Republicans who voted to confirm Holder now complain about Holder
GOP Sen. Kit Bond voted to confirm crime-coddling Attorney General Eric Holder on February 2, 2009.
Sen. Bond cluelessly explained that Holder was “a good listener.” As I reported at the time, 19 Bend Over Republicans joined the majority to install Holder as head of the Obama Justice Department. Let me refresh your memories:
Alexander (R-TN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Chambliss (R-Ga)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Sessions (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Now, Sen. Bond and several others on this list are whining that Holder didn’t pay attention to their entreaties against appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the CIA. Just received the following letter to Holder from Bond and Company. So much for those good listening skills, eh?
Kyl, Bond, Sessions Respond to AG Holder’s Decision to Appoint a Special Prosecutor to Investigate CIA
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl (Ariz.), U.S. Senator Kit Bond (R-Mo.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and other senators today sent the following letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in response to his decision to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate CIA officials who interrogated al Qaeda terrorists:
“We are deeply disappointed by today’s announcement that you have chosen to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate CIA officials who interrogated al Qaeda terrorists. As we explained to you in a letter dated August 19, 2009, reopening those cases—which career prosecutors have already determined do not warrant criminal prosecution—could, among other things, have a chilling effect on the work of the intelligence community.
“We believe that the concerns raised in our letter warranted, at a minimum, careful consideration and a reasoned response. Instead, you moved forward without responding to our concerns or discussing with a coordinate branch of government the potential national security consequences that may result if the intelligence community is operating against a backdrop of prosecutions. The handling of this important issue calls into question your confirmation hearing commitments that you would establish a ‘full partnership’ with Congress and that you ‘recognize that congressional oversight and judicial review are necessary, beneficial attributes of our system of government.’
“Wholly apart from whether this issue should have been reopened, the manner in which you have chosen to do so is itself troubling. In the ordinary course, criminal investigations and prosecutions are to be handled by career Justice Department officials working under the oversight of the Department’s senior management. The Department’s own regulations permit deviation from the “normal processes of the Department” and the appointment of a special prosecutor only where there is a ‘conflict of interest for the Department’ or other such extraordinary circumstances. 28 CFR § 600.1. Because there is no apparent conflict of interest here, the customary basis for a special prosecutor is lacking.
“Moreover, history has shown that special prosecutors, who lack the accountability of career prosecutors to Justice Department management, often take an expansive view of their investigative authority. Thus, despite your assurances that this investigation will be narrow and focused, there is a real risk that today’s announcement portends a long, arduous, and unpredictable process for the intelligence community. By delegating the prosecutorial function to a largely unchecked special prosecutor, you are responsible for having set a course that may diminish our intelligence efforts, which fundamentally rely on forward-leaning responses to national security concerns.
“We fear that the true cost of this endeavor will ultimately be borne by the American people, who rely on the intelligence community, operating without distraction, to protect them from the many threats, known and unknown, that our country faces in this post-9/11 world.”
U.S. Senators Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) also signed onto the letter.
On August 19, these same senators sent a letter to Attorney General Holder emphasizing the danger and consequences of taking such action as was announced today. As of today, no reply has been received.
Message to Holder-confirming GOP Senators. You should have known better then.
You have some nerve complaining now.
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One wonders if some of them even recall how they voted…
Jeddite
The don’t recall how they voted to confirm Holder. Same holds true with any bill over 3 pages – no one has read it, no one knows what’s in it, and sadly no one cares. Just another day of lunch with friends in the Senate dining room and talking things over with your biggest contributors and lobbyists. Life is good.
Hopefully enough Obama voters will feel the same. I guess that’s what “hope” eventually will mean.
Forgot to add:
Another day to hold court in front of TV cameras in front of the office (Senate Bldg.) and whine for the little guys back home.
The bottom line is they bought the BS that was coming out of Holder’s mouth during the confirmation hearings instead of looking at his record. Gee, does that sound familiar? Now that he’s showing himself true to his record they are all up in arms. I’m disgusted with the lot of them!
A vote for Holder is a vote for ‘go along to get along”…get on down the road for these 19, as conservatives we do not need and want these RINO’s. If they’ll bend to confirm this American hater they’ll bend to anyone or anything…be gone with them.
We’ll see the back side of Bond after this election.
What exactly did these sell-outs expect? This was PBHO’s plan all along, and they knew it!! I don’t want to hear any freakin whining now… They bought this and they own it.
Ironically, those people who told us that we were all screwed no matter who won the 2008 election ….
…. also have some nerve complaining about whatever happens in the 4 to 8 years of the Obama presidency, while they spent valuable pre-election time bashing “Traitor McAmnesty” and talking about how we needed a Jimmy Carter to get us another Ronald Reagan.
Sound familiar to anyone?
These inside the beltway people are just sickening.
Here’s more from Rush Limbaugh’s daily email blast:
Term limits friends. Vote these go along to get along RINOs out of office. Here in PA we are working hard to get Toomey in as Turncoat Specter’s replacement…
Fixed it for you. No congressional bill should be more than a page long. If it is, a lawyer wrote it.
Term limits is a crutch for people who don’t have the votes to get what they want accomplished.
If you want someone out of office, run a better opposition candidate. If the they have more money, then raise more money to be able to achieve parity in the ability to campaign and get your message out.
The sore losers from the 2000 election whined that the democrats won the popular vote. As if that mean anything. Elections are won with the electoral vote. And many of them wanted to change the rules to do away with the electoral college – as a means to change the rules to get what they wanted.
Find a way to succeed within the rules of our political process.
Holder had plenty of stink on his shoes from his stint in the Clinton administration justice department. Every pubbie senator knew exactly what a crapweasel we were getting when they voted for Holder.
And now they’re SHOCKED, SHOCKED to see new confirmation that he’s still a crapweasel. Worthless RINOs be damned.
since bond is retiring in 2010, his votes and voice are whichever way the k street money handlers promise the most post service bucks. talk the talk and sell the vote. that’s our kit.
Did any of these senators send a comparable letter regarding Holder’s (and his boss’s) approval of the NBPP’s voter intimidation tactics? I don’t recall seeing any. Maybe I missed it. If there wasn’t such a thing, I really don’t care about the discomfort of these Republicans. Holder and his loathsome boss have made it perfectly clear what their agenda is. Maybe Holder is a good listener, but these clowns certainly were not.
I voted for Palin-McCain but it was under the full understanding that we were indeed screwed no matter what. Maybe a little less and a little differently, but still screwed. In any event, Obama and his creeps even if they had been defeated would have been back in 2012, likely stronger than ever, they’re victory certain. Might as well get it over with now.
I guess those Republicans were for him before they were against him.
I wonder if they’re only complaining now because they’re hearing all about it from their constituents?
In any case, they made a deal with the devil. It’s too late now.
And when the phone doesn’t ring we’ll it’s Arlen Spector complaining.
… we’ll KNOW it’s …
In three and a half years, beenthere, I am going to ask you if you have the same opinion. In three and a half years, at a time when Obama has been president and his and his administration’s policies, his pick for supreme court justice, what he will have done to our economy, our debt, our military, etc .. and everything else has played out in our nation because of him … I am going to ask you if you still think that we were indeed screwed, no matter who won.
I promise to be here and ask you that.
Well at least they are finally complaining.
And the good news is the Left continues to self destruct. “So just how is it you came to believe the Democrats were serious about defending America?”
Holder is a self made ad for the GOP come 2010 and 2012.
I disagree with Thomas. TERM LIMITS. ASAP.
Because of the millions upon millions of dollars that lobbyists and donors provide entrenched politicians, there is no satisfactory way to compete against them (unless they royally screw up). And, royally is just how these bastards act.
Ask away. I stand by my statement 100%. What part of it don’t you understand? Since I voted for McCain, but had no illusions about the man, my conscience is clear. End of story.
Before long they will be complaining about dodomayor … Sometimes dumb is just dumb.
Enough of the excuses “the president should be allowed to have his choice”! You folks are the keepers of the constitution, and should be held accountable!
or lobbyists with an agenda to make themselves richer…
Mamma always said, “You made your bed. Now sleep in it.”
Too many squish Republicans are finding themselves in the same position as that of Soviet subjects who found themselves “under new management” when the Wehrmacht invaded in 1941: at first, some actually got behind “the new order” because they foolishly thought that things could only get better.
Later — too late, for many — they all came to realize that the new overseers were utterly uninterested in distinguishing their planned fate from that of the Bolsheviks and the Jews.
“I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords” is a policy that in the end never secures the preferential treatment or even safety that its practitioners hope for.
The better saying, when dealing with the proto-totalitarians that the donkey party has become, is “Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.”
I just want to point out that my Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)did not vote for Holder…yet also signed onto the letter.
*The GOP in general still doesn’t get it; The Democrat Party is the “Death to America” Party, as witnessed by their actions on a day to day basis; Why are they so afraid to call them out on it?; The American people are looking for leadership to assist in taking the country back, and the GOP is busy crying over spilled milk; I guess we’ll just have to lay waste to the GOP while we’re doing the same to P-BO and his Clown Cluster; Hurry up 2010 and 2012.
Assistant Democrats.
We are now officially a banana republic like our “friends” south of the border. Investigating “crimes” of previous “regimes”. Let the vicious cycle begin. We have taken the fight to the people defending the country and we are now protecting the terrorists that attack our country.
I just sent an e-mail to my dear Senator Grassley doing my best to rip his political face off.
Were these Senators afraid to fight Holder’s nomination on the merits because holder is an African American?
A Nation of Cowards.
And you may have some ‘splaining to do in 2010
This is no surprise when you have probabaly the same characters scream at banks on capital hill when it was them probably to a man/woman who legislated or supported regulation that caused the latest financial bubble to br created in he first place…
Other than than that I give one, big, resounding DUH to those freaking fools who voted for Holder, Geithner et al.
Remember too that the latest show of Republicans growing some balls on the health care issue ONLY HAPPENED after the voters themselves took to the propaganda-intended Town Halls and either asked the hard questions from their legislator, or got in their face when their representtive gave them a horses#$t response, like Arlen Spector. If it weren’t for this show of real,grass-roots strength, these Republican Quislings would already be cutting a deal with B.O.
ERIC HOLDER DID NOT APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR
The Attorney General serves at the pleasure of the President. He does not do #2 in the bathroom without the approval of the President.
All a President has to do is order the Attorney General to stop what he specifically said he would not do. If he refuses he’s fired.
Which means????????????
THE PRESIDENT APPOINTED A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR
You know the guy who is on vacation so he avoids for weeks any questions about this. The timing is damning. Totally gutless. Whatg a despicible lying excuse for a leader.
At least when Clinton needed a distration he did not bomb his own troops. He at least bombed empty tensts and an aspirn factory.
One of the weirdest problems the Republican party has is that quite a few of the members and even the leadership believe in the good will of the other side.
So when the other side acts more like an enemy than an honorable opponent, they’re always surprised.
Every damn time.
The GOP does not have a clue and I am tired of looking to them for answers to an obvious problem. One reason being that they are PART of the problem. Support the candidates who represent your principles. That’s all you can do at this point. A good house cleaning is in order on both sides of the aisle.
Tell me please after reading the article I linked to if you think Steele or the GOP are listening to the concerns expressed by the townhallers (aka the mob).
Republicans don’t care what we think any more than Democrats do. We’re running out of time to save our country. Slowly getting rid of our Congressional reps by voting them out of office ain’t gonna cut it.
We can talk and write until we’re blue in the face, but it won’t change a thing. Very bad times are almost upon us. As for me and mine, we’re stocking up on food, water, water purifiers, and “equalizers” – if you know what I mean.
Orrin gave the following reason for voting for Holder at the time of his confirmation:
Where’s the love now, Orrin? First you close your eyes to Holder’s past to score points with Obama. And now you write a letter to complain about Holder when any idiot could have predicted this behavior from his past. You had your chance to stand up and be counted and you wimped out. Orrin, please retire before you do this country any further damage.
That is why Sarah is going to be campaigning for conservatives regardless of party. Both parties are united in warring against us yet they still can’t stop us. Sarah may not be the GOP candidate in 2012 but she could very well determine who is and what platform gets adopted.
That is why Republicans waste so much time and effort disparaging her. She could very well be paving the way for a new party. After 2010, conservatives might organize among themselves outside of their parties.
Oh yeah, vote for the GOP! That’s great strategery! You reap what you sow, rumpschwabs!
#fail
Yup. Because voting for Bob Barr, or writing in ‘the lizard people’ as an act of defiance to your impotent rage at Captain Amnesty is a much better strategery.
And how is that turning out for you? Oh, right, Obama is the president, and his appointments are just as lefties as Obama is.
If you hold arugala up to your ear you can hear Odopeys ship sinking.
And one would think with all the outpouring of people saying they are Conservative in every poll out there they would GET IT. But nooooooooo, all these dillweeds in DC are pandering to the minority and PC crowd.
T.H.E.Y.R.E.A.L.L.Y.A.R.E.S.T.U.P.I.D.
F*** them all. Vote them out.
I’m in favor of two term limits for politicians.
One term in office, and one term in prison.
The left won’t stop until they have that Dick Cheney trophy head mounted on their wall.
Joh Kyl (R-AZ) is properly contrite. Johnny Mack (RINO-AZ) doesn’t matter. We in the flyover of Arizona are looking at Jim Deakin as a challenger to McCain in the 2010 primary.
Maybe “How dare you question me” McCain can get a job as Captain on Odopey’s sinking ship. If not Captain he can be the Amnesty/reach across the isle/whine like a whipped puppy Czar. Has a ring to it doesn’t it?
I just saw a video the other day that totally redefined how I picture the political spectrum. The visual is at about the :25 second mark. It makes much more sense than the false left-right paradigm we all learned in 7th grade.
Kit Bond announced earlier this year that he wasn’t running for re-election. It’s a good thing.
Just like the idiot moderates who voted for Obama as a change from Bush.
When will humanity learn how pitifully vain they are?
If you hold arugala up to your ear you can hear Odopeys ship sinking.
At least he had a confirmation hearing. Not so for most of the Obama team.
If Obama had realized how many rollover Repubs there were, he might have appointed some of his czars to real positions instead of making up new ones.
There will come a time when the CIA probe will wrap up…most likely, unceremoniously, with little or no discussion.
The question will then become, did the investigation into the CIA conclude before, or after a handful of “mysterious” deaths, “accidents” and suicides, a la the Arkan-ashington transitional period?
It has the makings of a great espionage novel, no?
“Leave it alone!”
“You don’t understand. I have to get to the bottom of it!”
“No…YOU don’t understand! You’ll get to the bottom all right…of an elevator shaft. LEAVE IT ALONE!
They don’t call them “Spooks” for nothing…
Three Days of the Condor
You’re more benevolent than I. I predict it will wind down after much discussion and leaks but absolutely no prosecutions, right after the 2012 election cycle ends.
Without a doubt.
Republicans? I didn’t know that!!
And Republicans who voted for end of life counseling in 2003 and 2005 are against it now. What is it with Republicans?
It’s simple stupid, we have the normal brain and Dems have the Abbbynormal version.
Except for Sessions and Kyl, it’s the who’s who of the RINOs in Congress. This is what happens when they try and meet in the middle the leftist pulls back hard left as soon as the dust settles.
These idiots would sign on with Satan if he promised to listen to their concerns.
And when are Snowe and Collins changing party to reflect their real beliefs?
When we talk about the “useful idiots” I think there are 100 of them in the US Senate.
LGM, we all support end of life counseling if the person wants it. That is not the issue and you know it is not the issue.
But you are a Democrat, so all you ever know how to do is lie.
Can’t wait for 2010 and 2012. Go girl!
WELL, maybe some SENATORS are finally learning the age old lesson… ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES… HOLDER was a piece of DOGGY DOO DOO then, and he hasn’t changed much now…
Roland said (#69):
In the House bill, providers are required to offer counseling. Patients are not required to listen to it or act on it.
You’re off topic. Start your own blog if you wish to set topics.
Lock and load, rock and roll, Holder is vicious in his attacks on conservatives and hates the 2nd Amendment. Time to exercise our Constitutional right to bear arms (ladies, too). Shut up, LGM.
As a female friend says, these Republicans are “worse than a chick”.
Yada yada yada…
I’m listening to McCain right now, I have had to fight the gag reflex.
The only way to change this is to seriously vote out anyone and everyone who voted for anything put forth by Commander 0.
Hands across the aisle my **s. Stick your hand across the aisle and I’ll show you what a Marine Corps K-Bar is. then you can take your hand and ……..
Why don’t you spell out those rules.
Are they the McCain-Feingold rules that only Republicans follow?
Can you spell out the rules (if any) that the Democrats have been following for the past couple decades?
It’s rather obvious they follow something completely different than Republicans, particularly hand-wringing reach-around types like McCain.
You sure beat the dead McCain horse very well, Republicanvet. It looks even flatter to the ground now than it was before.
I think that my comment of “Find a way to succeed within the rules of our political process.” speaks for itself. And if you don’t like the McCain-Feingold rules, then push to have them changed.