TV host asks Holder to quack like a duck

Attorney General Eric Holder on Sunday refused an unusual request during an interview, declining to quack like a duck.

{mosads}At the end of an interview that touched on the Voting Rights Act and use of force by police, MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry asked the outgoing Justice Department head to imitate a duck.

“You know, we call you ‘The Duck’ in nerdland,” Harris-Perry said, referring to fans of her show.

“The duck?” Holder asked.

“We call you the duck.”

“We say you have a very sort of placid and even way of presenting, but you are just working for justice underneath,” Harris-Perry explained as Holder stroked his mustache.

She moved her arms and head vigorously to describe the underwater movement.

“Would you quack for us?” she then asked.

“Well, I’m not sure I’m going to do that,” Holder replied, smiling.

Holder said he liked the analogy, pointing to his upbringing.

“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 gotta be cool,” he said.

“And so on the surface I like to think that’s the way I appear to be. 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,” he added.

The Justice Department head since 2009 has been a favorite target for Republicans due to a series of high-profile scandals, such as the agency’s handling of the botched U.S. gun trafficking operation “Fast and Furious.”

“I may have been cool in congressional hearings on the outside, but I was pissed off a lot of the time too,” Holder said. “It was a question of trying to rein in those feelings and make sure that on the outside I was cool.”