« Poll: Chambliss Ahead But Potentially Vulnerable Against Cleland | Home | 
Craig To Argue Foot-Tapping A Constitutional Right »
Craig To Argue Foot-Tapping A Constitutional Right »
McCain Camp Ducks Question Of Whether He'll Vote For Musakey
Earlier today, we asked if John McCain plans to vote for Michael Mukasey for attorney general in light of Mukasey's hedging about whether waterboarding constitutes torture. After all, McCain strongly condemns waterboarding, says that it unequivocally is torture, and he publicly rebuked Rudy Giuliani on this very subject.
Well, the Huffington Post asked the question directly, and they didn't get a straight answer. "The Judiciary Committee process is ongoing and Sen. McCain believes that Judge Mukasey deserves an up-or-down vote based on his qualifications for the office of Attorney General," a McCain aide told the HuffPo in an e-mail.
Advertisement
Good for him. We can't have presidential candidates running around telegraphing their intentions.
October 26, 2007 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would too. Who's Musakey(sp?)?
October 26, 2007 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think he's hoping a Dem filibuster prevents him from having to actually vote for or against Mukasey, while claiming the opposite (deserves up or down vote).
October 26, 2007 3:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a weasel; of course, did anyone really expect him to be anything else?
October 26, 2007 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is not a duck. This is McCain saying that the Democrats must vote him out of committee for that "up-or-down" vote in the full Senate. This is McCain saying that the Committee does not have the right to play its role.
October 26, 2007 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
The committee has a perfect right to kill this nomination in committee; it's happened plenty of times in the past. I can't think of a better time than for a AG nominee who doesn't know whether waterboarding is torture. McCain knows that it is, too.
October 26, 2007 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
But the Mukasey nomination was never intended to get through. It was always intended as a distraction from dealing directly with the USA firings and other nastiness at DOJ. It was a way of keeping the acting AG in place for the duration and the politicization of DOJ going full speed ahead.
October 26, 2007 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps McCain will simply miss the vote like Obama did recently? According to "bob" on that thread:
"Criticizing presidential candidates for missing votes that don't come down to one vote is always dumb."
October 26, 2007 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink