Attorney General William Barr over the weekend reflected on the testimony he gave – or at least tried to give – at the House Judiciary Committee Hearing that took place at the end of July.
According to the Washington Examiner, Barr said that the hearing demonstrated how partisan America has become in just the past few decades.
“They were afraid to have me speak”
The attorney general’s comments came during an interview he did on Sunday night with conservative radio and television host Mark Levin. One of the topics discussed was the hearing.
If you watched even a part of the hearing, then you probably are aware of what a disgrace it was.
Barr was attacked by Democratic lawmakers who accused him of all kinds of wrongdoing, And, the frustrating thing was that they wouldn’t let him respond, cutting him off each time that he tried to do so, saying, “I’m reclaiming my time.”
“I think they were afraid to have me speak,” Barr told Levin. “So, they decided to burn up all the time and not give me any time to answer. So I quickly caught on to the tactic.”
America has “fundamentally changed”
Levin asked Barr what he makes “of the change in the whole nature of hearings now.”
“I mean, they accused you of being a murderer, a terrorist,” said Levin. “I was getting nervous that somebody might grab a Molotov cocktail from behind the table and throw it at you. What do you make of it?”
“Well, you know, I have the perspective of being attorney general 30 years ago and now,” Barr replied, referring to his time in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. “I thought things were partisan and tough 30 years ago, nothing compared to today.”
Barr continued: “Things have fundamentally changed, and I think what has happened — and I’ve been thinking about this because in the old days you could have friends across the aisle, politics was part of your life, but it wasn’t all-consuming, it wasn’t everything.”
It’s true
Barr is right on the money here, as he often is. One does not have to have incredible insight to see that partisanship has now infiltrated every aspect of life here in America, from education to work, even to entertainment. It has reached the point at which neither side even treats the other with basic civility anymore – as the Barr hearing demonstrates.
The question, of course, is “where do we go from here?” The answer is up to us.
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