1.) Holder holds back evidence? — Nobody likes Mondays, but at least you’re not Eric Holder. (Unless you are, in which case: Good morning, sir!) His week is not getting off to a good start, as TheDC’s Matthew Boyle reports:
“A largely overlooked exchange from Thursday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing includes what appears to be an admission from Attorney General Eric Holder that emails to and from him about Operation Fast and Furious may exist, and that he’s refusing to provide them to Congress. The possibility was first addressed during an exchange with House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, who also sits on the House Judiciary Committee, early in the hearing. ‘Most of the 5,000 documents you turned over are emails,’ Issa said to Holder. ‘Mr. Attorney General, I have a question for you. Not one of these emails, in fact, is yours. Aren’t you a prolific emailer?’ Holder responded that, ‘No,’ he is not a ‘prolific emailer.’ Issa followed up: ‘Don’t you email?’ Holder responded in the affirmative. ‘Do you have a personal email account as well as an attorney general email account?’ Issa pressed. ‘I have an email account at the Justice Department, yes,’ Holder equivocated.”
It goes on in that vein for a bit, with Issa asking direct questions and Holder dragging his feet, but the gist of it is this: Out of all the documents the Justice Department has released regarding Fast and Furious, there’s not one e-mail from Eric Holder. And he won’t answer directly when asked whether he ever sent any. Either you believe he didn’t, or he’s hiding them. Oh, and:
“In a later exchange Holder had with Florida Republican Rep. Sandy Adams, Holder all but said he has used his personal email account to communicate with Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer and his former deputy attorney general and now chief of staff, Gary Grindler, about Fast and Furious.”
Whoops.
2.) More bad news for Holder — Yet another Republican is being mean to him by holding him accountable for his actions. Matthew Boyle reports:
“Freshman Republican Rep. Steve Southerland of Florida told The Daily Caller that Attorney General Eric Holder’s ‘blatant disregard’ for the congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious and the subpoenas he’s been issued is an affront to the American people. In an interview with TheDC’s Ginni Thomas, Southerland said Holder’s apparent failure to comply with lawfully issued subpoenas is an exhibition of his ‘sense of entitlement’ — by acting like his position is his ‘stake in life’ and that he doesn’t ‘owe anyone for that position…’ Southerland added that he thinks Holder is acting like he’s personally guaranteed the position of Attorney General of the United States, and isn’t showing any regard for answering questions the American people have about Operation Fast and Furious. ‘When we’re elected, we must thank those that put us here,’ Southerland said. ‘And, when an elected official appoints someone else, they do owe the American people the appreciation of having that position. So, I find the blatant disregard of answering subpoenas and the stall tactics — it is really a slap at the American people.'”
Remember: Eric Holder wants the Daily Caller to stop asking Congressmen for their opinions on Fast and Furious and then publishing their answers. AKA the practice of journalism. He does not like it one bit. Just try to imagine if an Attorney General had behaved like this during, oh, let’s say 2001-2009. The prevailing media reaction would’ve been a bit different, don’t you think?
3.) Yep, there was another GOP debate — Wait, come back! TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports from Des Moines:
“The Republican candidates for president did what was expected: They ganged up on Newt Gingrich, the new front-runner, at Saturday night’s debate. ‘What, places where we disagree?’ former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney said when asked to differentiate himself from Gingrich. ‘Let’s see. We can start with his idea to have a lunar colony that would mine minerals from the moon… I’m not in favor of spending that kind of money to do that…’ In addition to discussing differences on capital gains, Romney also said ‘the real difference, I believe, is our backgrounds. I spent my life in the private sector.’ Gingrich, the former House speaker, shot back at Romney: ‘The only reason you didn’t become a career politician is you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994.’ Responding to Romney’s comment about the ‘lunar colony,’ Gingrich said, ‘I’m proud of trying to find things that give young people a reason to study science and math and technology, and telling them that someday in their lifetime, they could dream of going to the moon…'”
Well, Gingrich does look kinda like Ralph Kramden. Perry, Bachmann, Santorum, and Paul also took shots at Gingrich, and this sums up his response: “I think people have to measure who I am now, and whether I’m a person they can trust.” Yeah, that’s the thing, isn’t it?
4.) Dinner for Schmucks 2: Psychotic Boogaloo — The Weather Underground was never really known for their cooking skills. When they tried to whip something up, it tended to blow up in their faces. But that was then! This is now, as TheDC’s Christopher Bedford reports:
“For the low, low price of $2,500, one lucky bidder and five friends are set to have dinner cooked for them by Weather Underground leaders Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. The auction was hosted by the Illinois Humanities Council (IHC), a non-profit founded — and still funded — by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Bidders were invited to ‘[e]njoy an unforgettable and scintillating dinner for a party of six cooked by veteran activists and educators Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.’ ‘Fascinating conversation over a meal,’ the auction promised, ‘is the agenda for this special evening.'”
Speaking of fascinating dinner conversation, Dohrn once said of Sharon Tate’s gruesome murder by the Manson Family: “First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they even shoved a fork into the victim’s stomach! Wild!” So here’s a word of advice to the “lucky” bidder: Kevlar.
5.) Is Obama more like Teddy Roosevelt or Hugo Chávez? — Charles Krauthammer’s answer may or may not surprise you! TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports:
“In his Friday Washington Post column, Charles Krauthammer criticized the president for waging class warfare on the so-called ‘1 percent’ and likened the brand of populism he offered in a speech last week to Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez, and not Teddy Roosevelt, which the backdrop of the Kansas speech suggested was who he was attempting to mimic. On this weekend’s broadcast of the syndicated TV show ‘Inside Washington,’ Krauthammer elaborated on that premise. According to the Post columnist and Fox News contributor, Barack Obama waged class warfare, but seemed to omit the three years of his own presidency that Obama used to justify such class warfare. ‘Yes, he talked about how we got here,’ Krauthammer said. ‘He gave a nice historical rundown, except that he left out a critical three years – his presidency. It is as if it did not exist. It’s as if we jumped from ’08 to today. This speech was intended to say that everything that happened the past three years has nothing to do with [Obama’s] administration or policies – economic stagnation, debt, high unemployment. It is the result of the malice of the rich.’ Krauthammer added that the speech was designed ‘to stir the erogenous zones of liberals,’ which he said was done with seemingly little effort.”
Which is easy enough when you realize that it’s not about whether or not a statement is true. It’s about how that statement makes the target audience feel. Give the rubes what they want: Hopenchange!
6.) Today’s words of wisdom from Roseanne Barr’s Twitter feed — “it will be illegal to be a banker when I am president! Bankers will go to the penitentiary and serve time-#toughoncrime! #roseanne4prez #fkm”
VIDEO: Morning Joe vs. Sunday Chris
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