Not everyone is happy with Eric Holder as AG.
November 25, 2008 by Dusty
I know I am not, based on his pov on cannabis use and prosecution. His big love for big business doesn’t endear him to me either. As this writeup over at Law.com states, both sides of the aisle don’t like Mr. Holder for quite a few reasons:
* The right. The Republican Liberty Caucus says: “For years, Eric Holder has worked to degrade our civil liberties and weaken the Constitution and the values on which our nation was founded.”
* The left. TalkLeft is not happy about Holder’s efforts while U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., “to raise marijuana penalties and restore mandatory minimum penalties for drug crimes.”
* The legalization lobby. NORML Blog expresses concern about Holder’s “long history of opposing drug policy reforms, perceiving cannabis smoking by adults as a public nuisance worthy of constant harassment, promoting violent governmental intervention into the private lives of citizens who consume cannabis.”
* Free speech advocates. The Legal Satyricon says Holder “has a censorship goon past.” NewsBusters suggests Holder would “stifle free speech on the internet.”
* Civil libertarians. The blog Wizbang Blue accuses Holder of “pandering to religious right organizations” on separation of church and state.
Even legendary trial lawyer Gerry Spence is not pleased. Calling him “Eric Holden,” Spence says that when a lawyer works long enough for big corporations, as Holder did as partner at a corporate law firm, “the human psyche begins to dry up and one day will fall out on the carpet of the boardroom floor … like a dried up old prune.” Let us just hope that doesn’t happen until after the confirmation hearings.
Working from the middle is one thing, pandering to the wingnut base or the corporatocracy is entirely another. The Rethugs of course will slam him about the Marc Rich pardon..that is a given. But it is very strange to find myself agreeing with anything the right says..very strange feeling indeed. Below is Mr. Holder speaking about limiting free speech:
Tags: Eric Holder, Attorney General
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Why shouldn’t everyone “slam him about the Marc Rich pardon”?
Did we ever find out how much payola Clinton got for that?
Looking on the bright side, he’s no Alberto Gonzales.
Because Robb, all Presidents pardon assholes. Bush has just pardoned a whole lot of idiots too.
I am no fan of Bill Clinton’s administration, but that said..Marc Rich’s pardon is old news and has nothing to do with the here and now.
I will reserve judgment on Holder being another Gonzo.
Can’t trust a man that sides with the Anslinger bunch. Yes I know Anslinger was from the ’20’s and ’30’s but if a man still holds those old lies dear he can’t be trusted.
I agree A.T. Anslinger is the asshole that make cannabis illegal.
While the RLC is a right wing organization from your perspective, it’s actually a Republican libertarian group which supports the legalization of Marijuana and free speech rights and even gay marriage.
What really has hardcore right wingers angry about Holder is his history of opposing gun rights, which has set even the NRA against him.
Of all the Obama appointees, he may be the one who faces the hardest time getting confirmed in the Senate. Of course, voting out so many pro-civil liberties Republicans and replacing them with conservative anti-rights Democrats may help him out some.
Dave
http://www.republicofdave.com
I am not familiar with the RLC Dave, so I don’t have an opinion on them. But thanks for your pov on this issue.
Blue Dogs are the bain of the party. But their constituents elected them, so they have a caucus of their own to negotiate from.
Any group that claims Jeff Flake, Ron Paul and Dana Rohrabacher as members can’t be all (select one: bad, sane, good, sentient, bipedal).