The Washington Post published an incoherent screed against Eric Holder written by a man named Edward Whelan today. Whelan is identified as the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center (as well as former deputy in the OLC). What is the Ethics and Public Policy Center?
The Ethics and Public Policy Center was established in 1976 to clarify and reinforce the bond between the Judeo-Christian moral tradition and the public debate over domestic and foreign policy issues.
Check out their web page. Undiluted batshit craziness. “Pope was right to expose cult of the condom” (referring to opposition to the use of condoms to slow the spread of AIDs in Africa), “Should the University of Notre Dame honor our most anti-life president?”, an article by Rick Santorum, an article that wonders “If Whole Foods is a culture’s answer to the demise of the Sixth Commandment”.
Amazing what Fred Hiatt will publish.
Update. From the comments:
And it’s even more telling that the Post knows that someone who was at OLC during that time has no credibility. They included the note “His portfolio did not include national security matters.” in his bio line. They might have well said that “He worked in the sewer but he wasn’t covered in shit.”
someguy
Ed may be upset, but at least he didn’t kill any cops over it. So by Republican standards, it’s a pretty mild dissent.
** Atanarjuat **
With newspaper subscriptions going down and traditional journalistic institutions declaring bankruptcy, it’s little wonder that editors will publish almost anything in an effort to boost sales.
-A
Apsaras
So Barack Obama has the anti-life equation? I should have known he’d sell us out to Apokolips. Obama!!!
cleek
is that the one against murder, or the one against adultery ? which denomination are we using, here ?
MattF
More than a little scary that this guy was in a high position in the Bush OLC. Torture, anyone?
robertdsc
I didn’t know Dubya was invited to speak.
used to be disgusted
But Fred Hiatt is the third most influential liberal in American media.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/22/influential-media-obama-oped-cx_tv_ee_hra_0122liberal_slide_24.html?thisSpeed=15000
Ash Can
I think Atanarjuat nails it.
…wait, what??
(Psst, Atanarjuat, your persona slip is showing.)
SenyorDave
I live in the DC area and have been considering dropping the waPost for several weeks. It started with the Chaz Freeman feeding frenzy, accelerated with the George Will column dismissing climate change (it doesn’t even seem debateable that Will made up his "facts", I’m still waiting for his correction), and the final straw was yesterday’s Holder column. I don’t need to spend $200 a year to be pissed off aty the newspaper each day.
kommrade reproductive vigor
An op-ed in the Post is a start but these psychos need a much bigger microphone. People like Whelan need to be on at least one "serious" talk show a week and encouraged to gibber what ever is on their mind to the entire world.
@cleek: Since Frothy Fecal Matter is a Catholic, I’d go with adultery.
But that does not get us past the fact that even by pRick’s very low standards it makes no fucking sense.
Ken Guffnagle
This loonbar was a Bush appointee in the OLC. I guess that’s the Post’s rationale for publishing him. After all, if you had a job in the previous administration, you can’t be a complete…never mind.
mistermix
What is laughable is that someone who was at OLC from 2001-2004, the time when that division of the DoJ crapped out stuff like the Yoo memo, is ginning up outrage over a simple voting rights case. The worst that will happen if the DC bill is passed is that it will be overturned in court, openly and transparently. OLC decisions made when Whelan was there were used to torture prisoners in secret.
And it’s even more telling that the Post knows that someone who was at OLC during that time has no credibility. They included the note "His portfolio did not include national security matters." in his bio line. They might have well said that "He worked in the sewer but he wasn’t covered in shit."
harlana pepper
This thing about Obama taking all our guns away? Can we go ahead with that now?
AkaDad
I refuse to spend my hard-earned money on Liberal rags like the Post, when I can get the truth for free from Rush Limbaugh.
Jon H
Why am I not surprised to see William Kristol among the advisors listed at the EPPC website.
Tom65
Wait, would this be the same Bush OLC that gave the WH cover for all manner of bullshit? This guy is lucky he hasn’t been disbarred.
RSA
Conservatives always forget that the Catholic Church opposes capital punishment, in most cases, as well as abortion. They’re both "culture of life" issues.
kay
This was predictable. Holder’s decision on Steven’s was huge, in my opinion.
He hit them where they pretend to live. On ethics, and adherence to the rules.
I figured there’d be a concerted effort to smear him. One, two, three. Right on schedule.
I am confident in Eric Holder’s ability to take a punch, and keep going.
Comrade Jake
It’s almost like they’re trying to give Calvinists for Conservatism a run for their money. Check out today’s gem:
Someone’s stupid dial appears to go to twelve.
kay
@Tom65:
If they’re so proud of their work, why won’t they allow release of the torture memos?
They’re frauds. They’re terrified of exposure.
kid bitzer
wait, so i can commit adultery with whole foods?
i knew there was a link to rabbit stew, but i’m surprised about the tofu-stuffed arugula.
Punchy
Wanna talk crazy?
Obama just announced that the U.S. is not at war with Islam.
That noise you heard was heads…..you can certainly finish this sentence.
Get ready for the Righty Rants to commence in 3…2….1….
MJ
Good job DougJ of vilifying the messenger and ignoring the message. Instead of addressing anything written in the article you just paint the author as being a nut case. All smear and zero substance.
Amazing what John Cole will allow to be posted on his blog these days.
DougJ
Op-eds are chosen more on the basis of who the writer is than the content of the piece itself.
I can only hope that you are not stockpiling ammo even as we speak.
Comrade Darkness
Oh, jeez, is this another one who insists that we stone people to death and chase menstruating women out of the village?
Shorter: Mommy beat me and told me sex was icky.
Stoic
The Washington Post is turning into the Washington Times. One would have thought that the bat-shit crazy Moonie paper would have made the WaPo drift the other way, but noooooo.
SnarkyShark
It’s a short cut. Just like when someone claims Obama is not legitimate due to live birth, or the uses the word "Democratic party" you can then just ignore anything they have to say. The unreconstructed racist asshole party adds nothing of value and takes up valuable oxygen and resources.
Just like you. I can know what you think by listening to Rush on any given day. Saves time. The only reason I bother to respond to your post is because I am the kind of guy who does enjoy kicking puppies and such. Otherwise it would be pointless to respond to your tired viewpoint.
There is no reason to give proven nutballs any credibility.
Tattoosydney
No, really, ** Atanarjuat ** is spoofing Atanarjuat, right?
How meta.
seonachan
The EPPC made a brief appearance on the lefty blogs in the run-up to the 2004 election, when NPR’s religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty intervewed some "random" attendees at a Catholic mass about their thoughts on John Kerry. She had one pro-Kerry person, whom she identified as a union leader, and three anti-Kerry folks, who were identified by name but not by occupation. The three turned out to be someone from the AEI, a black-helicopter-conspiracy nutcase, and the program director for the EPPC. Hagerty claimed (after enough of a fuss was raised to warrant a response both from her and from the NPR ombudsman) that she didn’t know any of these people, but further sleuthing revealed that Hagerty attended several EPPC conferences with the person involved.
I wrote about it at the time here and here.
John S.
@SnarkyShark:
I think you meant "Democrat party". Or as Steve Benen calls them, "converstion enders".
Betsy
Now THAT sounds like a religion I could get behind. Where do I sign up?
MJ
It’s not like Edward Whelan is a name readers of the Post would recognize and that’s no defense for zero analysis of the actual Op/Ed. If the Op/Ed lacks merit why don’t you tell us why?
I’m just sitting home today clinging to my guns with my bitterness over my lost job.
Dennis-SGMM
Just as the lunatic fringe believes that Obama will take away their guns so they believe that giving D.C. a full Representative in the House will lead to:
That was written by George Will, on February 5th of this year.
There is a sound, reasonable, Constitutional argument against granting D.C. a voting Representative. The right has become so accustomed to fear and smear that they are incapable of presenting a sound, reasonable argument – or even of recognizing one when they have it.
MJ
In other words you really can’t think of any way to defend the politicizing of the Justice Department, so you resort to name calling.
You might want to consider another hobby. How about bowling? or slot car racing?
DougJ
Hey, at least you’ve still got the broadband connection, right?
Xenos
@Punchy: It will be worse than that. Somehow BHO managed to have a wreath-laying at Kemal Ataturk’s grave, and the Wurlitzer was not preset with a screed blaming Obama for covering up the Armenian Genocide.
That scratching and tapping sound you hear is hundreds of wingnuts rushing to Wikipedia to research the basis for the next media frenzy. By noon Drudge will have the red lights flashing and and by 5:00 pm Chris Matthews will have at least one professional Armenian in his studio demanding an apology from the White House.
SnarkyShark
Correct. No more blogging before coffee.
What, do you mean like when I criticized Bush’s actual politicizing of the DOJ and got called a terrorist sympathizer by various right-wing assholes? Do unto others as they have already done unto you I say.
Nope, I am lazy and kicking puppies and right wing blowhards is easy and gives a certain satisfaction.
Of course kicking puppies is metaphorical, but the literal kicking of the reich-wingers makes me feel like I am serving the public interest as well.
I wish I could taste the tears of all the aging authoritarian "I can’t get past 1968" Republican boomers when they realize all the rest of the world can’t wait for them to die off already.
Fortunately all the life extending measures will come after that crop of rotten fruit has expired. Anti-intellectualism is a bitch of a payback.
MJ
I do but just for two more days. Then I’ll be traveling to a place I hope has more opportunity. It has beaches and women in bikinis. So even if I fail to find a job there is still plenty of opportunity. I may be with out net access for about a week. I’m sure you’ll miss me.
Yes, I really am looking for work but I don’t own a gun.
mistermix
Those who say DougJ is attacking the messenger, not the message, let’s look at the message for a minute.
The OLC served as the main torture justifier for the Bush administration. It’s the place from which the Yoo memo issued. Here’s Whelan’s "argument" for why the OLC is important:
Perhaps "everyone" has agreed that, but that agreement is theoretical. In practice, OLC did the opposite. They crafted memos that were nothing more than thinly veiled excuses for the torture policies of the Bush administration.
The rest of the "argument" is built on Whelan’s view of the OLC. His main beef is that Holder did not respect the authority of OLC, so he did wrong.
Of course, the opposite is true. Holder’s been AG for a month or so, the Bush administration had 8 years to "burrow" DoJ partisan appointees (i.e., to move them into civil service positions), so anything emanating from the OLC is suspect. Whether or not Holder is right on the legal merits of the case (and even if he isn’t a court will decide, not the DoJ), he’s right to disregard OLC advice until that house is clean.
DougJ
Good luck looking for work. It’s tough to be out of work right now and I wish you the best.
DougJ
@mistermix
I also think that it was indeed incoherent. It began with bashing Holder for Marc Rich and then talked about DC voting rights and the OLC.
Bill Belichick
Seems Glen Greenwald’s piece has the missing piece of the puzzle. Holder wants to release the torture memos, time to take him out.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@MJ:
Whelan compares the DC voting act (which is of interest to about 13 people) to a summary overturning of Roe v. Wade? That’s wankery of the highest level.
Svensker
@Xenos:
That meme isn’t going to pick up too much speed because of the Israel-Firsters. They like Turkey (or have up to the last few months) because Turkey has given some cover to Israel on a number of issues, and because they don’t want to officially call the Armenian genocide a "Genocide" — hurts Turkey and diminishes the primacy of their own genocide. The U.S. came very close to supporting naming the Armenian massacres a genocide a few months ago and AIPAC & Co. put a stop to that, right quick.
Phoenix Woman
Meanwhile, the Republicans are doing their damndest to hide what Bush’s OLC and other Bushies were doing WRT the torture memos — by holding up Obama’s nominations:
Let the word go forth, folks: This is how John Cornyn plans to keep Dick Cheney from going to The Hague.
Spreading the word and the outrage is the only way to stop it. And it has to come from us — if it comes from the Dems, the press blows it off as "politics".
MJ
So Bush does it it’s bad and when Obama does it, look the other way.
The Democrats and the Republicans are wrapped up in defending crap that should not be defended just because it’s ‘our’ side is doing it. No wonder party affiliation for both is slipping.
John Cole was right to bail out of the Republican party when he did. But he was crazy to then join the Democrats. It’s like leaving the Gambino crime family because you’re tired of being part of organized crime and then joining Genovese crime family.
Forget about finding a new hobby for now. Instead I think you should focus your energy on finding some counseling.
someguy
@ used to be disgusted
Yeah, no shit. If he had any cojones whatsoever, he’d silence these right wing pricks and keep them from using his paper as a platform to spread their peculiar brand of insanity. Streetcorners and homeless shelters are a more suitable forum for this kind of delusional ranting, though preferably not the corner of my street.
@ mistermix
That’s a pretty good argument in favor of purging the federal government roles of anybody hired between Jan 2001 and Jan 2009. I like it.
joe from Lowell
Sympathies, MJ. Me, too.
Anyone need their lawn mowed? I will work under the table, and have a master’s degree.
Hyperion
only if you are a survivalist who has been hiding in the woods for several years. it is no longer amazing. just like the idiocy of Glenn Beck and Seah Hannity and Bill Kristol. it has been repeatedly demonstrated. you’re a clever guy. i’m sure you can come up with something more creative.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@MJ:
I’ve done both. Let me say that bowling is a helluva lot cheaper, and you have a better chance of meeting people who aren’t complete freaks.
MJ
Thank you.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@Phoenix Woman:
I hope that this elicits a "Bring it on" moment from BO. Make the GOP publicly defend the torture memos.
The GOP: Country First, eh?
MJ
Bowling is cheaper to do. May be more geeks but ‘complete freaks’? I was very involved in racing for about 12 years and I didn’t see more freaks then you’d find doing anything else.
How do you define ‘complete freak’ any way?
Bootlegger
@** Atanarjuat **:
Ohmygod, I agree with Attanut!
This is why I love our country.
Bootlegger
@Comrade Jake: Shit, if Our Lord is punishing us like this I say we fight back and storm The Lord’s castle. Anyone got a god-cannon handy?
Bootlegger
@MJ:
Ooo-ooo-ooo, pick me, pick me. I am The Complete Freak.
Original Lee
@SenyorDave: Too right. We dropped back to a Sundays-only subscription last year (primarily just to keep the color comics page, I admit), but there are times when I cannot read more than a handful of stories in an issue, due to the concentrated crazy. Not to mention the fact that we get the supplement on Fridays now, so just about the only part of the Sunday paper that comes on Sunday anymore is the A section, the Metro section, and the Op-Eds. And they’ve messed with the comics section again. The next time we need to trim some from the household budget, I think the Post gets the ax.
gex
Ah here it is. The classic right wing projection. It’s *Obama* who is politicizing the DOJ.
Unbelievable.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
The Washington Post is just another big city daily with declining circulation and money problems, abandoning its traditional editorial integrity and going for the churn and trying to sustain advertising rates. LATimes is another example of the same phenomenon. Previously sedate and respected newspaper turns into a rag to get attention.
Not really that big a deal.
gex
@Bootlegger: I think the asterisks in the name occur when Attawhatever is on his/her meds.
SnarkyShark
You say this with a straight face and tell me I need counseling? There is nothing sane being done on the Republican side. Democrats have their problems, but anything being done at all constructive is being done on the Dem side. You can take that precious independence of yours and stick it where the sun don’t shine. High Boderism is no virtue but instead is part of the problem.
And if you voted Republican at all in the last 8 years then your unemployment is karma giving you a richly deserved bitch slap.
If you think I am extremely hostile towards Republicans you are correct. I spent 2 weeks in the hot Texas sun during the only war protest that accomplished anything watching Texas drunk Republicans in full Kill em all glory. I am watching my Republican relatives work them up into a full Black Helicopter lather over rumor and innuendo.
There is no reason to take anyone who worked for Bush or who holds Republican leanings seriously, and instead they should be mocked as DougJ rightly does. And if the Post wants to keep flinging shit on themselves by paying good money to such people, they deserve the mocking that DougJ gives them as well.
Personally, I think the whole piece is an attempt to smear Holder because he wants to release some incriminating evidence in the form of some memos out of DOJ. Smoke and noise signifying nothing as usual.
If you actually had a clue you would know that already.
Sure you want to line up on the side of the Orcs again?
Bootlegger
@gex: Good meds then, we need to supply ’em free to the rest of Conmerica.
joe from Lowell
Right, right. Like the way the Justice Department refused to let Ted Stevens out, despite the prosecutorial wrongdoing.
Projection, they name is conservatives.
SnarkyShark
Actually I take that back. I think Secretary Gates has been exceptional. If he were to pen a piece I would take it seriously. No one who came out of OCR deserves that consideration.
Living in reality means credit has to be given where its due.
kay
The article is a complete sham, on the merits.
The author leads with four paragraphs smearing Holder. He then gets to the accusation. Before making it, however, he has to admit that what Holder did in this instance is entirely within bounds.
The author objects to HOW Holder asked for and received another OLC opinion. That’s all. A whole op-ed on that issue? Even that objection is based on a made-up sequence of events that the author didn’t verify.
It’s a smear job. I’m not worried, though. I think Obama backs Holder completely. And, I’m glad Glenn Greenwald finally figured out what’s going on here.
SnarkyShark
OCR=OLC
duh-OOO!!!
kay
@joe from Lowell:
Holder got a second opinion. He then asked if the author of that opinion believed the DOJ could defend the proposed law, if it came to that. The author of that second opinion said "yes".
The hack writing this op ed admits that soliciting the second opinion is within bounds. What he objects to is DC voting rights, because "everyone does". But everyone doesn’t, or DC voting rights wouldn’t be moving thru Congress.
That’s it. The author of the op ed disagrees with Eric Holder, and that makes Holder "political".
Grumpy Code Monkey
@MJ:
Middle-aged men with the emotional maturity of 13 year old boys (with clothes to match), stinking of oil, braid juice, and paint thinner, wielding Frankensteinian controllers festooned with heat sinks worthy of a quad-Xeon board, and exhibiting positively OCD-like behavior when it came to sanding down the magnets in their Group 15s.
These people didn’t race for fun. They did it out of some pathological need to beat someone else at something. It was impossible to enjoy racing against them, because they were such asses about it.
someguy
@ Snarkyshark
Fixed.
kay
There’s another part of this smear that is crazy-making. Holder’s hand-picked counsel at the OLC disagrees with Holder, and says so, in a written opinion.
That was the problem with the Bush DOJ, really in a nutshell.
I could write this op ed with a different objective, and use these events to prove the independence of the OLC from the Holder DOJ. I could do that completely credibly, using the exact same facts.
The independence of the Holder-chosen OLC lawyer is used to prove that Holder is inherently political.
Incredible.
joe from Lowell
That BASTARD!
And to think, some people would claim that firing prosecutors for not pursuing bogus cases against political opponents is the equivalent of Holder’s lunacy.
Eric Holder is the Ernst Roehm of liberal fascism.
MJ
I’m guessing you were involved in wing car racing. I raced what was called scale cars, although they weren’t very scale. I found it completive but still enjoyable.
guest omen
oof, greenwald is arguing that obama & holder secretly don’t really want to release the torture memos. that they’re hiding behind republican opposition as an exercise in blaming shifting, using it as an excuse not to do so.
does he do tarot card readings too?
MJ
There is nothing sane or constructive about $9.3 trillion in red ink.
guest omen
“If Whole Foods is a culture’s answer to the demise of the Sixth Commandment”
george will did a riff on this. i wondered isn’t this more david brooks schtick?
let’s not stereotype whole foods. maybe it’s just my area, but i was surprised to notice a number of jesus fish and "focus on the family" bumper stickers populating the whole foods parking lot.
guest omen
@MJ:
how much of that was built up by republicans? what’s your prescription for pulling us out of the recession?
SnarkyShark
Sorry baby but Obama and the Dems get a free pass until
Sept 11. Those are your rules baby and them’s the rules we are going to play by.
Everything up till 9/11 is Bush’s fault, end of story.
Therefor your complaint is directed at Republicans.
Go post that supposition at Red State and see how that works for ya.
Look in the mirror dude. You are the problem.
MJ
Bush did nothing to control the unbridled spending of a Republican controlled Congress. It is a legitimate to trash the Republicans on that. As bad as that was Obama and the Dem Congress spending now is even worse. Obama promised a net spending cut. That promise didn’t last very long. Expanding the federal government and raising taxes isn’t the answer to pull us out of a recession.
MJ
You really do need counseling. Go get some help pal.
I need to go pack some stuff up. Have a good day folks
gex
@guest omen: My local DFH co-op has the same. I just don’t get it. Suburban America is filled with the supporters of the right who say one thing, listening to Rush while driving to do their crunchy hippie grocery shopping.
John S.
History is not on your side, I’m afraid.
The last time we were in the midst of an economic crisis, it was PRECISELY expanding the federal government and raising taxes (on the wealthy) that pulled us out. And the minute that FDR tried it the way you people would have it (freeze spending, balance the budget and shrink government), it was a disaster.
Faith in unprovable (or discredited) bullshit is all you Republicans have going for you these days since the facts are never on your side (and have a well known liberal bias).
joe from Lowell
I should hope not.
One’s economic policies during a shallow recession are supposed to be different from those during a deflationary recession.
Expanding government spending is precisely how you pull an economy out of a deep recession, and his tax policies amount to a net tax cut.
guest omen
@MJ:
quoting senator judd gregg:
There is no question the Republican Party did not do a good job governing on the side of fiscal restraint, which should be one of our strengths. Here’s a party who have always stood for fiscal restraint, a smaller government, lower taxes and a strong national defense. …
But there is no question we didn’t do a good job on restraining the growth of government, and we spent a lot of money we didn’t have. Things like the [Medicare] Part D drug program were truly a big mistake from the standpoint of fiscal policies. The Part D drug program alone added an $8 trillion unfunded liability to the federal books. If we were going to put that program on the books, we should have paid for it.
guest omen
@MJ:
by the end of his term. not starting right now in the middle of a recession.
taxes aren’t being raise at this moment. by the time the bush tax cuts are rescinded, the economy should already be on its way to recovery.
you base your arguments about limiting growth and spending on what? whose economic expertise are you relying on?
gwangung
There is prima facie evidence that it is.
You need to do MUCH more than just aver it to make your point.
terry chay
@MJ: I don’t agree with your politics, but I wish you luck in finding a job.
Having been unemployed once, I hate to wish that experience on anyone.
Mike in NC
As has been mentioned here before, DC has become hard-wired for GOP rule. The Villagers who control the media there mostly enjoy seven-figure salaries and love to see themselves in front of the TV cameras. Their best hope must be that Gov. Mark Sanford (Asshole-SC) will oppose Obama in 2012.
geg6
@MJ:
Hmmm…normally, I’d look at that comment, say "there’s an idiot" and move on to smarter, more entertaining comments. But not today, not when I have spent a weekend and will be spending the rest of the week watching my community deal with the aftereffects of letting ignorant wingnuttery go by without comment or protest.
Do you care to even go into the reasons for the current red ink? Care to give us a spirited defense of keeping the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars off the books? Care to provide a single bit of economic evidence that balanced budgets, spending cuts, or tax cuts for the wealthiest battle the effects of what is looking more and more like a depression? Care to outline for us your brilliant economic plan to battle the economic crisis, a plan that is obviously so brilliant, in fact, that you decline to explain it? For which I can only conclude that we BJers are too stupid to understand it’s true brilliance?
Gawd, I’m sick of idiots talking out of their asses. Man up, MJ. Provide us with your brilliant analysis of how Obama got us here and your simple solution to the crisis.