Brad Sherman's Hypocrisy on New Black Panther Voter Intimidation Case
It seems that Brad Sherman has suddenly become a lion when it comes to prosecuting the New Black Panthers voter intimidation case from 2008. This, of course was after Sherman embarrassed himself at a recent townhall by claiming no knowledge of the case and no knowledge of the Holder Justice Department refusing to prosecute black defendants. In addition Sherman is calling for renewed investigations into phony voter fraud charges during the Bush Administration.
In writing this letter Sherman's hypocrisy is staggering...it is a pathetic attempt by an out of touch Democrat to re-write history and deflect attention from his ignorance on the issues.
Excerpted from the Washington Times:
First Democratic Congressman Calls for Charges Against Black Panthers
by Quin Hillyer
July 27, 2010
U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, California Democrat, has written a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding that Mr. Holder re-file "criminal" charges against the now-infamous New Black Panthers involved in a 2008 voter-intimidation incident in Philadelphia:
"It appears that a decision was made in May 2009 to not use the full force of the law with regard to those members of the New Black Panther party who engaged in racist and wrongful behavior at a Philadelphia polling place. It is my understanding that certain civil charges have been downgraded for the main perpetrator and dropped for the other individuals involved. I urge you to review the matter and pursue the criminal case that your department did not originally pursue."
(Actually, no criminal case ever was even preliminarily filed, but that's another matter.) Rep. Sherman also wrote, in his July 19 letter, that he "would urge [the Justice] department to give higher priority and robust attention toward those cases of voter fraud and voter intimidation which are still within the relevant statute of limitations."
The Sherman letter appears to be the first time that a congressional Democrat has demanded prosecution of the Black Panthers involved in the case. On those grounds alone, it could be a significant break in the dam that Democrats so far have provided DoJ against a flood of inquiries about the matter.
Rep. Sherman, of course, is the congressman whose town meeting a few weeks ago erupted in anger when he claimed to be utterly unfamiliar with the Black Panther case. This letter would appear to be a response to that incident. The congressman's point, however, was not merely to acknowledge the seriousness of the Black Panther case. Instead, it was a clear attempt to turn the tables and blast the Bush administration. Yes, the Bush administration, which he accused of "flagrantly ignor[ing] its constitutional responsibilities in white washing [sic] cases involving voter intimidation." He demanded renewed investigation into six Bush-era voting mini-controversies.
There appears to be a big problem with his list, however. It appears the congressman didn't do his research. For example, one of the six cases he said should not have been dropped -- indeed, one whose dropping he called a "flagrant" example of "ignor[ing]... constitutional responsibilities" -- involved a bizarre flier that appeared around Hampton Roads, VA that advised Democrats not to vote on Election Day, but instead on the day afterwards. The problem with Rep. Sherman's complaint is that the whole kerfuffle has already been shown to be much ado about nothing. In fact, the outfit that actually spread the document was none other than... the Obama campaign. News reports covered the situation in detail.
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