RENO 911(Ann Coulter)

anncoulter.com ^ | August 29, 2007 | Ann Coulter

[kellynla]

This week, congressional Democrats vowed to investigate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' firing of himself. Gonzales has said he was not involved in the discussions about his firing and that it was "performance-based," but he couldn't recall the specifics.

Right-wingers like me never trusted Gonzales. But watching Hillary Rodham Clinton literally applaud the announcement of Gonzales' resignation on Monday was more than any human being should have to bear. Liberals' hysteria about Gonzales was surpassed only by their hysteria about his predecessor, John Ashcroft. (Also their hysteria about Bush, Rove, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Libby, Rice, Barney and so on. They're very excitable, these Democrats.)

Liberals want to return the office to the glory years of Attorney General Janet Reno!

There is reason to believe Reno is precisely the sort of attorney general that Hillary would nominate, since Reno was widely assumed to be Hillary's pick at the time. As ABC News' Chris Bury reported the day Reno was confirmed: "The search for an attorney general exemplifies Hillary Clinton's circle of influence and its clout. ... The attorney general-designate, Janet Reno, came to the president's attention through Hillary Clinton's brother, Hugh Rodham."

Let's compare attorneys general:

-- Civilians killed by Ashcroft: 0 -- Civilians killed by Gonzales: 0 -- Civilians killed by Reno: 80

Reno's military attack on a religious sect in Waco, Texas, led to the greatest number of civilians ever killed by the government in the history of the United States. More Americans were killed at Waco than were killed at any of the various markers on the left's via dolorosa -- more than Kent State (4 killed), more than the Haymarket Square rebellion (4 killed), more than Three Mile Island (0 killed).

-- Innocent people put in prison by Ashcroft: 0 -- Innocent people put in prison by Gonzales: 0 -- Innocent people put in prison by Reno: at least 1 that I know of

As Dade County (Fla.) state attorney, Janet Reno made a name for herself as one of the leading witch-hunters in the notorious "child molestation" cases from the '80s, when convictions of innocent Americans were won on the basis of heavily coached testimony from small children.

Charged by Reno's office in 1984 with child molestation, Grant Snowden was convicted on the manufactured testimony of one such child, who was 4 years old when the abuse allegedly occurred.

Snowden, the most decorated police officer in the history of the South Miami Police Department, was sentenced to five life terms -- and was imprisoned with people he had put there. Snowden served 11 years before his conviction was finally overturned by a federal court in an opinion that ridiculed the evidence against him and called his trial "fundamentally unfair."

In a massive criminal justice system, mistakes will be made from time to time. But Janet Reno put people like Snowden in prison not only for crimes that they didn't commit -- but also for crimes that never happened. Such was the soccer-mom-induced hysteria of the '80s, when innocent people were prosecuted for fantastical crimes concocted in therapists' offices.

-- Number of obvious civil rights violations ignored by Ashcroft: 0 -- Number of obvious civil rights violations ignored by Gonzales: 0 -- Number of obvious civil rights violations ignored by Reno: at least 1

On Aug. 19, 1991, rabbinical student Yankel Rosenbaum was stabbed to death in Crown Heights by a black racist mob shouting "Kill the Jew!" as retaliation for another Hasidic man killing a black child in a car accident hours earlier.

In a far clearer case of jury nullification than the first Rodney King verdict, a jury composed of nine blacks and three Puerto Ricans acquitted Lemrick Nelson Jr. of the murder -- despite the fact that the police found the bloody murder weapon in his pocket and Rosenbaum's blood on his clothes, and that Rosenbaum, as he lay dying, had identified Nelson as his assailant.

The Hasidic community immediately appealed to the attorney general for a federal civil rights prosecution of Nelson. Reno responded with utter mystification at idea that anyone's civil rights had been violated.

Civil rights? Where do you get that?

Because they were chanting "Kill the Jew," Rosenbaum is a Jew, and they killed him.

Huh. That's a weird interpretation of "civil rights." It sounds a little harebrained to me, but I guess I could have someone look into it.

It took two years from Nelson's acquittal to get Reno to bring a civil rights case against him.

-- Number of innocent civilians accused of committing heinous crimes by Ashcroft: 0 -- Number of innocent civilians accused of committing heinous crimes by Gonzales: 0 -- Number of innocent civilians accused of committing heinous crimes by Reno: at least 1

Janet Reno presided over the leak of Richard Jewell's name to the media, implicating him in the Atlanta Olympic park bombing in 1996, for which she later apologized. I believe Reno also falsely accused the Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez of violating the law, which I am not including in her record of false accusations, but reminds me of another comparison.

Number of 6-year-old boys deported to totalitarian dictatorships by Ashcroft: 0 Number of 6-year-old boys deported to totalitarian dictatorships by Gonzales: 0 Number of 6-year-old boys deported to totalitarian dictatorships by Reno: 1

Not until Bush became president was the media interested in discussing the shortcomings of the attorney general. Whatever flaws Alberto Gonzales has (John Ashcroft has none), we don't have to go back to the Harding administration to find a worse attorney general.

From the phony child abuse cases of the '80s to the military assault on Americans at Waco, Janet Reno presided over the most egregious attacks on Americans' basic liberties since the Salem witch trials. These outrageous deprivations of life and liberty were not the work of fanatical right-wing prosecutors, but liberals like Janet Reno.

Reno is the sort of wild-eyed zealot trampling on real civil rights that Hillary views as an ideal attorney general, unlike that brute Alberto Gonzales. At least Reno didn't fire any U.S. attorneys!

Oh wait --

Number of U.S. attorneys fired by Ashcroft: 0 Number of U.S. attorneys fired by Gonzales: 8 Number of U.S. attorneys fired by Reno: 93

[Sherman Logan]

Coulter’s sentence was poorly phrased. She was obviously referring to US civilians, not foreign civilians killed during wartime.

For that matter, if we’re going to drag wartime collateral damage into it, numerous WBTS sieges and other incidents undoubtedly had a much higher civilian death toll. Sieges of Atlanta, Vicksburg and Charleston spring to mind.

[Right Cal Gal]

What military assets were involved at WACO?

[calex59]

Actually, we killed a lot of civilians at Hiroshima too.

In your strawman attack you forgot to mention Nagasaki. The civilians killed by our atom bomb attacks on Japan were done while we were at war, and we saved more civilian lives than we took. We killed far more with fire bombs than we did with nuclear weapons in Japan. If Japan didn't want their citizens nuked, they should have kept their a**es at home and stayed peaceful.

Now, let's discuss the number of civilians the Japs killed before we were able to drop a bomb on them and end their reign of terror in the east.No, don't want to mention that? Wow, will wonders never cease.

Your whole comparison of Japanese civilians with American citizens killed by an American AG is just a tad stupid, well....maybe a lot stupid.

[ml/nj]

Janet Reno took full responsibility for Waco and offered to resign. Did you think she was kidding?

No. She was deflecting blame. Think about the timing of things as I described in my first post on this thread.

ML/NJ

[ml/nj]

Coulter’s sentence was poorly phrased. She was obviously referring to US civilians, not foreign civilians killed during wartime.

Agree.

ML/NJ

[ml/nj]

What military assets were involved at WACO?

Tanks and helicopters.

ML/NJ

[Saltmeat]

Here is another miscarriage of justice:number of secret FBI files in the possession of a White House employee that no one admitted hiring (Craig Livingstone) during Gonzales tenure 0, during Ashcroft tenure 0, during Reno tenure 900. Remedial action taken and punishment doled out: none. Hillary and Bill probably still have the files and are probably still using them for blackmail purposes.

[Right Cal Gal]

Okay, I misunderstood the point you were trying to make in your previous post.

[ml/nj]

In your strawman attack you forgot to mention Nagasaki. The civilians killed by our atom bomb attacks on Japan were done while we were at war, and we saved more civilian lives than we took. We killed far more with fire bombs than we did with nuclear weapons in Japan. If Japan didn't want their citizens nuked, they should have kept their a**es at home and stayed peaceful.

I didn't forget Nagasaki. I picked Hiroshima because that's where our government killed the greatest number of civilians. That's all I was referring to: civilians killed. I certainly don't think killing them was a bad thing. In fact, I think all the current moaning about (non-US) civilian dead is very bad for our country. If I were President after 9/11 there would have been a lot more civilian deaths caused by our government.

ML/NJ

[laweeks]

““Civilians killed by Ashcroft: 0 — Civilians killed by Gonzales: 0 — Civilians killed by Reno: 80””

Approx. 350 Indians were killed at Wounded Knee; I think it was 1890. So, she was only off by 270. She’s still a doll.

[noamnasty]

This country should never take a child away from it’s parents ,especially if one is dead . This is the only thing this old bag did right,imo.

Elian was just another fat paycheck to some non assimilating cubans most of whom don’t speak english . They acted like savages pulling on that poor child . He is with his father where he belongs ,not a bunch of strangers who will make money off him.

[JAKraig]

Actually, we killed a lot of civilians at Hiroshima too.

__________________________________________________________

And just what attorney General had something to do with Hiroshima?

[Rummyfan]

Thank you Ann. We will never hear these differences pointed out by any of the Democratic Party boot-licking mouthpieces in the MSM.

The She-Devil Strikes Again!!!!!

[ml/nj]

Why don't you read the posts and the reposnses on the thread before you make your own comment next time?

ML/NJ

[Rummyfan]

I was appalled by the tactics employed in the Elian Gonzalez case, and was further floored by the media’s and most American’s supportive reactions to them. How do we even begin to get this country back?

I don't believe a Clinton or Dem Admin would get away with that today as the New Media wouldn't let them.

[mad_as_he$$]

Humm I see both sides. Technically you are correct but Wounded Knee was "war". I guess Waco was a religious war in a sense.

IMHO when will we have the Islamic wounded knee? Will the US military fight this foe for 100 years and then snap?

[Theresawithanh]

Wow, I’ve never seen this before - we got all the way to post #34 before a picture of Ann was posted!

[Rummyfan]

She was picked because she was a (1)woman (okay, debatable...) and (2) would be amenable to any special requests from the Clintons.

I believe she was also Clinton's third choice after Lani Guinier and Zoe Baird bombed out before they even reached the confirmation hearings.

[Rummyfan]

This country should never take a child away from it’s parents ,especially if one is dead . This is the only thing this old bag did right,imo.

Elian's father was a biological father only. He was never married to Elian's mother and had absolutely nothing to do with either of them during Elian's life up until his mother bringing him to the States. Most courts here in the States would look upon such a connection as very very tenuous and probably award custody to someone in the extended family, like his aunt and uncle in Miami.

[Rummyfan]

I was late to the thread!