About Those Stopped Clocks . . . .
I wrote a previous article concerning recent high-level security leaks. Given recent developments I suppose I should write a follow-up.
I trust everyone knows by now that the Attorney General has appointed a pair of attorneys to investigate these leaks. That’s exactly what he should have done.
Predictably, the Administration’s political opponents have questioned whether or not these two will be sufficiently “independent”. Personally, I think that criticism is misguided and out of line. Whether or not they can be sufficiently independent remains to be seen; such questions should IMO wait until there’s some evidence of a reason to make them.
Kudos to the current Administration for doing the right thing in this case. But as always, the “proof is in the pudding”. And I guess I can understand why the Administration’s opponents might feel the way they do.
The Nixon Administration appointed a special prosecutor to investigate Watergate, too. But when things got to “hot” to suit Nixon, the result was the “Saturday Night Massacre”.
Hopefully we won’t see history repeat itself.
Category: Politics
See here for the latest on this subject:
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/06/10/Exclusive-Caddell-Names-Tom-Donilon-As-Source-For-Leaks
Hondo…why do you think it’s misguided? I don’t find anything Eric Holder does credible. Not a thing. And then, you’ve got the COWboy in Chief who tells us we don’t understand how HE runs things? This is such blatant disregard for the office no matter how you slice it! The leaks started way back in May and not one thing was done and National Security was compromised. Period. But it takes until now, to effing do something? XXXXXX!!!!!
My grandmother was a staunch Nixon supporter who learned to tolerate things in her future voting career that I have not and never will. Nixon gave up serving the people the minute power became more important and broke my Gram’s heart. I will not tolerate those who believe power beats all, it may in theory but never when keeping a country great.
Don’t care what the motivation is/was. Doesn’t matter one iota. It simply needs to stop and those involved punished.
Is having the administration do the only investigation the best way to handle it? Probably not. But, by doing the first one they have the opportunity to get their act together before reporting to a Congressional investigation.
Do not concur, Hondo–this is mere window dressing. Get a couple of US attorneys, who report to Holder–himself having a serious integrity/credibility issue, who reports to the President.
Nah, no problem there.
defendUSA: I regard a priori criticism without substantiation and before anyone has a chance to even begin an assignment as generally bogus and misguided. That involves pre-judging the individuals involved, and unless you know the individuals involved personally involves making unsupported assumptions about what they will and will not do. (Assume: ass-u-me.)
If these two attorneys cannot be independent, that will be obvious soon enough. Then criticism will be richly warranted. As perhaps will be terminations and/or indictments.
NHSparky: Archibald Cox was appointed by the Attorney General and reported to the AG as well, so your point that these guys report to Holder doesn’t carry much weight. ALL US Attorneys report to the AG. The question will be whether they operate independently or not, and whether Holder attempts to interfere. Either or both may end up being the case – or not.
Bottom line: IMO it’s premature to criticize at this point. Yes, this could be a whitewash. If so, that will be obvious soon enough. And then, the hammer can fall.
Whether we want it to be, or not, this is going to go along the lines of a political show, no matter which side is running the show. For their part, the leftists lost their mind when Bush replaced 8 US Attorneys, yet they said nothing when Clinton replaced all but 1 US Attorney when there was an ongoing investigation that might involve Clinton’s administration. Then you have Nixon and the whole Watergate fiasco. This will end however the President wants it to, because Holder is not interested in the rule of law, just in whatever he wants it to be on any particular day. Besides; Holder has his own ass to worry about with the gun running issue (Congress is mulling a contempt charge against him).
Dutch, Donilon being the “likely” source of the leaks is not the same as definitively saying that Donilon is the source of the leaks. There is not, yet, anything to tie the can to anyone on this. Except that Baracka seems to be saying that the leaks didn’t come from him or his staff, so it must be the intel community.
If these two U.S. Attorneys begin investigating, and get too close to the White House, or more likely, the pres’s re-election committee(don’t forget Axelrod’s attendance at security meetings), I’m sure they’ll be directed to go Wasilla and check out all of Palin’s e-mails for the leakers and leaks.
More than likely, it’ll take them until just about November 7th, 2012, to assemble their staffs and begin.
“. . . the result was the “Saturday Night Massacre”.” —
I recall (no, I was NOT there) President Jackson fired his entire Cabinet, more than once, if I am correct .
And, there’s a good Hollywood Movie about it, too .
One of the investigators is an Obama donor, and currently owes his employment directly to Obama.
However, some background:
Ken Starr spent a crap load of money doing the legwork that eventually got Clinton impeached. From both sides of the aisle, Starr wasted the money, and basically proved Clinton was a lying, cheating asshole. Nothing new there.
Patrick Fitzgerald was hired to take down Bush and Cheney in Plamegate. Fitzgerald not only knowingly did NOT go after Armitage, who leaked the information for which Fitzpatrick was hired to investigate, but he failed to get Bush and Cheney. His coup was Cheney’s chief of staff, who couldn’t remember what he did or did not say.
Both men spent millions to neglible effect. Whoever gets the job here is going to find him or herself essentially umemployable for the rest of life, threatened with death from Progressives, and their own wikipedia entry next to “POS”
Can we afford another Special Prosecutor?
Too bad Obama fired or neutered all of the Inspectors General.