Left-winger Greg Sargent–the relevance of the characterization will be clear in a moment–writes that former Inspector General Gerald Walpin has requested Congressional hearings into his firing by Barack Obama. What has drawn most notice about Sargent’s piece is his repeated references to “the right” criticizing Walpin’s firing:
“Gerald Walpin, who’s been a hero on the right since he was abruptly fired” …”conservatives think they’ve found their next big scandal”… “The conspiracy-mongering has been in full swing”… “Walpin turned up the heat in a way that’s likely to earn plaudits on the right”… “legal groups on the right may be lining up”…
In an update, Sargent defended his emphasis on conservative support for Walpin:
I’m taking a lot of grief for using the phrase “on the right,” but Judicial Watch just sent us a statement saying that this is a “unifying cause” for “conservatives.”
Actually, Sargent is correct. (Judicial Watch, too.) With the single exception of Senator Claire McCaskill, who drafted the 2008 legislation intended to protect the independence of Inspectors General and who complained that Obama had broken the law, no prominent Democrat, to my knowledge, has expressed any concern about Obama’s apparently unjustified firing of a public official whose only offense was to investigate an Obama crony. The days when “whistle blowers” were popular on the left are gone, I guess.
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