Britt Hume on Eric Holder and his job performance

◼ Fire Eric Holder: Column - Jonathan Turley/USATODAY

Holder's refusal to accept responsibility for the AP investigation was something of a change for the political insider. His value to President Obama has been his absolute loyalty. Holder is what we call a "sin eater" inside the Beltway — high-ranking associates who shield presidents from responsibility for their actions....

For Obama, there has been no better sin eater than Holder. When the president promised CIA employees early in his first term that they would not be investigated for torture, it was the attorney general who shielded officials from prosecution. When the Obama administration decided it would expand secret and warrantless surveillance, it was Holder who justified it. When the president wanted the authority to kill any American he deemed a threat without charge or trial, it was Holder who went public to announce the "kill list" policy.

Last week, the Justice Department confirmed that it was Holder who personally approved the equally abusive search of Fox News correspondent James Rosen's e-mail and phone records in another story involving leaked classified information. In the 2010 application for a secret warrant, the Obama administration named Rosen as "an aider and abettor and/or co-conspirator" to the leaking of classified materials. The Justice Department even investigated Rosen's parents' telephone number, and Holder was there to justify every attack on the news media.

Yet, at this month's hearing, the attorney general had had his fill. Accordingly, Holder adopted an embarrassing mantra of "I have no knowledge" and "I had no involvement" throughout the questioning. When he was not reciting the equivalent to his name, rank and serial number, he was implicating his aide, Deputy Attorney General James Cole. Cole, it appears, is Holder's sin eater. Holder was so busy denying responsibility for today's scandals, he began denying known facts about older scandals, such as the "Fast and Furious" gun operation....

The feeble response was the ultimate proof that these are Obama's sins despite his effort to feign ignorance. It did not matter that Holder is the sin eater who has lost his stomach or that such mortal sins are not so easily digested. Indeed, these sins should be fatal for any attorney general.

◼ Holder: Obama’s sin eater - neoneocon

It’s interesting that on the issue of Rosen some elements of the left seem to be joining the right in condemning Holder and calling for his resignation. Turley, however, is somewhat unusual on the left in recognizing that Holder’s sins should ultimately be laid at the feet of President Obama.



◼ Krauthammer: Holder Not Sensing Gravity of Situation ‘Makes You Wonder If He Was Anesthetized’ - Noel Sheppard/Newsbusters



DRUDGE HEADLINES:
SCANDAL? WHAT SCANDAL?
Washington launches four different investigations into IRS mess...
Issa subpoenas State Dept. documents on Benghazi...
REPORT: HOLDER WENT JUDGE SHOPPING TO OBTAIN FOXNEWS SUBPOENA...
House Judiciary investigating whether Attorney General lied under oath...
REPORT: Holder 'beginning to feel creeping sense of personal remorse'...