MSNBC just announced that both Schumer and Feinstein have announced that they will support the Mukasey nomination. Absent any Republican defections, which appear unlikely, this will assure a favorable recommendation from the Judiciary Committee. Schumer apparently said that he didn't want the doubt about whether Mukasey would be confirmed any longer.
Hey, what's a little waterboarding between friends, and Schumer apparently likes the guy personally. And he might be the most personable guy in the world, but if he can't say whether waterboarding is torture, he has no business being confirmed.
Sorry for the short diary, but thought people would want to know about this news, which really is "breaking," as the MSNBC correspondent was still out of breath after running to get to the camera position.
UPDATE: CNN now has a fairly detailed story about this on its website, including some quotes from Schumer and Feinstein.
From Schumer:
"This is an extremely difficult decision," Schumer said.
"When an administration so political, so out of touch with the realities of governing and so contemptuous of the rule of law is in charge, we are never left with an ideal choice. Judge Mukasey is not my ideal choice. However, Judge Mukasey, whose integrity and independence is respected even by those who oppose him, is far better than anyone could expect from this administration."
From Feinstein:
While saying "serious questions have been raised about Judge Mukasey's views on torture and on separation of powers," Feinstein said she would support the nominee because the Justice Department needed fresh leadership.
"First and foremost, Michael Mukasey is not Alberto Gonzales. Rather, he has forged an independent life path as a practitioner of the law and a federal judge in the Southern District of New York.
"I believe that Judge Mukasey is the best we will get and voting him down would only perpetuate acting and recess appointments, allowing the administration to avoid the transparency that confirmation hearings provide and diminish effective oversight by Congress."
I emphatically agree that DOJ needed new leadership after Gonzalez, but why is an acting AG necessarily worse than one who isn't willing to say that waterboarding is illegal? And if these Democrats would have the sense to hold pro forma sessions, there wouldn't need to be any more recesses. In fact, don't even make them pro forma sessions, make them real sessions and stay in sesssion until this administration is either over, or it's close enough to over that it doesn't make a difference anymore. I'm sure they'd whine about needing to campaign, but I think the incumbent Democrats would probably be better off with the voters by staying in session and working than by campaigning, especially since they could schedule votes to allow the incumbents who were up for reelection to get back to their states without missing any close votes.
UPDATE #2:
I didn't really think I could get more disgusted by this, but I am -- MUCH MORE disgusted. ABC is carrying a story reporting that former Acting Assistant Attorney General Daniel Levin, who replaced Jack Goldsmith (who was the guy who withdrew the infamous Bybee torture memo) was so ocncerned about the issue of waterboarding that he went to a military base near Washington to experience waterboarding himself. Upon his return, he reported that even though he knew he wasn't going to be permitted to die, the experience was so terrifying and excruciating that there was no doubt that it constituted torture, at least unless it was carried out under very narrow and limited circumstances (none of which were insisted upon by the procedures in effect).
He tnen wrote a memo explaining his findings, but apparently knuckled under to pressure from the White House to add a footnote saying that nothing in his memo was declaring the administration's previous opinions illegal. He was then working on a second memo, explaining the narrow circumstances under which an apparently modified waterboarding procedure might be used, but never finished it because Alberto Gonzalez, upon becoming Attorney General, forced him out.