Endangering the Program Is What It's All About

Two More Democrats To Oppose Mukasey

White House Says Justice Pick Will Still Be Confirmed

  By Dan Eggen and Paul Kane Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, November 1, 2007; Page A03

Democratic support for attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey dwindled further yesterday over his refusal to comment on the legality of a harsh CIA interrogation technique, setting the stage for an unexpectedly close vote next week by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (Ill.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) announced that they will join Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) in voting against Mukasey on the Judiciary panel, after the nominee said in a four-page letter to Senate Democrats that he does not know whether a type of simulated drowning called waterboarding constitutes illegal torture under U.S. law.

. . . committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), acknowledged that Mukasey's "confirmation is at risk." But he said the nominee went "about as far as he can go" in repudiating waterboarding without endangering classified programs or U.S. personnel involved in the interrogations. --more-- _______________________________________________________________ Dancing around the truth, Mukasey obviously cannot be confirmed by any committee with balls--which means he will probably sail through confirmation, with attendant Democrats cowed into submission by a lawless president. It's like giving Nixon a pat on the shoulder and a "don't do it again, Dick" note to take home to his parents.What would be the point of getting rid of Gonzales, merely to replace him with a smart version of lawlessness? But the point is meaningless in this cringing Congress. Mukasey--Bush's Smart Bomb.