Bush On The Air: Mukasey Is The Man
November 3, 2007, 3:59pm
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote this week on the nomination of Michael Mukasey to be the next attorney general, and President Bush made the case for Mukasey’s confirmation in his weekly radio address.
Democrats initially voiced little opposition to Mukasey’s nomination, but his refusal to take a hard line against an interrogation technique known as “waterboarding,” which some critics consider torture, has made the push to confirm Mukasey more challenging. Bush reiterated Mukasey’s qualifications for the job, including his tenure as a federal judge, and chastised some Democratic senators for delaying action on the nomination.
“Congressional leaders should not make Judge Mukasey’s confirmation dependent on his willingness to make a public judgment about a classified program he has not been briefed on,” Bush said. “If the Senate Judiciary Committee were to block Judge Mukasey on these grounds, it would set a new standard for confirmation that could not be met by any responsible nominee for attorney general.”
The Democratic address, given by Washington Sen. Patty Murray, focused on veterans’ affairs. Murray responded to a pointed speech Bush had given at the conservative Heritage Foundation by chastising the president for ignoring and underfunding the VA system even as he continues to spend tens of billions of dollars on military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Under President Bush, the number of uninsured veterans has skyrocketed,” she said. “The personal data of millions of vets was lost. And yet, the president let three months go by before even nominating a new secretary of veterans’ affairs.
“The crisis at Walter Reed Medical Center was just one visible product of this categorical neglect for our veterans. In spite of all these failures, the president continues to offer little more than speeches and scare tactics.”
Categories: Washington, Civil Rights, Patty Murray, Terrorism, Weekly Radio Address, Budget, Veterans Affairs, Intelligence, Executive Branch
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