Read in the Huffington Post that Nicholas Marsh, the Justice Department lawyer whose prosecution of Ted Stevens was thrown out by Obama's AG, Eric Holder, committed suicide Sunday. From what I've read, Stevens was guilty of accepting bribes, although if the government didn't follow the rules, I have no problem with the judgement being vacated—indeed, I expect it, because I believe in the rule of law, including and especially as it pertains to government's evidentiary burden, and the presumption of innocence. I have read, though, that Marsh was victim to a quick judgement, and would ultimately be exonerated. Either way, the human cost in this matter was steep.
If Obama wants to know why so many of us think he's been such a grave disappointment, he needs look no further than Holder. Even discounting his abominable continuation of the cover-up of Bush-era torture, his failure to defend Miranda, his efforts to read our emails without due process, et cetera (and there's been a fuck of a lot of et cetera, too), there is his Obama-like weakness in failing to replace the Bush-era U.S Attorneys, and his oh-so evenhanded treatment of Ted Stevens (a thorn in the ass of working people for the past 40 years), contrasted with his indifference to the railroading of a Democrat persecuted by Karl Rove and one of the U.S. Atts he's too weak to get rid of. Amazing that Don Siegelman still has to fight to keep his freedom—in spite of jury-tampering and malicious prosecution—while the piece-of-shit prosecutor, Leura Canary, still has her job, and her husband (who's an even bigger piece-of-shit) and Karl Rove (maybe the biggest piece-of-shit of our lifetime)—both of whom orchestrated this fucking travesty of justice—skate.
Last year, ninety-one former state attorneys general (Democrats and Republicans) filed a friend of the court brief supporting Siegelman's appeal to the Supreme Court, arguing that "clear legal standards are required to protect individuals from politically-motivated prosecutions based on conduct that is ingrained in our campaign finance system and has always been considered legal." In other words, this prosecution is unprecedented and wrong. The facts in this case are more clear cut than they were in the Stevens case, and aggravated by the fact that Siegelman was actually innocent. Yet Holder bends over backward for Stevens, leading to the suicide of a young prosecutor of good reputation who may (or may not) have violated the rules, while not only will he not move to vacate Siegelman's prosecution, he fights Siegelman's efforts, at every opportunity, retains the Republican hack who colluded to make it happen, and continues to protect her from scrutiny, or even basic compliance with the congressionally-mandated investigation of the prosecution. With friends like these...
This whole thing stinks, top to bottom. And it's a perfect example of why I'll be holding my nose when (and if) I vote for Barrack Obama again.
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