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Specter Backs Holder

By Doug Bandow on 1.28.09 @ 6:50AM

Arlen Specter, once the scourge of Eric Holder's nomination to be Attorney General, has had a miraculous conversion.

The political wrangling surrounding the nomination of Eric H. Holder Jr. for attorney general appeared to end Tuesday with his most vociferous Republican critic pledging to back President Obama's choice to lead the Justice Department.

Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, said he will support Mr. Holder, 58, when his nomination comes to a vote Wednesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which virtually ensures it will be approved by that committee.

"I think that Mr. Holder is entitled to the benefit of the doubt in the context of the excellent record he has," said Mr. Specter, who is the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee.

So the Senate Republican caucus is about to end the confirmation season with a whimper.

View all comments (5) | Leave a comment

daddio| 1.28.09 @ 9:06AM

Specter is the poster boy for term limits.

james23| 1.28.09 @ 9:13AM

pathetic. GOP=Whigs. The sooner it is gone, the better.

BD57| 1.28.09 @ 9:33AM

Specter's playing politics.

He does believe a President is generally entitled to his nominees (and I agree); in this case, I think he sees Holder being easily confirmed & doesn't see any "upside" for himself personally in voting "No."

Given his constituency, he's probably right.

Personally, I don't see Holder's involvement with Rich & FALN as a "judgment" issue.

If he'd gone through the usual procedures & come out with the wrong answer, then "judgment" is an acceptable answer.

At least with Rich, though, Holder made sure to bypass the "usual procedures", the effect of which was to bypass the "checks & balances" those procedures supposedly represent. That's "corrupt", not "poor judgment."

JP| 1.28.09 @ 11:27AM

BD57,
In an earlier time, Holder would never have been nominated. Yesterday, the GOP caught Holder in a big lie (He said he wasn't aware of the detail's of Mark Rich's crimes. But in 1995, he was behind a Justice Dept indictment of Rich).

If it wasn't for President Bush's intervention, there was a very good chance that corruption charges against many in the Clinton WH would have been issued (perhaps against Clinton himself). In a fit of goodwill, Bush told Ashcroft to lay-off Rich and Pardongate. That was in 2001-2002. In all likelyhood, Holder would have been indicted.

Yet, Holder is acceptable to Obama because he is politcally valuable. Holder makes John Mitchell look like Learned Hand. Specter, as usual, dropped the ball.