 |
A Vote for Mukasey is a Vote for Torture |
 |
Waterboarding is torture, torture is unamerican. Or, to simplify, waterboarding is Unamerican.
Everyone in America, especially those in the administration, knows that waterboarding is torture. As is normally the case when the administration is faced with facts it doesn’t like, it gets rid of them. In 2004, when acting assistant attorney general Daniel Levin told the white house that waterboarding was illegal, he was forced out.
Unfortunately, Bush’s nominee for Attorney General, Judge Mukasey, refused to say whether or not he considered waterboarding torture. I believe Sheldon Whitehouse spoke for millions of Americans when he noted that Mukasey’s answer was disappointing. Perhaps Mukasey should try waterboarding. Then he might be able to say whether or not he considers it torture.
While the Bush Administration would like the Senate to confirm now and ask questions later, Salon’s War Room points out that if Mukasey is confirmed and subsequently briefed on the program, the White House will then prevent him from testifying before Congress. So essentially, the White House has created a catch-22 in which we’ll never get a straight answer from Mukasey, and some Democrats, predictably, have fallen for it.
As Jason mentioned the other day, Democrats Diane Feinstein and Chuck Schumer, key members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, have pledged their support for Mukasey. Several other key Senators, such as Obama, Dodd, Clinton, and Feingold, have done the right thing and come out in opposition to the judge’s nomination.
With the Committee vote now scheduled for Tuesday, and many in the media touting the confirmation as inevitable, it is essential that we contact the remaining members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and urge them to oppose Mukasey’s nomination to be Attorney General.
Please, call your Senator now and tell them to oppose Mike Mukasey’s nomination, since he is clearly dodging the issue on waterboarding.
- Edward M. Kennedy
D-MASSACHUSETTS
(202) 224-4543 - Arlen Specter
RANKING MEMBER, R-PENNSYLVANIA
(202) 224-4254 - Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
D-DELAWARE
(202) 224-5521 - Orrin G. Hatch
R-UTAH
(202) 224-5251 - Herb Kohl
D-WISCONSIN
(202) 224-5653 - Charles E. Grassley
R-IOWA
(202) 224-3744 - Dianne Feinstein
D-CALIFORNIA
(202) 224-3841 - Jon Kyl
R-ARIZONA
(202) 224-4521 - Russell D. Feingold
D-WISCONSIN
(202) 224-5323 - Jeff Sessions
R-ALABAMA
(202) 224-4124 - Charles E. Schumer
D-NEW YORK
(202) 224-6542 - Lindsey Graham
R-SOUTH CAROLINA
(202) 224-5972 - Richard J. Durbin
D-ILLINOIS
(202) 224-2152 - John Cornyn
R-TEXAS
(202) 224-2934 - Benjamin L. Cardin
D-MARYLAND
(202) 224-4524 - Sam Brownback
R-KANSAS
(202) 224-6521 - Sheldon Whitehouse
D-RHODE ISLAND
(202) 224-2921 - Tom Coburn
R-OKLAHOMA
(202) 224-5754
Senator Durbin’s office told me he was planning on voting no. That’s one!
Here is how the numbers break down.
The committee has 10 dems, 9 republicans. With Feinstein and Schumer voting with the Republicans, we’ll need, at minimum, 2 republicans to vote with the Dems.
Alternately, a changed vote from Schumer or Feinstein and 1 republican crossing over would do the trick.
Apparently Keith Olbermann will be doing a special comment on this tonight.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/11/5/145055/009
Okay, we in the US felt we had high standards. The bad guys attacked us. We lowered our standards. They win.
There is what is right, and there is what is wrong. Torture is always wrong. Always.
If Schumer and DiFi ever ask me for money or a vote, they will be out of luck.
Scumbags!