A defector from the Democratic Party, a defector to where, is another story.
Janet Reno Dead at 78
I wish I really could muster some sympathy for this dreadful woman.
Via the NYT:
The Butcher of Waco
Janet Reno, who rose from a rustic life on the edge of the Everglades to become attorney general of the United States — the first woman to hold the job — and whose eight years in that office placed her in the middle of some of the most divisive episodes of the Clinton presidency, died on Monday at her home in Miami-Dade County, Fla. She was 78.
Her sister, Margaret Hurchalla, said the cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease, which was diagnosed in November 1995, while she was still in office.
Ms. Reno’s tenure as attorney general was bracketed by two explosive events: a deadly federal raid on the compound of a religious cult in Waco, Tex., in 1993, and, in 2000, the government’s seizing of Elián González, a young Cuban refugee who was at the center of an international custody battle and a political tug of war.
In those moments and in others Ms. Reno was applauded for displaying integrity and a willingness to accept responsibility, but she was also fiercely criticized. Republicans accused her of protecting President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore when, in 1997, she refused to allow an independent counsel to investigate allegations of fund-raising improprieties in the White House.
So, no, I will not feel any pity for this woman, at all. She could have ordered the FBI and ATF to stand down; and just waited Koresh out. But, no, she ordered them in and this is what happened. She is very much to blame, as is the ATF and FBI. Koresh was too. But, the biggest blame is to her. So, no, I will not morn her death, at all. May she BURN in the devil’s hell for eternity.
