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'08 Dems Lobby Against Bush's AG Pick
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ShareOctober 30, 2007 3:00 PM
ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf Reports: The tit-for-tat Democratic president campaign made its way into the U.S. Senate Tuesday, where a number of the candidates have their day jobs.
At 10:35am this morning, reporters got an email from the press office of Senator Barack Obama saying that the Illinois Democrat would be opposing Judge Michael Mukasey, the President's nominee to replace Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General.
"While his legal credentials are strong, his views on two critical and related matters are, in my view, disqualifying," wrote Obama.
"We don't need another attorney general who believes that the President enjoys an unwritten right to secretly ignore any law or abridge our constitutional freedoms simply by invoking national security. And we don't need another attorney general who looks the other way on issues as profound as torture. Judge Mukasey's professed ignorance of the debate over the propriety of practices like 'waterboarding,' or simulated drowning, as a means of interrogation, was appalling," Obama wrote.
At 1:11 a similar email came from the office of New York Senator Hillary Clinton.
"Judge Mukasey has been given ample opportunity –- both at his confirmation hearings and in his subsequent submission to the Judiciary Committee –- to clarify his answers and categorically oppose the unacceptable interrogation techniques employed by this Administration. His failure to do so leaves me no choice but to oppose his nomination," she said.
Clinton and Obama are days behind Sen. Chris Dodd, who announced his plans to opposed Mukasey on Sunday and had spoken out against the nominee weeks ago.
"Mr. Mukasey's position that the President does not have to heed the law disqualifies him from being the chief attorney for the United States. We have seen for too long, and at great expense to our national security, an Administration that has systematically attacked the rule of law and turned our Justice Department into a poltical wing of the White House. I'm afraid that Mr. Mukasey as Attorney General would be more of the same," read the email from Dodd's campaign office on Sunday.
They're the only three senators to officially oppose Mukasey. All three are technically jumping the gun because Mukasey he has yet to submit all of his written answers on the torture question to the Judiciary Committee.
Mukasey did submit written testimony before his hearing and on Friday he responded to a letter from Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy on the subject torture, but there are formal letters from other Democratic members of the committee and ranking Republican Sen. Arlen Specter that have yet to be answered.
HERE is the letter from Mukasey to Leahy.
Today, Mukasey updated his stance on torture, specifically the practice of waterboarding in a letter to ten Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. While he says that he finds certain coercive techniques "personally repugnant," he does not dismiss them out of hand since he is not read in to all top secret US detainee circumstances. He says that to render judgment based on hypothetical information would be improper.
"Some of you told me at the hearing or in private meeting that you hoped and expected that, if confirmed, I would exercise by independent judgment when providing advice to the President, regardless of whiter that advice was what the President wanted to hear," writes Mukasey in the letter to the Democrats. "I told you that it would be irresponsible for me to do anything less. It would be no less irresponsible for me to seek confirmation by providing an uninformed legal opinion based on hypothetical facts and circumstances."
Senator John McCain, who has strong views on torture as a former POW and is seeking the Republican ticket for president, expressed reservations in an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos this weekend, but did not say he would oppose the nominee.
Other anti-torture Senators are reserving judgment -- Judiciary Committee Democrats Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Teddy Kennedy of Massachusetts and even Russ Feingold of Wisconsin are waiting for Mukasey to officially answer the questions before opposing him (if they ultimately oppose him).
This is not the first time that Clinton and Obama have announced their opinions on a controversial issue nearly within moments. Both announced their plans for a way forward in Iraq within days of each other early this year.
In May, Clinton and Obama held out to the end before voting, nearly in tandem, against a supplemental appropriations bill that funded the Iraq war without a Democratic plan for phased redeployment.
Then, too, Dodd was in front. He had announced days before the vote that he would oppose that bill.
October 30, 2007 in Vote 2008: Democrats | Permalink | User Comments (7)
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The thing I like most about Democrats... They always complain but never have a better idea; or in this case choice.
Posted by: Absolute Truth | Oct 30, 2007 8:32:14 PM
We need a AG who will uphold the constitution, something republicans vehemently oppose. No candidate from Bush should be approved, as he will only nominate those he knows will uphold his tyranny.
Posted by: Peter Dick Johnson | Oct 30, 2007 9:01:37 PM
What a shame that we must tolerate a president that the people loath so much. It is like being held hostage by a lunatic who by mere technicality cannot be taken out. What a sad time in this nations history to have such a dismal and pathetic example of what we stand for. His nomination of anyone at this point in time is a clear sign that we must exercise caution and look carefully for the ruse that we all know is there.
Posted by: RW | Oct 30, 2007 11:15:26 PM
Funny, Absolute Truth - that is EXACTLY what I always say about Republicans!
Sheep will be sheep regardless of the party that leads them- that is why we should all be educated and form our own opinions.
Posted by: A Jordan | Oct 30, 2007 11:19:49 PM
RW: Couldn't of said it better myself. This guy shouldn't get the job.
Posted by: m | Oct 31, 2007 6:39:31 AM
Senator Dodd has more guts than any other Senator. He was also the first to stand up against giving immunity to telecoms for helping Bush spy on lawful US citizens. I consider him a serious presidential candidate, because he ACTS on the people's behalf NOW, rather than making big promises for later.
Posted by: zoerocks7 | Oct 31, 2007 12:50:50 PM
Hillary has a history of following whatever Obama does. He does something and she follows. But, the press is so obsessed by Hillary they fail to notice that she is following and copying whatever the real leader is doing.
David Axelrod noted that if Obama had been in the senate the day of the vote, Hillary would probably have saved herself alot of trouble as she votes right after obama does and votes according to how he does.
Sad that you guys are so gullible. Hillary has been doing this to blur the lines between them. And yet you in the msm don't see it.
Posted by: vwcat | Oct 31, 2007 9:33:29 PM
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