Dueling Editorials

Every now and then the Braintrust over at the Trib takes on the editorial board at the P-G. Usually with laughingly ridiculous results.

Today is no different.

From the Trib:

Those intellectual relativists at The Toledo, Ohio, Block Bugler label the case of two members of the New Black Panther Party who allegedly intimidated voters at a Philadelphia polling place last November as "a silly nonevent by two nobodies." Both were dressed in paramilitary outfits. One wielded a billy club. We can't wait to see how The Bugler characterizes, say, members of the tea party movement showing up at the polls this November with — GASP! — petitions. You can bet it'll be called a "civil rights travesty."

And this is the P-G editorial they found so upsetting. It begins with this:

To hear conservatives complain about the Obama Justice Department these days, you'd think Attorney General Eric Holder had declared war on the civil rights of white Americans.

Recently, J. Christian Adams, a former lawyer for the Bush Justice Department, accused the civil rights division under Mr. Obama and Mr. Holder of scaling down a voter intimidation case in Philadelphia because the accused were black and potential victims white.

Two members of the New Black Panther Party stood outside a North Philly polling place on Election Day 2008 in paramilitary garb. One of the two brandished a billy club looking vaguely menacing, but mostly silly.

And then they offer up some facts:

The men stood outside the predominantly black polling center for a short time before cops sent them on their way. One of the men is alleged to have said something insulting about white people. Neither was arrested.

Whah? The cops showed up? And didn't arrest either?

That proves it. The police department of the city of Philadelphia must be in on the conspiracy - a conspiracy to intimidate white voters at a predominantly black polling center.

Here are some actual facts (via mediamatters.org):

The Bush administration's Justice Department -- not the Obama administration -- made the decision not to pursue criminal charges against members of the New Black Panther Party for alleged voter intimidation at a polling center in Philadelphia in 2008

That's right, my friends. And think about it. Who was the president in November 2008? Whatever the outcome of the election, the inauguration wouldn't take place until about 3 months later.

The Bush DOJ decided there wasn't enough evidence. In his testimony Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said:

After reviewing the matter, the Civil Rights Division determined that the facts did not constitute a prosecutable violation of the criminal statutes. The Department did, however, file a civil action on January 7th, 2009, seeking injunctive and declaratory relief under 11(b) against four defendants.

So the Bush DOJ must also be a part of the criminal conspiracy to intimidate white voters at a predominantly black polling center.

See? The Trib gets silly sometimes.