Mukasey Takes The Stand

AP:

Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey said Wednesday the president doesn't have the authority to use torture techniques against terrorism suspects, a stance not taken by predecessor Alberto Gonzales and considered key to the nominee's confirmation.

Mukasey repudiated a 2002 memo by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee that said the president has the power to issue orders that violate the Geneva Conventions as well as international and U.S. laws prohibiting torture. The memo was later disavowed and overridden by an executive order on interrogation of terrorism suspects, which allowed harsh questioning but included a vaguely worded ban on cruel and inhuman treatment.

Read the whole story: AP

Comments

[BrickSykes]

09:52 AM on 10/18/2007

I watched a little yesterday and found the guy unusually straightforward, a far cry from Gonzo. My only ultimate concern is why he would be the Bush appointee in the first place? I want to suspect that there was a lot of negotiating with Dems before he was nominated. I hope that is true.

The long and short is that he might be the best choice for everyone under the circumstances. There is simply too much critical oversight in place since Gonzo to make Mukasey much of a threat. Plus, being a "Senior Citizen" will make his tenure not much more than temporary anyway.

Brick

[FlowerGirl]

03:57 PM on 10/18/2007

But he also avoided issues, and the Democrats didn't push him for details. He has a track record that pleases Bush. And the Democrats are not so different, seeing as how they feed at the same troughs.

[olivia]

09:44 AM on 10/18/2007

Democrats have betrayed us.

[Grunty1]

09:32 AM on 10/18/2007

Actually, Mukasey is being pretty honest for a Bush crony. He is outright saying that US citizens are no different than the "terrorists" in the eyes of the adminstration.

[PollM]

09:16 AM on 10/18/2007

.
I don't see any difference between Gonzo the Bozo and Mukasy.
In your opinion should Michael Mukase be confirmed by the Senate as Attorney General? ----> http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=713
.

[Earl]

09:14 AM on 10/18/2007

I was listening to the hearings yesterday and heard the tale of how this guy, as a federal judge, issued a verdict in a court case, setting precedent, to allow the president of the United States to imprison a US citizen on US soil without charge, forever.

WTF???

Congress should NEVER confirm such an enemy of the constitution.

[wsblake]

07:46 AM on 10/18/2007

Mukasey kept on emphatically insisting that " America does not torture." Torture he insisted was not only against the law, but against the most fundamental of American principles. I would have had two followup questions. 1. Where have you been the past five years ? 2. Have you mentioned your beliefs to Bush,Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice...?

[scooperss]

07:38 AM on 10/18/2007

"Can't say now" must mean
Will answer in actions after I'm confirmed. Just say NO to mukasey.

[esquire07]

03:47 AM on 10/18/2007

Democrats will let this piss bag lying right wing scum bag serve as AG. You can bet on it.

If he was appointed by Bush, he is BY DEFINITION a Criminal.

[BadChristian]

05:58 AM on 10/18/2007

Maybe if liberals cheer for him, the Democrats will block it.

[SmellyOne]

06:16 AM on 10/18/2007

"Democrats will let this piss bag lying right wing scum bag serve as AG. You can bet on it.

If he was appointed by Bush, he is BY DEFINITION a Criminal."

Man, you are FUNNY.

You can't really believe what you write?

There is no logic in what you say.

I thought progressives were about logic and reason. Where is logic and reason in this statement?

OH YEAH... IT'S BASED ON EMOTION.

Progressives say they are about facts, but they are really about EMOTION.

Feelings. It's all about feelings.

I'm hurt. I'm lashing out. I'm progressive.

[godlessclif]

06:44 AM on 10/18/2007

The fact is the torture will go on and this Michael Mukasey has no intention of stopping it.
His testimony on how authority and liberty are a choice between two good things is telling.

He will trade off liberty and authority like an engineer trades off speed and stability. Free men do not trade liberty for anything!!!

Jefferson told us how he felt, "If I have a choice between a government without a free press and a free press without a government I would choose the latter.

Anarchy before Tyranny!!!

[researcher]

02:56 AM on 10/18/2007

the weak demos will buy his pack of lies as they did with the chief justices.


demos weaker than weak. traitors to their own country.

[bigdaddyvike]

09:33 PM on 10/17/2007

If Chimpy nominated him, is there really any possibility that he will NOT be another neocon toadie? I think not. Leahey will fluff him right thru the nomination. "Mr. Mukasey, what are your opinions about torture"- "Not sure what you mean by 'torture'- I haven't yet been briefed by the CIA" hehe Curious why Schumer and Reid are so enamored... oh, and Giuliani. Jesus. This just gets sillier and sillier.

[godlessclif]

06:52 AM on 10/18/2007

That is beautiful.
Leahy: "Mr. Mukasey, what are your opinions about torture"-
Mukasey:"Not sure what you mean by 'torture'"

Judge Susan Weber Wright: "Are you having an affair with Monica Lewinski?"
Bill Clinton: "That depends on what you mean by the verb "is""

Bill knew what an affair was.
Bill was doing it; Murkasey is doing "it" too.

[PollM]

08:20 PM on 10/17/2007

.
I don't see any difference between Gonzo the Bozo and Mukasy.
In your opinion should Michael Mukase be confirmed by the Senate as Attorney General? ----> http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=713
.

[otispfudpucker]

08:34 PM on 10/17/2007

a must see
http://www.hillcap.org/default.php?page_id=2

[turningpoint]

07:56 PM on 10/17/2007

http://www.unconfirmedsources.com/nucleus/media/4/20070402-Bush-Gonzales.jpg

[Prolix247]

07:17 PM on 10/17/2007

From Mukraker

"Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) asked, in light of Mukasey's involvement with the Padilla case, whether Mukasey thought the law -- and particularly the September 2001 authorization of military force for Afghanistan -- permitted seizing U.S. citizens on U.S. soil indefinitely without charge. Mukasey cited the 2004 Hamdi case as upholding the president's ability to detain U.S. citizens on the battlefield, but said he "can't say now" whether the "battlefield" applies to the United States. It remains unclear whether Mukasey thinks U.S. citizens captured at home in terrorism-related investigations can be indefinitely detained."

Mukasey should not be confirmed for this answer alone...

[Plowboy]

09:34 PM on 10/17/2007

He has made his position plain enough earlier, when not trying to lie his way through a confirmation. I agree with the creep on one count: the United States has become a battlefield. But not the way that punk in the White House means. It is a battlefield between right thinking Americans who want to preserve our freedoms and those bastards in the administration who have been taking them away.
Mukasey is an enemy.

[godlessclif]

06:57 AM on 10/18/2007

but said he[Murkasey] "can't say now" whether the "battlefield" applies to the United States

We are hoping the USA does not become a battlefield, but if the keep rigging the election to put fascists in office that keep appointing freedom hating assholes like Murkasey there may be no other choice.

[Dejack]

06:55 PM on 10/17/2007

I work with a lot of black women and this is what I hear from them: it's Hillary over Obama because of the experience thing. He needs time to to get more experience under his belt -- then look out!

[Dejack]

06:56 PM on 10/17/2007

Ooops! Posted under the wrong headline.

[Podewumun]

06:58 PM on 10/17/2007

OFF TOPIC! go to "Hillary Concerned About Being Front Runner" site.

[BUSHsurvivor]

06:52 PM on 10/17/2007

I'm confused! Is he saying the the memo itself was a sin or that torture is a sin????

[Grunty1]

09:29 AM on 10/18/2007

The memo was LEAKED is a sin, likely.

[kellygrrrl]

10:00 AM on 10/18/2007

BINGO!!!!

that they are getting CAUGHT is a sin.

G@d Bless the phony torturers