The wrong choice for Attorney General
By Steve Benen Thursday Oct 18, 2007 7:01pmAfter Alberto Gonzales’ humiliating and painful tenure as the nation’s chief law-enforcement officer, I was beginning to get my hopes up about Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey.
Right off the bat on Wednesday, he rejected the infamous Bybee memo, and compared U.S. torture policies to Nazi Germany. The rest of the day was nearly as encouraging, with Mukasey vowing to end Justice Department “stonewalling,” and insisting he would resign if Bush tried to do something unconstitutional. No more partisan considerations in employment, Mukasey said. No more “unilateralism,” he promised.
Everyone was impressed, and said so. And then Day Two happened.
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And so it goes....
...and this surprises you? (Or, were you almost fooled?)
And isn't it just so much easier to sit around passively [getting ones hopes up] than to be engaged, active and force an issue?
Sorry to burst your fantasy but Jefferson dreaded a population comprised of people like you. It's a participatory democracy. Hoping people will find the level-headed, magnanimous, moderate center hasn't worked for 5 seconds of Bush's term. Why in hell would you expect it to now?
Because it would let you out of your responsibilities?
Intellectual laziness?
Now that is a NEWS flash - I didn't know we had declared war. Did congress vote for war? I thought we used the U.N. as the excuse to be in Iraq.
www.theskinofmyteeth.com
Guess he was taken out to the woodshed after day one. Maybe he has an implant in his brain now; Cheney's remote controlled puppet. Maybe he got a blood transfusion and now he's 100% Koolaid.
If you don't lie, you are burdened by trying to remember them or the details...
...when you have NO PRINCIPLES you are forever burdened by splitting hairs (aka parsing your words).
Nothing will change until we vote them out of office and drag them into court (then to jail).
klaus @ 3:
I know what you're saying, and even wonder about that myself, at times. I do remeber 80% of Americans cheerleading the March into Iraq, too. It was a long battle just to get people to listen, and blogs played the biggest role in that. It certainly wasn't the MSM!! I think you assume people that come here, only come here, and vent their frustration, but not more. I think people are doing a lot more than you suspect. Information and communication are 80% of the battle. Why do you think the USA has about 20 spy organizations.
Once he started playing George's Bush's definitions game I knew he was the wrong guy. How could their be any doubt that waterboarding could be defined as torture? To use Jimmy Carter's term, Mukasey also seems to believe in self defining. It seems like the Bush Administration's definition of torture is, "Whatever we aren't doing or haven't done".
If you (OMIT, sorry) lie, you are burdened by trying to remember them or the details…
…when you have NO PRINCIPLES you are forever burdened by splitting hairs (aka parsing your words).
Nothing will change until we vote them out of office and drag them into court (then to jail).
cont'd from [at]7... I forgot... And is spying on its own citizens. Information is everything in this modern world.
Is anyone surprised that someone supported by CheneyBushCo is an equivocating arsehole? Or that the Democrats' spokesmodel, Patrick Leahy sees this guy not having a problem being confirmed, at least as of yeserday?
what did you expect??For boosh to nominate someone who thinks for himself?...don't think twice..it's allright,
I always figured Bush would only appoint someone who has sworn (maybe on his life) to protect the emperor.
Under questioning by Sen. Arlen Spector (D-Pennsylvania), Mukasey later added that, should the president flout his advice and violate the Constitution, he would be prepared to resign his position. "I would have two choices," he said. "I would either try to talk him out of it, or I would leave."
Well Bush is only violating the Constitution. Don't think Mukasey has given any advice to flout.
Wouldn't be surprised if Mukasey does anything as AG except look the other way.
It's all a moot point anyway -- ALBERTO GONZALES IS STILL SHOWING UP; CLAIMS HE CAN’T RECALL RESIGNING
Almost anyone Bush wants to be the AG will be a disappointment. Time and time again he has chosen men and women of little or no character or integrity. Their actions speak volumes as to what kind of people they are.
Same old bullshit. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth, and then confirmation, because somehow, Bush continues to deserve 'counsel he can trust'.
We're kidding ourselves if we think Pelosi & Reid are going to wake from their trance and move for impeachment. And we're doubly stupid for thinking any of the 'top three' are going to change a damned thing.
It's so very, very depressing.
And, yet, we're condemned to play the game in some form, because if you don't vote, you effectively waive any right to complain.
When's the last good attorney general we had? Reno was very pathetic and a liar as well. Seems like they need to be unethical to get the position.
They got to him overnite and he changed his tune. He was singing sweetly the first day.
Shag @ 19:
Correct. The phone call was made, the meeting has been held, and the 'law' has been laid down.
“I received no criticism,” said Mukasey [...]
"but i did get my orders"...
This is too much to expect, but I wish the Democrats would not confirm Judge Mukasey, and if Bush gives him a recess appointment, so be it. The Democrats do not have to enable Bush every time. At least I'm a bit encouraged by the resistance to the new FISA bill and Senator Leahy's irritation with Mukasey today.
anyone with integrity and honoring the rule of law would automatically indict the c/b cabal. of course Mukasey is a yes man like the rest. witness his parsing the questions of constitutionality. it's almost as if he doesn't know the constitution (as if?) and just evades saying what HE thinks about it. we are left with vagaries and "maybe-promises" of what he will do. and then our senators accept this garbage without just throwing the bum out and saying send us a real candidate. the dem. leadership are in someones pocket. only Dodd (not my pick) has the b*lls to be a leader....the rest talk about leadership. a leader would not stand for another second listening to this clown and demand a REAL candidate for AG who tells us his views on constitutionality and law after all....isn't that the job requirement?
Of course it wasn't criticism. It never is. It's always, "You understand that becoming a member of the cabinet carries the obligation of loyalty to the president and his administration ... so you'll want to position yourself accordingly."
Though I doubt this was a Evening of Day One thing. I think Mukasey was primed before things even started, because the whole repudiation of the Bybee Memo sits just fine if you don't believe 'enhanced interrogation' crosses the line, or that the President has supermagicalextraconstitutional powers in times of need.
SAME OLD FASCIST SHIT PILED HIGHER AND DEEPER.....
Another BUSHIT "RUBBER STAMP"......
Another "Big Oil" bought and paid for liar, cheat, thief----just like the rest of the BUSH/CHENEY/LIEBERMAN/SCOTUS FASCIST CABAL......
(Hell no, I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE for telling the truth, so don't even ask!)
Looks like they've found a kinder, gentler version of Gonzales.
PBS's Cheney's Law (which, if you haven't seen it, is still online) gives me good reason to believe not only that Mukasey got a phone call; but additionally knowing who was eventually on the other end.
He was nice on the first day so faux news would have some material to spill onto the sheep, you know, the old why are the Dems not confirming him blah blah blah
Why is the AG appointed by the president? This strikes me as a flaw in the constitution. The senior legal official in the US government should have no more loyalty to the president than he does to anyone else.
The AG should be appointed by a bipartisan committee of the Congress, or perhaps by the Supreme Court.
ou are missing the most important part of Mukasey's testimony which was on the first day. In answer to Senator Diane Feinstein, one of the few bright lights, Mukasey said that the Supreme Court has stated that the president has the right to seize a person on a battle field and hold him without charges and trial forever. Feinstein said, I'm talking about an American citizen seized on American soil. Mukasey got cute and said something to the effect that American soil could be considered a battle ground.
Come on folks. This guy makes Gonzalez look benign. He's smart and willful. He's already giving Bush ideas how to grab more of us off the street like the 1970s Argentina. . At least Gonzalez indicated he knew what torture is; whereas, Mukasey has no idea what it is but can assure us we don't do it. He'll be justifying throwing Americans out of helicopters over the ocean by saying they were only taking them out for a swim.
i am certain that all repugs have not only drunk the koolaid, but they actually ate the dry powder first, then drank some liquid.
Annoyed Canuck @ 27:
The Dems will roll over for Dear Leader once again, despite polls showing his popularity at 24%. The Dems' message: screw the base, we're Washington Insiders and can be as effective a rubber stamp for the Unitary (Fascist) Executive as Hastert et al. (A few honorable Dems like Pete Stark excepted). The torture and wiretapping, looting of the Treasury will continue unabated.
Oh yeh, just saw "Bobo" Brooks on Lehrer Hour spewing his lame apologetics. Mukasey can't "discuss" the waterboarding issue 'coz then he'd have to discuss all the other "specific" torture methods our Crusaders are using, and the public's too stupid and gutless to hear that kind of talk. Bobo "hopes" they'll get rid of waterboarding (Shields mentioned even the likes of Powell & other brave generals opposing it as torture) but he won't be disturbed if it continues, coz after all, most victims are only brown people.
Yapyapyapyapyapyapyapyapyapyapyapyapyapyap....
CONFIRMED!
Pat Leahy will stall, then go along...can't remember the last time my pupils dilated when we weren't sold out. I hate Pelosi at this point.
And he might be hiding far worse since he and his son are Guiliani advisors -- and he swore Guiliani in as Mayor in his own apartment.
rich
Mukasey is another Bush shill. He let it slip when he said he thought the Pres. is above the law. That opens the door to everything. Throw the bum out!
recall the lessons of the Alito hearing: Someone was assigned to guide him through, sell him, and pull the wool over our eyes.
There's alot we don't know: What did the Judge do to block legal reviews of FISA concerns, etc.
Why is the Senate bothering to consider anyone before getting full WH cooperation? Framers intended for Senate to condition "consent" on any standard they choose: WH's job is to grovel to please the Senate. No one deserves a vote, especially this AG.
Reject him. Why? Because this President rejects the rule of law.
robert @ 23:
They should all die immediately except for Dodd, Kucinich, Edwards, Gravel and Biden. Hey, maybe they'll start competing and get the one who profits from weapons, Hillary out of the race. She's nothing but a living RUMOR forced on us by Murdoch anyway..we just bought it like they knew we would.
Annoyed Canuck @ 30:
the supreme courts bi partisen? whod of guessed!
Motherparser.
"I was beginning to get my hopes up about Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey....The rest of the day was nearly as encouraging." WTF?
And you wonder how we were marched off to war. Why on earth would you grant any of these clowns the benefit of the doubt? Aren't you sick of having Bush use your credulity for his own Bobo doll (the tall kind that you punch and they come right back up for more)?
Don't tell me you still think there's a chance Bush will see the light and behave like a decent human being instead of a gangster.
PUHleeze.
If an Attorney General agrees with the unitary presidency as defined and practiced by the Bush/Cheney Administration, why bother to have an Attorney General or Office Legal Counsel? All Gonzales and his loyalists did was take dictation.
Nobody really thought Bush would nominate anything other than another "loyal Bushie", now did they? And what makes anyone think that all the nice noises Mukasey made on Day One were anything other than lies to mollify potential critics?
After nearly 7 years of this gang of thugs there really oughtn't to be anyone left who gives them the least bit of credence.
just wondering...in this new system of checks and no balances- how does the judiciary review the constitutionality of these laws when they are secret? signing statements? does the OLC report their rulings to supreme court? congress obviously knows naught, nor do we...so who but the B/C cabal knows under what laws we now operate
our AG nominee got "the call" and instantly became a Weekly Standardite
The first clue that this guy was wrong for the job: he was nominated by the criminal-in-chief.
Gee, the fact that he is on Giuliani's Neocon Star Chamber run by Ted Olson didn't give you pause, Steve?
The fact this this 'retired judge' is a Federalist society cohort of Gonzales' is PLENTY of reason to oppose him.
• That he has already said he would oppose special prosecutors should have put EVERY anti-Bush activist on the planet on alert.
[Deleted. You've been very civil Paul. It's been appreciated. Feel free to disagree with our contributors, but don't go off on them in a personal way. Thanks-Sitemonitor]
crazylove @ 35:
She's not in the Senate.
Your rhetoric is so far over the line it amazes me that you think you have any credibility at all. Your comments in #39 are typical for your outlandish viciousness and sense of self-righteous purity.
It sure seems like the neocons and corporate business world have taken over the entire government. Why would they put a wrench in their machine by nominating someone who would be a constitution following AG? These folks are not going to give back what they took just because we ask/tell them to do so! Lets hope we get to the next name on the list of potential AGs, its bound to be another follower of the unitary president cult.
MarktheSpark @ 33:
What you call 'the Dems' in this case is a few handfuls of Senators, while 'the Dems' is actually quite a bit larger group of people, most of whom have voted correctly all the way down the line.
Rockefeller and Feinstein don't care how low Bush's numbers are. In case that was news to you. But referring to them as 'the Dems' is like referring to Michael Vick as the 'the Atlanta Falcons.'
Mukasey will never work. He wouldn't even be the first Hispanic AG!
naschkatze @ 22:
You mean resistance to the proposed amendment of the FISA RESTORE Act proposed by the House.
Much as I love him, Leahy's irritation with Mukasey is morning dew. He's going to skate, and that's not the result of 'the Dems,' that's the result of the same DINOs in the Senate as have all along helped Bushco achieve its goals.
[...] Crooks and Liars, and then Keith Olbermann pointed out tonight; “Mukasey vowed to end Justice Department [...]
ya know, one of the fired attys. was Mckay from here in seattle. there were others like him who were fired for upholding the law. i could trust one of them to be the new AG. they have displayed their loyalty....to the constitution and not a criminal. Mckay is or was a rep. and i am a voter.
Remember when Biden told Al G. that he liked him, he was the "real deal"? We are still paying the price for that "deal". They ask them questions, get wrong answers and still vote them through. What do they have on these people? Must be all the info from illegal wiretaps on their phones. What a nightmare!
McKay would be good.
Think about how absurd this is. Gonzales, who is an outright criminal, and then Mukasey, who is a part of the Neocon inner circle -- by definition a co-conspirator of Gonzales -- and then apparently there are no other reasonably honest Republican attorneys or judges, so we have to take another from the rings of their hells, instead of someone from the LEGAL world outside the gaping wound of Bushco.
Another CANCER CELL for Attorney General is NOT a healthy choice.
[...] Crooksandliars.com links The Carpetbagger Report: After Alberto Gonzales’ humiliating and painful tenure as the nation’s chief law-enforcement officer, I was beginning to get my hopes up about Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey. [...]
Paul in LA @ 57:
In the US the, clock/calendar has been turned back two-hundred and thirty-some years. No matter who is AG now, it won't make any difference.
If everyone was tied up with impeachment proceedings, we wouldn't have time for this crap...
Of course he's a mafia-man - the mafia is not going to call him up if he's not.
Will the Dems do the right thing and can his butt?
No.
Why is this stuff so damn predictable?
The zionist are moving in for the kill, the only people who will be saved are those willing to give up 1/2 assets to the bankers for leaving the country. What a deal. Hitler wanted a million for each jew who left germany. Sound awfully familiar?
I only saw day two. Pathetic indeed...
This guy will be just as bad as, if not worse than, gonzo, because apparently, mukasey has some credentials, unlike bush's personal "keep me out of the slammer" lawyer gonzo.
The fact that he changed his attitudes overnight, after giving America some hope that he would be both bipartisan and honest, shows just how easily the cheney/bush WH can control him.
If Congress wants more of the same, only worse, they should go ahead with their plans to approve "mucus boy".
he has to be shown the door, UN-confirmed! try again, lamebrain.
Ward Harkavy about Mukasey, from his Bush Beat blog at the Village Voice:
http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/bushbeat/archive/2007/10/mukasey_stood...
Mukasey Stood Up for Convicted Arsonist
posted: 9:53 AM, October 19, 2007 by Harkavy
Exclusive: Brooklyn businessman/arsonist endangered NY firefighters, but AG nominee Mukasey offered to tout the felonious goniff's "remarkable character" before sentencing.
RockmanEnough @ 59 "In the US the, clock/calendar has been turned back two-hundred and thirty-some years. No matter who is AG now, it won't make any difference."
Great defeatism. More time for your golf game, eh?
We do demand justice, and we do need a decent AG to get that ball rolling.
And, no, we are not going to buy into the defeatism, nice try.
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