WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 — Senator Charles E. Schumer takes credit for exposing what he calls the politically motivated dismissals of United States attorneys. He takes credit for forcing the resignation of Alberto R. Gonzales. And he takes credit for President Bush’s nomination of Michael B. Mukasey to be the next attorney general. Put plainly, Mr. Schumer, the New York Democrat, likes to take credit.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/washington/02schumer.html

I guess one should never underestimate the importance of confirmation-hearing testimony.

The controversial interrogation technique known as water-boarding, in which a suspect has water poured over his mouth and nose to stimulate a drowning reflex, has been banned by CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden, current and former CIA officials tell ABCNews.com.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/09/cia-bans-water-.html

Perhaps you folks should submit your posts to me first for fact-checking. Heh.

I have a 22 year old son. I'm sorry that he will probably never serve this once-great nation in our armed forces. This is why. Because he and I know that if he fell into enemy hands, then his captors would have free reign to follow the example that Cheney has set for them.

No brainer, Dick? Exactly, you dumb mother f......... Burn in hell, forever.

The democrats? I spit on them, too.

When the "Islamofacists" get the bomb from Pakistan, they'll probably "spark it up" right there in D.C...... What a loss that will be! LMAO......

That shooter's contribution is once again complete irrelevant to the conversation which involves the illegality of acts already committed.

So shooter242 is announcing to the world that he would support anything Arlen Specter would support. Remember that.

This notion that Mukasey's unwillingness to declare waterboarding categorically illegal crosses some sort of bright Beltway line seems equally unconvincing, even somewhat manipulative.

It is manipulative, it isn't the whole enchilada on Mukasey as you and others have pointed out, he has problems with presidential power and believing people can be "declared" combatants by a president and not a court.

It's also the most graphic image, the shortest sound bite, and the most "24" sounding thing to say about the guy -- so the Democrats that oppose the nomination are sticking with it because it has broad public penetration and branding.

But it is also forcing the administration to take stand after stand after stand on torture, and most of those stands are incriminating. It's like the MoveOn ad. May not be to everyone's tastes, clearly not the whole truth, but can't beat it for effectiveness. Tape recordings of the administrations outbursts on this, together with all the cheerleading from the NRO and elsewhere are making it completely impossible to claim errant behavior by low ranking jailers. Now the question is down to, "Is it torture or not?" with the question of, "Was it done systematically with sanction from the very highest levels?" already answered in the affirmative. And the only open question has the advantage of having noted scholars like Torquemada for expert witnesses in the affirmative. All this and we haven't even gotten to the evidence of brain-to-mush techniques and kidney-poisoning stress positions that make waterboarding look like a "just getting started" technique.

As to the other thing, the Press requires that Republican nominees be confirmed regardless of their views, everything else is a partisan "Borking". The Democratic nominees? Ask Lani Guinier.

Mukasey was forced to reveal what everyone wanted to hide. Everyone. On all sides. So, now, he's a nice target, allowing some dems political cover. Such as it is.

I think he'll be confirmed anyway.

I've maintained for a long time, along with a number of anti-cornucopians, that we're headed straight for a police state. It's just a matter of time. Looks like it might be sooner than later.

When resources run low, rationing is the only useful ad-hoc response, unless you start simply killing people wholesale to reduce the population. Rationing is much easier to accomplish in a police-state.

anyone notice the price of oil this week? Within spitting distance of 100 bucks a barrel. And that's just a prelude, folks.

This old globe is running out of some of the crucial resources humanity needs for our current style of civilization. If you think our current lawless government, and that fact, are not related, it might be worth thinking again.

But seeing him fold under testimony proves Mukasey will be no better than AG. It's not surprising that congress does not have the ability to "name" a candidate that would be acceptable because of the erosion of power.

it can be explained away as still another turn of the farce, another step in the collusive bipartisan pas-de-deux, in which Dems will get credit from their uncritical base for "hanging tough" before enough of them give Mukasey a green light-- with the inevitable Reluctance and Grave Concerns. -- Little Brother

Exactly so and well said. You already see it in this thread. The worthless "hopefulness" and "thankfulness" of the indoctrinated. I am beginning to see "hope," as it is currently being used, as a real hindrance to moving forward. All of this hoping without reason or logic is actually holding us back. I understand people engage in it because they are afraid of the truth... afraid of the reality but will we ever be capable of directing our energies toward bringing about real change if we are distracted by placing false hope in a broken system and the corrupt people within that system? We should all know by now that they will not do the right thing in the long run. Even if this Mukasey is rejected it would be an aberration rather than a point of change. We should understand this by now. We should be way past this already. This "hope" is killing us.

Yeah, they told ABC News on the Q.T. that they're not drowning their captives anymore. Where's the written backup? Where's the public announcement? And if they've banned it, then why won't your lying president's attorney general nominee say that torture is illegal? Ought to be a slam dunk. No pun intended.