Mukasey In
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in LawBut 40 Dem Senators voted against him. That’s a damn shame. This guy should have been passed through with flying colors, but because he wouldn’t explicitly say that a certain method of interrogation was torture, he passed by the lowest count of any AG since the 50s.
Jeez…
The Dems who broke from the ranks and confirmed Mukasey were Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Thomas R. Carper (Del.), Evan Bayh (Ind.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.).
Thank you being reasonable folks. Seriously. Because if Mukasey wasn’t confirmed it would have been insane. And I still don’t know what the Dems were thinking, but the Wash Post speculates:
The 53 to 40 vote came after more than four hours of impassioned floor debate, and it reflected an effort by Democrats to register their displeasure with Bush administration policies on torture and the boundaries of presidential power.
Still, to have this many no votes is simply beyond me. We have yet to know how Mukasey will respond legally on the waterboarding issue, but from what I’ve heard so far I’m hopeful he’ll bring it back around to common sense. Especially if he thinks the method is abhorrent.
I guess we’ll see…even though 40 Dems didn’t even want to give him the chance.
What’s more? All of the Dem Senators running for prez didn’t vote, but said they would have voted against.
All five senators who are running for president — Joseph R. Biden Jr., Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Christopher J. Dodd, all Democrats, and John McCain — did not cast votes. The four Democrats had said they would not support Mr. Mukasey because of his equivocation during the confirmation hearings over whether waterboarding is torture. Mr. McCain has also denounced the interrogation method but he issued a statement last week saying he would vote to approve the nomination.
Gotta tell ya folks, that’s pretty damn disappointing to see that from the Dems.
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November 9th, 2007 at 10:28 am
This whole torture debate is apparently far too complex for my feeble mind. Maybe I’m just a black/white kind of guy. I just don’t see how we can possibly endorse anyone for a position of power, if they show even the slightest inclination to consider any sort of torture to be allowable.
The moral descent of America is dizzying. Republicans disgust me, Democrats disgust me, “surprisingly reasonable moderates” disgust me.
I’ve never felt so much in the minority as I do these days.
November 9th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I’m glad to report that my US Senator (Martinez doesn’t count) voted against. Bill Nelson evidently realized that it is a lousy idea to tell the rest of the world that we are conflicted whether or not to allow torture. Most of us realize either torture is all right or it is inherently wrong. Many of us also realize that an Attorney General designate who does not at least generally know what waterboarding is, (i.e. whether or not it is torture is) lying. Bill Nelson & 39 other Senators seem to be aware of this.
While not happy with Mukasey’s confirmation, I am even more upset that none of the Senators running for President were present for the vote - again. Perhaps it is time for candidates running for a new office be forced to resign their existing one. It is outrageous that we are paying these 5 Senators for being AWOL so often, & even more so that we accept campaigning as an acceptable excuse. Such a requirement would also keep those who are not really serious about winning out of the race.
November 9th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
AH HA! Tom explains my problem. I am being reasonable in an unreasonable world. That must be my problem. Welcome to my minority world!
November 10th, 2007 at 12:29 am
So, everyone here is ticked one way or another and Democrats are as bad as Republicans. Bitch and moan, bitch and moan.
Look, it speaks well of the U.S. that senators on the Judiciary Committee and then the full Senate took this matter very seriously. The debate included many strong, well-articulated stands.
All the hubbub preceding the debate, including interviews Mukasey did with individual senators and the 500-plus questions he answered in writing, add up to a kind of indoctrination course. And the debate provided a kind of morality play partly for his benefit.
I’m sure Mukasey watched the debate and heard Democrat after Democrat come down hard on the disappointing and disturbing portions of his testimony. He’s no dummy. I’m sure he gets it that a large, powerful bloc of senators won’t tolerate the kind of rubber-stamp, “I can’t recall” nonsense Gonzales pulled.
I’m sure Mukasey got the message that so many senators and so many ordinary Americans consider waterboarding torture and therefore illegal that he knows he had better not get caught trying to jigger legal “opinions” OK’ing it just to keep his bosses happy.
November 10th, 2007 at 12:40 am
The presidential candidate senators knew beforehand, within a vote or two, what the outcome was going to be. They knew their votes wouldn’t change the outcome. To make that vote, they probably would’ve had to spend the week in D.C. They have busy schedules, with people all over the primary states expecting them to visit here and speak there. They don’t show up and it hurts their campaigns at a critical time.
Trust me, there was no lack of interest and they are anything but lazy.
November 10th, 2007 at 12:45 am
Ugh. I meant to add to the above comment that forcing candidates to resign their current offices is a very poor idea. It would just about ensure few senators would run, especially younger ones.
I don’t know about you, but as I look back over the last several governors who became president, I’m not anxious for another one. Meanwhile, I’ve seen excellent senators and former vice presidents shoved aside.
It’s not all up to the pols. The electorate needs to get its act together too.