Attorney General Eric Holder Says Some Are Against Himself, President Barack Obama Because of Race, Attacks Sarah Palin [Video]

Attorney General Eric Holder defended President Barack Obama and criticized Sarah Palin during a rare interview this week.

On ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulous," Holder said that certain Republicans have made a decision to be against Obama.

"For whatever reason, [some] Republicans decided early on that this was a president they were just simply not going to cooperate with, and over the past five-and-a-half years, we have seen demonstrations of that, where the president has reached out his hand, offered compromises that have simply not been met [in the way] they have been in the past by a Republican Party willing to do the appropriate things," he said.

Holder specifically addressed Sarah Palin, the 2008 republican vice presidential candidate, who last week said that given the country's immigration problems and other issues, Obama should be impeached, New York Daily News reports. The statement was reportedly "dismissed" by Congressional Republicans.

"She wasn't a particularly good vice presidential candidate," Holder said. "She's an even worse judge of who ought to be impeached and why."

In addition, Holder suggested that some negativity addressed toward Obama and himself has to deal with race.

"There's a certain level of vehemence, it seems to me, that's directed at me [and] directed at the president," he said. "You know, people talking about taking their country back. ... There's a certain racial component to this for some people. I don't think this is the thing that is a main driver, but for some there's a racial animus."

The attorney general also shared his view on House Speaker John Boehner's lawsuit against the Obama administration. The lawsuit goes after the Affordable Care Act and Obama using his "executive powers to go around Congress," NY Daily News reports, but Holder thinks it isn't "going to have legs."

"It's a more, I think, a political gesture than a truly legal one," he explained. "Filing a lawsuit against the president that has no basis is not going to improve the quality of life for the American people."

Watch Holder's interview on "This Week" below: