Mukasey Passes Key Senate Test

Judiciary Panel Vote Virtually Ensures Attorney General Nominee's Confirmation

(CBS/AP)  The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-8 Tuesday to advance Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey's nomination, virtually ensuring confirmation for a former judge ensnarled in a bitter controversy over waterboarding.

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.

In tightly choreographed statements of support for Mukasey last week, Feinstein and Schumer essentially eliminated the chance that Democrats could kill the nomination in committee.

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.

[myidoncbs]

Wake up, America!

Bush/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.

[watcher269-2009]

Feinstein changed her mind - maybe this is the reason

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.

[mcvett]

THIS WILL **** OFF THE NeoCommies

LOL

[prinzowhales]

Feinstein is as vile and contemptible a thief as Cheney. Here''s how she helped defraud the American people by rewarding OUR gold lands to a private company...and look at what CALPERS has to say about this stinking animal who disgraces even that gaggle of stinking curs know as the United States Senate.

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!

[rablady]

HOW INCREDIBLE THIS PRESIDENT WOULD SACRIFICE UNITED STATES SECURITY in this way actually threaten to leave the US (he pretends to care about) with NO ATTORNEY GENERAL? This is one more example that Bush is the most arrogant and irresponsible president in US history. Is he really saying it''s impossible to find a Republican judge who opposes torture???
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!

[flipantflaw]

'' ... blue blue first aid on the trail blue blue inkblot sport and puzzle on the trail blue blue sellart basketball on the trail blue blue zero resistance tai chi aikido yogaerobic on the trail blue blue subsistance blooms on the trail blue blue ... ''

[stevex47]

Commence with the waterboarding boys !! Let the games begin.

[adventurepa]

We are deeply disappointed in the Senate Democrats who acquiesced to the President today on Southwick%u2019s nomination. That%u2019s not what Americans voted for when they gave Democrats a majority in the Senate!!!

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

[sparkyguy]

This whole thing makes me so sad, particularly insofar as the whole world is watching. I understand that expedience sometimes trumps principle, but we have as a nation -- in service of "fighting terror" (the meaning of which becomes vaguer and vaguer) and of defending our elected officials from scrutiny by systems of international justice that we ourselves put in place -- sunk so, so low. If the events of 9/11 were to occur now, I doubt very much of the world would feel very sorry for us.

[radiob-2009]

Gas is $3.09 a gallon and rising, 21,000 illegals came in to the US through our checkpoints last year not counting all of those who entered by other means, the war in Iraq continues, the continued outsourcing of our economy is rampant, 17 lap poodles are running for the presidency, the president and his advisers have interpreted the Constitution to grant them more power without oversight,inflation is on the rise in our economy, home repossession are at a all time high and what do the majority of Americans do? Nothing instead of taking our nation back from the special interest that control both parties. Time for a nation wide strike/boycott keep your eyes and ears on the truckers.

[j-whitman]

Ronald Reagan said it was Torture,,,,, George Bush obviously doesn''t know anything about Texas history, let alone US History....

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.

[j-whitman]

1898 Spanish-American War, U.S. soldiers were court-martialed for using the "water cure" to question Filipino guerrillas.

[nexgen99]

Good news the idiot Democrats finally realized the safety of this country is more important than political correctness.

[bogusbones]

Feinstein and Schumer thanks. After the 2006 elections which in essence were an American mandate for governmental change, as opposed to Bush''s 2004 "mandate", you two have allowed this President to push through another pro-Administration appointment. You have proved that you are either unwilling to stand up to this President or you have been politically bribed to vote for this proponent of torture.
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.

[one_american]

The poor moonbat liberals are probably turning inside out today.

It seems there is no end in sight to the losses for the Democrats and the looney leftists...

[mcvett]

THIS WILL **** OFF THE NeoCommies

LOL

[j-whitman]

One_American ----- Less than 25% of Americans admit to being a republican

[one_american]

Posted by j-whitman at 12:27 PM : Nov 06, 2007

j-whitman:



85% of all statistics are lies and made up on the spot.

Heh heh. You''re just getting silly now.

[one_american]

Liberals must be getting pretty sore, after all these repeated "thumpins".

It''s getting to the point where the liberals can''t even see straight - not that they ever could.

[prinzowhales]

Now you see how ''Our Crowd'' operates--An Israel-first agent covers up for the Oligarchy''s provocation that kills six Americans at the WTC in 1993...This criminal, Mukasey, advances...Two of Our Crowd''s corrupt senators--Feinstein and Schumer--ignore his stand on torture and go to his aid. Who is Our Crowd supporting?--the Anglo-American oligarchy...they sold out the Jews in Europe to the Nazis and encouraged governments not to allow Jewish refugees to enter...forcing them towards Palestine.

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!!

[j-whitman]

One_American,,,,, Get back into the dryer & put more quraters in, take a few more spins

[nirak2-2009]

How many parties does the US have? I swear just ONE!

[j-whitman]

One_American,,,, How''s the "Forgotten War" in Afaganistan doing ?????

[j-whitman]

One_American,,,, How''s our own borders diong ???? ---- More open than ever before

[prinzowhales]

Our Crowd supported Bush...Our Crowd''s agents filmed each other high-fiving and cheering with the burning WTC in the background...MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!...

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!

[lfitts1]

Now you see how ''''Our Crowd'''' operates--An Israel-first agent covers up for the Oligarchy''''s provocation that kills six Americans at the WTC in 1993...This criminal, Mukasey, advances...Two of Our Crowd''''s corrupt senators--Feinstein and Schumer--ignore his stand on torture and go to his aid. Who is Our Crowd supporting?--the Anglo-American oligarchy...they sold out the Jews in Europe to the Nazis and encouraged governments not to allow Jewish refugees to enter...forcing them towards Palestine.

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???

[donbl1]

Looks the Democrats are growing up in Congress. Responsibility does that to people.....

[dbl06]

Feinstein and Schumer have forfeited their integrity and credibility and therefore are unfit to be on The Judiciary Committee.

[lfitts1]

Bush is an idiot--and he clearly has allowed torture--Mukasey is supposed to be a man of integrity and he has said he will resign rather than allow the stuff that went on under the previous AG''s--give him a chance

[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
------------------------------------------

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.

[mcvett]

THIS WILL **** OFF THE NeoCommies

LOL

[rochest]

both Schumer and Feinstein believe this man to be an honorable man who will do the right thing...... another senator when voting on a Supreme Court Justice who promised to uphold stated settled law Chief Justice Roberts voted against a woman seeking backpay because she did not file soon enough even though there''s no way for her to know the male-female ratio of pay in her company. So promises can be empty. before the secretary is confirmed he needs to go one record as saying he will appoint a special prosecutor to look into the firing of prosecutors in the Department of Justice. then and only then should this man be confirmed. beliefs are only guesses and often wrong. waterboarding is torture. folks that don''t know should try it and they can say for sure.

[cbs_oliver]

Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein go down in history as Democratic enablers of torture. What despicable people.

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.

[prinzowhales]

According to Boston.com...they expect at least 70 Senators to support Mukasey''s nomination...Seventy Senators in favour of Mr. Torture! Nine Republicans were on the Committee that passed on this demon''s nomination--the betrayal of Schumer (what''s new, in that?) and Feinstein, the gold lands thief, were critical to this animal''s passing muster with the Judiciary Committee.

[prinzowhales]

Note It! The only two Democrats to vote for Mr. Torture Mukasey were Our Crowd, Israel-firsters, Schumer and Feinstein!! Bring these weasels down in flames if they seek re-election! They are crooks and they serve only the interests of Anglo-American Capital and Israel while mewing Liberal sentiments to their gullible constituents.

[one_american]

Liberals are chewing off their own foot to get out of their own trap...

...problem is - it''s the wrong foot.


Keep amusing us, you moonbat liberals!

[searingtruth]

"The Republican and Democratic parties have delivered us into the hands of darkness."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com

[tylenol6]

I read Mukasey is WORSE than GONZALEZ. The IDIOTS in
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.................................

[cbs_oliver]

Feinstein D CA (spit) and Schumer D NY (spit) and that scumbag Specter R PA (bring up the phlem and spit) - what a bunch of a-moral blowhards!

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.

[questionnews]

It''s beyond me why people continue to claim "Our party is better than your''s. Our canidates are more moral than your canidates. Your party sucks" It''s all krap, yet people still carry the banner of these hypocrites. It''s like saying that the bloods (Republicans) are better than the crips (Democrats) Yea, they''re different groups that oppose each other, but they do the exact same thing. Both sides are only interested in what''s in it for them.

[lastdance4]

RE :
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

[fredgrad2000]

For the last time; the terrorists at Guantanamo are not US citizens and not "criminals"; they have no business on our soil nor in our court system. They should NOT be tortured, but treated as they have been as enemy combatants (as they are POWs who do not belong to a signatory nation of the Geneva Conventions and do not wear uniforms of soldiers). They should be released at the end of the war (when Osama and Zawahiri surrender and beg our forgiveness). Until then, they should be held just as they are, no trials are required for POWs!! The only people who want them tried here are the ones who claim there is no war; and trials for these terrorists as criminals would fit their political agenda in that regard. Treating the war on terror as a criminal investigation is what brought us 9/11 and inaction after all the attacks we suffered in the 1990''s. Terrorists from foreign nations have NO rights to our civilian legal system, PERIOD!

[fredgrad2000]

Now, the Dems make me laugh; they want a non-politicized, law-abiding, impartial attorney general yet they won''t vote to confirm him unless he "makes their political day" by making a political, not legal statement, on waterboarding. From my perspective waterboarding is probably torture; but if he is to be our chief legal officer in the US, then he should be acting as the judge he is and not prejudging based on political statements, but rather waiting to obtain the classified information on when waterboarding has occurred and what it truly is before ruling. THAT is what an impartial judge should do; you left-wing loons don''t want someone qualified and impartial you want President Bush to put a left-wing ideologue like Leahy in the AG post.

[kansas1946]

Oh, well. We can get rid of him January 2009.

[excoachken]

To think that we are supposed to believe that Mukasey doesn''t know enough about waterboarding to say whether it is torture (even though every civilized country in the world has agreed to that classification)reaks of historical contempt or ignorance, either of which should disqualify him from being Attorney General. We deserve better. The only reason for his nomination was to preotect Bush/Cheyney/ Gonzalez from being tried as war criminals. But, we are not desperate enough yet to elect a racist like Ron Paul. How about a rational, intelligent, courageous leader with vision to overcome the awful state that the "frat boy" has left us with.

[cbs_oliver]

When the Intelligence Committee OK%u2019d the NSA spying bill, Sen. Feinstein (spit), D-CA, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (spit), D- R.I., voted for it, with the telecoms'' legal immunity included.

Feinstein (spit) is a repeat offender.

[kjvprophet]

With the full support of Senators Clinton, Obama and McCain, President Bush recently signed into Law the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007, which, according to Senator Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually "encourage the President to declare Martial Law." It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of Laws that limits the President''s ability to deploy troops within the United States. The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) has historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), helped to enforce strict prohibitions on military involvement in domestic Law enforcement. With one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those prohibitions. Public Law 109-364, or the John Warner Defense Authorization Act (H.R.5122) (2), which was signed by the President in a private Oval Office ceremony, allows the President to declare a "public emergency," suspend Congress and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of your Governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public disorder." President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day that he signed the equally odious Military Commissions Act. In a sense, the two Laws compliment one another. One allows for torture and detention abroad of those who dissent and are stripped of their citizenship, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America.

[kjvprophet]

They can torture you there too...

[kjvprophet]

Ron Paul does not support secret offshore prisons like the one in Guantanamo, wherein our government tortures prisoners, who have no right to redress of grievance, or to Writ of Habeus Corpus. Ron Paul promises he will close these "illegal prisons" down. He wouldn''t necessarily just release the prisoners either. He said he would simply bring them to detainment facilities on U.S. soil where they would be entitled to an attorney, and to their day in Court--American Justice. Significant others agree with Paul. "Essentially, we have shaken the belief that the world had in America''s justice system by keeping a place like Guantanamo open and creating things like a military commission," former U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell recently said.

[toolmangler-2009]

SlipSter01 Posted:

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