Friday, November 02, 2007
What Is Feinstein Smoking?
Charles Schumer and Diane Feinstein have announced that they will vote to confirm Mike Mukasey as Attorney General. Those votes will move the nomination to the floor of the Senate, and it is simply unimaginable that anything untoward like a filibuster will stop his nomination.
I expected Schumer to go to the dark side on this one because he was in a tricky spot. Schumer recommended Mukasey to the President so it would seem to be a bit underhanded to help defeat Mukasey. I suppose that is a lesson our leaders should learn... always find out the position on torture that will taken by the person you are recommending.
The part that has me shaking my head and wondering at the sorry state of American politics at this stage in our history (besides having to wonder about how a proposed nominee will feel about torturing detainees) is the following quote from Senator Diane Feinstein. In a letter explaining why she would support Mukasey she writes:
Here is Mukasey, proving how informed he is: MUKASEY: "I don't know what's involved in the technique. If water-boarding is torture, torture is not constitutional."
Mike Mukasey must be the last person in the sentient universe who doesn't know what water boarding is. Seriously... this is the man who Feinstein just praised as being "informed". In fact I think there is a convincing case to be made that Mukasey perjured himself with that answer. For him to not know whats "involved in the technique" is completely unfathomable. In fact if what he claims is actually true, it shows that Mukasey is so completely out of touch that he should be rejected for his complete lack of awareness of current events.
As to Mukasey being independent... it is his lack of independence which landed his nomination in hot water in the first place. A truly independent candidate would have no trouble defining simulating the drowning of detainees as torture. But if the head of the Justice Department reaches that conclusion, suddenly there are a lot of administration figures including the President who are in legal jeopardy from our own legal system.
And post facto statutes which retroactively immunize our war criminals will not save the folks responsible for making American torture a feature in the war on terror. The Nuremberg trials mean something. 'I was only following orders' does not excuse our interrogators from war crimes, period. Are we to not believe that the German interrogators were not covered by domestic legalisms when they committed their crimes? Torture is freaking torture. International courts are not going to accept Americans immunizing themselves, nor should they.
I could fisk that atrocious Feinstein missive all day long, but I'm sick of thinking about her mendacity... Will a real Democrat PLEASE do the party a favor and run against her in her next primary election Feinstein runs in?
I expected Schumer to go to the dark side on this one because he was in a tricky spot. Schumer recommended Mukasey to the President so it would seem to be a bit underhanded to help defeat Mukasey. I suppose that is a lesson our leaders should learn... always find out the position on torture that will taken by the person you are recommending.
The part that has me shaking my head and wondering at the sorry state of American politics at this stage in our history (besides having to wonder about how a proposed nominee will feel about torturing detainees) is the following quote from Senator Diane Feinstein. In a letter explaining why she would support Mukasey she writes:
"Judge Mukasey’s answers to hundreds of questions, both in our confirmation hearing and in writing, were crisp and succinct, and demonstrated a strong, informed, and independent mind"Mukasey may have been alot of things during his testimony, but "crisp, succinct, informed and independent"? Just which hearings did Feinstein attend?
Here is Mukasey, proving how informed he is: MUKASEY: "I don't know what's involved in the technique. If water-boarding is torture, torture is not constitutional."
Mike Mukasey must be the last person in the sentient universe who doesn't know what water boarding is. Seriously... this is the man who Feinstein just praised as being "informed". In fact I think there is a convincing case to be made that Mukasey perjured himself with that answer. For him to not know whats "involved in the technique" is completely unfathomable. In fact if what he claims is actually true, it shows that Mukasey is so completely out of touch that he should be rejected for his complete lack of awareness of current events.
As to Mukasey being independent... it is his lack of independence which landed his nomination in hot water in the first place. A truly independent candidate would have no trouble defining simulating the drowning of detainees as torture. But if the head of the Justice Department reaches that conclusion, suddenly there are a lot of administration figures including the President who are in legal jeopardy from our own legal system.
And post facto statutes which retroactively immunize our war criminals will not save the folks responsible for making American torture a feature in the war on terror. The Nuremberg trials mean something. 'I was only following orders' does not excuse our interrogators from war crimes, period. Are we to not believe that the German interrogators were not covered by domestic legalisms when they committed their crimes? Torture is freaking torture. International courts are not going to accept Americans immunizing themselves, nor should they.
I could fisk that atrocious Feinstein missive all day long, but I'm sick of thinking about her mendacity... Will a real Democrat PLEASE do the party a favor and run against her in her next primary election Feinstein runs in?
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