Should Congress Say No to Michael?

Question

Waterboarding is torture.

Michael Mukasey cannot admit to this basic fact.

I respect Michael Mukasey and believe he is an intelligent and capable man. However, given our recent history, it is important that our next attorney general be able to stand up to the President and for the rule of law. I am not confident that Michael Mukasey will.

If he can't say no to torture - congress should say no to Mukasey.

While Michael Mukasey refuses to answer the question of whether waterboarding is torture, the precedent is clear. In 1947, Yukio Asano, a Japanese officer, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for performing a form of waterboarding on an American citizen.

In 2004, Daniel Levin, who was then acting assistant attorney general, volunteered to be waterboarded. Later, he told the White House "even though he knew he wouldn't die, he found the experience terrifying and thought that it clearly simulated drowning."
If Michael Mukasey cannot answer the simple question of of whether or not waterboarding is torture, he should not serve as attorney general.

Answer 1

We are a nation of laws , The Bush administration has proven that if the laws don't fit what there doing they simply change the laws to protect those who broke them out of loyalty to Bush. We must have a Attorney Gen. who will stand up to Bush and anyone else who would break our laws. I can't wait till Bush can no longer seat only those with blind loyalty to him in positions of power in OUR government! Soon the truth will come out ,the books will be written and hope fully we will have an attorney Gen. who will prosicute those traders !

Answer 2

Mr. Mukasey is a smart person and wants to make sure that the Congress does not paint him in a corner. His bosses are evil people without much conscience. They have a weird belief in what is right and wrong. Mr. Mukasey can not satisfy them without being cautious with the Senate. The president (I would capitalize that out of respect - but) has said that he will just not have a attorney general for the rest of the term. So Mr. Mukasey is better than no one.

Answer 3

Should they say no? Yes. And if it weren't for the two that sided with the GOP then he would have been denied. They did bring up an interesting point that Bush could have just appointed anyone he wanted for the remainder of the term. However, the ultimate power lies with Congress and the fact that they can defund whatever it is they have an issue with. To this point they have seemed afraid to do anything to stand up to the President and his bullying tactics. It is embarrasing that the Democrats finally got the majority in Congress and, after all the declarations otherwise, they seem like they are playing minor league politics against the major league Republicans. Show some backbone!

Answer 4

I couldn't answer the water boarding there are a lot of ifs involved as far as getting after the president i can still recall how Clinton's attorney general kept after him!

Answer 5

It is not up to a nominee to determine what is and is not torture. Congress has passed two bills on torture in the past two years and neither has defined waterboarding as torture. Both bills were very vague, and never truly defined torture.

Face it, Democratic policy is to oppose everything Bush supports. Beyond that, they have no policy, no original ideas, and no clue. I am glad that our Democratic led congress has been able to name 3-4 buildings this year, otherwise they'd have nothing to show.

Answer 6

The Democrats could shut this nomination down, but they're playing politics. They express public outrage, then go confirm this incompetent. And of course, the GOP helps them.
Typical Washington 'talk one way, do the other'.

Answer 7

Congratulations: you are wrong in your opinions. Who says you have the ability to determine what is torture? You have an opinion. That's all. I think you have been sucked in by the smoke left wing liberals are blowing up your nose.
Torture versus non-torture is not a litmus test for anything. It is up to the President and his administration to determine who is qualified to be Attorney General, not you or people like you.
I personally don't care if people consider water boarding to be torture. If it is effective, I hope the US uses it when it is necessary to defend the US.
The main job of government is to protect the country. Everything should be used to achieve that end.

Answer 8

What does "standing up to the President" have to do with anything? It's not as if the President has done anything wrong.

'Torture' is a subjective experience. Some people listen to music that would make most of us vomit. Other people, for example, actually enjoy pain and are aroused by it.

Besides, who give a sh*t about terrorists feelings? You?

Answer 9

yes they should schumer caved though and wont vote no

Answer 10

i don't see anything wrong with toture tatics. if it gets the information out, then who cares. sure, your not gonna die, but it is that near death feeling that gets people to talk.