GOP Had A Temper Tantrum And Took It Out On Eric Holder

Yesterday's analysis of Darrell Issa's witch hunt against the Obama Administration in the National Journal emphasized how the GOP took out their hatred of the Affordable Care Act by voting to hold Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. Forget for a moment that 92% of Americans hold Congress in contempt and instead remember that this is the first time in history a cabinet member has ever been held in contempt of Congress. Just think about that in terms of cabinet members from the Bush Regime-- or, historically, cabinet members involved in scandals, like Harding's Interior Secretary Albert Fall, who was convicted of taking bribes from GOP Big Business contributors, or other cabinet members who went to prison, like Treasury Secretary Robert Anderson and, of course, Nixon's Attorney General John Mitchell who served almost 2 years in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal. Of course, there is this...

The dispute over the gun-running operation in Mexico-- which may not have actually ever existed-- has been hyped as a Watergate-type constitutional scandal by the right.

Of the 25 House Democrats who have accepted campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association, 11 shunned their benefactors and rejected the call to support the contempt vote. In total, 17 Democrats contributed to the overwhelmingly Republican-led ploy.

In a statement following the vote, Holder railed against the “politically motivated” effort to distract the American people from the important issues at hand.

“Today’s vote may make for good political theater in the minds of some, but it is-- at base-- both a crass effort and a grave disservice to the American people. They expect-- and deserve-- far better,” Holder said.

“I had hoped that Congressional leaders would be good-faith partners in this work [to end flawed tactics initiated in previous administration].  Some have. Others, however, have devoted their time and attention to making reckless charges-- unsupported by fact-- and to advancing truly absurd conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, these same members of Congress were nowhere to be found when the Justice Department and others invited them to help look for real solutions to the terrible problem of violence on both sides of our Southwest Border. That’s tragic, and it’s irresponsible,” Holder said.

After the major political letdown from the Supreme Court’s ruling on healthcare Thursday, and on Monday’s Arizona anti-immigration law Monday, Republicans finally have something positive to bray about.

OK, I think we can all agree that the Republicans-- who are now claiming Chief Justice John Roberts was on drugs when he was making the decision-- took their hatred of the Affordable Care Act on their defeat on that out on Holder. But what about the 17 Democrats who joined them? This is the list of the 17 of them-- along with how they voted on the Affordable Care Act:

Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA)- nay
John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA)- nay
Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK)- nay
Leonard Bosell (Blue Dog-IA)- aye
Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY)- nay
Mark Critz (Dem Dem-PA)- (not a member)
Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN)- aye
Kathy Hochul (New Dem-NY)- (not a member)
Ron Kind (New Dem-WI)- aye
Larry Kissell (Blue Dog-NC)- nay
Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)- nay
Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC)- nay
Bill Owens (New Dem-NY)- aye
Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)- nay
Nick Rahall (WV)- aye
Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR)- nay
Tim Walz (MN)- aye

At least they didn't take their anger and mean-spiritedness out on American students. The House just voted 372-52 to stop-- for one year-- interest rates from doubling on federal student loans. Even the 17 bad Democrats voted in favor of this. And the 52... mostly a bunch of deranged teabaggers like Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Joe Walsh (R-IL), Connie Mack (R-FL), Sandy Adams (R-FL), Justin Amash (R-MI), Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Dan Quayle (R-AZ) and, of course, Gohmert and Herr Broun.