As we discussed earlier, the White House asserted executive privilege this morning on certain Justice Department documents related to the so-called "Fast and Furious" controversy. The Republican talking point of the day seems to be pretty straightforward: this must mean the president is directly involved.
A spokesperson for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the decision "implies" that White House officials were involved in the operation. Fox News' Andrew Napolitano made the same argument on the air: "Executive privilege protects communications with the president, the human being of the president, not with people that work for him and the Justice Department."
No matter what one thinks of the underlying controversy -- and for the record, I think the right's interest in the matter is kind of silly -- it's worth pausing to clarify that executive privilege doesn't necessarily involve communications with the president. Josh Israel noted there are actually "two types executive privilege: the robust 'presidential communications privilege' and the more limited 'deliberative process privilege.'"
The White House may invoke the latter to apply to executive branch officials outside of the president's inner circle, as long as they were involved with the government's decision-making process. Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush all asserted executive privilege in matters not involving presidential communications.
And Bush Administration Attorney General Michael Mukasey invoked the same "deliberative process privilege" as recently as 2008, rejecting congressional subpoenas for reports of Department of Justice interviews with the White House staff regarding the Valerie Plame Wilson identify leak investigation.
Republicans, including House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), are well aware of this -- they endorsed the distinction during the Bush/Cheney era -- and have acknowledged that executive privilege is not limited to the president's direct communications.
But they're playing a political game today, hoping you aren't well aware of this.
Leave a Comment:
Say it with me, folks - It's Okay If You're A Republican. This is their operating credo.
it's not that simple. They are unpatriotic aholes trying to BUY the country. Coverup my a$$. It's not just politics and it's not just the Republicans. It's a distraction to keep people from questioning their lack of policies and their JOBS JOBS JOBS crap.
So are you saying the President wasn't involved?
Remember Congressman Weiner?
It's Okay If You're A Republican. This is their operating credo.
Works for me. Meanwhile, why is DOJ covering up documentation on the US providing Mexican drug cartels with hundreds of weapons?
Of course that hypocrisy works for you, Shooter; you engage in it on a regular basis. They aren't covering it up; they just decline to let Issa go fishing wherever he likes in his attempts to play Kenneth Starr.
Grumpy...
Those on the right derive a certain perverse enjoyment from doing the, ummm, unhealthy things they do.
Shooter, fromdownhere
Why did the Bush administration cover up documentation regarding Valerie Plame Wilson using the same method? Does that imply that the Bush administration was involved?
Hypocrosy is hard to defend.
Both the GOP and now the Dems have used it to cover-up their miss-deeds. Gotta call a turd a turd here. Somebody stepped in @!$%#tzle and has just tracked it through the oval office!!!
Re: Plame
Fitzgerald already knew who leaked Plame's name before the investigation, and it came from the State Dept not the White House. Ultimately it was her idiot husband that outed her.
What the hell are you talking about? Plame was outed by members of the Bush Administration using the State department as cover. Her husband? Where in the name of all that's holy do you get this crap?
Not sure what you guys are blabbing about. But explain to me why the American people can't find out who was the top ranking official that authorized fast and furious.
Shooter,
what his article is about is the backlash from the Republicans about the white house using executive privilege. Is it not fair to use the same criteria to criticize the Republicans for doing the same using the same laws as justification. Using Republican logic I can disregard the facts and say that the Bush administration must have been involved if they used executive privilege.
I don't think Pat Tilman or Agent Terry's families find it a bit assuming when a sitting President decides they don't need to know why there sons died.
I agree about Pat Tillman and Agent Terry. I do not think executive privilege should be used. I do not supportAt Obama in this.
I am critical of the backlash from Republicans when they are the ones who set the precedent that allows it in this case, as if they wouldn't do it in the same circumstances using the old classified information excuse.
Wait! Are you blaming Republicans for having a double standard? Is that charge you really want to make? OK!
Here is what Obama had to say in 2007 when Bush used Executive Privilege. By the way, when Bush used it, no one had died. For that matter, no one died during Watergate. A US Border Patrol agent is dead, killed by a weapon sold to a Mexican Drug cartel by Eric Holder. Anyway, here is Obama on CNN:
CNN’S LARRY KING: “Do you favor executive privilege or should Karl Rove and others in that like position be forced to testify before the House or Senate?
OBAMA: “Well, you know, I think we'll -- we'll determine over the next several weeks how this administration responds to the very appropriate call by Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to have these individuals come in and testify. You know, there's been a tendency on the part of this administration to -- to try to hide behind executive privilege every time there's something a little shaky that's taking place. And I think, you know, the administration would be best served by coming clean on this. There doesn't seem to be any national security issues involved with the U.S. attorney question. There doesn't seem to be any justification for not offering up some clear, plausible rationale for why these -- these U.S. attorneys were targeted when, by all assessments, they were doing an outstanding job. I think the American people deserve to know what was going on there.”
(CNN: 3/20/07)
Also note the purpose for executive privilege is to protect communications with the President. Karl Rove's communications were directly with the president. Obama claims that he had received no information at all about Fast and Furious, so these documents could not have been sent to him. If anything, Bush had more of a legal justification for using Executive Privilege than Obama has today. But it's the Republicans with the double standards.
Did I mention that someone is dead as a result of Fast and Furious?
It blows me away every time a Liberal assumes any question of a government official, who happens to be a Democrat, is from a Republican. I also have a problem with the pointing fingers defense of "well they did it" assuming it somehow makes it right. Bad behavior is bad behavior no matter what anyone else did, period.
The reference to Congressman Wiener is valid. His brazen, adamant, repeated, public denial of involvement, later proved lies, could mirror the outcome of this situation. Defending the action of asserting executive privilege, without knowing the truth, could prove to find egg on ones face.
The Federal government incarcerated a 68 year old Martha Stewart for 6 months because she didn't come clean about a public stock purchase, which I find outrageous. A fine? Possibly, but jail time? pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee.
The DOJ has created these rediculous standards that all must adhere to, except themselves? With the many ways to protect the innocent and top secret information, like disclosing behind closed doors or blacking out certain names and situations on the documents, I'm sure the with holding of information is intended to either hide a lie about when and what officials knew about the program or protecting involvement of high ranking officials.
As citizen's of this country we should be appalled at the actions of our government, Repub or Dem, and insist on opening the doors and letting the light in, especially when the lives of our protectors are at stake.
I really don't understand this at all. At work if I had a program failure like this, my boss would want details ASAP. I would have a preliminary report disclosing the origins, objective and failures within hours. And by the end of the week a full report. This program seems to have some merit but poor controls. I don't think anyone had malicious intentions. 18 months later and the American public(the boss), completely clueless on this. My boss would forgive me for a program that didn't work, but she would fire me within a week if I didn't explain the situation.
Archer,
Eric Holder sold the weapons? Where did you see evidence of that? When he found out what was going on he stopped the operation. Fast and furious began under the Bush Administration, but Issa will not allow those involved of the Bush administration to be called to testify.
And as stated by several Republicans including Issa, the notion that this is a plot to attack the second amendment is absolutely absurd.
Bob Fast and Furious began in 2009 that is a scientific fact. If you only watch MSNBC I can see how you made that mistake because they are blurring together different programs even Jay Carney was doing it until a reporter busted him on it. Not should what that has to do with who was the highest ranking official to approve FF and why did the JD misinform congress with falsehoods. You guystrying to smoke screen Bush into this are showing your true color. This operation was nonpartisan but it failed. Why is the question.
"...said the decision "implies" that White House officials were involved in the operation."
Again, where was all this righteous indignation when Shrub was handing out those "executive privileges" like candy? Just asking....
So are you saying the President wasn't involved?
Remember Congressman Weiner?
How does Weiner have anything to do with this, outside the fever dreams of the GOP and conspiracy nuts?
Grumpy...,
It's just classic right-wing false equivalency.
FromDownHere,
What does Weiner have to do with executive privilage?
Nothing; but that doesn't matter to the Republicans because they have been on a fishing trip against President Obama, to the point where it's not even making sense anymore but that doesn't matter to them
The point was Weiner didn't do anything wrong either, at least according to him.
And he didn't do anything wrong, at least nothing that would require a member of the GOP to resign... but I guess Democrats are held to a higher standard, and still given s#!t about it.
It blows me away every time a Liberal assumes any question of a government official, who happens to be a Democrat, is from a Republican. I also have a problem with the pointing fingers defense of "well they did it" assuming it somehow makes it right. Bad behavior is bad behavior no matter what anyone else did, period.
The reference to Congressman Wiener is valid. His brazen, adamant, repeated, public denial of involvement, later proved lies, could mirror the outcome of this situation. Defending the action of asserting executive privilege, without knowing the truth, could prove to find egg on ones face.
The Federal government incarcerated a 68 year old Martha Stewart for 6 months because she didn't come clean about a public stock purchase, which I find outrageous. A fine? Possibly, but jail time? pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee.
The DOJ has created these rediculous standards that all must adhere to, except themselves? With the many ways to protect the innocent and top secret information, like disclosing behind closed doors or blacking out certain names and situations on the documents, I'm sure the with holding of information is intended to either hide a lie about when and what officials knew about the program or protecting involvement of high ranking officials.
As citizen's of this country we should be appalled at the actions of our government, Repub or Dem, and insist on opening the doors and letting the light in, especially when the lives of our protectors are at stake.
deployedinkorea,
And I can name several Republicans who denied what they did, regarding affairs and other misdeeds, still doesn't have anything to do with this case. Weiner is not Obama or Holder. I must assume you all are saying since Weiner was a Democrat and denied what he did then all Democrats lack credibility. I think I could again use the same logic about Republicans.
While they're hoping "we" aren't aware, they are for sure certain that their constitutents aren't aware because they're not reading this blog!
That is all that matters as they'll never hear this on FauxNoNewsInvolvedNews!
Joe, you are wrong. I generally side with the Republicans and I read this blog all the time as well as watch Fox News. I think to be well informed you need to find objective sources and sources on both sides of the issue. But, hey, maybe that's just me.
RobDon, when you find a truly objective source, PLEASE let us all know.
Very, very valid point, L6313. I should have said more even handed sources and less partisan.
Lol! As if there could be an "objective", "even-handed" or even "less partisan" source on the right! Actually, it isn't really funny. People who want to destroy other people's lives for no legitimate reason aren't at all funny.
I'm with RobDon, I read both right and left and cross-check enough to make my own call about things.
I agree with you RobDon; as republicans usually do they can't see their hypocrazy when they tell Democrats that they are biased; like they aren't! And that's another thing, fact checking is foreign to them as hypocracy isn't
The problem with reading the other side is that it produces a grey fallacy... you know, where one side says the sky is blue, and the other side says the sky is red, and instead of sticking with the facts, you start thinking that the truth is somewhere in the middle... which is still wrong.
Grumpy...,
Bingo! That's one reason why all the "both sides" trolls are full of it.
If you think you get an accurate picture by only listen to "one side," then you are the one who is "wrong."
In general, both sides can be factual correct in their data, stats, numbers, etc...but by leaving out selective information, they paint an inaccurate picture or lead to an incomplete conclusion. Thus, listening to "both sides" as well as less partisan sources general results in more information that can be independently evaluated and a better conclusion reached.
Feel free to disagree, but I challenge you to make the case that you can get an accurate picture of the political landscape by just listening to MSNBC or "one side" of the partisan divide.
The safe general rule of human nature is that basically, people are no d@mn good, and those on the right are the worst of a bad lot. No rational person expects to get valid, sensible information from people who are aggressively malicious. The MSM is full of the right's verbal vomit because the MSM is infested with corporate wh0res and moral cowards. A few people attempt to deal with the right's malicious misinformation. However, they are too few, and to a considerable extent they undercut their own efforts an make themselves part of the problem by allowing those on the right to use blogs such as this one as their toilet. Thus, the US is looking more and more like an American version of the Weimar Republic.
Apparently House Republicans truly believe they have no better business to conduct than to put together a massive show trial of the best Attorney General in American history and waste tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to make repeated attempts at embarrassing the president and contributing to his electoral defeat. The Republican Party has never sunk so low as in this moment, abusing their privilege and power and seeking to destroy Barack Obama through almost totalitarian means. This charade should be enough to cost Issa and the rest of the House Republican terrorists their jobs. http://www.sunstateactivist.org
Don't ask "How low can they go." They'll just go lower!
You mean the AG, who decided to sue Arizona before bothering to read SB 1070, the the same AG who couldn't say Islamic extremist before this same sub-committee, or the same AG that wanted to clear himself before turning over F&F documents, we have truly set the bar low in this country if this man is the best we have.
I agree Holder is a joke and inept. If it wasn't so close to the election, he would have fired him so BO pulled Executive Privilege to run out the clock before the election to stop Issa and is BO's own pleading the "5th Amendment" so as to not incriminate himself. Watch BO pardon Holder after the election whether he wins reelection or not.
you got to be be kidding me the best ag america has ever seen, sending a letter to obama begging him to claim privilege, this is not a partisan issue its about justice and how dare anyone blame anyone else there are dems and rep that want to get to the bottom of f&f not just repubs, i cant believe this it about time to stop blaming bush stop saying its obama bashing, this country is going to @!$%# since jan 09 and these liberal loones keep preaching hate at least fox news reports news not like nbc which preaches leftist agenda opinion and hate it sickins me to here maddow lawrence, and matthews spew there hate and name calling its down right embarrassing to dems across america im a democrate and i will do everything in my power to tell everyone to stop watching nbc and vote for anybody but obama
A border patrol agent is dead, killed by a weapon sold to a Mexican drug cartel by Eric Holder.
I think this is a legitimate use of Congressional time. Besides, you didn't seem to mind when Congress was trying to prosecute the Bush administration because they fired nine lawyers. I mean, it's not like someone died or anything.
Actually, the guns were NOT sold by Holder or anyone in the administration; they were the results of sketchy deals that were allowed to continue. I love how people ignore these points, and how they ignore the fact that many, many more murders occur on a weekly basis using guns sold in similar transactions. I guess it's more important to go after the enforcers rather than the actual problem, rampant crossborder weapons sales to the cartels.
Grumpy...,
Those on the right care about such deths only to the extent that they can be used in Ideologically Sound propaganda.
My ignore list is getting so long. Damned tr0lls.
(I don't mean you, Entropy. I'm just venting.)
Off topic, but I tried to correct my typo above, and I got some you-can't-do-that message. WTF?
Well, they just voted to hold AG Holder in contempt anyways. The GOP and conservatives are having a field day with this. Honestly, just give them the damn document already, or at least give us a reason as to why it's being withheld; something more solid than just "because national security"
The documents in question involve wiretaps, and the law prohibits turning such information to Congress.
Is that clear enough? Let's put a hypothetical out there: Say you've got a relative who's a schmuck, a crooked schmuck... He still calls you once in a while (hey, I've got relatives like that, too). His phone is tapped because he's running something illegal...
Would you want you conversations listened to by members of the House of Representatives?
Especially not by Rethuglicans, just on general principles.
Given past maneuvers by the GOP to use personal information against those who cross them, keeping such info out of circulation is a no-brainer... especially since we have ample evidence of speak-first-think-later (or never) syndrome in the Congress.
Trusting any politician with such information is dubious, at least, trusting those on the right with it is downright foolhardy.
Hmmm - what's that saying Mitt likes to use? Oh yeah - What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Unless of course it doesn't suit your purpose.
Meaning, sense the Democrats demanded documents and issued contempt charges for President Bush's administrative officials, it's perfectly okay for the Republicans to do the same?
If you're referring to Plamegate, you're in need of some correcting your notions of what went down...
If you're referring to Harriet Myers and Joshua Bolton, neither was a cabinet official (and recall Bush's idiotic attempt to appoint Myers to the Supreme Court).
The Bush Administration was accused of using the Justice Department to achieve political gains, with Democrats being targeted... This was a law enforcement operation where criminals were being target--with attempts to trace them--and it began in the Bush 43 administration.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez resigned after bipartisan calls for his resignation...
Three's nothing bipartisan about this one, and you can expect a number of Republicans won't toe the party line this time...
SL Cabbie,
Oh, that one has to know full well what went down, but he's not inclined to let that interfere with gross misrepresentation and other nefarious rhetorical activities.
(Deleted duplicate post)
Let me get this straight.
1. The AG agreed to turn over all the documents to the legislative branch.
2. He didn't turn over all the documents, instead he asked the President to say the documents which he previously agreed to turn over as protected by executive privilege.
"Oh, I'll give you the documents, no problem. No, wait, these documents are highly sensitive. My mistake. One more time let me take back what I said."
No, you do not have it straight, @RobDon. You obviously missed some vital points, but why am I not surprised. The documents Issa is demanding to review are non-subpoenable by Congress as they relate to open investigations. So the lawmaker who is contemptuous of laws himself holds the Atty. General in contempt for upholding the law. Sounds about right for a Republican.
June, what documents are you referring to...I'm referring to the documents AG Holder was offering to turn over if Rep. Issa would (before seeing the documents) say they met the subpoena.
What ongoing investigation do you think "protects" these documents from subpoena? And who is asserting that they are protected because of the investigation? And why evoke executive privilege if they are already protected by the investigation? Makes no sense.
It makes sense when you have a GOP hack on a fishing expedition who isn't satisfied with the actual documents he asked for and who is roaming further and further afield.
Oh, I see. Don't explain the hypocrisy and obvious contradictions in the actions, just dismiss it by blaming the other side. Thanks.
The effrontery of the trolls in complaining about their treatment here is particularly egregious considering that they are routinely allowed to get away with all sorts of ****.
I can't explain the hypocrisy, because Mr. Issa hasn't explained his yet. That's the only hypocrisy here.
I've always said Eric Holder has been the most ineffective Attorney General this great country has had in recent years. He refused to hold the BUSH administration accountable for the blatant war crimes commited after the september 11th 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States. He refused to go after the C.E.O'S and C.F.O.'S of the biggest banks in the United States like Bank of America and others EVEN after evidence surfaced of clear fraud and misrepresentation in a MASSIVE scale by these banks in the economic collapse of 2008. He decided along with the Obama administration to let all these banking industry executives get a "Free Pass" out of jail instead of holding them accountable for bringing the economy of the United States and their corporations to their knees financially ! While in effect forcing the federal government and federal reserve to bail them out with tax payer funds in the billions of dollars , all the meanwhile everyday americans were left holding billions in mortgages that were thousands of dollars underwater and millions of the same home owners facing BLATANT fraudulent bank foreclosures !.
Need I say more about this Eric Holder ?... Question !...
After three and a half years in office what is ERIC HOLDERS legacy ?.
He could have gone down in the history books as the Attorney general who took on the bush administration for war crimes and proven to the world that the United States abides by the words written in the Constittution of these United States , he could have taken on Wall street and perp walked all of the Banking Industry executives who defrauded milions of middleclass americans and brought the United States economy to its knees in 2008. He would have gained not only the respect of the American people but I believe also the respect of the civilized world in the Western hemisphere.
Yet he will only be remembered as the Attorney General who tried to hide from Congress , the American people and the rest of the world , his involvement in a program that was started by the previous administration and that he himself shut down. His LEGACY will be having sent a letter to president Obama , urging him to declare executive privilege as way to deny Congress the opportunity to find out what he knew about "Fast and Furious" and when he knew it !.
That will be ERIC HOLDERS Legacy !. Being held in CONTEMPT of Congress !..
Personally I dont feel sorry for this dude ! , that is what you can expect from your political enemies when you have refused to uphold the Constitution of these United States and also failed do the job you were sworn to do. Your enemies now view you as WEAK Mr. Eric Holder , they can smell the blood in the water and they will now stop at nothing to bring you and the Obama administration down !..
My advice is to get yourself a good washington defense attorney Mr. Eric Holder..
You should have done and "Could" do a better job as Attonery General...
Bottom line - the GOP couldn't impeach Obama, so they're going after another brother. "Fast & Furious" was started under Atty. General Michael Mukasey - Issa has no problem with Mukasey - didn't even call him in to testify. Hmn, I wonder why?
June, you are ill informed. Fast and Furious was started in 2009 and not under AG Mukasey. In fact, AG Holder tried to draw parallels to F&F and operations under the previous administration and later retracted part of those statements.
I take your point, RobDon - the "gun-walking" strategy was started in 2006 under Bush and Mukasey, and Fast & Furious in 2009. The question still remains - since this strategy started under Mukasey - and Issa claims to want to get to the bottom of it - why no subpoena to Mukasey?
It wasn't purposeful "gun walking." The Bush administration coordinated their program with the Mexican government and they lost track of the guns. That's different from not informing the Mexican government and not tracking the guns on purpose...that's gun walking. That's why not subpoena.
Shorter version: IOKIYAR.
When you don't have the facts on your side, revert to other means like name calling, being dismissive, or otherwise ignoring the facts all together. Got it.
Strange how this has been going on for SOOOO long, the administration waits until it is backed into a corner to claim executive privilege.
"The Bush administration coordinated their program with the Mexican government and they lost track of the guns."
How can you not see the "wink, wink" at the end of that description? It's the same dynamic as, "The Bush Administration invaded Iraq because Saddam had weapons of mass destruction -- but it turned out he didn't" -- wink, wink.
Look, the documents that Issa is demanding are protected by law. Why is Issa so determined to get a look at documents he has no lawful right to review? But more than that, Issa already tipped his hand by declaring that his pursuit of Holder is nothing more than "good theater." Why continue to give him such carte blanche credibility?
June,
I have no doubt that he sees it, but chooses to ignore it.
Why did it all of a sudden become protected by law? Why were they not protected when he said we are working to give you all the documents? And when he said we are giving you the documents? And when he said we will give you the documents if you go ahead and say the meet the subpoena?
No, they just all of a sudden became protected when there was no other way to keep them. wink. wink.
Hey let them spend millions of dollars on this witch hunt. While we have children living homeless in the streets with their parents who cant afford housing and food. And while our infrastructure falls down around our ears. Its only our hard earned tax dollars they are spending. And if the Republicans win the presidential election they will just raise our taxes to make it up. What the heck!
That's the right-wing perspective on money for you: a dollar well-spent is a dollar wasted.
"They" only want to make it look like the President is trying to hide something. Anything that "they" can do to make the President look bad is what they'll do!
No matter what, "they" have no respect for him and they never will!
And neither do the trolls who infest this blog.
Exactly right, from day one the republicans outright declared that they would block everything he tried to do and they have all the way through. They block all his jobs bill; fillibuster, and are even blocking the Florida vote by purging voting records, which is exactly how they blocked Al Gore in 2000. Bottom line, if Romney gets in he will just finish the job that Bush started. All this Eric Holder stuff is smoke screen as usual.
Why hasn't Issa investigation fully investigated "Wide Receiver,"? Oh that's right, Issa would have to investigate people like himself, you know Republican's!
You people amaze me. The feds "went around the world" to try and convict Roger Clemens for lying to congress but Eric Holder the head of the DOJ gets 170 people killed with his fast and furious program and you people think we are on a witch hunt. SERIOUSLY??? WTF?? How about we are trying to hold this president accountable to his own words of transparency or was that just the usual lip service libs and dems are use to. Brian Terry might still be alive if this jackleg hadnt of authorized this program.
Here are the links, @Rob Don -- this is a quote from the first one re: the documents already handed over:
"The department (DoJ) says it already has handed over more than 7,000 pages of records to House investigators, and that the remaining material Issa wants could jeopardize criminal prosecutions."
http://www.ktvz.com/politics/31207614/detail.html
One of those criminal prosecutions is the investigation into the death of Agent Brian Terry.
Here's a lengthy dissenting memo outlining why Congress does not have the power to subpoena the documents Issa is demanding:
http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/97108367?access_key=key-1c17skizh1u59onbfrlo
It is necessary to invoke executive privilege because Issa is abusing his chairmanship in the name of good theater. His demand to see documents pertaining to open investigations could actually get more people killed. But so what? It's "good theater" to hear him tell it.
What bothers me is how seriously the news commentators are treating this obvious political ploy. Do they approach all events with the goal of building a targeted audience base instead of employing investigative reporting? How many of them will define executive privilage and talk about political motives? I think what the Republicans are doing threatens the core of our democracy and is putting us in a very dangerous place. Sick.
We have the worst Congress money could buy.
Gail...,
I'm sure the answer to your first question is "Yes."
The real hypocracy is why the republicans are so concerned about sending guns to drug cartels. Because of lax gun laws, their private funding group the NRA sends guns into our cities, killing our citizens, every minute of the day!
Yeah, I thought the GOP was pro-gun no matter where they end up!
"From my cold, dead cartel..."
I am so freaking tired of these so-called liberal news shows coming on and making
jokes about what these @!$%#ed up Republicans are doing to the President of the United
States. I guess its all just a joke to these guys because after all they are WHITE and
they really don't have too much to worry about.. This is not a sporting event. Get
serious and report the news seriously. Stop with the sarcasm, the jokes and the
laid back attitude towards this racist nation. If you don't do that, then you are just like
them.
This is a liberal answer to the right-wing incendiary talking heads who have been spewing garbage for years and are never made responsible for their lies. If you get upset, change the channel. Liberals are just as entitled to their opinions as the followers of Fox News.
People like Maddow and Ed are necessary to point out the right-wing agenda. They are commentators.
You’re so pathetic, you need to take the brick out of your ( I’m to much of a gentleman to say it) so your pee brain will work, What does Holder lying and being responsible for KILLING AN AMERICAN BORDER PATROL AGENT which you or any of you Liberal Idiot viewers (all eight of them) probably don’t even know his name have to do with bricks. So pathetic
Sorry, patriot. This was a Bush Admin. program.
Then just release the documents and blame Bush. To implicate the President in a possible coverup in insane.
Just curious? How many times must Lawrence O'Donnell and Jon Stewart prove to the public that John Hannity is making a jackass out of himself behind all of his lies. If his lies weren't so sad because some people are that desperate to believe his lies his entire show would be comical. Wise up man, stop making a fool out of yourself already.
As a fair minded Democrat, I am disgusted by Rachel’s coverage of this situation. The Terry family has every right to find out who screwed up and caused their son’s death. For Rachel to change the discussion from finding out what went wrong to a gun control “conspiracy” is disingenuous.
The President has blown it here. Of course he wasn’t involved, but it makes things look mighty suspicious when he provides blanket cover for Holder who has admittedly mislead Congress (evidenced by later retractions of statements). If there truly is anything subject to executive privilege, it should be left out or redacted, and the remaining thousands of pages of documents should be provided to the committee.
Rachel - Shame on you! You have fallen to the level of the loony right by defending your team at all costs, and you’ve lost credibility in doing so...
I watched the Rachel Maddow show for two minutes tonight. During that time she referenced Fox News more than a dozen times. It reminded me of the time I was working in Toronto and turned on the local news to understand what is important the citizens of Toronto. Instead, the news was all about what was happening in New York and DC. I remember feeling a sense of pride as a US citizen. Canada really does depend on us. You can draw the obvious conclusion here.
We really don't. You on the other hand better hope we don't get it into our heads to shut off your lights, oil, gas and water though. Who depends on who again?
But, your news does get our attention because it's usually so freaking nuts, nice to see someone is proud of that, congrats. We like to hear about life in your big cities so we can sleep at night safe in the knowledge that we are Canadian. Thank god!
This has all the earmarks of the Salem witch trials.
LET US START:
Get Involved!
_____________________________________________________________________
By Mail
Correspondence to the Department, including the Attorney General, may be sent to:
By Phone
Department of Justice Main Switchboard - 202-514-2000
Office of the Attorney General Public Comment Line - 202-353-1555
By E-Mail
E-mails to the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General, may be sent to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov. E-mails will be forwarded to the responsible Department of Justice component for appropriate handling.
Please note:
[DOJ] would like you to know...that all incoming messages are forwarded to the appropriate organization within the Department of Justice and you can be assured that your voices and views are being heard.
LET US FINISH:
When Mr. Issa suspends and ends his vendetta against Attorney General Eric Holder.
Thanks!
AIPAC, or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is the most important organization affecting the U.S. relationship with Israel. With a budget of $65 million, 10 billion dollars obtained in yearly loan guarantees, 3 billion in foreign/military aid, and membership now standing at over 100,000, it is no wonder that congressional staffers consider it one of the most powerful lobbies on Capitol Hill.
This 100,000-strong group has been described as an agent of the Israeli government, and those accusations were substantiated in 2005 when a pentagon analyst plead guilty to passing military secrets to two AIPAC employees en route to Israel. After some political wrangling, all charges were dropped against the two Jewish AIPAC employees in 2009, even though the analyst agreed to testify against the AIPAC employees, and the government had overwhelming evidence to prosecute. It was reported by Time magazine that Jane Harman, a Jewish congresswoman, was bribed by AIPAC to lobby the Department of Justice to drop the spying charges against the AIPAC employees. In 2009, CQ politics reported that Harman was caught on a NSA wiretap telling an Israeli agent that she would lobby the Department of Justice to drop the case.
The US Foreign Registration Act clearly states that any lobby that acts on behalf of a foreign government must register as a foreign agent. Even though AIPAC: has been caught spying for Israel, shamelessly campaigns to give American tax dollars to Israel for weapons that are used to kill Palestinian civilians, and lobbies for American soldiers to die in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran for Israel’s hegemony of the Middle East, it is still the only foreign lobby in Washington that does not have to register under the act. We must Abolish AIPAC NOW. If they wish to lobby, they too must be required to register as lobbyist for a foreign agent!
Through back room dealings, bribery, and corruption, AIPAC has secured Israel hundreds of billions of dollars in aid since the 1950′s. Some Americans are aware of the annual $3 billion in direct foreign aid to Israel, but very few Americans know about the tens of billions of dollars that are given every year under the table in terms of valuable military equipment deemed “scrapped,” loan guarantees, preferential contracts, and upfront payments that should be distributed over the course of a year. In the most recent affront to justice, AIPAC had US approve 1 BILLION dollars for an Israeli missile systems while US states go broke and borrow money from China to subsidize their economy... American's are fed up and the time to take advantage of this awakening is NOW!
We will provide resources to counter AIPAC initiatives before Congress, such as the current legislation in Congress to punish the Palestinian people. Most importantly, we will serve as a resource for people organizing actions to challenge the status quo. We believe that changing U.S. policy is really the bottom line. The people of the United States, and the people of the world, deserve better than policies of endless war, occupation, and support for dispossession of the Palestinian people. We the people want a policy based on fairness and mutual respect. Therefore, we welcome the participation of those who want a U.S. foreign policy based on adherence to international law and support for human rights with fairness to everyone.
We ask for your financial support as your sadaqah will allow us to organize the largest petition and rally is US history, bringing 2 million citizens from all walks of life, to Washington DC, on October 2012. The largest Unity rally in our nations history. Organized labor, organized students, the 99% disenfranchised by the largest Zionist Mortgage Backed Securities Ponzi scheme in the worlds history…all united to say: No More United States of Israel. Your support will allow the creation of a New America based upon our founding principles and not upon the strategic goals of the Zionists. You names will form part of our hall of fame, Golden pages, where those that stood up to the deception will be honored by our children and future generations!
TEN MOST IMPORTANT REASONS WHY AIPAC MUST BE ABOLISHED AND WHY SUPPORTING SOLIDARITY IS THE BEST SADAQAH OPTION FOR YOUR COUNTRY AND HUMANITY
1. AIPAC is lobbying Congress to promote a military confrontation with Iran. AIPAC – like the Israeli government – is demanding that the U.S. attack Iran militarily to prevent Iran from having the technological capacity to produce nuclear weapons, even though U.S. officials say Iran isn’t trying to build a weapon (and even though Israel has hundreds of undeclared nuclear weapons). AIPAC has successfully lobbied the U.S. government to adopt crippling economic sanctions on Iran, including trying to cut off Iran’s oil exports, despite the fact that these sanctions raise the price of gas and threaten the U.S. economy.
2. AIPAC promotes Israeli policies that are in direct opposition to international law. These include the establishment of colonies (settlements) in the Occupied West Bank and the confiscation of Palestinian land in its construction of the 26-foot high concrete “separation barrier” running through the West Bank. The support of these illegal practices makes to impossible to achieve a solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict.
3.AIPAC’s call for unconditional support for the Israeli government threatens our national security. The United States’ one-sided support of Israel, demanded by AIPAC, has significantly increased anti-American sentiment throughout the Middle East, thus endangering our troops and sowing the seeds of more possible terrorist attacks against us. Gen. David Petraeus on March 16, 2010 admitted that the U.S./Palestine conflict “foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel.” He also said that “Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the [region] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilize support.”
4. AIPAC undermines American support for democracy movements in the Arab world. AIPAC looks at the entire Arab world through the lens of Israeli government interests, not the democratic aspirations of the Arab people. It has therefore supported corrupt, repressive regimes that are friendly to the Israeli government, such as Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. Events now unfolding in the Middle East should convince U.S. policy-makers of the need to break from AIPAC’s grip and instead support democratic forces in the Arab world.
5. AIPAC makes the U.S. a pariah at the UN. AIPAC describes the UN as a body hostile to the State of Israel and has pressured the U.S. government to oppose resolutions calling Israel to account. Since 1972, the US has vetoed 44 UN Security Council resolutions condemning Israel’s actions against the Palestinians. President Obama continues that policy. Under Obama, the US vetoed UN censure of the savage Israeli assault on Gaza in January 2009 in which about 1400 Palestinians were killed; a 2011 resolution calling for a halt to the illegal Israeli West Bank settlements even though this was stated U.S. policy; a 2011 resolution calling for Israel to cease obstructing the work of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees; and another resolution calling for an end to illegal Israeli settlement building in East Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights.
6. AIPAC attacks politicians who question unconditional support of Israel. AIPAC demands that Congress rubber stamp legislation drafted by AIPAC staff. It keeps a record of how members of Congress vote and this record is used by donors to make contributions to the politicians who score well. Members of Congress who fail to support AIPAC legislation have been targeted for defeat in re-election bids. These include Senators Adlai Stevenson III and Charles H. Percy, and Representatives Paul Findley, Pete McCloskey, Cynthia McKinney, and Earl F. Hilliard. AIPAC’s overwhelmingly disproportionate influence on Congress subverts our democratic system.
7. AIPAC attempts to silence all criticism of Israel by labeling critics as “anti-Semitic,” “de-legitimizers” or “self-hating Jews.” Journalists, think tanks, students and professors have been accused of anti-Semitism for merely taking stands critical of Israeli government policies. These attacks stifle the critical discussions and debates that are at the heart of democratic policy-making. The recent attacks on staffers at the Center for American Progress are but one example of AIPAC efforts to crush all dissent.
8. AIPAC feeds U.S. government officials a distorted view of the Israel/Palestine conflict. AIPAC takes U.S. representatives on sugar-coated trips to Israel. In 2011, AIPAC took one out of every five members of Congress—and many of their spouses—on a free junket to Israel to see precisely what the Israeli government wanted them to see. It is illegal for lobby groups to take Congress people on trips, but AIPAC gets around the law by creating a bogus educational group, AIEF, to “organize” the trips for them. AIEF has the same office address as AIPAC and the same staff. These trips help cement the ties between AIPAC and Congress, furthering their undue influence.
9. AIPAC lobbies for billions of U.S. tax dollars to go to Israel instead of rebuilding America. While our country is reeling from a prolonged financial crisis, AIPAC is pushing for no cuts in military funds for Israel, a wealthy nation. With communities across the nation slashing budgets for teachers, firefighters and police, AIPAC pushes for over $3 billion a year to Israel.
10. Money to Israel takes funds from world’s poor. Israel has the 24th largest economy in the world, but thanks to AIPAC, it gets more U.S. tax dollars than any other country. At a time when the foreign aid budget is being slashed, keeping the lion’s share of foreign assistance for Israel means taking funds from critical programs to feed, provide shelter and offer emergency assistance to the world’s poorest people.
The bottom line is that AIPAC, which is a de facto agent for a foreign government, has influence on U.S. policy out of all proportion to the number of Americans who support its policies. When a small group like this has such disproportionate power they hurt everyone— particularly nations of the Middle East and the Islamic communities. Israeli Mossad is keenly aware of the US internal discontent with AIPAC, they are aware of an increase in resistance to their objectives by the Occupy Movement, this is the main reason they have created a closer tie with Russian Zionists Bolsheviks, as they both have eyes on the oil.
From stopping a catastrophic war with Iran to finally solving the Israel/Palestinian conflict, an essential starting point is breaking AIPAC’s grip on U.S. policy. YOU STOP AIPAC... You Stop Israel! Please help fund this enormous task and let's stop The United States of Israel.
Please forward this Anti AIPAC Petition to everyone: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/484/854/170/aipac-must-register-as-foreign-agent/
Best regards to all,
David J Velardo
President: president@solidarityus.org
Please provide your financial support, our organization will not be able to met its objectives without it: http://www.solidarityus.org/support.html
Visit Solidarity here: http://solidarityus.org Visit our Blog here: http://solidarityus.org/blog/