Give the Fraternal Order of Police a whopping dollop of credit, for pursuing the notion that convicted cop-killers have no rights, and give another whopping dollop to seven—count ‘em, seven—Democrats who bowed to the FOP’s demagoguery and voted against Debo Adegbile, President Obama’s nominee to head the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights, but give Mitch “We don’t need no lousy, stinkin’ civil rights” McConnell and his merry band of hypocrites the lion’s share of the credit for deep sixing the nomination.
Mr. Adegbile was guilty of the unforgivable crime of challenging, not the conviction of cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, but rather the instructions given to the jury for his sentencing, a challenge that was upheld by a U.S. court of appeals, a decision that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to overturn. McConnell also denounced Adegbile for the dreadful crime of identifying voter ID laws for what they are, modern poll taxes intended to discourage black and Hispanic voters. Such men, obviously, are dangerous—to moss-backed reactionaries and other endangered species.
