I’m sympathetic with the idea that Joe Arpaio should have been indicted years ago. Now that Arpaio’s prosecutor sidekick has been disbarred for what the a panel of the Arizona court system found to be “evidence … beyond a reasonable doubt” of “a criminal conspiracy,” the odds that there is enough to convict Shurf Joe have shortened enormously. [ Text of Arizona disbarment findings.] That makes me tend to agree with the four prosecutors who just issued a statement calling on Eric Holder to fish or cut bait.

Still, this isn’t a simple problem. Holder works for Barack Obama. Barack Obama is running for re-election, with Arizona in play. Arpaio is a  pillar of Arizona’s Republican establishment, and just pulled a “birther” stunt - covered as straight news by media outlets that should have known better - which might well have been designed to make an indictment appear to be retaliation.

(Source: abbyjean)