Attorney General Eric Holder
Anyone who might possibly be nominated to replace Attorney General Eric Holder after he
steps down has to be looking at the treatment Holder has received and wondering if they really want the job. Republicans are always on the lookout to attack any and all high-profile members of the Obama administration, but as a black man charged with civil rights enforcement, Holder has certainly gotten more than his share.
Consider House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Darrell Issa's response to Holder's plan to resign:
.@darrellissa: "Holder’s legacy has eroded more confidence in our legal system than any Attorney General before him."
— @edatpost
To be fair, John Mitchell was no longer attorney general at the time he committed obstruction of justice and perjury for his role in Watergate, but ... never mind all the things Alberto Gonzales could not recall having done in his tenure under George W. Bush. It's true that Holder was the first attorney general
held in contempt by the House, but that had a little bit more to do with the extremists who run the House than with anything Holder did. Even that wasn't enough for a few of the looniest, who
called for his impeachment.
Then there was cable news. According to Fox's Eric Bolling, Holder might have been the second "biggest racist in the whole world right now." According to Fox's Andrea Tantaros, "Eric Holder is one of the biggest race baiters in this entire country. He runs that DOJ like the Black Panthers would." According to Fox's Brit Hume, "race has been a shield and a sword" for both Holder and Obama. And while those examples are all Fox News and we know how inflammatory and partisan Fox is, consider that far worse things were certainly being said about Holder in the fever swamps of right-wing radio and websites.
All in all, something to give any prospective attorney general pause.