WASHINGTON - The Senate Thursday night confirmed retired judge Michael Mukasey as attorney general to replace Alberto Gonzales, who was forced from office by a scandal over his handling of the Justice Department.
Mukasey was confirmed as the nation's 81st attorney general after a sharp debate over his refusal to say whether the waterboarding interrogation technique is torture.
Republicans were solidly behind President Bush's nominee.
In the end, Mukasey was confirmed by a 53-to-40 vote.
The choice, according to Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, was essentially between "whether to confirm Michael Mukasey as the next attorney general or whether to leave the Department of Justice without a real leader for the next 14 months."
"This is the only chance we have," the Democrat said, referring to Bush's threat to appoint an acting attorney general not subject to Senate confirmation.
But members of her own party disagreed. Being better than Gonzales or an acting attorney general is not enough qualification for the job, said Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass).
"We cannot afford to take the judgment of an attorney general who either does not know torture when he sees it or is willing to look the other way," he said."
You know, its strange. There should be a dissenting voice such as Teddy Kennedy's, democracies flourish when checks and balances do their job. The weird part is when the checkers become rabid dogs like Kennedy, using their power and influence to be AGAINST something more so than for something. This does seem to happen when politicians can't get their way, even with a Congressional majority that should be a ticket to the high life.
Teddy boy hates firearms, even though he's surrounded by men who carry them for HIS protection, hates the fact that you and I are allowed to keep most of our earnings, LOVES illegal aliens that enter the country to commit crime after crime all while living on the luxurious dole that Kennedy and his followers have provided for the hell-no-we-won't row lowlifes who refuse to work for a living, and, generally speaking is a socialist of the first stripe. Teddy also hates "torture", defined by the liberals as being anything uncomfortable, ESPECIALLY if a minority member is on the receiving end.
Do I want a government that uses torture to determine if a soccer-mom ran a red light on her way to wherever it is they go when making believe they're so busy all the time?
Nope. Thats where the checks and balances come in. I DO want our avowed enemies hung by the thumbs until they give it up and there's where Teddy boy and I part pleasant company. Teddy, you see, believes that EVERYONE is deserving of the same rights as everyone else...hells bells but someone has to vote for the man so why not lure the minorities and criminals over to dreams of the highlife...and I do not share in this belief. Some folks willingly surrender their god given rights by entering into lawlessness and no society can remain intact when you cannot tell the good guys from the bad guys. There ARE folks who can go through life unattended, unwatched, and free to do as they so desire, and we call them the law abiding. Quite the interesting concept, this law abiding gig. The old Innocent Until Proven Guilty deal means that our Constitution and Bill of Rights and freedom to pursue happiness is something afforded to ALL people who tread our shores, except for those who wish to rob, rape and pillage.
Enemy combatants. Without uniform. This can be a touchy subject, but every last nation on earth has laws to deal with spies. Now, no, I am not in favor of doing as the Brits do, chasing people down then shooting them in head just because they MIGHT be a bad guy, but reasonable men of good will should be able to come to a middle ground, and this is coming from someone who despises "middle" anything as being far too wishy washy. But not every moslem is a terrorist, this I have on somewhat good authority although I find it difficult to believe as terrorists cannot be as successful as they've been the world over without a boatload of aiding and abetting, but for the sake of argument lets say some of them just want to live and let live.
Cannot and should not go waterboarding someone simply because they dress funny and never appear to be able to kick all the sand from their shoes, because dressing funny and talking funny is what EVERY last immigrant brings along with them. Shame of it all is the fact that we're at war. War changes things. Thats if you want to win the war. One of the marvelous things about growing up in the world's biggest free city ever, was the diversity that broadened one's horizons. Multi-colored, multi-cultured people can be a breath of fresh air. But when certain of them declare war on my ass then all bets are off.
Gonzales was a joke. Mukasey might very well be as bad, but let him waterboard my enemies until the cows come home.
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