No Holds Barred

Attorney General William Barr (below) testified before the House Judiciary Committee this past Tuesday, and I'll give him this much - despite fears to the contrary, he showed up.

But as to the question of whether the Democrats or Barr and his fellow Republicans made the case for Barr's heavy-handed response to people demonstrating against racial injustice,  his recommendation against a seven-to-nine year jail sentence for Roger Stone, or the Russia probe investigation, I fear that Barr and his congressional allies may have made the better arguments - mainly by lying and obfuscating at loud volumes and with righteous indignation.  Barr defended his recommendation on Stone's prison sentence, citing his age, and he maintained that force from the civilian government agents in Portland was necessary to protect the courthouse from the more violent elements of the demonstrations, whose rights to free speech he supported so long as they were peaceful.  And GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee backed him up with their spins on the issues, as well as displaying  eager anticipation of the report on the Russia probe investigation. 

The Democrats landed some effective punches, such as Representative Jerrold Nadler (NY) citing the mothers, veterans and public officials that make up many of the peaceful demonstrators against racial injustice, as well as Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (TX) going after Barr for not hiring any black aides while trying to sound sanctimonious in invoking the recently deceased John Lewis (still lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda during the hearing).  Democratic Representative Joe Neguse (CO) even got Barr to suggest that former New York District Attorney Geoffrey Berman resigned without knowing it, a preposterous idea.  But Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) and his opening salvo in the form of an eight-minute montage video that contrasted TV news reporters and commentators talking about "peaceful demonstrators" with scenes of violent confrontations seemed to overshadow all that.  And why not?  It had more noise and chaos than another famous eight-minute montage, "Revolution 9."

Take this, brother, may it serve you well.

Democratic Representative David Cicilline (RI) countered Jordan's video montage with one of his own, showing still pictures from the same demonstrations featuring peaceful protesters.  Too bad one of those still pictures - which aren't as effective as videos - showed one demonstrator holding up a sing with an obscenity on it.

It was left to CNN's Jake Tapper to point out that Jordan had marshaled and edited clips for his video selectively without offering the comments from reporters and commentators about peaceful demonstrators in their proper context, with Tapper showed the original news clips to illustrate that these reporters and commentators, some of whom were Tapper's coworkers, were saying that the demonstrations mostly peaceful but turned violent when provoked by federal agents.  Yes, but how many people are going to pay attention to Jake Tapper? Jordan's' tactic was slimy propaganda but smart politics.

Hopefully, a few days or so will shed more light on how evasive and arrogant Barr and his Republican defenders were and make them look more preposterous than they already do.  But for Trump supporters - still comprising two-fifths of the electorate, making them a dangerous, large minority - evasion and arrogance are badges of honor.