"If the Senate Judiciary Committee were to block Judge [Michael] Mukasey on these grounds, they would set a new standard for confirmation that could not be met by any responsible nominee for Attorney General. And that would guarantee that America would have no Attorney General during this time of war."
So said President Bush today at the right-wing Heritage Foundation, one of his few remaining bastions of support. Why does he sound a lot like a spoiled brat on the playground, threatening to quit a game if the rules aren't bent to allow him to win?
It's not like Mukasey, now facing an uphill battle to be confirmed as Attorney General, has particularly distinguished himself. After all, when asked repeatedly if waterboarding and other tortures are, well, torture, he delivered a perfect fog of obfuscation. Not only that, he proclaimed that Bush has the unlimited power to ignore any laws he likes just by using the magic words "national security," the Constitution be damned.
Has Bush really made the prospect of public service so toxic that no qualified candidate will come within a mile of the job? Are we really stuck with this loyal Bushie of a nominee, whose best qualification appears to be that he isn't as dreadful as his predecessor? Since when it is an impossible standard that an Attorney General should be dedicated to enforcing the law rather than warp it for the political pleasures of his boss?
Bush is acting like a petulant brat, telling the Senate to do it his way or else. The Senate should vote no on this nomination, with another vote telling Bush to grow up.
So said President Bush today at the right-wing Heritage Foundation, one of his few remaining bastions of support. Why does he sound a lot like a spoiled brat on the playground, threatening to quit a game if the rules aren't bent to allow him to win?
It's not like Mukasey, now facing an uphill battle to be confirmed as Attorney General, has particularly distinguished himself. After all, when asked repeatedly if waterboarding and other tortures are, well, torture, he delivered a perfect fog of obfuscation. Not only that, he proclaimed that Bush has the unlimited power to ignore any laws he likes just by using the magic words "national security," the Constitution be damned.
Has Bush really made the prospect of public service so toxic that no qualified candidate will come within a mile of the job? Are we really stuck with this loyal Bushie of a nominee, whose best qualification appears to be that he isn't as dreadful as his predecessor? Since when it is an impossible standard that an Attorney General should be dedicated to enforcing the law rather than warp it for the political pleasures of his boss?
Bush is acting like a petulant brat, telling the Senate to do it his way or else. The Senate should vote no on this nomination, with another vote telling Bush to grow up.
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