Leave it to MSNBC host Chris Matthews to inject an absurd political angle into a completely apolitical story involving international soccer. In the midst of a panel discussion about today's revelations regarding a Justice Department case against FIFA corruption, the Hardball host wondered why on Earth former Attorney General Eric Holder didn't stick around at the DOJ long enough to bask in the glow of the klieg lights at the press conference this morning announcing the corruption indictments.
Instead, newly-installed Attorney General Loretta Lynch gets the credit and with it a measure of political capital, Matthews suggested.
For his part, Politico's Roger Simon answered that Holder simply didn't want to stick around at Justice any longer because every day on the job was a fresh opportunity for more headaches dealing with yet another reported incident of an unarmed black man being shot by a police officer.
How quickly these guys forget their own spin.
MSNBC personalities were wont to remind us that Lynch faced the longest waiting time between her nomination and her confirmation since Ed Meese was tapped by Ronald Reagan for the attorney general post and that outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, who really wanted to get out of Dodge and whom conservative Republicans despise, was ironically being held in office longer than usual because of Republican inaction on the confirmation vote.
Here's the relevant transcript:
MSNBC
Hardball
May 27, 2015CHRIS MATTHEWS: Why didn't Eric Holder grab this before he left? This is good stuff. I mean, if you want to get points with the American public, be a tough gangbuster. Go after the bad guys, go after foreign bad guys. Go after Middle Eastern bad guys. Go after Swiss bad guys. This would have made Holder a popular guy. And now Loretta, this is a bouquet he gave her.
She comes in and she gets a great case to break.
ROGER SIMON, Politico: Every day he waited was the risk of another black guy getting shot by a white policeman. I think he wanted to get out --
MATTHEWS: Really?
SIMON: -- to tell you the truth.
