I Blame You Feinstein And Schumer

Now it is all over, by a vote of 53-40 Michael Mukasey is our new Attorney General and we have Chuck Schumer (my bastard Senator) and Dianne Feinstein (my previous bastard Senator) to thank for it. This vote would never have happened if they did not move his confirmation process out of committee. Instead of respecting the rule of law they bowed down before their almighty Bush.

From The Huffington Post:

Mukasey was confirmed as the nation's 81st attorney general after a sharp debate over his refusal to say whether the waterboarding interrogation technique is torture.

Republicans were solidly behind President Bush' 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 by a 53-40 vote. Six Democrats and one independent joined Republicans in sealing his confirmation.

Hmm, I wonder who that one Independent is?

Feinstein and Schumer came out with equally lame excuses for their actions. Feinstein said that without his confirmation the Justice Department would not have a leader for 14 months. Look Senator, he is not a leader, he will be a tool of George Bush, just as Gonzales was.

Mukasey might not be as much as a proactive tool like Gonzales, but he still bent his answers in committee so that he would not have to prosecute his new boss for war crimes. That goes for Schumer too, who said that Mukasey assured him if the Senate votes to define waterboarding as torture, then he'll act accordingly. Chuckie isn't a stupid man, he knows that any legislation has to go through the President and there is no way Bush would ever sign his own death sentence.

Chalk this one up as another sad moment for our nation.

Mukasey "Can't Recall" Before It Has Even Happened

If anyone thinks for a moment that the soon-to-be Attorney General is going to be better than the last one has got to be kidding themselves. True, Mukasey looks a little less sleazy than Alberto but when it comes to the game of semantics he has been training to lie and dodge Congressional questions from the get go. He condemns torture which is a good thing but doesn't see pretending to drown somebody (i.e. waterboarding) as such. The guy is a match made in neo-con heaven for The Decider.

From RawStory:

"If water boarding is torture, torture is not constitutional," Mukasey said, claiming that he was not familiar with the specifics of the process.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called that answer a "massive hedge," and he explained the specifics of the practice -- strapping down a detainee and pouring water over his face to simulate drowning. He asked if that practice would be considered constitutional.

"If it amounts to torture it is not constitutional," is all Mukasey would say.

Whitehouse scolded Mukasey, saying he was "very disappointed" in his "very semantic answer."

"Sorry," Mukasey mumbled.

Is "sorry" the new "I can't recall?" Does it really even matter if the Senate is going to confirm him no matter what he does or says? Senators Whitehouse and Leahy may look good during the hearings, but if Mukasey ends up holding the same shovel that Gonzales put down what difference does it make?