Attorney General Eric Holder resigned this week after six years working for the Obama Administration and on Sunday morning's This Week w/ George Stephanopoulos ABC’s Matthew Dowd scolded Republicans for being “way too vociferous" in their criticsm of him.
The so-called Republican dismissed the notion that Holder was “the worst attorney general we’ve ever had” and proceeded to drag Edwin Meese, Attorney General for President Reagan, through the mud by insisting he was much worse than the scandal plagued Obama official.
Following Dowd’s trashing of former Attorney General Edwin Meese, conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham strongly condemned the comparison and listed off a long list of Eric Holder’s “greatest hits” that earn him the title of worst attorney general:
The greatest hits of Holder from Fast and Furious where the court just ruled that they have to turn over their document list, why they're withholding all these documents from the people. IRS, targeting of reporters, lack of transparency. We're a nation of cowards on race, running into situations and condemning entire states because they're dealing with the illegal immigration problem that the federal government isn't involved in and he's not, you know, he's not kind of out there?
Ingraham continued to denounce Dowd’s defense of Holder:
We need someone who has an impartial view as the nation's chief law enforcement officer. You're not just another advocate. You don't work for, La Raza, you don’t work for, you know, the NAACP. You work for the people. So I hope that the president learns from a terrible initial appointment of Eric Holder.
Kudos to Ingraham for calling out the pseudo-conservative Matthew Dowd for defending Attorney General Eric Holder and unnecessarily attacking Edwin Meese’s tenure working for President Reagan. Unfortunately, Matthew Dowd seemed more comfortable accusing conservatives of being “way too vociferous” in their criticism of the attorney general rather than admit that the IRS and Fast and Furious scandals are dark marks on Holder’s legacy.
See relevant transcript below.
ABC’s This Week w/ George Stephanopoulos
September 28, 2014
JONATHAN KARL: The big news here this week was Eric Holder stepping down, so, Matt, I want to ask you, the White House is making it clear that they are considering at the very least a recess -- not a recess appointment but a lame duck appointment, one to get nominated before the next Senate takes over. How would Republicans react to this?
MATTHEW DOWD: Well, first I think the Republicans have been way too vociferous in their things about Eric Holder. I mean I think you can criticize him for many things, one of which is I don't think he's been a very good advocate of the free press. He's taken on leakers, he’s taken on that and it’s obviously hurt the First Amendment.
But the idea that Eric Holder is the worst attorney general when we've had Edwin Meese’s, the John Mitchell’s, even RFK who was a very political attorney general at the time. I think that President Obama would make a huge mistake by trying to do this in an interim appointment and trying to do it at the time of when Republicans are right before they're about to take the Senate. If he has an argument to make he ought to make it in January when they take the Senate over.
KARL: But Laura, let me guess you want him gone.
LAURA INGRAHAM: I'm just trying to get over the Edwin Meese comment. I mean—
KARL: But you –
INGRAHAM: Okay.
KARL: You want Holder gone right away.
INGRAHAM: I mean I don't think it matters.
KARL: Wouldn't you welcome a lame duck confirmation?
INGRAHAM: First of all, what you just said about the Holder versus Edwin Meese, I mean that could do an hour on that. But
DOWD: Didn't Edwin Meese resign amidst a scandal?
INGRAHAM: Yes, of course, he did but the greatest hits of Holder from Fast and Furious where the court just ruled that they have to turn over their document list, why they're withholding all these documents from the people. IRS, targeting of reporters, lack of transparency. We're a nation of cowards on race, running into situations and condemning entire states because they're dealing with the illegal immigration problem that the federal government isn't involved in and he's not, you know, he's not kind of out there? So that's one point.
But on the issue of who replaces him, does it really matter to quote Hillary Clinton. I mean, it's going to be someone like Thomas Perez who probably would get confirmed by the Republicans, Labor Secretary, former head of the Civil Rights Division, he's really simpatico with President Obama, went to Harvard law school, close friends. That's someone I think they would probably go for. Deval Patrick, his name was mentioned but apparently he doesn't want any part of it.
But look, does it matter? I mean, he’s going to put in someone. He’s going to try to get someone in who has the same worldview but we don't need another community organizer as attorney general. We need someone who has an impartial view as the nation's chief law enforcement officer. You're not just another advocate. You don't work for, La Raza, you don’t work for, you know, the NAACP. You work for the people. So I hope that the president learns from a terrible initial appointment of Eric Holder.
