I have defended this administration from every nonsensical charge made by the GOP that has been cooked in every meth lab bubbling up from south of the Mason-Dixon line. This constant culture of scandal mongering is not only abhorrent to me, it's bad for this nation.
With that said, I opened my browser this morning and went to Charlie Pierce's Politics Blog.
Those of you familiar with Charlie, know him by his writing to be a sane voice in a din of conventional wisdom.
So it was with some surprise when I read this morning's post on the DoJ that: .... in all, the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012.
Follow below for Charles' take and my reluctant ascent.
Looks like the White House is throwing Holder under the bus regarding this.
Per AP:
The White House on Monday said that other than press reports it had no knowledge of Justice Department attempts to seek AP phone records. "We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department," spokesman Jay Carney said.
Here's Charlie:
That is all my arse. At the least, this was a counter-terrorism operation. (Why else would Brennan have been questioned already?). Which puts the whole business inside the White House. And you'd have to be a toddler or a fool to believe that Eric Holder could go off on his own and take as politically volatile a step as this. But, let us take the White House at its word. Eric Holder did this by himself. He should be gone. This moment. Not only is this constitutionally abhorrent, it is politically moronic. Nobody likes the press, I will grant you that, but the administration is soft if it thinks the public distrusts the press that much. And to have this genuinely chilling revelation emerge simultaneously with the Benghazi, Benghazi!, BENGHAZI! mummery and the IRS dumbassery is pretty much a full broadside below the water line of this administration's credibility. Good god, this is going to be one long-ass summer.
Well, as they say, this is. um...... this is bad.
Yep, if Holder was acting alone, he's got to go.
You see, this is why liberals like myself are far superior to conservatives I know. I call an illegal act an illegal act.
There is no grey area when it comes to the rule of law. In my estimation, the president should just cut his losses and get Holder out of there.
By demanding this, we stand on a higher pedestal and in a prouder posture than our conservative counter-parts.
This is inside the White House now and Holder has to pack his bags. No ambiguity.
Like Charlie said, "good god, this is going to be one long-ass summer."
8:22 AM PT: And yes, I'm aware that the president backed legislation designed to protect the AP from stuff like this and the GOP opposed it.
That doesn't change the fact that this occurred on his watch and apparently Holder's orders.