Dems to Cave on Mukasey

The American people are growing increasingly sick of Washington politics as usual. Bush and Cheney still have not been held accountable in any way for their repeated violations of both American and international law. Despite some laudable exceptions, Congressional Democrats are unwilling to hold these criminals accountable or to end the war in Iraq, fearing a backlash against cutting funding. Now it appears that they are similarly unwilling to stand up to the Bush administration on torture.

Late yesterday, Sens. Feinstein (D-CA) and Schumer (D-NY) announced that they would support Bush's candidate for Attorney General, Michael Mukasey. It appears that this will essentially guarantee Mukasey's confirmation.

If you've been following the Mukasey story at all, you know that the source of Democratic opposition to his nomination is his refusal to agree that waterboarding is torture or even to condemn the method. Of course, to do so would imperil his masters. But it is equally obvious that there is no defensible alternative. Waterboarding is torture.

Evidently, Feinstein and Schumer are willing to permit our representatives to continue to torture detainees in our name. This is very disturbing. How much longer are we going to stand for this before demanding meaningful representation?

Tags: Michael Mukasey, Bush, Diane Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, politics, torture, America, Congress, waterboarding