’)President Bush seems to think that this is a threat:
“If the Senate Judiciary Committee were to block Judge Mukasey on these grounds, they would set a new standard for confirmation that could not be met by any responsible nominee for attorney general,” Bush said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
“That would guarantee that America would have no attorney general during this time of war,” the president said.
Look, considering the last guy you put into such an important job and the way the Senate stupidly confirmed him, I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world for this country to go 13 months without a Bush-appointed attorney general. This administration has already trashed the place, why give them more authority to do so?
C’mon OW, Mukasey was personally recommended to Bush by a staunch liberal (Chuck Schumer D-NY) after he did everything he could to get rid of Gonzalez. So could it be that Mukasey’s past ties and friendship to Rudy Giuliani are what’s really holding up his nomination?
“So could it be that Mukasey’s past ties and friendship to Rudy Giuliani are what’s really holding up his nomination?”
That certainly has something to do with it. Rudy Giuliani doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to associates.
That and the whole torture thing makes Mukasey unacceptable for a lot of people.
“a new standard for confirmation that could not be met by any responsible nominee for attorney general…”
Actually, the standard remains the same. Be willing to uphold the law instead of finding ways to weasel around it with ambiguous interpretations.
Gonzales’ favorite phrase was “I don’t know,” and Mukasey’s seems to be “I can’t say,” which to most reasonable people is not a marked improvement.