Bush's nominee for attorney-general denounced the "Bybee Memo" on torture, analogizes the values it embeds to those of Nazi Germany, and disavows a special commander-in-chief-override rule that lets the president break the law:
Good for him.
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Michael Mukasey Hates America
17 Oct 2007 10:19 pm
Comments (10)
Oy. You too, huh? You and Ackerman should please read Emily Bazelon. He sounded good because they didn't ask hard questions. It's very easy to "categorically denounce torture" & distance yourself from a memo that OLC withdrew 3 years ago--Gonzales managed that in 2005.
Yeah, the critical question--which so far as I can tell he either wasn't asked or ducked--is: does X practice constitute torture? (Then repeat for a whole list of practices.) For example, is waterboarding torture? Do you believe CIA agents who have conducted waterboarding should be prosecuted? (Btw, when it came to waterboarding, did Mukasey really claim he didn't know what it entailed?) What about sleep deprivation? Long time standing?
As we've seen, the Bush administration's whole trick has been to define "torture" out of existence by insisting that nothing it does, no matter how inhumane, is torture. Then Bush can insist "The United States does not torture" when everyone knows it does.
Like I've said before, throw Matt a bone, he rolls over and puts all four paws in the air...
William Burroughs used to hate dogs for that attitude. He preferred cats who tried to keep their dignity.
The only thing Matt hasn't done, as Burroughs would put it, is "piss all over himself in desperate attempts to ingratiate."
The Obsidian Wings post was brilliant - quote Gonzales saying the exact same things, thereby demonstrating that, just like Microsoft, anything anybody in this administration who is authorized to talk to the public says is unquestionably a lie.
Don't even think about looking for a truthful answer from these people. If they're in this administration - they're liars. It's that simple.
what caught my ear was characterizing the bybee memo as a "mistake" and "unnecessary".
that is consistent with saying that the c-in-c has those powers for other reasons, or that the c-in-c has those powers even if the memo was never written.
it wasn't necessary to come up with a legal theory to explain why the c-in-c can do anything he wants; that's just true.
i haven't read the obwi post, and katherine knows a lot more than i do about this stuff, but i share her skepticism.
also notice that he repeats the bush-approved slogan
"we do not torture".
not "we should not torture", or "we should not have tortured," or "we need to stop torturing", or "we need to prosecute the people who have already tortured."
nope. mukasey repeats the white house cover-up line, "we do not torture".
it stinks.
Yeah, he says that in hearings. But then, once he's AG, he's gonna fuck this country in the ass.
It's the Bush Republican way.
In fact, the only way we'll know that he's telling the truth is if McConnell's office launches a smear campaign against Mukasey...
At another point in the hearings, he was asked about the recently uncovered memos that secretly reauthorized a lot of the practices that Gonzales had publicly renounced --- and he simply declined to comment, claiming that he hadn't had time to review them. (Relevant excerpt of the Times story blogged here.)
If he took the issue seriously, he would have reviewed them. If Congress took the issue seriously, they'd make him do that before holding a vote. Neither seems likely.
Michael Mukasey belief that the President does not need to comply with the laws that Congress passes and that the only thing that restricts the President is the Constitution. This Idea is crazy! that is second (2) Article and powers of the President trumps all amendments of the constitution because of his powers are granted ahead of ALL amendments and the laws of Congress does not apply to him!
What has happened to the "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America"
Thus according to Michael Mukasey, the preamble is only a dream. If this logic is allowed to stand! I fear more the coming Presidents than this one!
The founding fathers set out a mission statement in the Preamble. If you can't abide by the MISSION statement of a company or this country you need to be fired. This includes any President or CEO.
Go read more at TPM muckraker.
Your confidence is entirely misplaced, Matt.
Mukasey won't say if waterboarding is torture and believes the President can act contrary to Congressional authority.
Comments closed October 31, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
Katherine at Obsidian Wings suggests not getting too excited about those statements.
Posted by KCinDC | October 17, 2007 11:21 PM