WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2007
Mukasey Confirmed As Attorney General
Wins Confirmation 53-40, Despite Waterboarding Controversy
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President Bush thanked the Senate, even though the margin had been whittled down from nearly unanimous by a sharp debate over Mukasey's refusal to say whether the waterboarding interrogation technique is torture.
“He will be an outstanding attorney general,” Mr. Bush said in a statement from his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Republicans were solidly behind Mr. Bush's nominee. Democrats said their votes were not so much for Mukasey as they were for restoring a leader to a Justice Department left adrift after Gonzales' resignation in September.
In the end, Mukasey was confirmed as the nation's 81st attorney general by a 53-40 vote. Six Democrats and one independent joined Republicans in sealing his confirmation.
The choice, according to one of those Democrats, was essentially between “whether to confirm Michael Mukasey as the next attorney general or whether to leave the Department of Justice without a real leader for the next 14 months,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.
“This is the only chance we have,” she said, referring to Bush's threat to appoint an acting attorney general not subject to Senate confirmation.
But members of her own party didn't agree. Mukasey, his opponents argued, refused to say whether waterboarding is torture and put the onus on Congress to pass a law against the practice.
“This is like saying when somebody murders somebody with a a baseball bat and you say, 'We had a law against murder but we never mentioned baseball bats,”' said Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. “Murder is murder. Torture is torture.”
Being better than Gonzales or an acting attorney general is not enough qualification for the job, said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.
“The next attorney general must restore confidence in the rule of law,” he said. “We cannot afford to take the judgment of an attorney general who either does not know torture when he sees it or is willing to look the other way.”
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The confirmation vote capped 10 months of scandal and resignations at the Justice Department. Mukasey's chief Democratic patron, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., drove the probe into the purge of nine federal prosecutors that helped push Gonzales out.This is the only chance we have.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.The debate came after a tense day of negotiations that at one point featured Majority Leader Harry Reid threatening to postpone Mukasey's confirmation until December. His confirmation had long been certainty despite the debate over waterboarding.
Waterboarding, used by interrogators to make someone feel as if he is going to drown, is banned by domestic law and international treaties. But U.S. law applies to Pentagon personnel and not the CIA. The administration won't say whether it has allowed the agency's employees to use it against terror detainees.
“The United States will not be viewed kindly if we confirm as chief law enforcement officer of this country someone who is unwilling or unable to recognize torture when he sees it,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat.
© 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 103 CommentsRon Paul is the only Presidential candidate who 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.
Torture: The New Abortion
by Rosa Brooks
Remember that golden, innocent time %u2014 the 1980s and %u201990s %u2014 when the phrase %u201Cpolitical litmus test%u201D was associated with the debate about abortion rights, and torture was associated with the Spanish Inquisition?
Those days are gone. And, as usual in life, there%u2019s good news and bad news.
The good news? Abortion isn%u2019t nearly as divisive an issue as it used to be. The bad news? For the GOP, torture is the new abortion.
Not too long ago, judicial nominees and political candidates could expect to be grilled on abortion. As the Republican leadership became dominated by right-wing evangelicals, staunch opposition to abortion became a precondition for those seeking support from GOP insiders. Soon, abortion was a litmus test for both parties. Just as Republicans would oppose any candidate or nominee who supported abortion rights, Democrats would oppose anyone who wanted Roe vs. Wade overturned.
Cont
Of course, the abortion debate was never just about abortion. It was also about the role of the judiciary, the role of individual freedom, the role of women and the role of religion. As a result, debates about abortion sparked pitched battles between the political parties.
Today, though, the GOP%u2019s interest in abortion appears greatly diminished. When President Bush nominated Michael B. Mukasey as attorney general, no one seemed clear about Mukasey%u2019s views on abortion %u2014 and no one in the GOP seemed to care very much either.
These days, you can forget that old-style GOP rhetoric about %u201Cvalues,%u201D %u201Chuman dignity%u201D and the %u201Cculture of life.%u201D Because the GOP has a new litmus test for its nominees: Will you or will you not protect U.S. officials who order the torture of prisoners?
Cont
As Scott Horton reports in his Harper%u2019s Magazine blog: %u201CSeveral days before his first meeting with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Michael Mukasey%u2019s Justice Department handlers arranged a private meeting for him with a number of %u2018movement conservatives.%u2019%u2026 They pushed aggressively on the torture question. They wanted Mukasey to pledge that he would toe the administration%u2019s line%u201D by not criticizing the administration%u2019s approval of waterboarding and similar interrogation techniques, and they wanted him to %u201Cprotect those who authored the [interrogation] program%u201D by issuing opinions that would keep those responsible for the program from facing criminal prosecution.
In his Senate testimony, Mukasey made it clear that he shared this agenda. He was conciliatory on a wide range of issues, but even when it looked as though his confirmation was at risk, he refused to give an opinion on whether waterboarding constitutes torture or is legally prohibited. That was his line in the sand.
Cont
For further evidence that torture is the new abortion %u2014 at least when it comes to the GOP %u2014 look at the Republican presidential hopefuls. This time around, rigorously antiabortion evangelicals such as Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee gained little traction, while Rudy Giuliani %u2014 who supports abortion rights %u2014 has a solid lead. On Wednesday, Giuliani gained the coveted endorsement of Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition.
Giuliani%u2019s main selling point with GOP stalwarts is his toughness on terrorism, symbolized by his %u201Cgloves-off%u201D approach to interrogations. In the campaign%u2019s first GOP presidential debate, Giuliani told a cheering crowd that if the U.S. captured a suspect believed to be planning a terrorist attack, %u201CI would tell the people who had to do the interrogation to use every method they can think of.%u201D Pressed on whether that would include waterboarding, Giuliani repeated, %u201CEvery method they could think of, and I would support them in doing that.%u201D More recently, Giuliani claimed that whether or not waterboarding is torture %u201Cdepends on who does it.%u201D
But if the waterboarding debate has become a symbolic rallying point for Republicans %u2014 emblematic of a broader insistence on aggressive unilateralism in foreign affairs and on executive power unchecked by Congress or the judiciary here at home %u2014 it increasingly seems to be turning into a symbolic litmus test for Democrats too.
Cont
Significantly, every Democrat running for president opposed Mukasey%u2019s confirmation, specifically citing his refusal to call waterboarding torture. New York%u2019s Charles Schumer and California%u2019s Dianne Feinstein became the only Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote for Mukasey, and both found themselves on the defensive.
They shouldn%u2019t have been so surprised by the rapid blowback. Far more than the abortion debate ever did, the debate about torture goes to the very heart of what (if anything) this country stands for. Do we want to be the nation imagined by the signers of the Declaration of Independence, a nation with %u201Ca decent respect to the opinions of mankind,%u201D committed to a vision of human dignity and unalienable rights, limited government and the rule of law?
Or would we rather bring back the methods of the Spanish Inquisition?
As litmus tests go, that%u2019s not such a bad one.
%u2013 rbrooks@latimescolumnists.com
Ron Paul is the only Presidential candidate who 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.
-- No more meddling in other country''s political affairs
-- No more aggressive military actions overseas
-- No more torture prisons
-- No more pseudo-wars like the "War on Drugs"
-- No more IRS and unconstitutional income taxes
-- No more Federal Reserve (the group of private banks which owns our government)
-- No more U.N. (one world government) participation
-- No more NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO or GATT
-- No more North American Union
-- No more federal gun control laws
-- No more illegal aliens pouring-in over our country''s borders
-- No more illegal aliens allowed to roam freely in our streets
-- No more federal Laws which are not authorized by The Constitution
-- No more federal erosion of State sovereignty
-- No more all-powerful (Orwellian) federal government
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"Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom must...undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
- Mahatma Gandhi
PICTURE FASCIST NAZI GERMANY WITH NUKES,,,
WAKE UP! The Crisis in Pakistan Is Much More Dangerous Than You Think
Musharraf''''s Emergency Crackdown Is Anathema to Everyone Who Cherishes Human Rights and Democracy. But His Grip on Power Is Slipping ..."
Oh my goodness.
Sometimes I really have to wonder.
Ummm ....
His grip on power is slipping because he is a brutal dictator, and has unjustly imprisoned, tortured, murdered, and oppressed his people for years.
And America, by supporting such brutal tyrannies, and abandoning the rule of law ourself, has given our enemies all the ammunition they need.
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SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
PICTURE FASCIST NAZI GERMANY WITH NUKES,,,
WAKE UP! The Crisis in Pakistan Is Much More Dangerous Than You Think
Musharraf''s Emergency Crackdown Is Anathema to Everyone Who Cherishes Human Rights and Democracy. But His Grip on Power Is Slipping Just as Islamic Extremists Are Escalating Their Bloody Insurgency. If They Succeed in Overthrowing Musharraf and Seizing Power, al-Qaida Will Gain Access to Pakistan''s Nuclear Weapons.
http://www.skeeterbitesreport.com/2007/11/wake-up-crisis-in-pakistan-is-much-more.html
Iran could have nukes by 2009
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380749027&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Why?
Because he''s not a fascist neocon!
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Candidate / Number of Subscribers as of Nov. 8, 2007:
Obama = 12,384
Clinton = 6,661
Edwards = 4,437
Biden = 1,483
Romney = 3,231
Giuliani = 2,645
McCain = 1,740
Thompson = 760
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This is no accident or typo, Dr. Ron Paul really is #1 on the internet! Why? Because the internet is not controlled by a small handfull of huge corporations, it''''s controlled by WE THE PEOPLE.
You won''t hear this from the mainstream media, but peace and liberty are very popular!
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Posted by j-whitman
j-whitman you are arguing with the cult members - they are gullable and believe anything the Bush Administration does - why do you think he stole the election twice? Keep up the good fight!
Posted by j-whitman
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And is ahas recently been proved to be effective with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and others
HEIL Bush! Posted by jh6379
With an attitude such as this - waterboarding might as well be done.
Posted by speakinup
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Yeah waterboarding, its almost as bad as that gurgling and choking on your own blood as you''re being beheaded, but at least you don''t die with waterboarding. Stop whining and waterboard
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