Attorney General Eric Holder was asked during a nationally televised interview on MSNBC to “quack” like a duck, in recognition of the nickname some of his supporters had dubbed onto him — “The Duck.”
Host Melissa Harris-Perry was discussing the Voting Rights Act and the use of police force on citizens with Mr. Holder, and then quipped: “You know, we call you ’The Duck’ in nerd land,” The Hill reported.
She went on: “We say you have a very sort of placid and even way of presenting, but you are just working for justice underneath,” and then moved her arms and head in demonstration of a duck on the water, The Hill reported.
Ms. Harris-Perry then asked Mr. Holder: “Would you quack for us?”
Mr. Holder declined, saying, “I’m not sure I’m going to do that,” but the said he appreciated the analogy, The Hill said.
“I was born and raised in New York City, in the ’50s and ’60s. And for an African-American guy, the thing was to be cool, you know? You got to be cool. And so on the surface, I like to think that’s the way I appear to be,” he said. “But you’re absolutely right. Those little duck feet are just moving as fast as they can underneath, and things are going as fast as they can behind the scenes.”
Mr. Holder then acknowledged that he was angry during the “Fast and Furious” congressional hearings, where he was quizzed by Republicans for the botched handling of the gun-running operation.
“I may have been cool in congressional hearings on the outside, but I was pissed off a lot of the time, too,” he said, The Hill reported. “It was a question of trying to rein in those feelings and make sure that on the outside, I was cool.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.