Thursday, October 18, 2007

Mukasey Being Mukasey



Ah, the Attorney General confirmation hearings. I don't seem to be mustering up the anger and outrage about the Michael Mukasey hearings that I felt during the Ashcroft and Gonzalez hearings. Is this because he's receiving general approval from Democrats suffering from battered wife syndrome and their support is good enough for me? Is it not a big deal that Mukasey thinks it's legal for the president to detain American citizens without charge or that he doesn't recommend the closing of the detainment camps at Guantanamo Bay or that he thinks torture is wrong but won't define what is categorized as torture (not that the Dems pushed him on this)? And he's "not familiar" with the program of warrantless domestic eavesdropping? Shouldn't I be morally opposed to such a man being the top law man in the US? Or should I just not rock the lame duck president boat and wait for Hillary to get elected and then not rock that boat either? It's starting to look like I'm the one who's suffering from battered wife's syndrome as far as politics is concerned. One good thing about the confirmation hearings is that it allows me an opportunity to post this old classic:




(also, while I'm on a politics post, am I losing my mind or is the FCC really revisiting relaxing regulations on media consolidation? really? are we back with this bullshit again? didn't we already fight and win this battle within the last couple years? arrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!)

3 comments:

Dan Nolan said...

At least one Democrat proved me wrong on day two and pushed him on the torture issue. Good for you Whitehouse:

“Is waterboarding constitutional?” he was asked by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, in one of today’s sharpest exchanges.

“I don’t know what is involved in the technique,” Mr. Mukasey replied. “If waterboarding is torture, torture is not constitutional.”

Mr. Whitehouse described Mr. Mukasey’s response as a “massive hedge” since Mr. Mukasey refused to be drawn into a conversation over whether waterboarding, which has been used by the Central Intelligence Agency to question terrorist suspects, amounted to torture.

“It either is or it isn’t,” the senator continued. “Waterboarding is the practice of putting somebody in a reclining position, tying them down, putting cloth over their faces, and then pouring water over them to simulate drowning. Is that constitutional?”

Mr. Mukasey repeated his answer: “If it amounts to torture, it is not constitutional.”

Mr. Whitehouse said he was “very disappointed in that answer — I think it is purely semantic.”

“I’m sorry,” Mr. Mukasey replied.

Dearest Cupcake said...

...Which is why I've made my sole news source is perez hilton.

Dan Nolan said...

Not The Superficial?