AP
There were some who thought that the House vote on Eric Holder was purposefully scheduled on Thursday to minimize publicity (the theory being that the health care vote would overshadow all other news). But with the health care law upheld, there was less upheaval than expected, and this morning, we'll discuss the unprecedented contempt finding against Attorney General Holder - the first for an AG or any cabinet member, for that matter.
After a 255-67 vote (with 17 Democrats joining the Republicans), Holder came out and called the vote "politically motivated." Dozens of Democrats also walked out of the House chamber in protest as the vote took place. So what happens next? Most say not much - doubting that criminal charges would be formally placed on Holder. And by holding the contempt vote, the Justice Department has little incentive to cooperate with GOP demands - to say nothing of the President's executive order. The question is, to what extent will Republicans use their contempt finding to embarrass the President ahead of the November elections?
We'll discuss that and more today at noon ET on NOW.
PANEL
Ezra Klein, The Washington Post/MSNBC Policy Analyst (@ezraklein)
Fmr. Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), NBC News Political Analyst
Jackie Kucinich, USA Today (@jfkucinich)
Chris Hayes, MSNBC’s “Up w/ Chris Hayes” (@chrislhayes)
GUESTS
Aaron Sorkin, The Newsroom
Mark Halperin, TIME/MSNBC Sr. Political Analyst (@markhalperin)
Leave a Comment:
Is Mark Halperin going to finally call Mitt Romney because he "acted like kind of a d**k"?
Good "get" on the Sorkin interview. I enjoyed The Newsroom last week, and great name, too ... Aaron ... like me. :)
I watched CSPAN for like the first time in forever yesterday while the vote was being done, and hearing some of the callers phone in. Some of the calls were just..damn. Heavy stuff, very heavy stuff. Personally I wonder to what degree this would of been an issue if the federal agent hadn't died, if it would have ever gotten this far.
I don't think there's terribly much the GOP can do with the issue. Holder isn't Obama, so for as much as they can tie Obama into this screw up, it still falls squarely in Holder's hands. It'd be interesting to see if Dems want to try and pin the broader problems w/ FnF to Bush, since the operation was started by his administration after all.