"I believe that the questions he.s been asked are unfair," Mr. Bush said. "He's not been read into the program - he has been asked to give opinions of a program or techniques of a program on which he's not been briefed. I will make the case - and I strongly believe this is true - that Judge Mukasey is not being treated fairly."
Um, except that Mukasey was not asked about a classified program. He was asked about "water boarding". Given a description of water boarding, which Mukasey said he understood, is water boarding torture? Mukasey refused to answer this simple and straightforward question.
I have an opinion on whether water boarding is torture and I haven't been briefed. I wonder if Mukasey could answer a question about whether kidnapping is illegal? How about shoplifting? Need a classified briefing for that? Is driving 20 MPH over the speed limit a violation of the law? Can't say?
This is also troubling:
At his confirmation hearings last week, Michael B. Mukasey, President Bush.s nominee for attorney general, was asked whether the president is required to obey federal statutes. Judge Mukasey replied, "That would have to depend on whether what goes outside the statute nonetheless lies within the authority of the president to defend the country."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/opinion/23rubenfeld.html
"Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal." -- Richard M. Nixon, 1974
http://www.landmarkcases.org/nixon/nixonview.html
That's the way Bush and Cheney see the executive role in government. Sound good?
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