Eric Holder Plays Race Card

The New York Times published an interview with Attorney General Eric Holder over the weekend that many people have said was written in defense of the embattled AG.

According to a report in The Daily Caller, Charlie Savage — the Times author of the Holder piece — made use of factual inaccuracies as “a defense of Holder from his chorus of critics.”

Despite the fact that Holder’s office was provided with multiple briefings and memos about Operation Fast and Furious by top Justice Department officials, Savage wrote (without attribution) that there are no “documents or testimony” to support allegations that the AG knew of the gunwalking tactics used  in Operation Fast and Furious.

Savage also printed a Holder quote in the Times piece that sheds light on the AG’s view of why many members of Congress have called for his immediate resignation. Holder said it was not only political rivals but “also a broader universe of conservative commentators and bloggers” that were playing Washington “gotcha games.”

“This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him,” Holder said, “both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we’re both African-American.”

Republican Representative Allen West told The Daily Caller on Monday that Holder’s use of the race card as a way to attack those who are criticizing him is “reprehensible.”

“I think this is absolutely the last card in the deck, and that shows how weak their ground is,” West said in a phone interview. “But, what that means is they want to make white individuals afraid of continuing to put the pressure on Eric Holder because they don’t want to be seen as racist, and that is something that we have got to move beyond.”