather hear it come from Boehner’s lips, but it might mean Boehner is actually willing to help Issa tighten the screws. Boehner must think he has a winner here.
I’m guessing that they’re going to string it along like they did the birth certificate, letting their attackers look rabid, until the big reveal, of nothing-so-very-incriminating. Their game right now is to be the victim and to try and make the attackers look mean and ineffective.
I don’t think they’re trying to wait out the election. It’s probably good theater FOR the election.
Three hundred dead Mexicans and a few dead US Federal agents are really a bit more important than Stanley Ann Dunham’s lies about the identity her son’s father.
I agree. Just thinking out loud about how I think they’re playing their hand.
At least this story will get some air time… Keep on pressing for the truth!
Professor, is there a precedent that the Supreme Court would go into emergency session to rule on this executive privilege claim?
Would that Holder’s response to the subpoena was as “fast and furious” as the program itself. Oh well. Just when I thought we had regressed to the Carter Administration, now it appears we shall go all the way back to Nixon’s. Should prove interesting. I propose we call it “F-Gate.”
“Dead Mexicans Gate” has a certain visceral appeal…
Without wishing to seem overly insensitive, it’s the dead Americans that bother me more than the dead Mexicans.
Surprise!
– 4 minutes ago
BET Plays Race Card
Commentary: Eric Holder Contempt Vote Is Another Attempt to Delegitimize First Black President.
http://www.bet.com/news/politics/2012/06/20/commentary-eric-holder-vote-is-another-attempt-to-delegitimize-obama.html
This Executive Privilege will eventually lead to a full amnesty for Holder. The crook-in-chief is taking care of his henchman.
Color me skeptical Professor that Boehner and some of the other GOP elites are not unhappy that Obama did this. I am given to understand that Boehner was throwing a bunch of roadblocks to Issa’s contempt action — only to change his mind after a deluge of phone calls from citizen activists.
I will applaud the GOP only when Holder is convicted of contempt of Congress. At that point, they will merit some respect.
Until that time, I view this as the usual Kabuki theater production.
I’d be happy to let Obama & Holder continue in office IF they agree to go to Mexico, alone and without security, and personally retrieve all the weapons they set up to walk across the border.
“Never let a crisis got to waste”:
The O administration has just been handed the greatest opportunity to play the race card in its history. They planned the first Hispanic race card with the amnesty gambit, anyone opposing it will be branded racist anti Hispanic.
Anyone demanding Holder be held accountable will be labeled anti black racist. CNBC, MSNBC, CNN and the three major networks both nationwide and their local affiliates will fill their news and panel shows with the cries. The major print media will be in full cry.
The guilt index of well to do suburbanites will climb.
The election is lost before it even began.
Let me get this straight.
1. The Administration claims Fast and Furious was implemented by the DOJ by underlings that had absolutely no communication with the President, or even Holder until they read about it in the papers.
2. The communications of the President between Holder and his underlings are supposed to be protected under the Executive Privilege part of the Constitution.
I’m having a hard time seeing the Intersection of those two Sets without drawing a Null. Far more likely is Set 1 is invalid.
As I understand, he EP assertion only covers stuff AFTER a date in 2011.
Good catch, I missed that. Looks like the EP claim is for only docs after Feb 4 according to the WaPo linked document. (Letter from AG to the Committee)
I find it amusing that dems think independents will be turned off by all this.
A border agent died, hundreds of mexican citizen died. There has to be an investigation, and Holder, WH/Barry are blocking it, how can more border agents deaths be prevented from a failed program if the investigation cannot be done throughly to figure out what went wrong?
I’m a recovering liberal, I thought Bush should have investigated the Plame outing, and he did. Why would dems think independents have a different standard when it comes to dem corruption. Oh yes, there are dem drones who will defend anything and everything dems do, but independents want anyone and everyone in power to be held in account. Apparently the media in America only is concerned with corruption when it concerns repubs.
Thanks LSM and dems for showing your double standards.
“Our son, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, was killed by members of a Mexican drug cartel armed with weapons from this failed Justice Department gun trafficking investigation,” said Josephine Terry and Kent Terry Sr. “For more than 18 months we have been asking our federal government for justice and accountability.”
The Terrys also said that “our son lost his life protecting this nation, and it is very disappointing that we are now faced with an administration that seems more concerned with protecting themselves rather than revealing the truth behind Operation Fast and Furious.”
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King
Contempt vote clears committee. Party line vote 23-17.
I thought those committees were designed to be split evenly. If so, some of those votes had to come from Democrats.
40 members split 23/17 GOP/DEM. Straight party line vote. Gee, I hope some of the Dems are up for reelection this fall.
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I’ve been checking out LibDem reaction on comment sections for all the usual suspects and…. LOL. Shell shocked covers most of what I’ve read. Lots of Blame Bush! Lots of pointing out irrelevant straw men. But mostly lots of ignorance, because the comments make it exceedingly clear they know very little about F & F. Link to Daily Beast comment section for Oversight Committee vote:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2012/06/19/issa-wants-holder-contempt-vote.html#comments
I guess Obama’s position on “Executive Privilege” has “evolved”.
PROFESSOR, this is >1300 words. But you are possibly making a number of assumptions that if not true are negating your conclusion. If this is too long, or offensive, feel free to delete the whole thing with no hard feelings by me. I may use a version of this as a posting at another blog where I have the keys.
Professor, with all due respect, you and most observers of this are in denial. You are assuming that we have a functioning Constitutional system and something approximating a rule of law. We have been forced outside that, and this latest act makes it clear if we will but see.
Step back, and look at the sequence of events in the notational “Republic of Liberty”.
1) A president of the “Socialist Workers’ Party” [SWP] is elected. Said president’s background is murky, unexamined, and a combination of a unanimously pro-SWP media and a less than enthusiastic Opposition Party that is more concerned with Political Correctness and preserving its own privileges leads to a refusal to seriously vet the SWP candidate. Amongst the things that remain unexamined are his constitutional qualifications to be president [ see MINOR v. HAPPERSETT, 88 U.S. 162 (1874) 88 U.S. 162 (Wall.) See 23rd paragraph, counting 1-sentence paragraphs, beginning “The Constitution does not, in words, say who shall be natural-born citizens.”]. His very birthplace is in question; with at least one foreign country claiming the honor, his birth certificate in the US being first concealed, then a version that was an obvious forgery being released, then the state of his purported birth [totally controlled by the SWP] passing a law making it a state secret and a felony to release the original long form birth certificate.
From his own writings, during a period of foreign residence as a child, he attended a school that by law was only open to that country’s nationals. And by those same writings he may have traveled on the foreign country’s passport; said passport requiring swearing full allegiance to the country and no, there is no dual-citizenship possibility under either Liberty or the foreign nation’s laws.
2) His secondary education was at schools in political subdivisions under the long-term control of the SWP, and which schools themselves have been under the long-term control of the SWP. All of his records there have been classified and will/can not be released. In his undergraduate schooling, NO ONE from his major field remembers him being there during the years of his supposed attendance. He has no friends or acquaintances from that time, no known sexual partners of either gender [at the time when hormones are raging], either serious or casual, and no one even falsely claiming to have known him, even after he became famous and powerful.
3) His graduate education is classified, except for the curriculum vita released on his resume, with no corroborating information. He is documented to have used a number of Social Security Numbers, none of which are registered to him.
4) His following career was in politics, or SWP politics-connected endeavors. This entire time [including his time as a legislator in a SWP controlled state] is classified and no corroborating details can be found.
5) When running for President, he was the first to refuse to be limited by campaign finance laws, his campaign funding apparatus deliberately disabled the donor verification software for electronic donations, and he was shown to have taken large amounts of money from nationals of hostile foreign nations in violation of the law. At the same time the SWP made a concerted effort to insert false voter registrations into the voting system nationwide. None of this was covered by the national media, which is controlled by the SWP. During the voting, armed thugs supporting him were outside polling places threatening those who would vote for his opponent. They were charged, and convicted, of felonies after the election. However AFTER conviction and before sentencing the president’s administration dropped all charges and freed them. Thus validating and approving of such intimidation.
6) The Opposition Party chose a candidate who was known primarily for being the SWP’s best friend in the Opposition Party. He did not make any real attempt to win, or protest the SWP candidate’s illegal acts. His one positive move was selecting a running mate who inspired the Opposition Party. His, and his Party’s, reaction was to turn on the running mate and join in the SWP’s attacks on her.
7) The SWP’s candidate was elected. It is interesting that the Oath of Office was botched. There is even question as to whether he properly swore the Oath and is bound by it.
8) One of his first acts was to overturn centuries of commercial law and seize the two largest automakers in the country from the stockholders who owned them, void the rights of their secured creditors, and turn them over to his supporters and in one case a foreign company. And to subsidize them from the national treasury. And to decide their production and marketing.
9) After a long legislative battle, of highly dubious constitutionality, he seized 1/6 of the private economy for the government. There is a court battle that has climaxed, and a Supreme Court decision is expected at any moment.
10) There has not been a constitutional budget passed as per law, before the spending, for his entire term. His party controls the Upper House of Parliament and refuses to pass one. The government is financed by chicanery and printing money outside the control of the legislative branch. In the process, the president has done more deficit spending than the sum total of the entire country’s history before he took office.
11) In the last week he has asserted the power to overturn and refuse to enforce duly passed statutes by decree. There has been neither vocal nor legal resistance to this arrogation of absolute power, including from the Opposition Party leadership. In the latest polling, he is below 50% approval rating and in many cases behind his likely election opponent.
12) Now, when his Chief Law Enforcement Officer is under subpoena by a committee of the Lower House of Parliament for documents relating to a series of felonies by his agents that resulted in deaths of US and foreign nationals, when the evidence revealed so far goes up to the Chief Law Enforcement Officer’s immediate subordinates and may well go above him; the president claims the unilateral right to withhold the documents from investigators on his own word, despite prior attacks on that concept.
Professor, with all due respect; if you were presenting this scenario to your students for analysis, would you be sure, absolutely sure, that the president in question and his supporters were merely thinking all they care about is pushing the bad news off until after the election.? Or would it not be rational for any student of political science and the history of the mankind for the last few centuries to consider that there was a measurable, and not inconsequential, likelihood that this president does not intend to obey the constitution or the law and permit the risk of losing an election?
Subotai Bahadur
Bangin’ screed…
However, “One of his first acts was to” visit Canuckistan and marshal covert agreements with foreign governments to put an American private bridge owner out-of-business..
http://thepeopleshoulddecide.com/gov-snyders-bridge-for-canada-made-in-china-approved-by-obama/
Still, stepping back and trying to comprehend someone who ends a sentence with “if we will but see.” lol
The contempt citation has been voted out of committee.
It WILL get better from here…
Plus, as an added “popcorn bonus” we will now have barking moonbats…ON PARADE…!!!!
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/06/20/pelosi-lashes-out-i-could-have-arrested-karl-rove-on-any-given-day/
Barking moonbats covers the entire Dim political spectrumt. I had to put my reading glasses on to see that your link referred to FORMER Speaker Pelosi.
She has always hit all the low notes – shrill, conniving, ranting, unctious, nitwit, …. tyrannical.
AND you can count on the race card being flopped like it was a Texas Hold ‘Em tourney all week in Las Vegas…!!!
Good times, I tells you…
WASHINGTON, DC — House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) issued the following statement after the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee approved a resolution holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for his refusal to turn over subpoenaed documents related to the Fast & Furious operation:
“Despite being given multiple opportunities to provide the documents necessary for Congress’ investigation into Fast and Furious, Attorney General Holder continues to stonewall. Today, the Administration took the extraordinary step of exerting executive privilege over documents that the Attorney General had already agreed to provide to Congress. Fast and Furious was a reckless operation that led to the death of an American border agent, and the American people deserve to know the facts to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. While we had hoped it would not come to this, unless the Attorney General reevaluates his choice and supplies the promised documents, the House will vote to hold him in contempt next week. If, however, Attorney General Holder produces these documents prior to the scheduled vote, we will give the Oversight Committee an opportunity to review in hopes of resolving this issue.”
No grass growing under these guys…
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/06/20/house-speaker-boehner-threatens-full-house-contempt-vote-for-ag-holder/
wow. just when you think you have it all figured out, people still surprise you. I never expected to read those tweets nor thought either of those representatives would take it to Obama like that.
I wonder if it will play out like this:
step 1. House leaders try to negotiate with Obama and Holder. Obama tells them to go pound sand because (a) he is President, (b) they are Republicans, (c) the papers implicate the White House in a very bad way, and (d) Holder has a lot of dirt on Obama and is not going under the bus alone.
step 2. House passes the contempt resolution and refers the criminal charge to……the US Department of Justice. Who refuses to prosecute the charge because of Executive Privilege. Basically the administration tells the House to go pound sand again.
step 3. Scenario one–Boehner cries a little bit and then says never mind. scenario two–House passes a resolution for a special prosecutor (can they do that??) to prosecute the contempt of congress charge. More scenarios?
basically, the EP cover wasn’t to stop the committee from passing the resolution, it was to threaten the GOP leaders with impotence if they dared to pass the resolution in the full House.
Does this make sense or am I just off my rocker?
Well…like most of us…BOTH! Another option is a civil lawsuit with a member of Congress authorized to stand for that branch, naming Holder as Defendant.
So definitely a stall past the election. And given the reasonable reluctance to prosecute members of the previous administration, it would mean Holder and whoever Holder was working with in the White House would get off. I could live with that–just be gone so the country can get to work on digging out from the hole the insane clown posse has dug us into.
But bear in mind that these things take on a life and momentum of their own.
I would NOT be surprised if somebody squirted out of this is a bombshell to share.
Remember, compared to this, Watergate was just a prank.
What happens next… per Allahpundit at Hot Air, anyway:
“What happens if the House votes yes? Three possibilities, according to CQ. One: The House could, er, have Holder arrested. Doubtful. Two, as noted in the Hill piece: Boehner and Issa could ask the DOJ to prosecute Holder. Since Holder runs the DOJ, let’s call that one doubtful too. Three: The House could file a civil lawsuit against Holder demanding the documents, at which point he and O would assert executive privilege and off we’d go to federal court for a constitutional battle over separation of powers. I would guess that you’ll see some sort of deal at that point since both sides will be leery of an adverse outcome. Obama doesn’t want a court ruling dropped on him in the last few months before the election compelling him to turn over damaging documents and the GOP doesn’t want to hand O a talking point about that damned obstructionist do-nothing Republican Congress sabotaging his progressive gunrunning scheme, etc, especially while Romney’s trying to get a word in edgewise about the misery of Obamanomics.”
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/06/20/breaking-issas-house-committee-votes-to-hold-holder-in-contempt/
https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-levin/executive-privilege-and-how-the-house-should-move-forward-legally/10150866576635946
I would consider that a MUST READ primer. Not to say each word was gospel, but I damn sure is a good launching pad.
In the law, a “privilege log” is mandatory, just FYI. In my jurisdiction, you can’t “object” on an issue of privilege. You have to assert the privilege, and support it in a log for the court to rule upon.
Well, see? You’re smarter than me. I wanted to check Levin’s take on this too, but I sat in my pick up listening to him on Sirius radio. Nice sunset though.
Is he stealing Nixon’s playbook?
Now that is a great plot device for a set of columns–Obama talking to the ghost of Nixon.
Does Team Obama know they are in such horrible campaign trouble that ANY distraction is better than NO distraction????
Is Obama/Holder creating this huge distraction only to pull out the October document dump…all of the documents they have denied……. and it shows nothing consequential???
We have seen it before….Obama milked and milked the birth certificate distraction until an opportune time ……. and then “Oh, why didn’t you say you wanted to see my birth certificate, here it is”
He’s dumb………. dumb like a fox.
Hold him in contempt and send it to the Supremes.
I have this mental image of all the talking heads at NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, etc. cloistered away from the hired folk asking each other in desperate whispers, “what the f**k is Fast & Furious?”
Wow.
Just viewed the clip to get the 1972 feeling & went to my little box of favourite momentos .
Now I have my little 70s neo pink badge “NIXON NOW MORE THAN EVER” & have settled in to read all 100 comments.
I remember the day in 79 I bought it for 50cents . Since then I have ditched a genuine Mao cap because it was unflattering (& hot with a plastic inner band ) & kept this badge.
There was something about it -like saying -hang on -this IS important. So today i am happy to have been right about ditching the cap & keeping the badge.
I remember the summer of 1974. I still have the Washington Post from that day in August. I remember watching his speech on television the night before. Can you imagine what Nixon could have gotten away with if the press treated him like they have treated Obama over the past 3 1/2 years? It would probably look a lot like it does now…
One of the major differences is that Joe Biden isn’t as smart or as honest as Spiro T. Agnew…
Also remember that the Watergate coverup fell apart in just a few short weeks.
Obama may be able to stretch this out for a bit longer thank Nixon because the press will be his champion and ally to the bitter end. (Why do I have visions of Hitler and Goebbels in the bunker until the bitter end?) But eventually, the truth will come out because maintaining a conspiracy is simply too bloody difficult to do over the long run. (With apologies to all you “Area 51” buffs out there.)
When our long national nightmare (a 40th anniversary nod to Watergate) ends next January 20, I hope one of Pres. Romney’s first acts is to re-name the DOJ HQ in DC after Brian Terry—publicly!
FR in SC:
I think that is a capital idea!
The Brian Terry Department of Justice
Thus, we’d never forget that Pres Obama and Attny Gen Holder were indicted and found guilty of accessory to murder!
[…] it came down to the wire today, Obama stepped in and invoked executive privilege, essentially using the power of the presidency to block the […]
Holder is still in contempt of Congress for his attitude towards the members as well as the way he spoke to them and pushing past the deadlines presented in the numerous subpoenas he was given. The paperwork would only serve to show if he is guilty of purgery.
I want to know what Sandra Fluke thinks.
Question for the legal minds out there: If it is true, as reported, that the Mexican Government had no knowledge of or involvement in F&F doesn’t F&F constitute an Act of War?
Seems to me that we flattened Afghanistan (further) over their simply harboring some people that ultimately flew planes into our buildings. Here we have the US government providing arms to outlaws in Mexico, said arms being used to kill bunches of Mexican citizens. Seems a hostile act to me.
Carney just spent a press conference lying through his teeth.
If what he said were true about the Bush admin., and it is NOT, then Obama would be doing another “gutsy call” Snoopy dance.
I think it’s time for us to play the race card. We got about 300 dead Mexicans, here. Aren’t they important?