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Shame on Clinton, Obama, Dodd & Biden for Skipping AG Vote
Michael Mukasey was confirmed late Thursday by the U.S. Senate to serve as the nation's 81st Attorney General. This means that, despite the fact refused to commit during the course of his confirmation hearings to abide by the Constitution or to hold the president accountable to the rule of law, the former federal judge will now serve as the country's chief law enforcement officer.
Mukasey's nomination was cinched when two Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, New York Senator Chuck Schumer and California Senator Dianne Feinstein, decided to accept the nominee's assurance that he would respect a law specifically banning the torture tactic of waterboarding. The assurance was meaningless, as Congress is unlikely to pass such a law and President Bush would veto it.
But, as bad as Schumer and Feinstein's votes may have been, at least they cast them when the Mukasey nomination came to the Senate floor.
That's better than can be said for New York Senator Hillary Clinton, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd and Delaware Senator Joe Biden, the four members of the chamber who are seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
Clinton, Obama, Dodd and Biden, all of whom had been critical of the Mukasey nomination, chose to keep campaigning rather than to honor their responsibility to approve or reject presidential appointments.
Running for president is, to be sure, a big deal. Candidates who happen to be members of the Congress probably cannot be expected to show up for every vote -- although Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Texas Congressman Ron Paul do a remarkably good job of it.
But the debate about who will be the Attorney General of the United States ought to merit a brief turn off the campaign trail.
As it was, Democrats could muster just 40 votes against Mukasey. A united front of Republicans, joined by the Democratic indefensibles Schumer, Feinstein, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Tom Carper of Delaware, Mary Landrieu or Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and the always-in-his-own-category Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.
Had the Democratic presidential candidates bothered to show up, the Senate could have registered greater opposition to Mukasey than to any of the president's major Cabinet or Supreme Court nominees -- with at least 44 votes go against the president's pick. That would have sent a signal regarding the concerns raised not just on the torture issue but on the broader question of whether Mukasey will take any steps to reign in a lawless executive branch.
As it was, the new Attorney General was approved with less opposition than Democrats were able to muster for John Ashcroft (42 votes against) or Gonzales (36 votes against).
It is certainly true that votes against Mukasey would have been symbolic, as the nomination was going to be approved.
But in the tug of war between the executive and legislative branches, shows of strength are meaningful. It matters to send the right signal. Clinton, Obama, Dodd and Biden made it harder to send the right signal about the wrong pick for Attorney General. In so doing, they failed the Republic and the cause of Constitutional renewal that should be more important than any presidential campaign. John Nichols' new book is The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism. Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson hails it as a "nervy, acerbic, passionately argued history-cum-polemic [that] combines a rich examination of the parliamentary roots and past use of the 'heroic medicine' that is impeachment with a call for Democratic leaders to 'reclaim and reuse the most vital tool handed to us by the founders for the defense of our most basic liberties.'"
Copyright © 2007 The Nation
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36 Comments so far
Show AllWe Nebraskans are proud that our Senator Ben Nelson has chosen to stand with the great Senator Joe Lieberman to support our Dear Presidents wishes on the new Attorney General. This will be a giant step forward for our Justice system.
The great senator of Israel, Joe Lieberman.
"But in the tug of war between the executive and legislative branches, shows of strength are meaningful."
EVERYTHING is meaningful, and this no-show of would-be Presidential nominees for the Democratic party on a vote as important as a yea or nay on torture means not one of these people is worthy of the office. So far, Dennis Kucinich is the Lone Ranger, Ron Paul's quirky brand of libertarianism notwithstanding. Support Kucinich. Forget these old school corporate servants and support a public servant who knows when it's necessary to show up.
All, and I mean ALL of these people, including Senator Feinstein, will never receive my vote for anything.
i read that senator reid suddenly scheduled the vote for midnight with a five hour warning and the party's candidates in iowa. you would need a private jet as well as instant notification to make it from iowa to get to the vote. perhaps it is harry reid who deserves your opprobrium.
to accomplish ANYTHING worth noting, we must urge the house judiciary committee to IMPEACH CHENEY, then IMPEACH BUSH. kudos to kucinich for trying to get the ball rolling.
Hey John----Always admire and benefit from your work. BUT WATERBOARDING IS ALREADY AGAINST U.S. LAW! We have signed multiple treaties against it that make it (under the Constitution) ALREADY the law of the land. So why the fuck were the Dimocraps asking Mukazy "Is waterboarding Constitutional?" That's a question for a judge, not an AG---The question should have been, WILL YOU UPHOLD THE LAW EVEN AGAINST THE PRESIDENT? And not one of our cretinous, criminally incompetent "media people" even got near the facts....
New Rule: Any one currently serving in an elected position who decides to run for president automatically gives up their seat. Why should the taxpayers be burdened with paying the saleries of those folks who are busy doing their own thing. What other company would allow an employee (and that is what these people are, they are employees of the US company called government.)to apply for another job while still employed. Not too many. Harry and all four candidates need a good waterboarding. What a disgusting show of apathy for vital functions of Congress. I have to assume that if any one of them is elected they will have the same attitude when dealing with important issues, they just won't show up. Sorry folks, no one has my vote.
C'mon John...What did you expect from this bunch of posers?
Maybe instead of having newly elected officials swear in their oath of office to "defend the Constitution," we acknowledge what appears to be the new reality for almost everyone running these days and allow them to just swear AT the Constitution.
What are these "leaders" leading us into?
I am considerably more cynical than John Nichols. When Reid set the voting time, was anyone else surprised at how quickly this all came about? The last report I heard after it came out of committee was that Mukasey might be confirmed in a couple of weeks. Wasn't Dodd at one time making rumblings of mounting a fillibuster? Could it be that by insuring only 40 Senators opposed would be present, they ( the Dems) could go on record opposing Mukasey without having to actually oppose it? That would translate intro mounting a filibuster.
Sorry, but if I have to listen to one more Democratic apologist minimize the evil complicity of the Dem Party's disgusting behavior, I am gonna vomit.
Sure it was dispicable that four Senators would miss a key vote, but the reason for missing it could very likely be allot more sinister and cynical than being too busy campaigning. Does this pass the smell test for you, folks?
None of the four can make it back. How so? Dodd can say he didn't have time to get back to mount a filibuster because he didn't have the private jet mentioned above. It's a drama folks and a very stale and phony one at that. "A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Except in this case it signified somehting loud and clear to me. Dems are not cowards, the are collaborators in protecting the criminal enterprise of which they are a part. A pox on all their self serving houses!
I have said this before: Dems = Bush enablers
I love "Rocky" Anderson; he speaks my heart
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110907E.shtml
"...I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who has voted to fund the atrocities in Iraq. I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who will not commit to remove all US troops, as soon as possible, from Iraq. I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who has supported legislation that takes us one step closer to attacking Iran. I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who has not fought to stop the kidnapping, disappearances, and torture being carried on in our name...." And more....
Sounds like Rocky Anderson supports Dennis Kucinich, then.
http://www.dennis4president.com
Why, in The Nation's poll, does John Nichols back Biden and not Kucinich? He lays out his reason in that piece (see www.thenation.com, which is also running a poll for democratic nominee, that Kucinich is winning....go vote!), but his big issue seems to be impeachment, and DK is the one trying to move that forward. He also points out here that DK bothers to show up for votes. I see a disconnect, Mr. Nichols. Why do you support Biden and not Kucinich?
On a brighter note, the brilliant Gore Vidal selects Kucinich as his man. THAT, I think, says a lot. Vidal's one of the smartest men alive, especially on politics.
And now Feinstein has announced support for retroactive immunity for the supersnoops of the Ministry of Disinformation --
http://www.correntewire.com/feinstein_blowjob_worse_than_violating_rights_of_millions_1999_censure_for_clinton_2007_retroactive_immunity_for_telcos
I watched with hope and should have known better. After listening to Boxer and Salazar,again ended in despair. Is anyone running this show? Can someone think on his/her feet and run with it? That dreadful tragi-comedy in the House - how could you LET that happen? One does not have to be smarmy - just SMART, Thanks, Cesca; I dunno if they will "ever decide to collectively stand up and fight.." Elect more of them a year from now - more of ?
Remember - the longer the war continues and the reigning oligarchy rule, the more money Dianne's husband (a no-bid supplier of services to US Govt) makes.
Like everyone says "just follow the $$$$"
I love John Nichols, but I think RichM is right. The Dems could have filibustered. Oh, I forgot-- that would mean standing up and fighting for something. And that's just not today's Democratic Party. In a Congress where the Republicans filibuster for almost anything, the Democrats' failure to filibuster must be emphasized. Over and over and over.
dlp67----See that's the whole point. The appearance of disagreement, but no real action and thus no change. Dems refuse to use the fillibuster because they claim they don't want to be labled obstructionist? Spare me that lame excuse. Rethugs are using the threat of it non-stop, ( it's the new mionority strategy) and I haven't heard any media or public outcry.
Face it, Dems don't want real change, they just want us to keep believing that they do, and by the way, may throw us a few more crumbs than the Rethugs. Oh yeah, and that is only if they can somehow manage to override a veto. WOW!!! And we should be impressed. Sorry, but I am not only NOT impressed, I am disgusted!
The Democrats are about to go the way of the Federalists, the Whigs and the Know-Nothings...and deservedly so.
Thank you John Nichols becaus when I first heard that the AG vote was 56-40, the first question I had was, "Who were the 4 dumb-ass Senators who missed such a crucial vote?". Now I know--they were Biden, Clinton, Dodd,and Obama who were all too busy running for President to be bothered with such trivial pursuits as determining who would be the next AG.
If the press wer truly doing it's job, it would demand over and over again from all 4 of these sorry and deceitful candidates an explanation for why avoiding such an important vote made them qualified to campaign for the job of the presidency.
This was a disappointing article. The article singled out the wrong senators. The crux of the issue wasn't those "Not voting" or those who voted "Nay," or but those that voted "Yea."
Clearly Schumer (D-NY) and Feinstein (D-CA) telegraphed their votes already from the Committee results.
Lieberman (CT), the alleged "independent," has lied enough to foretell which way he was going to vote.
So the "shame" for voting "Yea" falls upon the following senators:
Bayh (D-IN)
Carper (D-DE)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Nelson (D-NE)
These are the senators the author should be addressing.
Our nation needs leaders with integrity, leaders willing to stand up for our Constitution and the rule of law, yet these are the senators that failed the American people along with the entire senate minority with the exception of Alexander (R-TN), Cornyn (R-TX), and McCain (R-AZ) that also did not vote like Biden (D-DE), Clinton (D-NY), Dodd (D-CT), and Obama (D-IL).
Probably a more interesting article would have been an article addressing why Alexander (R-TN), Cornyn (R-TX), and McCain (R-AZ) did not vote with the rest of the minority?
Again, the issue is who voted "Yea." Those voting "Yea" are the ones that failed to represent the people and support and defend our Constitution.
40 NO votes sends a message. Mukasey will have listened to the debate and will be very careful not to propagate torture I think.
f those 4 Senators would have shown up, it would not have changed the outcome . The Senate debate was EXCELLENT and I am sorry it was so late at night 10pm and not known ahead of time and I was hoping it would be repeated on CSpan, but so far it has NOT been repeated!
For the sake of educating the public on the Senate debates which hardly ever are this good on such an important topic- we all must call Congress Senator Harry Reid, who is the one who sprung this debate on the public and insist that this debate be repeated!
How about that Linsey Graham who said that if we use torture, the terrorists have WON and then he goes ahead and approves Mukasey!!
As ususal the Republicans do not vote their conscience but hold together and the Dems do not stick together.
I agree with Tom Harkin that if Mukasey cannot be independent and be a educator to Bush about torture, then the seat should just be empty if Bush cannot come up with somebody like Jim Tomey, the giant who told the other attorneys like that stupid Jon Yoo that they will be ashamed about their decisions.
The whole debate was about trying to cover their butt for in the future when it will be revealed how disgusting this adminstration has been.
Overall we are going in the right direction in exposing what torture is and how we must return to rule of law that includes everybody including the President.
Once again the Dems throw in the towel. Could they be any more spineless/lazy/collaborating?
McCain did not vote. It's not the same as voting Nay. He simply wimped out like the rest of the would-be presidents.
Clinton, Dodd, Obama, Biden, even McCain... too busy greasing palms with corporate money.
Schumer, Feinstein, Carper, Bayh, Nelson, Landrieu, and oh yes, Leiberman... doing what the other five would have done had they not been out running for the Grand Corporate Prez.
The votes and non-votes are all reflections of just how responsible our elected Senators are to America's needs and Americans' liberties. Each one was a nail in Americans' freedom coffin.
Why didn't the US put its gamble behind Iran instead of Israel? It's larger, has more resources, we could probably bring them into our sphere for less than the aid we've given to Israel over the past few decades.
But imagine if the problem were reversed: we'd have Iranian media and banking moguls, Iranian senators voting as a bloc, AIPAC with a different "I" implied, an Iranian-American AG? What's Israel given us for all the expense? I've heard of Peak Oil, but Israel seems to be Peak Colony. As the British Empire waned, anyway, one would have expected that those colonies which were most expensive to maintain were discarded soonest. Is the tail wagging the dog here?
Shame on Clinton and Obama? Shame on us. They don't want to disenfranchise a small number of powerful people by voting one way, or a large number of voters on the other. If that's what we can expect of them if they are to be selected, I mean "elected", then they simply don't deserve to lead. Though it's become clear to me that politicians are NOT leaders. That is, they are not the voice of the people, an expression of populist sentiment or representation, etc. They are quite the reverse.
Obama and Clinton are working for someone higher up them than themselves, and I'm not referring to God.
All of you are griping, bitching and grousing;;;;
Meanwhile Mit Romney or Rudy Giuliani will get into office and appoint the 3 Supreme Court people predicted to resign or fall ill: Seuter, Stephens and Ginsberg.
Get a life and get behind somebody who is going to challenge this- be it Hillary or Obama those two are the only popular and powerful ones- take your pick, compromise and be tolerant.
IF ANYONE HAS ANY IDEA OF WHO THEY SHOULD VOTE FOR LET ME SUGGEST ONE: RON PAUL HE IS THE ONLY ONE THAT EVEN HAS A PLAN TO GET OUR COUNTRY BACK. GOD HELP US ALL IF ANY OF THE OTHER IDIOTS WIN. IT WILL BE THE SAME OLE SAME OLE CROOKED GOVT. AS ALWAYS. RON PAUL WANTS TO GET RID OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE (WHICH IS NOT FEDERAL AT ALL BUT A PRIVATE CORPORATION)
metamorph,
Hillary and Obama are going to challenge this? Where was their "NO" vote on Mukasey? Where have the fillibusters been?
Come on, man. If they're afraid now, they'll be shaking in their boots once selected...er... I mean elected. But it's not fear. It's who they're working for.
metamorph's post above typifies the dishonesty of Democrats and their apologists. They're the reason Bush will continue to commit crimes with impunity.
They conveniently forget that Democrats never even have to regain the majority in congress to stop Bush. They had at least 41 senators every step of the way since 2001 and could've filibustered each and every one of Bush's criminal enterprises, each and every one of Bush's choice of mobster for the Supreme Court, AG, etc. Instead they chose to sponsor each and every one of his crimes. Now with the majority, Democrats' corruption and dishonesty become more obvious, and yet, the average idiot posting on Democratic Underground or Randi Rhodes' message board will still vote for them.
I'm voting for Nader again or any other Green or Independent candidate for president. And I hope Giuliani beats the hell out of Hillary if a real progressive can't be elected President.
While we share the common nightmare in which we find ourselves today, we are having a great deal of trouble making common cause and finding a common dream. Too much shaming and blaming.
While I am fully in agreement with the three previous posts, and their creators nearly everytime, I still maintain that being right, or righteous doesn't do much but give us a very fleeting sense of satisfaction that we said our piece.
Perhaps we need to focus less on the people posting here, and say what we so passionately believe to our friends, families and neighbors. Somehow I think we may be more effective in bringing about the transformation we so passionately desire. It can't hurt.
I'm not suggesting, nor am I willing to stop posting on CD. It's just that locking horms with "true believers" just wastes our much needed energy.
No, Rocky Anderson is not supporting Dennis Kuchinich. He has endorsed Bill Richardson. You can find an article by Rocky about why he has endorsed Richardson in The Nation.
Check out the link: www.huffingtonpost.com/gov-bill-richardson/a-devastating-failure_b_71969.html