Conservative Media Go Ballistic Over Holder's Civil Rights Lesson

March 03, 2011 2:54 pm ET

The right-wing media have repeatedly mischaracterized Attorney General Eric Holder's recent reference to "my people" to claim that he is a "black nationalist" or that the Obama Justice Department is motivated by "racial bias." In his statement, Holder actually took issue with the suggestion that a 2008 incident involving the New Black Panther Party was a more "blatant form of voter intimidation" than what occurred in the 1960s; Holder said the suggestion "does a great disservice to people who put their lives on the line, who risked all."

Holder Slams Suggestion That NBPP Incident "Is Greater In Magnitude" Than '60s-Era Incidents

Holder: Statement "Does A Great Disservice To People Who Put Their Lives On The Line, Who Risked All For My People, My Wife's Sister." During a congressional hearing on funding for DOJ's Civil Rights Division, Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) repeatedly questioned Holder on the New Black Panthers case, alleging that the "case reveals a pattern in the department of refusing to enforce the law if white voters are being harassed." Culberson also read sworn testimony about the case from former Democratic activist Bartle Bull, saying that, according to Bull, the incident "would qualify as the most blatant form of voter intimidation I have encountered in my life in political campaigns in many states, even going back to the work I did in Mississippi in the 1960s." Holder replied: