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Read other letters about this article
However --
"I personally discount -- not entirely but somewhat -- what people said and did in the immediate aftermath of the trauma of 9/11, and I consider January, 2002 to be part of that period. Many people who have ended up as important advocates for the Constitution and the rule of law made some early statements and formed some positions, undoubtedly attributable to the emotional impact of 9/11, that they came to regret.
"Holder's remarks came before there were any reports of the extremism and abuse that the Bush administration was planning. . . ."
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People have a short memory as to the extremism which occured in late 2000, when a far-right anti-Constitutional election theft occurred. That foundation -- the unconstitutional appointment, by the unelected SC which usurped the authority, exclusive to CONGRESS, to resolve the election dispute -- wasn't sufficently unconstitutional and extreme to not slip one's mind?
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. . . . Holder's involvement in the sleazy Marc Rich pardon is definitely a blemish, though, given his peripheral role, it's a relatively minor one.
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It is nothing of the kind, unless one relies upon the far-right anti-Clinton smears concerning that pardon. For one, the person representing Rich, and lobbying for the pardon for him, was L. "Scooter" Libby -- hardly a Democrat.
For another, Rich was not given a pardon in the form assumed: total. Rather, he was pardoned for miscontrued application of the tax fraud statute -- this was the view not only of Libby but also of some three DOJ attys. whose responsibility was to review pardon applications -- said misapplication having been applied by US AG Rudy Guliani -- and another aspect of his sentence was made more stringent.
The jury is out on Holder -- some of his statements are promising; others are not so much. But we aren't yet certain that he'll be appointed AG, any more than it is final that Hillary will be appointed Sec. of State. Both are qualified for AG; she is also qualified for Sec. of State.
