And, even worse, so unsurprised.

They are the Defeatocrats.

If its any consolation he won't be AG for long. If you're currently in custody by the federal government, then its no consolation.

The Congress and the Administration have struck a bargain to run on autopilot for the next year.

53 ain't 60, unless 53 (when it's GOP) is the "new 60" (if it's Dems.) How can this possibly play in Peoria? Every time the Dems aren't successul in passing legislation they blame the GOP threat of fillabuster and the magic 60 vote threshold. What the Christ is going on here? Oh wait, I forgot, the Democrats ARE the "new" Republicans. I am truly ashamed to be an American. The world must think we are completly FUBARed. I am quickly becoming one of those apathetic's who "stay home". I mean, why bother, there is no apparent difference in the two parties. None. I am so sick of these cowardly democrats disappointing America. It's time to switch all of our posting names to one of the better ones I've seen: "had enough"...

they just didn't have enough GUTS for one. What a pathetic bunch of losers: the US Senate confirms a guy so stupid he doesn't know whether waterboarding is torture and says the Prez doesn't have to obey the laws like everybody else does.

Chuck Schumer "hopes" Mukasey will follow the law, and even if he admits he cannot be sure that the chief law enforcement officer in the country will follow the law, he has hopes.

Everyone together now in a chorus of "He's got high hopes, he's got high hopes, he's got pie in the sky.........."

40 senators voted against confirmation, but it would only have taken 16 to petition for a vote to invoke cloture. By my reckoning, that means at least 25 of those "nay" votes were from senators who really wanted to confirm but who didn't want to go on record as voting for confirmation.

They didn't want to. The Democrats are waiting in the wings to use every power-grab, rape of the constitution and re-imagining of our values (transformation into an official sponsor of state sactioned torture) the bush adminstration has amassed. If a Demcratic adminstration comes in next they'll view all of these aboinations as just "business as usual." Once you pass the threashold on these things you don't go back without an uprising of the common people...and that aint gonna happen. The Democrats will whine and wring their hands and put on a pretty unconvincing show, but in reality they're rubbing their hands together counting the hours untill its their turn.

These same Senators have shown again and again that they are not really Democrats. The are wolves in sheep's clothing. We need to primary these morons, and boot Reid as well. These elected officials are not beholden to the people who elected them, but to the corporations and Republicans who own them. Just because somebody runs as a Democrat does not mean that they hold the values of the Democratic Party, it just means they decided to put a "D" by their name. We need to quit supporting conservatives in the Democratic Party.

In my humble and non-legal opinion Mukasey reticence in condemning waterboarding and proposing a law to ban it is really a maneuver to provide legal cover for war crimes already committed. If the Congress were to pass a law, I'm sure there will be a release for prior acts. At this stage of the game the Bush gang is most interested in playing CYA.

Passing laws against waterboarding is irrelevant when the actions of those who waterboard are CLASSIFIED and not subject to the scrutiny and oversight of Congress or the American People. Whether the practice is banned or not is irrelevant to the way that the lunatics in power do business.

What is important, and I'm sure I sound like a broken record, is the election.

DOJ intereference in elections, ranging from possible voter suppression and failure to investigate suppression, to strategically timed "investigations" in attempts to swiftboat opposition candidates was another key feature of the DOJ scandal.

Mukasey's previous gig was as a legal advisor to the Guiliani campaign!

As Attorney General, he will now be uniquely positioned to allow past election-related shenanigans to continue. The high profile parlor games relating to torture will provide outstanding cover under which to ignore all manner of election tampering.

He will be in a privileged position to prevent any high-level investigation of the Guiliani Partners.

He will be able to launch random potentially unfounded investigations of whichever Democratic candidate gets put up.

Considering some of the murkier depth of the DOJ scandal, Mukasey's connections to a current, active and prominent Presidential campaign pose a significant conflict of interest that has not been addressed by anyone in Congress or the MSM.

Why is this?

Why not bring a bill outlawing waterboarding to floor of both the Senate and House of Representatives so that each and every legislator can reveal to the country and the world their position on this moral issue? If perchance it would pass, let the President veto it so the world knows what kind of man he is.

We can all argue that the Democrats, at least far too many of them, are cowardly, or that they're stupid, or that they're in on the game. Hard to argue that they aren't at least *one* of those, though.

This is a sad day for America. It may prove to be the beginning of the end for the Democratic Party. The Party has now proved it cannot even stand for the basic human right not to be tortured. How can it be trusted with anything?

I don't believe the Party's leaders realize what they are saying to the rank and file or to the world. They are saying in an unequivocal voice "We Stand For Nothing." The Party of Jimmy Carter, the clearest American voice ever on the subject of human rights, now stands for nothing. The Party of FDR, JFK and LBJ who, each in his own powerful way, stood for freedom, now stands for nothing. The Party of Senators Church and Fulbright and Monyihan and many others, flawed but powerful Senators who had a core of ideals that could not be bought through fear or favor, is now sunk to being represented by Scuhmer, Feinstein, Nelson, et. al.

Ladies and gentlemen, George Bush is not and never was the problem. George Bush was and is an historic opportunity. He is an opportunity we squandered to the shame of ourselves and to the detriment of the entire world.

It may be time to start afresh. It may be time to let the Democratic Party die and to begin again.