“I heard some of the president’s comments last night, he said that what we need to do is try to understand them and he said that the anger was an understandable reaction, and I was just floored by that, because it’s not an understandable reaction. People have to come up with a more socially acceptable way to deal with anger and frustration. This is totally and unequivocally intolerable” he said. And “once the decision was rendered, then, you know, the rioting and the looting started. That’s not peaceful protest, it didn’t start off as peaceful protests…so when I heard the president call for calm after the rioting started, I questioned his sincerity because some of his political strategy of divide and conquer fuels this sort of racial animosity between people, and so I think when he called for calm after the rioting started, I believe it was done with a wink and a nod.”
He also criticized Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (D), accusing him of “trying to soft shoe this thing. I don’t think he has the intestinal fortitude to deal with this. What’s happening down there right now is real ugly, and the response isn’t going to be, you know, pleasing to the eye with what law enforcement and the National Guard have to do, but, Neil, come on, they have to restore order, and the law enforcement officers and the national guard have to use all reasonable force to get that under control. Restraint is not an option right now for law enforcement.”
Clarke also criticized Attorney General Eric Holder, stating that he was “one of those that was in a very visible position to have talked reasonably and to kind of quell this thing early on, and instead he engaged with inflammatory rhetoric. So, for him to come on and announce what he’s going to [do] today, look, justice is about due process. You’re not guaranteed a result. You’re guaranteed due process. Due process played it[self] out at the state level. If he wants to start a federal probe, he’s entitled to do that, but that’s just going to prolong this thing. Unless he thinks or he believes that there’s something nefarious that went on here with the grand jury investigation, I think you ought to reconsider that…let’s say he comes out with some indictment of his own, and is thrown out at the federal level, because in the end I don’t see a judge in this country, upon appeal that would uphold any kind of conviction here against the officer, and then we’re going to have to re-live this all over again.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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