Reply #22: Dag, you were making so much sense up until paragraph 2 [View All]

[HamdenRice]

2) The untruth promulgated here by some posters that there is a strict "wall" between Obama and Justice, and that neither hand knows what the other is doing, was really tantamount to nothing more than pure homophobic drivel...

The single most annoying and dishonest aspect of DU is the "why do you support the slaughter of baby arctic seals" rhetorical tactic. It goes like this: If you disagree with me on X, then you support <insert horrific policy or political position of your choice.>

Many people advocate a strict separation between the Justice Department and the presidency. That does not make them homophobic, any more than it means that they support the slaughter of baby arctic seals or the dictators of Mynmar.

Do a Lexis search of the literature. It's one of the most disputed and unsettled areas of the law -- how much does/should the executive branch communicate with the Justice Department. Read about Nixon, Watergate, Attorney General Mitchell and the Saturday Night Massacre.

After Bush's lawless, politicized Justice Department, most progressives hope that Obama will take a hands off approach to policy at Justice. At the other extreme, Clinton was so hands off Justice that Janet Reno allowed her independent counsel to run wild and almost destroy his presidency.

So try to grasp this: Arguing that Obama couldn't/shouldn't intervene in Justice policy has nothing to do with homophobia. Not everyone who disagrees with you on any political, legal or constitutional issue is a homophobe.

And, btw, just why do you continuously log onto DU and support the ruthless slaughter of baby arctic seals -- and the rights of hunters to club the big eyed cuties to death and to rip their hides off while they are still alive -- by disagreeing with me?