Mukasey Passes Key Senate Test
Judiciary Panel Vote Virtually Ensures Attorney General Nominee's Confirmation
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Michael Mukasey appears headed for confirmation as the U.S.'s 81st attorney general. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
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Support from Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., right, and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., gave Michael Mukasey the votes he needed to win Judiciary Committee approval. (GETTY)
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President Bush, right, announces retired federal judge Michael Mukasey, left, as his nominee to replace Alberto Gonzales as attorney general, Monday, Sept. 17, 2007, in the White House Rose Garden. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
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Notebook: Mukasey Speaks
During his confirmation hearings, attorney general designate Michael Mukasey tells Congress that the president does not have the power to authorize torture.
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The White House welcomed the committee's vote.
"We appreciate the vote of senators on the Judiciary Committee to forward the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey to the full Senate," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "Judge Mukasey has clearly demonstrated that he will be an exceptional attorney general at this critical time."
Mukasey is expected to easily win confirmation by the full Senate, probably as soon as next week.
Mukasey lost support of most of the Democrats on the committee who initially favored him after he said he didn't know enough about waterboarding to say if it was torture and against U.S. and international law, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss.
However, two key Democrats accepted his vow to enforce any law Congress might enact against waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique used in interrogations.
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy called Mukasey's promise disingenuous. "Unsaid, of course, is the fact that any such prohibition would have to be enacted over the veto of this president," said Leahy.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, who suggested Mukasey to the White House in the first place, countered that the nominee's statements against waterboarding and for purging politics from the Justice Department amount to the best deal Democrats could get from the Bush administration.
"If we block Judge Mukasey's nomination and then learn in six months that waterboarding has continued unabated, that victory will seem much less valuable," he wrote in an op-ed in Tuesday's editions of The New York Times.
Announcements of support for Mukasey by Schumer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, both Democrats, virtually assured the former federal judge the majority vote he needed to be favorably recommended by the committee to replace Alberto Gonzales as the chief U.S. law enforcement officer.
Gonzales resigned two months ago in the midst of congressional investigation over his handling of the dismissal of eight U.S. prosecutors. Democrats said the firings were politically motivated. The dispute mushroomed into doubts about the credibility of Gonzales, a longtime friend and adviser to President Bush.
Mukasey rankled Democrats during his confirmation hearing by saying he was not familiar with the waterboarding technique and could not say whether it was torture.
Many Democrats came out in opposition to Mukasey after he refused to say unequivocally that waterboarding is tantamount to torture and thus illegal under domestic and international law.
Mukasey rankled Democrats during his confirmation hearing by saying he was not familiar with the waterboarding technique and could not say whether it was torture.
Even Sen. Arlen Specter, the panel's ranking Republican, called that explanation "a flimsy excuse" and suggested instead that Muksaey declined to call waterboarding illegal torture because he wanted to avoid putting at legal risk U.S. officials who may have engaged in the practice.
But Specter said that outlawing waterboarding rests with Congress. He disclosed that he had talked with Mukasey a day earlier and received an assurance that the nominee would back up any such legislation and quit if Mr. Bush ignores his opinion.
Thus, Specter said, Mukasey had won his support.
Legal experts cautioned that if Mukasey called it torture, that effectively could have constituted an admission that the United States engaged in war crimes. It could also commit him to prosecuting U.S. officials even before he takes office.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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See all 65 CommentsBush/Cheney and the neocon con men have sold out the Constitution for their dream of the "Unified Executive" a.k.a., King-for-life, George-The-Defective-Decider.
There is no quicker path to H3LL!
Any democrats who fail to resist these criminals with every last breath become co-conspirators, traitors to the Constitution of the United States of America and to the People they have sworn to serve.
Waterboarding is torture. Torture is illegal under US and International laws. Bush/Cheney and their supporters are WAR CRIMINALS.
Dianne Feinstein%u2014the ninth wealthiest member of congress%u2014has been beset by monumental ethical conflicts of interest. As a member of the Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee (MILCON) from 2001 to the end of 2005, Senator Feinstein voted for appropriations worth billions of dollars to her husband%u2019s firms.
From 1997 through the end of 2005, Feinstein%u2019s husband Richard C. Blum was a majority shareholder in both URS Corp. and Perini Corp. She lobbied Pentagon officials in public hearings to support defense projects that she favored, some of which already were, or subsequently became, URS or Perini contracts. From 2001 to 2005, URS earned $792 million from military construction and environmental cleanup projects approved by MILCON; Perini earned $759 million from such projects.
In 2000, Perini earned a mere $7 million from federal contracts. After 9/11, Perini was transformed into a major defense contractor. In 2004, the company earned $444 million for military construction work in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as for improving airfields for the US Air Force in Europe and building base infrastructures for the US Navy around the globe. In a remarkable financial recovery, Perini shot from near penury in 1997 to logging gross revenues of $1.7 billion in 2005.
LOL
http://pittsburgh.indymedia.org/news/2006/10/25031.php
Of course, she is going to vote for a proponent of torture to the AG post...a man who helped cover up Regime complicity in the murder of six Americans in the first attack on the WTC--training the driver, arranging for the explosives, supplying the detonator and refusing the suggestion of their FBI''s agent provocateur on the inside of the conspiracy that the explosives be replaced with a harmless powder. Mukasey is complicit in the murder of Americans after the fact! He is a scum bag--of course the Senate Judiciary Committee supports him! Birds of a feather!
And the media once again is in Bush''s lap (or under his thumb)...Shame on CBS and the rest of the lame press for not making Bush''s outrageous conduct a top story!
This is unconscionable.%u201D
%u201CWow, thanks for selling us out, guys,%u201D
Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein just green-lighted torture,%u201D
%u201CThe modus operandi of the Democrats has been to allow their presidential candidates to come out against evil, while the Democrats assured that there were enough votes in Congress to ensure that the evil progressed,%u201D
In 1983, federal prosecutors charged a Texas sheriff and three of his deputies with violating prisoners'' civil rights by forcing confessions. The complaint alleged that the officers conspired to "subject prisoners to a suffocating water torture ordeal in order to coerce confessions.
The four defendants were convicted, and the sheriff was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Although these events are no more than footnotes in history, their cumulative effect is damaging to our country and our reputation. DeLay, Craig, Abramhoff on and on the list grows. This Administration will be harshly judged in the eyes of history as a brutal, rights usurping, environmentally dangerous and corrupt gang of people that should be criminally investigated.
Americans, voice your opinions to Feinstein and Schumer for not following the path of moral and ethical decision making.
It seems there is no end in sight to the losses for the Democrats and the looney leftists...
LOL
j-whitman:
85% of all statistics are lies and made up on the spot.
Heh heh. You''re just getting silly now.
It''s getting to the point where the liberals can''t even see straight - not that they ever could.
Our Crowd sides with the Anglo-American oligarchy...Our Crowd sided with the British to get America to enter World War I. Our Crowd worked with Anglo-American capital to sell our America...to sell out Germany...to sell out Russia...Our Crowd worked to demonize Iran and the Arabs...Our Crowd painted a shining picture of Israel and went to great lengths to hide the filthy laundry of the Zio-Nazis--Jew and Gentile alike.
Now they want a torturer and after the fact accessory to murder to be Attorney General...Note the animals in the Senate that support torture...support Mukasey...support criminality...support murder...support spying on America through the ADL and AIPAC...George W. Bush...Support Treason!!
Bush brings Our Crowd into this Administration... including Mukasey--an Our Crowd operative under the Democrat Clinton--and he slides right into the Repubican Bush''s Regime. "Tor''cha? Wha'' tor''cha?"
Who ran the Pentagon Office of Special Plans?--Douglas Feith, Our Crowd gang member partnered up in an Israeli law firm...These are the guys who manufactured much of the ''evidence'' for the war in Iraq.
What names don''t you hear? Rockefellar, Harriman, Mellon, Rothschild , Kahn, Windsor/Saxe Coburg?...did they suddenly fall off the edge of the world? These are the real money bags...banking, oil, merchants of death, industry...Our Crowd works with them!
Our Crowd sides with the Anglo-American oligarchy...Our Crowd sided with the British to get America to enter World War I. Our Crowd worked with Anglo-American capital to sell our America...to sell out Germany...to sell out Russia...Our Crowd worked to demonize Iran and the Arabs...Our Crowd painted a shining picture of Israel and went to great lengths to hide the filthy laundry of the Zio-Nazis--Jew and Gentile alike.
Now they want a torturer and after the fact accessory to murder to be Attorney General...Note the animals in the Senate that support torture...support Mukasey...support criminality...support murder...support spying on America through the ADL and AIPAC...George W. Bush...Support Treason!!
Posted by Prinzowhales
Where do you get this conspiratorial hogwash...why are all the world''s problems caused by the Israelis and the Zionists--a little anti-semetic are we???
Posted by lfitts1 at 01:57 PM : Nov 06, 2007
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Do you have a specific refutation you''d like to discuss?
Are you aware of Mukasey role in keeping the lid on the government''s involvment in the 1993 attack?
Why do you think Schumer and Feinstein decided to endorse torture?
Zionism is the greatest enemy Jews have. There is nothing semitic about Zionism. Just research ''The Ringworm Children'' and find out who murdered thousands of Jewish kids and maimed tens of thousands more in Israel...with American help.
LOL
Thank God the people in charge of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials were not like Schumer and Feinstein - otherwise the German and Japanese perpetrators of torture and maybe even some perpetrators of the Holocaust might have gone free.
Hillary is their candidate isn''t she? Her vote now doesn''t matter does it?
Too many Democrats have been saying something like "Bush made me do it!" Well Bush didn''t make them do this. They did it themselves and we whould hold them accountable as well as Bush and the Republicans.
...problem is - it''s the wrong foot.
Keep amusing us, you moonbat liberals!
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
congress, especially Diane Feinstein and Charles Schumer will regret they voted for his nomination. But,
once again, these ARE OUR IDIOTS IN CONGRESS!!!!! There
must be something in it for Schumer and Diane Feinstein.
Let''s see Feinstein''s husband is a military contractor.
Hmmmmm.................................
They just don''t know the difference between right and wrong.
They are always gaming the system.
They are always saying they are for some thing good and voting to support something bad.
We really need better leadership.
Law Offices
CBS News
Explain this Chronic ...Habitual...and Harassing - Political Spam -
Posted by : KJVProphet (aka LAProphet..... aka NHProphet)
Throughout Each Day - Each Night - Every Day -
All Week long within most of the topics on
The CBS News Site
Lastdance
Feinstein (spit) is a repeat offender.
Ron Paul voted against the Do-Not-Call Registry
Ron Paul voted against extending Unemployment Compensation Act
Ron Paul voted against the Supplemental Appropriations Act for Further Recovery From and Response to Terrorist Attacks
Ron Paul voted against stricter penalties for sexual predators
Ron Paul voted aginst the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act
Ron Paul voted against the Child Custody Protection Act
Ron Paul voted against the Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act
Ron Paul refused to recognize A Resolution Honoring the Contributions of Catholic Schools
Ron Paul regularly votes against funding the military (year after year)
Ron Paul voted against the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Response Act
Ron Paul voted against Expressing Solidarity With Israel in the Fight Against Terrorism
Ron Paul voted against the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act
Ron Paul was the only vote against the Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Amendments Act
Ron Paul was the only vote against the Financial Anti-Terrorism Act
Ron Paul voted against deterring and punishing terrorist acts in the United States and around the world
Ron Paul voted against Urging the Secretary of Energy to Fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Ron Paul was the only vote against the Military Construction Appropriations
Ron Paul was the only vote against the resolution To Promote Freedom and Democracy in Viet Nam
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