Torturing A Nominee

"After the longest confirmation process in nearly 20 years, the Senate has finally voted to confirm Judge Mukasey as attorney general," said Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), who chairs the Senate GOP Conference. That quote from TheHill.com by Manu Raju. According to the site, the vote was a bit of a surprise, as Senator Reid, the creepy voiced Majority Leader of the Senate stated that he was not sure if the nomination would be filibustered. He even suggested the vote could be postponed until after the Thanksgiving recess, which begins at the end of next week.

Those Senators absent from the vote were all five presidential candidates, as well as Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and John Cornyn (R-TX).

The vote was 53-40. The Democrats, so predictable. The party of McGovern strikes again.

Six Democrats and one Independent joined with Republicans to vote for Judge Mukasey. Those voting in favor of the best interests of the country were Democrat Senators Evan Bayh (IN), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Ben Nelson (NE), Mary Landrieu (LA), Charles Schumer (NY), Thomas Carper (DE), and Independent Joe Lieberman (CT). Landrieu is worried about her chances for re-election in '08, and Schumer was feeling the obligation as he recommended the nominee as someone acceptable to Dems.

"We cannot afford to take the judgement of an attorney general who either does not know torture when he sees it or is willing to look the other way," said Teddy Kennedy. If anyone should know about using torture, it'd be Teddy, the swimmer. Did he stand on the banks of the water as Mary Jo drowned in the automobile after he ran it off the bridge? Or did he just keep swimming to shore and walk to call his attorney and political advisor without watching? Yeah, Teddy would be my standard bearer of moral judgement.

Wednesday Alan Dershowitz had an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal. Dershowitz is no conservative but is a liberal who gets it when it comes to war. He is of the same cloth as Lieberman and Ed Koch, former Mayor of NYC. They put country above party. True patriots.

In his opinion piece, Dershowitz writes about Democrats and their continued soft stance on the issue of national defense and terror. His opinion is that it is a political loser for the party. He wrote of the willingness of the Democrat party to allow the war in Iraq to become mostly a Republican project. He writes, "This pacifistic stance appeals to the left wing of the democratic electorate, which may have some influence on the outcome of democratic primaries, but which is far less likely to determine the outcome of the general election. Most Americans---Democrats, Republicans, independents or undecided---want a president who will be strong, as well as smart, on national security, and who will do everything in his or her lawful power to prevent further acts of terrorism."

"Hundreds of thousands of Americans may watch Michael Moore's movies or cheer Cindy Sheehan's demonstrations, but tens of millions want the Moores and Sheehans of our nation as far away as possible from influencing national security policy. That is why Rudy Giuliani seems to be doing surprisingly well among many segments of the electorate, ranging from centrist Democrats to Republicans and even some on the religious right."

On the waterboarding issue and the Mukasey confirmation, Dershowitz, a professor at Harvard Law School, said Mukasey was absolutely correct as a matter of constitutional law that it can not be decided in the abstract. "The court must examine the nature of the governmental interest at stake, and the degree to which the government actions at issue shock the conscience, and then decide on a case-by-case basis. In several cases involving actions at least as severe as waterboarding, courts have found no violations of due process."

"The members of the judiciary committee who voted against Judge Mukasey, because of his unwillingness to support an absolute prohibition on waterboarding and all other forms of torture, should be asked the direct question: Would you authorize the use of waterboarding, or other non-lethal forms of torture, if you believed that it was the only possible way of saving the lives of hundreds of Americans in a situation of the kind faced by Israeli authorities on the eve of Yom Kippur? Would you want your president to authorize extraordinary means of interrogation in such a situation? If so, what means? If not, would you be prepared to accept responsibility for the preventable deaths of hundreds of Americans?"

That is the question to ponder - what are you prepared to accept or authorize? Something that often goes missing in the waterboarding argument is the fact that the technique is used in training our own soldiers. And, I repeat, the waterboarding of Mary Jo by Teddy Kennedy was much more extreme than the technique used on battlefield enemies, if it is used. She died.

"The Democrats may lose the presidency if they are seen as the party of MoveOn.org, Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, Dennis Kucinich and those senators who voted against Judge Mukasey because he refused to posture on a difficult issue relating to national security. They will win if they are seen as just as tough but a lot smarter on how to deal with real threats to our national interests." I agree with Dershowitz.

The coming presidential election will be about national security issues. Again. It will be true for the next generation or two, until the cancer of Islamofacism is destroyed. The Dems have to have something other than bashing Bush. He's not running. Americans don't vote doom and gloom. Americans are by nature an optimistic people. It is our story as a nation. Our nation is a story of success, a can-do work ethic. Our economy remains strong, even after 9/11. Health care insurance can be improved for many but as a private sector solution, not socialized medicine that has failed in other countries. Our country is the beacon of personal freedom and choice.