GOP setting up roadblocks for Holder

[cali]

Senate Republicans have invited the son of man killed in a 1975 Puerto Rican nationalist bombing as well as a former FBI agent who investigated two violent groups supporting Puerto Rican independence to appear at Eric Holder’s confirmation hearings.

A third GOP witness is a pro-gun rights attorney from Virginia.

These Republican witnesses signal the direction that Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the ranking member of the committee, will take in trying to derail or delay confirmation for Barack Obama’s attorney general pick. Specter and other top Republicans, including Karl Rove, the former top political advisor to President Bush, have raised concerns about whether Holder can be truly independent from the president.

In particular, they question Holder’s role in President Clinton’s 2001 pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich as well as Holder’s involvement in Clinton’s 1999 decision to grant clemency to 16 violent Puerto Rican nationalists.

To drive home those questions, Republicans have arranged for Joseph F. Connor, whose father was killed in the Jan. 24, 1975, bombing of Fraunces Tavern in New York City, to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee as it considers Holder’s nomination.


"Eric Holder has been nominated for the top law enforcement position in the country, yet, if this is true, he supported and pushed for the release of terrorists," Connor told the Los Angeles Times in a Jan. 9 story on Holder’s role in the clemency application for the Puerto Rican nationalists. These individuals were members of the group FALN and another organization. Clinton granted the clemency requests in 1999, and Holder helped override concerns from top DOJ officials about the decision, according to the newspaper. "How can he reconcile that? Why would he push for something so dangerous?"Connor asked.

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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/17426.html

[NightWatcher]

1. I'm not a supporter of Holder, but this is sleazy. I wont be too sad if he has to pick another AG

[cali]

3. If he has to pick another AG, that will portend disaster

for dems in the Congress and the Obama administration. Fuck, Gonzalez and Mukasey get through and Holder gets rejected when dems have a big majority?

[sharp_stick]

5. They won't stop him

they'll put on a show, kind of like the dems did against Scalito when shrubby appointed him to the SC. They won't make much of a real attempt to really block him though.

[Thrill]

2. This in my opinion is clearly setup by Rove

who the hell would think of finding these guys to testify.

I hope they piss Holder off so bad that he makes going after Rove and the torturers his number one priority. Specter insulted his manhood by questioning his character. And now they want to publicly try to humiliate him. They can't stop his nomination. They don't have to votes. So this is all about public embarrassment. I hope he returns the favor

[sharp_stick]

4. I think I hate Specter as much or more than any of the pukes

at least the professional sleaze artists like Shelby and McConnell are upfront about their assholicness. Specter likes to pretend that he's a nice moderate voice that waits until the last second to come out and support the rw nutbaggery of the rest of this party of deceit and shit. I think we should make defeating this prick a very high priority the next time he comes up.

Luckily for us, the far RW of the shithead party tends to believe old, I hate the NE Patriots more than terrorists, when he says he's a moderate so their planning to run a reactionary shithead in the mold of Santorum against him in the primary, if this loser beats Specter we could probably pretty easily pick up the seat. I will strongly support the primary opponent of Specs, I may even campaign for the hateful asshole.