Tag: senate confirmation hearing

The afternoon session has moved from CSPAN3 to CSPAN.

You can watch the hearing live on CSPAN (Windows Media Player)

or through the committee’s Real Player Live Webcast.

Click image to watch the hearing on CSPAN … opens in new window …

This page should load faster than the morning thread.

Click image to watch the hearing on CSPAN3

The Senate Committee on the Judiciary Holder Confirmation Hearing has just begun a few minutes ago with Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter making opening comments.

You can watch the hearing live on CSPAN3 (Windows Media Player) or through the committee’s Real Player Live Webcast.

To save time I’ll quote here BarbinMD’s post this morning at DKos:

Holder has the support of the Democratic Senators on the Judiciary Committee, along with the backing of Orrin Hatch, the endorsement of three former Deputy Attorney Generals, not to mention former Senator John Warner introducing and offering his support at today’s hearing, along with testimony from Louis J. Freeh, the Former Director of the FBI. And while the level of support Holder will enjoy might cramp attempts to delay his confirmation, it certainly won’t stop the Republicans from trying.

Taking the lead in these efforts has been Arlen Specter, who went from not having “taken any position” on Holder, to denouncing him on the Senate floor, comparing him to Alberto “I don’t recall” Gonzales, and Chuck Grassley, who has attempted to tie Holder to the scandal-plagued Rod Blagojevich. Throw in the Republican requests for documents related to Clinton’s impeachment, fund-raising by Al Gore, and the case of Elian Gonzalez, and you can see that the attempt to force Obama “to spend political capital early,” is on.

By all means, every Senator should ask the hard questions, explore the pardon of Marc Rich, or any other areas of concern they may have. But the Republican Senators may want to consider two things: the overwhelming support that Obama enjoys and how the last two elections have worked out for them. If they overplay their hand here, they might find themselves hoisted by their own petard peg.

A complete witness list for today’s hearing is available here.

If anyone watching the hearing has not yet signed the Formal Petition to Attorney General-Designate Eric Holder to appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute any and all government officials who have participated in War Crimes… please sign it now.