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Bipartisan House Majority Finds Holder in Contempt of Congress
The day is not without a spot of good news. This afternoon, the Republican-led House voted to charge Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. The House took two votes —one on criminal contempt charges and the other on civil contempt charges—which both easily passed. The only surprising item to note is that 17 Democrats voted with the Republicans on the criminal charges and just under two dozen voted in favor of the civil contempt charge. In most news sources I’ve scanned, the fact that the vote was bipartisan is omitted; instead, most outlets choose to focus on the Congressional Black Caucus boycott of the vote.
Published in General
The bipartisan vote is important. There is no couching this as nakedly political when members from both sides of the aisle are voting for criminal charges, not just civil.
If the media doesn’t want to report it, every single Republican needs to make sure they say the word “bipartisan” at least three times in every single interview and report.
My lefty associates on an enemy message board assure me that the only reason these Democrats voted for contempt was because they felt pressured by the NRA in an election year.
I say “good”.
I say “good”. ·7 minutes ago
Always some convenient excuse with them, isn’t there?
What was the Black Caucus’s boycott supposed to mean? Have they suddenly developed a conscience? They could not bring themselves to defend Holder but could not condemn him either? I hope their constituents recognize the value of a hissy fit.
They’re trying to give weight to the excuse that “Repubicans are only doing this because Eric Holder is a black man.” (Which was Sheila Jackson Lee’s excuse.)
I think it was a protest against the clearly racist persecution of a black AG. We should call it their Ayn Rand moment, just to annoy them.
Diane, I agree that as far as integrity and accountability is concerned this is a good thing. On the other hand, the way the White House, AG’s office, and media have been playing it I’m wondering how will this come out politically? I could see low information voters missing the details and getting hung up on the supposed “partisan hackery” and/or (less likely) racism of the GOP House. It doesn’t help when NPR always refers to F&F as the “botched gun-running operation,” rather than “the horrifically misguided gun running operation that led to the assassination of a border patrol agent and countless Mexicans.”
Also, now that the vote is in, what’s the best approach for Romney? Does he just emphasize the insanity of the actual op, or focus on the AG’s obstruction?
I think this trumps the ObamaCare ruling. I was pleased to see the Romney Camp’s Immediate response to that muddle, and now it’s a non-issue for the campaign unless Obama wishes to open a real can of worms. After this bipartisan vote (or rather two distinct votes!), Obama’s camp has to respond, and they’ve thrown away their only good choices right now.
Well played.
Also, now that the vote is in, what’s the best approach for Romney? Does he just emphasize the insanity of the actual op, or focus on the AG’s obstruction?
Arthur Brooks. Always go with the AB method and make the moral case. It’s simply wrong for our government to be arming killers and criminals for any reason. And plenty of innocent people are dead because of it, not just Americans. And the AG lied about it to Congress. We must engage the prefrontal cortex in the first 30 seconds of every argument.
Pelosi was dishonest as usual, but looked a bit confused/unbalanced as well today, speaking prior to the contempt of congress vote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml6SGY95m_w
Agreed. How many Republicans voted for Obamacare: zero.
I say “good”. ·1 hour ago
Whatever works :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml6SGY95m_w ·2 hours ago
I listened to this live. What in the world is wrong with that woman, aside from the raging case of end-stage Leftism? She really sounded like she was losing it.