Audio: Former DNC finance chair gives most pathetic defense of New Black Panthers voter intimidation attempts evah

Yesterday on my way home from work, and after doing some grocery shopping, I listened to Sean Hannity’s 4 PM segment. The issue up for discussion at the top of the hour was whether or not the Obama administration was playing racial politics with the 2008 New Black Panthers voter intimidation incident in Philadelphia. A refresher:

In emotional and personal testimony, an ex-Justice official who quit over the handling of a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party accused his former employer of instructing attorneys in the civil rights division to ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims.

J. Christian Adams, testifying Tuesday before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, said that “over and over and over again,” the department showed “hostility” toward those cases. He described the Black Panther case as one example of that — he defended the legitimacy of the suit and said his “blood boiled” when he heard a Justice official claim the case wasn’t solid.

“It is false,” Adams said of the claim.

“We abetted wrongdoing and abandoned law-abiding citizens,” he later testified.

The department abandoned the New Black Panther case last year. It stemmed from an incident on Election Day in 2008 in Philadelphia, where members of the party were videotaped in front of a polling place, dressed in military-style uniforms and allegedly hurling racial slurs while one brandished a night stick.

The Bush Justice Department brought the first case against three members of the group, accusing them in a civil complaint of violating the Voter Rights Act. The Obama administration initially pursued the case, winning a default judgment in federal court in April 2009 when the Black Panther members did not appear in court. But then the administration moved to dismiss the charges the following month after getting one of the New Black Panther members to agree to not carry a “deadly weapon” near a polling place until 2012.

“[U]ntil 2012” – when President Obama is up for re-election. Then, apparently, it’s ok to carry a weapon and dress in a paramilitary uniform while standing menacingly in front of a polling place. As long as you are a black militant liberal, of course.

Anyway, back to Hannity – he had two guests on to talk about this issue. Black conservative Erik Rush and former DNC finance chair Michael Brown. From almost the start it was clear that Rush and Hannity were not going to be able to say very much because Brown, shockingly, actually defended “what the New Black Panthers were trying to do” in 2008. His defense? They were there to give black voters in urban communities a sense of “protection” to counter “the police officers” who were there on behalf of … President Bush … to “intimidate black voters.” The NBP’s presence at that polling location had nothing whatsoever to do with trying to scare off white voters, you see.

No, I’m not kidding. That is exactly what Brown said. In just a few short breaths, this guy – while condemning the filth that has come out of the mouth of one of the New Black Panthers in question on the issue of “killing cracker babies” (more here) – managed to accuse President Bush and policemen all over this country of being in cahoots on wanting to intimidate black voters in certain areas on election day 2008, and said the New Black Panthers who were “stationed” at that polling place in Philadelphia were “just trying to protect black voters.”

I told The Right Scoop about what I heard and he, in turned subscribed to and listened to the Hannity broadcast in question, and graciously captured the 13 minute segment on audio. Click here to listen. Just when you think you’d heard it all.

I wonder if Brown would be offering up the same “defense” if white “crackers” had been dressed in paramilitary unis and openly carrying weapons while standing menacingly in front of polling locations where high concentrations of black people vote? I doubt it. I also wonder if Brown is well-versed in history enough to know that on the issue of intimidating black voters at the polls, that is is DEMOCRATS who have the most lengthy and disturbing history of trying to intimidate black voters at the polls – through various means, including violence that dates back to the 1800s?

Somebody buy this disgraceful moral relativist/apologist a clue, please. Several of them. Oh, and welcome to “post-racial” America, everyone.