Liberal talk radio host, Bill Press, described by The Hill as a "prominent" liberal voice, is calling for the ouster of Attorney General Eric Holder, over the AP phone record scandal, just one of the scandals that seems to be rocking Washington DC this month.
What "breach of national security" are we talking about re the AP story? It's BS and Holder should be fired.
— Bill Press (@bpshow) May 16, 2013
With his tweets, Press becomes one of the first prominent liberal voices to call for the dismissal of Holder over the records seizure.
The Justice Department said in a letter to The Associated Press on Friday that it had gathered records on at least 20 office, cell phone, and home phone numbers — including the AP's desk in the House of Representatives press gallery
This puts Mr. Press in the same boat as Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who also called for Holder's dismissal.
“Attorney General Eric Holder, in permitting the Justice Department to issue secret subpoenas to spy on Associated Press reporters, has trampled on the First Amendment and failed in his sworn duty to uphold the Constitution," said Priebus in a statement.
"Because Attorney General Holder has so egregiously violated the public trust, the president should ask for his immediate resignation. If President Obama does not, the message will be unmistakable: The President of the United States believes his administration is above the Constitution and does not respect the role of a free press,” he added.
According to Michael Sneed, at Chicago Sun-Times, plans to oust Holder in a way that leaves his "reputation intact," is already being discussed at the White House and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's name is being bandied about as a possible replacement for Holder.
As evidenced by the recent headlines and the shredding of White House spokesman Jay Carney at Tuesday's White House press briefing, the media has abandoned their "circle the Obama wagon" mentality, for now, and another article from The Hill reports that Barack Obama is attempting to "win back" the press by "wooing" them.
To bolster President Obama’s free-press credentials, the White House announced Wednesday it had asked Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to reintroduce a press shield law that would allow media organizations to challenge subpoenas of phone records and offer legal protections for protecting confidential sources.Will it work or is it too little, too late?
More importantly, why did it take going after one of their own, the AP, for the mainstream media to start doing their job?