Schumer's tortured logic
By Creature
The WaPo today has a piece on Senator Schumer and how he "may be the key" to getting the nominated attorney general, Michael Mukasey, out of committee and to the Senate floor for a vote (where he will surely be confirmed). This paragraph stands out as a perfect example of how far we have fallen.
Excuse me, Chuck, torture is not an "issue" to be agreed upon or not, there is no give and take, it's against the law. Schumer is basically saying we cannot get the Bush administration, or someone they appoint, to "agree with us" to "put the rule of law first." Something we all know, but shouldn't go along with. To frame the Mukasey hedge on waterboarding's illegality as a disagreement on the issues, as opposed to the law, is wrong and I fear this does signal Schumer's ultimate cave on this nominee.
I hope the Dems realize that once Mukasey gets confirmed they will officially be on the side of the GOP nut jobs who are willing to minimize and compare waterboarding to a "CIA-sponsored swim lesson." Nice work.
Update: My letter to Senator Schumer, my senator, has been sent.
Update II: Schumer and Feinstien will support Mukasey. No one will support the rule of law. Somewhere, in an undisclosed location, the vice president smiles.
(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)
The WaPo today has a piece on Senator Schumer and how he "may be the key" to getting the nominated attorney general, Michael Mukasey, out of committee and to the Senate floor for a vote (where he will surely be confirmed). This paragraph stands out as a perfect example of how far we have fallen.
"From this administration, we will never get somebody who agrees with us on issues like torture and wiretapping," Schumer said at one point, suggesting an argument in favor of Mukasey, who faces a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Tuesday. "The best thing we can hope for is someone who will depoliticize the Justice Department and put rule of law first."
Excuse me, Chuck, torture is not an "issue" to be agreed upon or not, there is no give and take, it's against the law. Schumer is basically saying we cannot get the Bush administration, or someone they appoint, to "agree with us" to "put the rule of law first." Something we all know, but shouldn't go along with. To frame the Mukasey hedge on waterboarding's illegality as a disagreement on the issues, as opposed to the law, is wrong and I fear this does signal Schumer's ultimate cave on this nominee.
I hope the Dems realize that once Mukasey gets confirmed they will officially be on the side of the GOP nut jobs who are willing to minimize and compare waterboarding to a "CIA-sponsored swim lesson." Nice work.
Update: My letter to Senator Schumer, my senator, has been sent.
Update II: Schumer and Feinstien will support Mukasey. No one will support the rule of law. Somewhere, in an undisclosed location, the vice president smiles.
(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)
Labels: Charles Schumer, Justice Department, Michael Mukasey
posted by creature at
3:28 PM
5 Comments:
Pathetic. It says a lot that the Dems (some of them, anyway) can't even stand up against torture.
By
Michael J.W. Stickings, at 4:14 PM
It has been suggested that all future nominees for the DoJ, FBI, CIA, NSA and other government agencies undergo a swearing-in ceremony that includes waterboarding. Maybe all future office holders. What do you think?
By
Anonymous, at 6:28 PM
I can't speak for Creature, of course, but I don't think that's such a bad idea. Or how about Giuliani, who in my view is getting more and more reprehensible as we go along, and who recently said, when asked whether waterboarding is torture, that it depends on how it's done and who does it. He clearly has no idea, not a clue. And I think he should be subjected to it. Then ask him the question again. And that goes for Romney and the other would-be torturers-in-chief, too.
By
Michael J.W. Stickings, at 7:53 PM
Whatever AG nomination Bush chooses isn't going to call water boarding as torture. Because if he did, Bush and his ilk could be charged with war crimes.
By
Anonymous, at 8:25 PM
Good point, GA. Is that why GWB made a personal plea today to pass the Mukasey nomination? Whistling past the lampost, one might say.
By
Anonymous, at 9:32 PM
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