For the second time in a little over five weeks I find myself in agreement with NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd. She writes–
Yet Obama is oozing empathy compared with his attorney general, who last week called us “a nation of cowards” about race.
Eric Holder, who showed precious little bravery in standing up to Clinton on a pardon for the scoundrel Marc Rich, is wrong. We have just inaugurated a black president who installed a black attorney general.
We need leaders to help us through our crises, not provide us with crude evaluations of our character.
Holder’s statement is crude. Most people don’t like talking race for one big reason- The slightest misstep can get you labeled a racist. So its safer to avoid the subject.
I won’t say anything more. Look I am a coward too!
![Bloggers Deal The Facts While NYT Spreads The Manure [Updated]](https://www.wizbangblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/truth_and_lies.jpg "Bloggers Deal The Facts While NYT Spreads The Manure [Updated]")
“he slightest misstep can get you labeled a racist.”
Shoot, all you have to do is point out that millions of illegal immigrants cost the citizens some money and you get labeled a racist. On the other hand, denying white or Asian children scholarships based on their race is perfectly Okay. I’d love to have a long conversation about race with anyone in President Obama’s administration, but they won’t return my phone calls. Cowards.
Brav -frickin’-oooo
There’s a common Harley T-shirt that says “If I have to explain, you wouldn’t understand.”
If you’re from the white right, you couldn’t possibly understand and can’t possibly have anything to say on the subject.
So we don’t. Who needs the aggravation? Cowardice has nothing to do with it. You can never convince a liberal or an aggrieved racist with logic. It’s like trying to herd cats.
The only “conversation” the Attorney General & Co. want are massive white apologies for slavery and lingering oppression. Holder and those from the Chicago area (home of retribution penalties to corporate American) want da money!
Obamalala and his cadre of whinnin’ liberals want to throw up the white flag at the drop of a bomb. I love it when they project their wimpiness on everyone else to divert the issue.
I’ll be happy to have a frank discussion about race with Mr Holder. The same day that we have a frank discussion about his involvement in the pardon of Marc Rich…………..
Is that crickets I hear chirping?
Perhaps Mr. Holden had a valid point when he referred to America as “a nation of cowards”, particularly regarding race. A coward is one who lacks the courage to face his fear. In addition, it is particularly cowardice to proclaim one’s self-virtues and lack the courage to honor that proclamation. For most of my fifty-two years, I have witnessed as the despicable cowards such as mister Holden promoted a culture of racism. Normalizing guilt and shame as a means to exploit and demoralize white American, and re-enslave black Americans in a culture of hate far more evil than any history, so that those of his ilk can exploit America for power and control, for their own selfish gain.
Perhaps Mr. Holden was referring to my own cowardice, not speaking-out to confront his ilk. Those condescending elitist who have stolen the social moral of this great nation, safely guarded away in their entitlement. White Americans ashamed of being white, unable not be. Black Americans unable to be anything other than black, also ashamed.
Mr. Holden was not making this point, but another. Thus, Mr. Holden is himself a coward. He is the reason we continue to have racism in this nation despite the efforts made by those true champions of racial equality, who’s legacy he denigrates and prostitutes. He is a criminal, a person void of any moral fiber. He is unworthy of any consideration as civil being. He is a sad commentary in the fall of this great nation. Then, are not we all.
To echo some of the posts above, why bother? And what the heck are we supposed to all be talking about anyway? It’s not as if there are race riots every day of the week. The resentment is building to that convenient comeback of the left no matter what kind of comment you make: Racist! And look out when it boils over. Half of this country is mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore.
Comments 1-8 perfectly demonstrate the point Holder was making. Note: I am not calling any of you racists.
Just cowards, eh JFO?
I’d like Holder to lay out what it is that he feels we need to ‘discuss’. When people like Bill Cosby point out the failings of blacks to take advantage of opportunities afforded them since the 60’s, he’s castigated for ‘airing OUR dirty laundry in public’. So who, Mr Holder, is GUILTY of cowardice?
Epador
Just a bunch of angry responses. You know, as well as I do, that Holder was speaking about cowards in the context of being willing to openly engage in a dialogue about racism.
Sounds to me more like cowards because we are not wiling to “discuss” racism on certain terms than define victims, oppressors and guilt on a perverted scale. But what would you know about that?
Just curious. Clinton pardoning Rich is a real big deal with you guys. Did you know what Rich;s attorney was that lobbied for that pardon? No?
Why it was Dick Cheney’s sidekick and furture traitor (he helped out a CIA agent and completely destroyed a CIA front that was working to stop nuclear arms proliferation) SCOOTER LIBBY!
Yup, you can look it up but you won’t because it interferes with your whacked worldview and irrational hatred of Bill Clinton- the best Republican president since T Roosevelt! haha.
As for the Hamas resettlement, go read the the damn order. It authorizes 20 million for relief NOT ONE WORD in it about bringing refugees here.
Oh yeah and “generational theft” hahaa that’s a good one, where were you when St Ronnie, Bush I and II ran up NINE TRILION DOLLARS in debt we have NOTHING to show for? Huh? Where were your conservative asses then?
I could spend all day here debunking all the bullshit you nuts believe but there’s no changing your minds, a pathetic clinging to disinformation that supports your fantasies is all you are interested in, anything contrary makes you piss your pants in terror even if it is the truth.
You people are a blight on this country. You are truly the enemy within.
Race hustling was raised to an art form by the Sharptons and Jacksons of our upside-down world, and it is the most divisive forces in the country.
Most Americans don’t think of racial differences day in and day out because they are accepting of individuals. They don’t play the group think games for political power.
Why doesn’t our new Attorney General use his position to admonish those like Sharpton who engage in racism scare mongering and tribute payments?
Never mind. I can answer my own question. He’s one of them.
Epador
So obviously you didn’t read what Holder said.
A troll calls us the enemy within;
We must be doing something right.
There are people who believe in UFOs. I’m not saying I do or don’t, this is just an example. Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster could be easily substituted.
When there is a sighting, it creates a buzz which causes debate which leads coverage and stories and revenue. Now, of course, some sightings are staged or faked to promote tourism (Loch Ness and that town near Area 51).
Racism is similiar in that some of it is staged or provoked or faked in order to generate revenue either for the individual or to perpetuate the myth that there is rampant racism in America.
Therefore, I don’t see how racism really exists to any great degree when there are so many blacks who are respected by all races like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Seal, Mike Tomlin, Bill Cosby, Clarence Thomas, Will Smith, Kobe Bryant and I could go on and on but I think you get my drift.
I won’t deny that racism exists. I was confronted with it about 10 years ago, when I met a friend of my ex-wife who was a neo nazi.
Now, I’ve been alive for 34 years now… and that’s the first and ONLY time I’ve run across it.
For the vast majority of us here in America, race isn’t an issue. 30+ years ago? Yes. Today? Not so much.
What’s somewhat ironic though, is (to use Obama’s own words) “… making perfect the enemy…”
Will we ever be 100% free of racism? I sincerely hope so, but probably not in my lifetime. Are we 90% free of racism? I thinks so. So stop beating the 90% of us over the head for the transgressions of the 10%. Doing so is morally and intellectually dishonest. Address the transgressions of the 10% to the 10%, and leave the rest of us out of it. Doing anything else, might even be construed as being… (dare I say it), cowardly.
dave – “Oh yeah and “generational theft” hahaa that’s a good one, where were you when St Ronnie, Bush I and II ran up NINE TRILION DOLLARS in debt we have NOTHING to show for? Huh? Where were your conservative asses then?”
Right here with many posts by the authors and many comments on their posted articles slamming both Bush budget policies and the Reps and Dems that supported him.
Much easier to let loose with your misguided broadside (and look ignorant while doing so) than it would’ve been to look through the archives and post something in close approximation to reality wasn’t it?
Where were you when every budget Bush submitted for eight years was bloated beyond all recognition and comprehension by the idiots in both parties in Congress?
More “wisdom” from dave – “St Ronnie, Bush I and II ran up NINE TRILION DOLLARS in debt we have NOTHING to show for? Huh? Where were your conservative asses then?
By my calculation that covers 28 years inclusive presumably, of your “boy” Clinton. That’s something on the order of 3-400 million per year.
Barack Hussein Obama just added 1.2 TRILLION counting interest in less than a month.
Where was your liberal ass then?
“Barack Hussein Obama just added 1.2 TRILLION counting interest in less than a month.
Where was your liberal ass then?”
And another libby douchebag is sent reeling to the mat – again…
I can’t wait for an apology from that punk ass chump. He just accused *everyone* in this country of being cowards when it comes to race. He is not a student of history, neither last century or this.
This administration is pure comedy gold and its only been 1 month.
“You can’t *pay* for entertainment like this.”
Libby was never changed with outing Plame and before his trial Armitage came forward and admitted that he leaked Plame’s identity to Novak and to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post.
Go look it up, but you won’t because it interferes with your whacked worldview and irrational hatred of Bush.
So far you’re bating zero, but then we have come to expect that from you.
It’s pretty easy to see that Eric Holder will only continue to uphold that time honored tradition of controversial attorney generals, dating all the way back to John Mitchell during the Nixon years.
What Holder really has historically wrong in his “cowards” comment is that it was often the federal justice authorities who failed to properly act in many instances. FBI officials were slow to act or failed to act in cases when KKK or other racists murdered civil rights workers or those seeking to register African Americans to vote. There is even evidence that J. Edgar Hoover himself might have allowed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, because of evidence that the FBI knew that James Earl Ray was in Memphis, Tenn. with the intent of murdering King, and the FBI under Hoover’s direction might have acted to cancel a hotel reservation for King in a much safer hotel, forcing King into the far less secure Loraine Motel where Ray had a far better opportunity to murder King. If anything evidence suggests that the past efforts of the Federal Justice Department and the FBI acted cowardly in preventing or addressing civil rights crimes, not the the general public. Holder’s comments are historically wrong and revisionist.
If Holder wants to establish himself as a competent attorney general who oversees an ethical justice department and law enforcement, then his comments have not been very helpful in my view. This is only the latest reason why I continue to be wary of Eric Holder. I’m one liberal who has serious continuing doubts about Eric Holder’s legal philosophy. Holder is certainly well qualified to be attorney general. But it is way too many controversial ideals on issues dealing with the Bill Of Rights and civil liberties as well as “off the cuff” comments for me to recommend Holder as the best choice for attorney general by any means.
holder was way out of line
some may agree with him, but notice how the entire democrat establishment doesnt reflexively circle the wagons and defend and re-frame holders statements. neocons could learn a thing or two from that
pea[brain]3000 – “some may agree with him, but notice how the entire democrat establishment doesnt reflexively circle the wagons and defend and re-frame holders statements. neocons could learn a thing or two from that”
Or the reverse could be true. (but you’d never admit to it)
The “entire democrat establishment” are distancing themselves from his statement afraid to get caught in the crossfire.
[skid]marc – some do agree with him, many dont, yet the discourse amongst them on this matter has been mostly calm and reasoned. for many neocons that will take much getting used to………………
pea[brain]3000 – “some do agree with him, many dont,”
Show me, which in the D.C. establishment are in agreement? I’d be more than happy to read the quotes provided.
Being Holder is largely immune to the charge of racism, what’s to defend? Not many want to take offense or argue with Holder over such statements because they are largely irrelevant, yet require delving into a subject that’s full of deep pits for those who are not immune to the charge of racism. Let Holder blunder on a relevant issue and you’ll see libs reflexively circle the wagons and defend him.
Marc, take it easy on Dave……he’s off his meds……again. :o)
Screw dave, there aren’t enough meds anywhere on earth or within its gravitation pull to straighten out his problems.
Dave at 12:43 is a flat out liar. Libby did represent Mark Rich, but was not representing him at the time of the pardon:
“The testimony from Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who represented Rich dating back to 1985 but stopped working for him in the spring of 2000, came during a contentious, hours-long House committee hearing into former President Bill Clinton’s eleventh-hour pardons. “
Rich’s lawyer at the time of the pardon was Jack Quinn:
“Nolan testified that she had asked Rich attorney Jack Quinn , not the Justice Department, when allegations arose that Rich had been involved in forbidden arms dealing since leaving the country after being indicted in 1983 for tax evasion and racketeering.”
This is easily found in this CNN story:
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/03/02/clinton.library/
I do get tired of leftists thinking they have some killer point when all they demonstrate is an inability to use Google.
Rick
If it bothers you what Eric Holder stated, you must be guilty. I guess we’ll remain a nation of cowards.
depp=true
Give me holder for one hour on the Grinder. I will have the little dirtbag’s attitude adjusted and he will be crying for his Momma and I won’t lay a hand on him.
“If it bothers you what Eric Holder stated, you must be guilty. I guess we’ll remain a nation of cowards.”
Guilty of what? Guilty of recognizing bull shit when you see it and calling him on it?
To me, a ‘coward’ is one who would listen to Holder’s crap, and say NOTHING.
Obama is an idiot. Has he appologized?
http://www.rightklik.net/
Sure would like to have that divorce.
It looks like the level of discourse needs to be brought up a bit, so here goes:
Nanny Nanny Noo Noo!
Pfffffffffft!
[slap!]
Moooommmmmeeeeeee!!!!!!
hey justice58, Mike Nifong e-mailed and said be left the tattered shreds of his credibility in your closet and wants it back kthnxbye.