Dear Senator

To Sen. Russ Feingold:

I urge you to consider voting against the Mukasey nomination.

You may be correct in saying that this is as good a nominee as you are likely to see in this administration, but surely the Judiciary Committee cannot be expected to hold its nose and confirm a man who is unwilling to declare something as self evident as "water boarding amounts to torture under US law."

We have put up with a lot from the current administration, but surely we have not fallen so far.

The price of admission to the USAG office is, at a minimum, being willing to go on the record about what constitutes torture under US law.

Such a statement may endanger intelligence officers who received prior assurances that what they were doing was legal, but consider:

The person who lets an official’s assurance convince them that it is acceptable to nearly suffocate a restrained prisoner is still far too willing to engage in that conduct anyway.

I am sure Mr. Mukasey has many qualities that recommend him for this position, but the simple fact is – when in front of your committee – he is unwilling to go against the wishes of the administration that nominated him and declare an obvious truth. This tells you all you need to know about his likely independence while in office.

We have already seen what foolishness can occur when the nation's Attorney General is too in thrall to the chief executive. This is not something we should go back to.

He may be the best you get, but he is still unacceptable.

Thank you.

Late edit:

I needn't have bothered. Sens. Schumer and Feinstein just sold us out. Nice to see Schumer hasn't abandoned the man he recommended. I wonder if he knew Mukasey's water boarding views from the start? or did he simply choose to overlook them, now that they are out in the open?

Weak.