Bi-partisan vote against Obama’s DoJ civil rights nominee
The Washington Times reports that in a bi-partisan vote, the Senate voted against the president’s nominee for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights head, Debo P. Adegbile. Of course, Harry Reid says that it was racism that drove the Republicans to vote against him. No word on what made the Democrats vote the way they did.
A furious Mr. Reid hinted that Republicans’ opposition was based on racism, pointing to to several other black nominees that GOP senators had opposed earlier. But in the case of Mr. Adegbile, his defense of Abu-Jamal was too much for even some Democrats.
The Senate blocked Mr. Adegbile on a 52-47 vote, with eight Democrats voting along with Republicans for the filibuster. One of those was Mr. Reid, who had to change to vote for the filibuster in order to be able to ask for an eventual re-vote — which he did.
“Maybe it’s time that America had a good discussion on civil rights,” Mr. Reid fumed.
Signifying the heft of the vote, Vice President Joseph R. Biden was in the chair, prepared to break a tie vote if it had come to that.
Of course, the controversy centered around Mr. Adegbile defense of Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, who had been convicted of killing a police officer in Philadelphia in 1981, stating that Abu-Jamal ‘s trial had been tainted by racism.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden
Okay, first of all, fuck Harry Reid. In the ass. With a large pinecone.
This vote showed us which Senate Dems are blind ideologues and which ones recognize that ignoring their constituents just might cost them their jobs–and more importantly all those fancy perks.
I have a question for The Asswipe Harry Reid. My brother-in-law’s dad is a 30+ year retired Sheriff’s sergeant. He was disgusted that Adegbile was even suggested, much less voted on. And here’s the kicker: HE’S BLACK!!! So does that mean he’s “racist” too?
Fuck you, Harry Reid. No, seriously. Fuck you.
Agree completely, Whitey. Let me add, fuck Obama for even nominating this POS.
Can’t we just all get along and let by-gones be by-gones?
See, I can be humorous!
All I saw was the headline, did not know the candidate was black, don’t care. If a majority of Democrats vote against someone along with GOPers then there is a valid reason for it, and it’s hardly racism.
But apparently, playing the race card is the only line of crap that Harry the Birdflipper Reid can come up with for not having his way.
And now HE wants the filibuster, when he found a way to eliminate it a few months ago. Remember that little episode? It was back before the ice age started, in the fall. Perhaps he just found out he doesn’t have the control of the Senate the way he thinks he does. Maybe the Democrats who voted against this snapped out of comas and started thinking for themselves.
Don’t look at me like that. I’m just thinking out loud.
The Other Whitey: of course Adegbile was rejected due to racism. What other reason could there possibly be?
The fact that he’s widely loathed by LE nationwide – with whom he’d have to deal with regularly – was merely a coincidence and had nothing at all to do with anything.
(I hope the sarcasm above is obvious enough . . . . )
Hondo, what dystopian possibilities could come out of this if that cankersore had been approved? Use your imagination. This is how a country can be destroyed from within, with one slimball’s appointment.
I just wonder how long it would be before the entire LE population refused to accommodate this creepazoid. And then it begins….
He was black? Didn’t know that, so I guess I am supposed to now support him in spite of his not being someone I would select to represent me in any life situation??
Do these lefties have any idea how utterly stupid they look when they call those of us who never notice the color of someone’s skin “racist” until they point it out to us??? MLK is spinning in his grave.
Kay Hagan continues to dig her political grave with her vote today-way to earn that 33% approval Kay.
Had no clue what the race of the nominee was until Reid claimed racism. My bad, I’m such a closet racist that I didn’t even know it! It’s a good thing Reid was there to let me know
Is there ANY situation at all that B. Hussein 0bama & Company DON’T play the race card on when they don’t get what they want?
Oh, and FUCK the MYRMIDON Harry Reid to death up the ass sideways with a hundred bloated pufferfish and a ton of broken glass!
Ten bucks says Obama makes a recess appointment this weekend….
I posted on this thread earlier and it is gone. Must have been the server change. Problem is, it was the most salient, to the point, intelligent, well thought out, well written post I have ever made in this past year of being a TAH family member. I will never get it back! Bummer big time. You guys would have been so shocked and awed by the post, everyone would have written, “enough said, I can’t add to what Sparks wrote, it’s a thread stopper”. People would have been saving it to their hard drives forever and asking permission to send it for entry into the Congressional Record and The Library of Congress. I’ll never get those words back. The pain meds took them away. 😀 😀 😀
Sometimes…I love sarcasm mixed with humor! 😀
Take another chill pill, Sparks. 😉
No worries, Brother. Several of mine have been eaten in last few days, also.
We can share the pain … ? 🙂
I feel ya. Yesterday I posted a video of runners running in a race stop and shake a WWII veteran’s hand and it dissapeared.
So much of the early commentary on this nomination made it sound like Debo P. Adegbile had just done what defense lawyers do, which is defend criminals. Over time, it became more clear that Adegbile went much further than that, picking a case for political purposes, without due regard for the underlying facts.
To all those who want to insert various sharp foreign objects into Dingy Harry Reid’s anal orifice: you left off the best, a pineapple – backwards.
What about the pinecone I suggested? Get the right kind and its way worse than a pineapple. And the pine trees in the meadow behind my house drop some that give basketballs a run for their money. Besides, the pinecone will leave splinters!
I say use at least a hundred frozen, bloated pufferfish, a ton of broken glass, and a few hundred lionfish to boot, and I forgot to mention that those critters are venomous!
An unlubricated hoof rasp, pointy end first.
Frankly, I prefer to see Harry ‘Flip the bird’ Reid’s control starting to slip above all else. And since there was no tie, jodaveep was a snoring, useless piece of crap in the props department. I find this episode rather satisfying, if you must know. I think it means that some of these Democrats actually do think for themselves and the spell of idiocy is finally wearing off.
Oooo! And I would bet a substantial sum that the two persons behind the curtain are so pissed off right now, they can hardly speak without uttering sparks and setting the curtains on fire.
I don’t really have a problem with Adegbile defending a guilty piece of crap like Mumia(he filed a brief on Mumia’s behalf)….but I do understand that the Mumia case is extremely divisive and has been for 30 years…if that is the sole reason for dismissing him however it seems a bit unreasonable, I would prefer to think it was the sum total of Adegbile’s legal actions and not this one incident.
After the Boston Massacre future president John Adams defended the British soldiers and got 6 of them acquitted of their charges I daresay he would not have been electable in our current system based on that one act.
However, Harry Reid is and remains the villain, a histrionics prone hypocrite of the first order.
VOV: I would have no problem with Adegbile had he been retained as Abu Jamal’s lawyer. However, he wasn’t acting as the man’s attorney at the time.
Rather, Adegbile filed an amicus curiae brief on his behalf. That is not part done while acting as an attorney defending a client. Rather, that is a voluntary act of support to one particular side of a case before an appellate court by an outside party.
Lending such voluntary support to a cold-blooded murderer who (1) conspired with others to deliberately lure a LE officer to an ambush, (2) shot and disabled the LE officer, then (3) stood over him and cold-bloodedly finished him off with several more shots at point-blank range IMO shows p!ss-poor judgement, a lack of common decency, and a disregard for the principle of justice. That is IMO disqualifying for appointment to service in a high-level DoJ position, regardless of the race of the guilty individual or the prospective appointee.
In short, Adegbile put the politics of race before justice when he supported Abu Jamal. Adegbile was working to get Abu Jamal freed solely because of his race, guilt notwithstanding.
We don’t need high-level DoJ officials who will disregard the law and the principle of justice for racial reasons.
The redcoats at the Boston Massacre acted in genuine fear for their lives in the face of a very agitated crowd. Mumia Jamal ambushed and murdered a police officer who was citing a traffic violation.
I see your point, VOV, and it has merit, but I can’t equate Adegbile pushing this piece of shit’s case for political gain with John Adams’ defense of men who were actually innocent. There are lots of black men in prison based on far more questionable prosecution. But Adegbile made no effort to represent any of them. Instead, he put the weight of his organization behind a turd who murdered a cop to satisfy his own hatred, and for whom there is zero doubt of guilt.
Hondo, Adegbile was acting on behalf of his employer at the time the NAACP. Perhaps Adegbile felt those irregularities were enough to support the filing, even if I disagreed in principle I could respect Adegbile for viewing the irregularities as cause for review. I would argue that someone who has considered the law and found that “irregularities” occur far more often than is acceptable is perhaps exactly the kind of man you want in a high level position at the DOJ….however, I do not believe Adegbile is that man and I do not believe he is the best choice the president could have offered. I believe Harry Reid is right that racism was involved but it was on the part of the admnistration in appointing someone like Adegbile who is clearly a divisive figure and whose other legal opinions should engender far more concern than the Mumia brief.
That Mumia is a piece of garbage is not in dispute, I have a “Fry Mumia” t-shirt. But every piece of garbage is entitled to a trial without irregularities, and lawyers who offer an opinion on those irregularities are speaking more to the matter of the law and less about the case at hand as is often the reality of what the ACLU does which is why so many people dislike the ACLU, until they need their assistance….
Luring a cop to death should carry no more weight in the law than kidnapping and murdering a child when it comes to deciding whether or not to file a brief. Briefs on behalf of child killers happen all the time….it doesn’t make those lawyers bad or unprincipled it just makes them lawyers.
Tell me Adegbile’s opinion on voting rights concern you and I’m right with you, but filings on behalf of high profile murderers happens all the time, just because this one involves a cop instead of some poor college co-ed doesn’t change the idea on principle that the trial is to be conducted without those issues.
VOV: Sorry. Can’t buy that argument.
You are aware that the 3rd Circuit had rejected Abu Jamal’s Batson claims twice prior to Adegbile becoming involved, right? Seems to me that indicates Adegbile very likely willingly prostituted his sense of justice and his integrity at the behest of his employer by raising issues he knew were a sham.
A man of integrity doesn’t do that. And we don’t need people willing to prostitute their integrity in charge of major portions of the Justice Department.
How about the fact that Adegbile is partly to blame for Mumia being a cause celebrè for the left? He was responsible for organizing many of the protests and rallys garnering support for Mumia
the Al: that’s indeed a second factor arguing that Adegbile is subordinating his professional ethics and sense of justice to the politics of race. It further supports my assertion that the man was eminently UNqualified to hold a high position in the DoJ.
“Briefs on behalf of child killers happen all the time….it doesn’t make those lawyers bad or unprincipled it just makes them lawyers.”
Um, no, it certainly makes them bad/unprincipled. Maybe I’m wearing rose colored glasses but I’d like to believe there are lawers out there who definitely WOULD NOT sacrifice high morals and principles to the law simply for the law’s sake.
No need to be sorry my friend, I always respect your opinion and especially your rebuttals to comments I make. You are very good at providing an honest counterpoint to my thoughts which I view as a necessity for me to consider carefully where my opinion comes from. In a city where the police used a helicopter to bomb a city block and then let it burn, I might be persuaded that less than honest things happened at the trial. There appears to be enough evidence that Mumia remains in jail for the rest of his life but not sentenced to death. I’m just saying that writing a brief on behalf of a man sentenced to death in a city not known for it’s integrity and honesty doesn’t make you a bad guy or even make you unprincipled. The idea that the 3rd circuit court holds some moral high ground over the law makes no more sense than assuming the 9th circuit has any moral high ground in its’ decision making process. If the law allows for multiple approaches it’s not inappropriate to make use of those options. Clearly the Mumia case is one that will politically cripple anyone associated with it, it makes sense to avoid it if you have a desire to advance politically… I find myself defending a guy that I don’t want at the DOJ anymore than anyone else here does, so I guess I’ll just drop it from here as the outcome was fine with me. I just disagree that Mumia briefs should be the end all and be all of the discussion. It is the totality of the work that should be viewed and in that light Adegbile is not appropriate. Every lawyer has a case they might think twice about later, Adegbile did not and his succeeding views are even more out of line with the DOJ. The republicans and the democrats have made politics a single issue game these days and hammer those single points over and over, we’ve taken politics from chess to checkers and it would appear the nation is… Read more »
This isn’t about simple legal representation. It is about the advocacy undertaken by Adegbile and his fellow lawyers in which they employed a race-based strategy of international reach on behalf of a dirtball who executed a police officer. Adegbile, in my view, saw political currency in that approach of his and tried again and again to have the admitted murder’s conviction tossed. He failed at each attempt, despite the rallies his office help to organize. In fact, things got so out of hand that Congress overwhelmingly voted to endorse the conviction after some assholes in Frogutopia named a street after the murdering bastard. (Damn those French.) Adegbile’s value in race-based politics was not overlooked by obama. That was Adegbile’s calling card, the item on his cv that was highlighted in yellow, no doubt. But Emperor Obama was rebuffed and called the defeat a travesty. Yeah, by that I understand him to mean that his having to follow the Constitution and obtain the consent of the Senate really p[issed him off. Adegbile heading the Civil Rights Division because he once represented a murderer? No. It was because he advocated for that bastard using extra-legal means and playing the race card in a despicable way.
Dear Adebowale Patrick Akande Adegbile,
Damn you have a long name. No wonder you are known as Debo. I just learned that your father was Nigerian but that he abandoned you and your mother, an Irishwoman. That’s tough. Probably explains something, but I don’t know what. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that the Frog crack I made earlier here might have been a tad out of line. I didn’t know then that you were buds with Kermit. You see, Sesame Street wasn’t something I watched. I hope you understand.
Aw, do we really have to bring Kermit into this?
“It is the totality of the work that should be viewed and in that light Adegbile is not appropriate.”
Well if they voted for him using Harry Reid’s logic (spit) all we needed to worry about was the color of the mans skin, right?
Would ‘debo have advocated just as strenuously had the murderer been white? Any chance at all that he would have done it much less gone looking for him?
I have no problem with an attorney (or a business owner, for that matter) choosing clients based upon whatever criteria they wish to use. I don’t like race-based selection criteria, but I get to choose whether to employ persons who base their decisions upon the race of potential clients. In this case, the correct decision was made by those who represent us to NOT employ this guy based upon what appear to be his flawed ethical standards.