Chuck Todd: My Stars and Garters, But That Eric Holder Is Totes Apolitical

Shaking my head.

"He did a lot of the tough stuff that you would say, 'Hey, the attorney general has to do tough stuff, this is not a forgiving job, you have to do tough stuff,'" Chuck Todd told MSNBC�s Tamron Hall on Thursday. "But, what's interesting about him, he is a very non-political person. And I think people used to mistakenly think that this guy was this long-time political operative who happened to be an attorney general. That�s not him at all."

Bafflement from critics at Twitchy.

Also baffled by Chuck Todd's claim? Eric Holder himself.

And in an August interview with the Hill, Holder revealed he was proud to be labeled an activist attorney general, adding that those who say the DOJ has an "activist civil-rights division and this is an activist attorney general -- I'd say I agree with you 1000 percent and [I am] proud of it."

Adventures in Apolitical Speech: Eric Holder, the apolitical guy.

"There's a certain level of vehemence, it seems to me, that�s directed at me [and] directed at the president,� Mr. Holder told ABC News. "You know, people talking about taking their country back. � There�s a certain racial component to this for some people. I don't think this is the thing that is a main driver, but for some, there�s a racial animus."

Also apolitical:

"I wouldn�t walk away from that speech," he said, referring to his remarks during Mr. Obama's first year in office. "I think we are still a nation that is too afraid to confront racial issues."

Praise for Eric Holder's apolitical nature from the WaPo:

From his first days on the job, it was clear that Attorney General Eric Holder was unbound by the racial constraints that his boss, President Obama, operated under.

Just weeks after America saw the inauguration of its first black president, Holder gave what has come to be known as his "cowards speech" -- an address that crystallized the now-outgoing attorney general's place as Obama's man/conscience/inner voice on race (the boldface is mine)...

But even with Obama's silence, and in some ways because of it, Holder has always been up to something else -- both rhetorically and judicially. He has been Obama's go-to man on race, bolstering the civil rights division, unafraid to point to racial disparities....

Holder's anger was, at times, palpable, and the image of the nation's highest law enforcement official -- a black man -- being questioned by a white Southern lawmaker with a thick accent was freighted with history. It evoked those black men from another time, clad in topcoats and fedoras, marching with "I am a man" signs.

And Holder, at a National Action Network conference later, nodded to that history, even as he tried to say it wasn't about him..

Right, he said it was about his race. (Hit the link for the quote.)

For Obama, Holder has been a link to the civil rights community and that tradition of black protest and righteous anger.

Channelling the "righteous anger" of a major voting block is, of course, the second definition of "apolitical."

posted by Ace at 04:10 PM

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