Bush DOJ decided New Black Panthers no major case
UPDATE: Fox News guest Kirsten Powers made the mistake of thinking for herself. A must-see video:
Several of you have clamored for me to say something about the alleged voter intimidation case in Philadelphia, which involves a thuggish group who call themselves the “New Black Panthers.” (While I was no fan of the original Black Panthers, they don’t deserve to have their reputation further befouled by this group. The two groups are in no way related.)
I was loathe to comment since I know that no rational discussion will follow. How could it? It was clear from the beginning that this was not a case of voter intimidation against anyone who might vote for John McCain. As many observers noted on that day, no matter how badly those two New Black Panters were behaving (and the police were called and responded), it’s a HEAVILY DEMOCRATIC PRECINCT. As blogger Ben Smith noted way back then, “You don’t typically intimidate your own voters.”
But solid reporting from Media Matters and Adam Serwer of The American Prospect ought to put this nonsense to rest (it won’t, but it should). The charges against the New Black Panthers were downgraded by the Bush Department of Justice:
The decision not to file a criminal case occurred before Obama was even in office.
This means that the case was downgraded to a civil case 11 days before Obama was inaugurated, 26 days before Eric Holder became attorney general, and about nine months before Thomas Perez was confirmed as head of the Civil Rights Division.
From Media Matters:
# Adams has admitted that he does not have first-hand knowledge of the events, conversations, and decisions that he is citing to advance his accusations;
# The Bush administration’s Justice Department — not the Obama administration — made the decision not to pursue criminal charges against members of the New Black Panther Party for alleged voter intimidation at a polling center in Philadelphia in 2008;
# The Obama administration successfully obtained default judgment against Samir Shabazz, a member of the New Black Panther Party carrying a nightstick outside the Philadelphia polling center on Election Day 2008;
# The Bush administration DOJ chose not to pursue similar charges against members of the Minutemen, one of whom allegedly carried a weapon while harassing Hispanic voters in Arizona in 2006;
# No voters have come forward to claim that they were intimidated from voting on account of the New Black Panthers standing outside the polling center in 2008;
So, no matter how many times J. Christian Adams declares that the Obama administration refuses to protect the rights of white people — and no matter how many times Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh repeat it — it’s not true.
(See my first post of the day about facts before you respond.)
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335 comments Add your comment
I'm here from the government and I'm here to help
July 13th, 2010
8:27 am
Racism works one-way in ctucker’s world.
Mike
July 13th, 2010
8:30 am
The hypocrisy is thick.
This independent notes that Ms Tucker has not come out denouncing the black racsim that is so obviously evident in the New Black Panther videos. Her defense in not doing so is that she can find examples of white racism too. Brilliant.
Facts are our friends. The facts are not 100% clear to me on this. As has been mentioned, just because an inhunction was filed before the official decision to drop the case was made, does that mean the decision to drop the case was made simultaneously? Not clear. Ms. Tucker cites very biased websites for her support. Sometimes such sites have truth, but often they skew the facts. It is what she accuses the right of doing. Yet she has engaged in exactly the same behavior.
A mirror please, so I can give it to Ms. Tucker and show her what bias looks like!
Knowing all the facts here would be nice. I wonder why the DOJ has ordered all its personnel to ignore the subpoenas from the Civil Rights Commission?
Listen Everybody
July 13th, 2010
8:32 am
Cynthia, they are so filled with hate for you that you can warn them of a heavy falling object about to smack them on the head and they would spew venom at you. These people are not interested in facts; it’s all about negative emotions and not being able live down the fact that Democrats took control of both houses in 2006 and a Democratic (man of color) won the presidency in 2008. Not defending the Black Panthers, but when, in the history of this nation, did the Black Panthers ever go into any white folks homes in the middle of the night and dragged out family members and lynched them because a white man looked at a black woman in the wrong way? They don’t read your columns. They only see Cynthia Tucker as the author and immediately begin spewing venom regardless the content of the piece. Thankfully rational people from afar who read their comments realize not all Georgians are agonizing with the aflictions of these venom spewers. Heaven forbid a black woman with an opinion that does not mirror their own gets her opinion in print for the whole world to see. Be safe, my sister.
Granny Godzilla
July 13th, 2010
8:32 am
comet says
“I thought Obama was the “Chosen One” and Bush was Satin? ”
That’s where his problem lies.
He thinks Obama is the Chosen One…we know he’s the President.
Oh, and Bush was never “Satin”…..more like polyester.
Kamchak
July 13th, 2010
8:48 am
…more like polyester.
I’m thinking sackcloth.
Avenger
July 13th, 2010
8:50 am
Scout. “and the chasm between two “America’s” just keeps getting wider. This does not bode well for out future.” Noooooo – Apparently you don”t know (most likely choose not to know) about the 40s’,50s’,60s’, and 70s’. Now – that was a CHASM!
andygrd
July 13th, 2010
8:50 am
If you have not noticed, there are nut jobs on both sides of the isle. You have President Bush and President Obama bashers. I would rather see an honest debate about the issues rather than what the New Black Panthers did, or what Mel Gibson said, or the other crazy items forced feed to us by the media.
However, if you are going to call it, then call it both ways. Both the right and the left news outlets focus one side of the issue, or fail to report issues… There is no journalist integrity today. I can learn more from watching the Learning or Discovery Channels.
The White Devils You Say!
July 13th, 2010
8:55 am
Ms. Tucker – You still don’t get it. Discrimination is just that – white on black, black on white, white on brown, brown on white, yellow on black, black on brown, brown on yellow, etc… Is your new motto HEIL OBAMA. Holder, by the way, is his Himmler.
Avenger
July 13th, 2010
8:56 am
Scout. “Daddy, are those Black Panthers coming over for dinner again? They scare me.” Noooo -
Blowing up churches and killing little girls – that scary. By the way, some justice didn’t come of that case until decades later.
lj
July 13th, 2010
9:00 am
Yep…. and if the KKK was picketing the voting booths of a heavily conservative area and calling for the murder of all men and women of color, there would be no problem- right Cynthia?
Dear Cynthia- you have no concept of the meaning of freedom. You are blind to what prejudice and racism actually means. Your double standard of right and wrong is disgustingly similar to the New Black Panthers.
Racist.
Cindi Lane
July 13th, 2010
9:02 am
There is no news here…making something out of nothing. Fox news has reported this accurately. They reported that this case turned into a civil case under Bush. The case was not dropped by Bush, all you liberals sit back and selectively report the “news” and look for ways to bring down Fox news. In fact, MSNBC spends more time beating up on Fox than reporting the news. You and all the liberal media outlets are the resons why everyone watches Fox-the only news outlet that reports all news-not just selected news.
joe
July 13th, 2010
9:07 am
new BP, old BP, same ole same ole…If two white guys dressed in white hoods were standing in front of a polling place in any city, we’d have the national guard out there within 30 minutes. What these guys did is a crime and should be punished for it (a real punishment, like jail…not some edict that says he can’t be anywhere near a philly area polling place with a CLUB in his hand). The rants that have been played on the news programs lately of these new BP’s are a disgrace…’you gots to kill dem crackas, you got to kill some white babies…unbelievable. I’m all for free speech, but these BP’s cross the line and should be dealt with accordingly. Also anyone who supports their efforts are nothing but racists.
JKL2
July 13th, 2010
9:08 am
Where’s favorite son Jimmy Carter? He’s running all around the globe making sure stuff like this doesn’t happen. Now we have a slam dunk case in his own back yard and he completely drops the ball.
Way to defend bad behavior Cynthia. I guess next you’ll be sticking up for armed robbery because the robber really needed my stuff and it’s just not fair that I had things he wanted.
Granny Godzilla
July 13th, 2010
9:09 am
Every one watches Fox?
Everyone?
Cable News Rating July 9th showed a million nine watched Fox News Prime Time.
Over 330 million people in the US.
Fuzzy.
ken R
July 13th, 2010
9:10 am
Bill Tetlazff, Thr article never condemmed what they did either. Plus I don’t know of anyone who is leaving a job in 11 days to do anything. Just because one party didn’t do anything doesn’t give the other party a pass.
If this were White people doing this the Blacks would riot, and Cynthia you were correct, you would be better off not writing at all, on anything.
Avenger
July 13th, 2010
9:10 am
Scout. “By the way, the Minutemen helped found this country …………. not the Black Panthers”
Guys ( C Vinson, R. Russell, S. Thurmond, G Wallace, J. Helms, J. Eastland, and many others)who looked like the minutemen screwed this country up so badly that we are still dealing with that evil baggage. Matter of fact, one could easily say they help create the Black Panthers. You people are a dollar short and a day late to be sitting around moaning and bitching now. Your disdain should be directed at those bigoted clowns.
MAC
July 13th, 2010
9:15 am
You lost me at quotes from Media Matters.
Why not just quote The Daily Kos?
If J. Christian Adams was a Bush-admin whistleblower, you would be all over it. If the person who actually worked there has a case, let him make it without trying to undermine him before it’s determined, through an independent investigation, whether he’s right or wrong.
Marie
July 13th, 2010
9:19 am
Go right ahead Cynthia and blame it on Bush. I will go with your facts that the Bush administration downgraded the case or decided not to pursue criminal charges against the NBPP. However, since the case had not been settled and was still in progress, the Obama administration (ala Eric Holder) could have made the decision to REVERSE the decision of the previous administration and proceed with criminal charges against the NBPP.
The Bush Administration also decided not to hold trials for Al-Queda terrorists held at Gitmo. But Obama, Holder, and company have decided to they indeed want to hold court for these terrorist. So please don’t give me this nonesense that this was a Bush decision and act as if Obams’ hands were therefore tied and he could not act differently.
BULL!!!!!!!!!!
Hayes
July 13th, 2010
9:22 am
It is amazing how we as Americans are so quick to disrtegard the facts. As Ms. Tucker states, the Bush Administration made the call to downgrade the case. This is not some attempt to blame the Bush Adminstration but rather a fact. They clearly decided there was not enough evidence to support moving forward with the case. This is not to condone their actions but we must realize that sometimes this happens in our legal system. Let’s also not disregard the fact the police were called to the polling place. I guess the New Black Panthers paid the police off. I did not read anyway in her article where she condones the actions of the Panther’s (although I do feel the comments about the precinct beiung 70% democratic irrelevant to the issue at hand).
For those who continue to blame the President for this decision and are expressing outrage, where is your outrage concerning the police officer who murdered the young man in Oakland and only received a 4 year sentence because he was convicted on a manslaughter charge? Isn’t that young man’s life just as about as the right to vote without intimidation? The legal system did not work for this young man. Our legal system is not perfect but it right more often than it is wrong.
Let’s put away the political ideology and start to examine the facts. Let’s stop simplying relying on snippets from the media that are clearly designed to promote a specific point of view. Let’s stop voting based on the endorsement of some elected leader. Let’s research and read the complete set of facts and then engage in healthy debate.
Granny Godzilla
July 13th, 2010
9:23 am
MAC
We get you can’t deal with Media Matters and Kos, but can you say
that the quotes are incorrect?
Williebkind
July 13th, 2010
9:26 am
Has anyone heard who or what group planted the bomb for a big oil executive’s wife. She is 62yrs old and had a bomb explod in her face. The bomb was reported as having nails in it and some struck her face. I do not believe this is the Tea Party work! I do believe this is a progressive liberal wacho’s work. It must be because the big three medias are not doing much investigative reporting. The progressive liberals are violate. It has been in their entire history. So do not let the progressive liberals point fingers at the Tea Party or other conservative groups without a direct challange with the facts.
Keith
July 13th, 2010
9:31 am
Maybe thie Black Panther presence was designed to create enough disruption to let the illegals registered by ACORN get thru the voting line without being challenged.
Russ
July 13th, 2010
9:33 am
Cynthia, the Holder DOJ dropped the case in May 2009. You are so misleading with your summary of the “facts”. How do you keep your job?
Granny Godzilla
July 13th, 2010
9:39 am
ACORN – squirrel
smithers
July 13th, 2010
9:40 am
I say, Kill the crackers!
Avenger
July 13th, 2010
9:44 am
Kayaker. “If I said those same things, I would be labeled the worst kind of racist that every posted a comment on this blog.” You would be labeled that because you would remind people of the evil devils that bombed churches that killed little girls. Evil deeds have consequences. Of course you double talkers would like for people to believe that history doesn’t matter.
Granny Godzilla
July 13th, 2010
9:45 am
Russ
May 2009: DOJ obtained default judgment against Shabazz for carrying weapon outside polling station. On May 18, 2009, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania entered default judgment against Samir Shabazz.
That’s how it dropped…..
CT fan
July 13th, 2010
9:48 am
Thank you Cynthia for this article. Although this (non) “story” is getting heavy rotation on the Faux News Channel, many RESPONSIBLE journalists have pointed out that it was the BUSH administration that decided that this “story” or case was of little consequence and chose NOT to prosecute. It just kills them when they cannot pin something on Obama.
Big D
July 13th, 2010
9:49 am
CT, thanks for doing the piece, bravo.I don’t see the facts as being bullet proof and as an intelligent person would not expect you not to have a left leaning opinion.
This is the sad part…I had high hopes that this president Would bring people together and he has failed miserably. I grew up on a military base and in the black community in the south during the sixties and seventies. I’ve seen everything good and bad about both cultures and I have never seen a more polarized state of affairs than now.
I dislike this administration because it has done nothing short of bold face lying and using race and the lack of objective dissemination of facts to further an obvious statist progressive agenda. There are people now who have CLEARLY seen this as dangerous to the fabric of our country and are in the motions of correcting this. They are NOT all Right wing, wing nut, neo-con Republicans they are a mixture of former Democrats and moderates and conservatives that see through the baseless and empty rhetoric this President is only capable of.
It is on the backs and brains of the white and black races that created this country ( Yes I know about all the others, think percentage) and we have been successfully divided and conquered . I personally don’t know one republican or conservative who was willing to follow G. Bush on all his policies blindly, but I see the left now as robots like the ones in I-Robot following Obama like lemmings off a cliff.
As Yamamoto was once to have said ” I believe we have awakened a sleeping giant”.
The good and the free of this country will not stand for much more and much to my dismay the left just keeps on adding more fuel.
“When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty” T. Jefferson.
Granny Godzilla
July 13th, 2010
9:50 am
Oh and Russ
Civil Rights commissioner: “[N]o citizen has even alleged that he or she was intimidated from voting.” In an April 23 hearing on the DOJ’s decision in the case, Civil Rights Commissioner Arlan Melendez stated that “no citizen has even alleged that he or she was intimidated from voting,” which “was clear to the Justice Department last spring, which is why they took the course of action that they did.”
Seems the big scarey guys only scared YOU.
Russ
July 13th, 2010
9:50 am
Granny – yup dropped
When none of the defendants filed any response to the complaint or appeared in federal district court in Philadelphia to answer the suit, it appeared almost certain Justice would have prevailed by default. Instead, the department in May suddenly allowed the Black Panther party and two of the three defendants to walk away. Against the third defendant, Minister King Samir Shabazz, it sought only an injunction barring him from displaying a weapon within 100 feet of a Philadelphia polling place for the next three years—action that’s already illegal under existing law. Quite a judgment Granny! Now Samir can go ply his wares at any polling place except in Philadelphia. I am sure he learned a lesson.
CT fan
July 13th, 2010
9:53 am
RE: ACORN, another non-story that got heavy rotation on Faux News. Despite several high level investigations, including Republican led ones, there have been no reports of any funding issues with ACORN. And throughout all of this mess only one lawsuit has been filed. That lawsuit was actually against the young ‘journalists’ that comically dressed as a pimp and prostitute (in a heavily edited tape that was aired, however, if you look at the whole tape you will see a much diffferent story). Yes, the state of California is persecuting the two for illegally taping a conversation with an ACORN employee. The same ACORN employee that the two led you to believe was conspiring with them, when he actually reported them to San Diego authorities. People, I know hate and racism can be a powerful tool.. but open your eyes. Stop listening to the propaganda spewed by Faux, drug addict Rush, and the other loons.
DK
July 13th, 2010
9:56 am
Can somebody please tell me why the DOJ dropped the charges after the defendants were found guilty by default? The case was won, so what were they thinking?
joebatch
July 13th, 2010
9:57 am
Dear Ms. Tucker,for several years i have enjoyed you as a columnist and watching you when you are on MSNBC.you write about what is in the news not just to put your spin on it to make you look good or whatever it is that these people are responding to it. seems as tho they don’t read the article and then try to give a intellectual give and take on the subjects at hand but just spew hate,insults and venom at you it seems that in Atlanta you are as hated as President Obama by certain sub groups.i’m glad i did not move to Atlanta when i had the chance but i am in Las Vegas,NV which has become sharon angle teabagger land so you can run but not hide it seems.however i was reading Bob Hebert in todays NYTIMES (Outside the Casino) 07-13-10 and the article was about how wall street has been able to go back to their old tricks and greed while main street suffers still from the meltdown they caused by their greed and indifference to anyone but the rich and themselves and why we as a country let this continue to keep going on at our expense.i could not think of a good enough response to make at the time but after reading your article today and before the answer became very clear to me the reason that all of this is allowed to keep going on is that 99.99%of the population is more focused on hated and bigotry than anything else so while all the attacks are directed to say you after you write an article the powers that be are getting away with everything they can and more because people seem to be more focused on their hatred than anything else except for taking time for the trifling and petty news of the day.read Mr. Herbert’s column and see why the questions he asked are so simple to answer.we are our on whose enemy,it seems that spewing hatred is much more important than looking to see for real the reasons why we are in the very bad situation we are in as a country and why it will get even worse in time, but folks just keep pouring on the hate because that while make it all alright in the end won’t it?
Granny Godzilla
July 13th, 2010
9:58 am
Russ
AGAIN….nobody NOBODY alleged intimidation.
Perhaps the case should not have been brought to the bar at all.
Perhaps in doing so the Bush DOJ was being hyper partisan/borderline racist?
lovelyliz
July 13th, 2010
9:58 am
MS Tucker, don’t assume that some people read or can even discern fact from fiction.
Russ
July 13th, 2010
10:00 am
Come on Granny – no one alleged intimidation? What kind of argument is that in the face of the videos and recent statements from the Party itself?
Granny Godzilla
July 13th, 2010
10:01 am
Steinbrenner has passed
Granny Godzilla
July 13th, 2010
10:02 am
Russ
The correct argument. No one alleged intimidation.
Repeat No One.
Granny Godzilla
July 13th, 2010
10:06 am
Russ”
[N]o voters at all in the Philadelphia precinct have come forward to allege intimidation.” A July 2 Main Justice article reported that “no voters at all in the Philadelphia precinct have come forward to allege intimidation,” adding, “The complaints have come from white Republican poll watchers, who have given no evidence they were registered to vote in the majority black precinct.” MMA
Is Keith Olbermann Deranged? - Politics and Other Controversies -Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Conservatives, Liberals, Third Parties, Left-Wing, Right-Wing, Congress, President - Page 2 - City-Data Forum
July 13th, 2010
10:07 am
[...] [...]
Madison
July 13th, 2010
10:09 am
Granny, Cynthia strongly (and rightly so) chastised me for calling you an idiot. I do feel like an apology is necessary because it’s just wrong to compare someone to another that has a deplorable lack of a IQ. Therefore, to all the idiots in the world I apologize! Cynthia you don’t have to bother banning me this column told me all I ever want to know about you.
ctucker
July 13th, 2010
10:10 am
joebatch, thanks so much for commenting on this site. I agree that, much of the time, we are our worst enemy. Oh, I love Bob Herbert’s column!
Granny Godzilla
July 13th, 2010
10:10 am
Madison
Learned manners from the Cliff notes eh?
ctucker
July 13th, 2010
10:11 am
CT fan, Yes, conservatives did exaggerate the whole ACORN conspiracy story.
Big D
July 13th, 2010
10:11 am
Granny, Reuters Today…Obama hits new low in believing he can govern…60%.
Just because you get the job doesn’t mean you can do it.
I think we call it …uh… Peters principle.
He has definitely risen to the point of incompetent, not by being stupid, by underestimating the intelligence of the country.
You can fool some of the people sometime, but not all the people all of the time.
ctucker
July 13th, 2010
10:12 am
Big D, I have to disagree with you strongly. I haven’t seen any instances where this administration “uses race.” The opposite is true: Obama shies away from the subject of race.
Halftrack
July 13th, 2010
10:16 am
CT, Basic principles should be followed at all precincts. Poll watchers should be clearly identified with badges, uniforms, etc. Persons who hang around the Polling place should be directed to leave the premises and stay away from voters. This should be applied to all Americans and citizens. We should all be concerned about obeying the law, and seeing that others, regardless of race or nationality are treated equally under the law. It is this implied dignity and respect that all voters should be treated with. Hollering about “Crackers”, Honkies, or the N word or carrying weapons of any kind, are all in the same unlawful category and intimidate people. Principles tell us that a disregard of the laws should not be tolerated by any citizen.
Granny Godzilla
July 13th, 2010
10:16 am
Big D
I saw that early this morning.
Did you happen to notice that the same poll shows the numbers for the GOP even worse than that?
Big D
July 13th, 2010
10:16 am
CT, Pleassse….he brought up race more than any other candidate in history.
” you may notice I don’t look like the others” and on and on.
Sorry, between himself and his minions he has been very much a social divider.