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Lieberman, Schumer Will Introduce Mukasey
Former U.S. District Court judge and attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey's Wednesday confirmation hearing is expected to be one of the most bipartisan nominations of the entire Bush administration. Democrats are already signaling that confirmation is likely.
The current plan calls for Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the top Republican on the panel, to meet Mukasey beforehand in the Capitol and walk him into the committee room together for the 10 a.m. hearing.
There, before the cameras, Mukasey is going to be introduced to the committee by a pair of senators who have played leading roles in recent national Democratic campaigns: Joe Lieberman (Conn.), the 2000 vice-presidential nominee who won re-election to the Senate as an independent last year, and Charles Schumer (N.Y.), who as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee helped toss Republicans out of power.
Leahy told Capitol Briefing the atmospherics surrounding the Mukasey confirmation were "tripartisan".
"I expect him to be confirmed," Leahy said after a roughly 40-minute meeting with Mukasey today, adding, "He will be light years better than his predecessor."
That was the latest gibe from Leahy at former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, who resigned last month after a tumultuous year in which he was plagued by accusations of overly politicizing Justice Department.
This makes the choice of introductory remarks all the more intriguing. Lieberman, a classmate of Mukasey's at Yale Law, has drawn fire from anti-war liberal activists for his continued support of President Bush's handling of the Iraq war as well as anti-terror policies that were promoted by the Justice Department under Gonzales. Schumer, who helped promote Mukasey's potential nomination in early September, has played a leading role in exposing the controversies regarding a 2004 dispute over re-authorizing the terrorist surveillance program and the firings of U.S. attorneys last year. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, he played a key role in Gonzales's ouster.
Just as interesting is the issue of who won't be at the hearing -- the frontrunners for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations. Neither Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) nor former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R-N.Y.) will be on hand to introduce Bronx native to the panel, defusing what might have potentially been a point of partisan tension.
Tradition dictates that both home-state senators give opening remarks to the committee when a key nomination is being considered, regardless of party or ideology. In January 2001, just two months after her late husband defeated John Ashcroft in a brutal Senate race, then-Sen. Jean Carnahan (D-Mo.) gave introductory remarks to the Judiciary Committee's nomination hearing for Ashcroft as attorney general. And in 2005, Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) introduced Gonzales to the committee.
But Clinton is instead tending to her other senatorial duties, chairing an Environment and Public Works subcommittee hearing on cleaning up Superfund sites, leaving Schumer to represent the Empire State.
And Giuliani could have appeared on Mukasey's behalf because the two are very close friends, beginning when they worked together in the early 1970s as assistant federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan. Past major nominees have had non-senator friends introduce them, with former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman giving her support to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in January 2006. But committee aides and the ex-mayor's aides said the issue never came up, perhaps with all sides aware that the former mayor's presence would add layer of partisan spectacle and detract the focus from Mukasey.
With Leahy declaring he expected no "bombshells" from the day or two of hearings -- and with no overly politicized atmosphere from the pomp and circumstance of the confirmation process -- Mukasey is looking increasingly like to secure his confirmation before the end of October.
By Paul Kane |
October 16, 2007; 3:04 PM ET
Hearing Watch
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Posted by: Anonymous | October 16, 2007 4:00 PM
pretty soon we'll be called united states of israel
Posted by: Anonymous | October 16, 2007 5:41 PM
I'm so disgusted with Leahy, who seems to be more Republican lite with each capitulation...he was going to ask some hard questions and ask for records that he never received from Gonzales, and he caved on this...we'll see about the hard questions.
It's all such a Chummy F*ckFest of Political Bigwig Love that it makes me sick to my stomach.
These people owe their respect to the American people, whom they've disrespected with their focus on money and power.
Instead they bow and fawn and kiss each other's asses...the honorable this and that....oh sorry, I'm ranting!
Posted by: wagonjak | October 16, 2007 6:42 PM
And Lieberman, the very mention of the name or the sagging image on TV brings shudders and angry sweats to the Democratic progressive base...if it's possible he's hated more then Bush, only because Bushie is viewed as a childish malleable personality who was used, while Lieberguy is fully in charge of his sensibilities and knows exactly what he's doing...supporting an illegal occupation of Iraq and formenting attacking Iran...
Faux-Dem Lieberman is helping bring this once-great republic down, and he will be held accountable one of these days....
And Schumer comes off looking more like a political insider operative then a man who is really in touch with the Dem base.
Posted by: wagonjak | October 16, 2007 6:51 PM
Please, people. Consider Mukasey's ties to long time friend Giuliani as it relates to the NEXT election cycle, and not how he relates to the Bush admin.
Gonzales resigned over election-fixing allegations. Mukasey is much, much too close to Giuliani NOT to appear partisan when voter caging and fraud allegations call a Giuliani victory into question. Mukasey is not a friend of THIS White House. With a layer of executive privilege secrecy, he will be able to elect the NEXT president.
Posted by: congressive | October 16, 2007 9:03 PM
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Posted by: Aciphex pills heartburn pills overnight shipping free prescription | October 17, 2007 6:48 PM
What could be more convenient than the chief law enforcement officer be a member of the "chosen" to take his place along side of the "chosen" head of the DHS. Its only fitting that he should be introduced in the Senate by two more of the "chosen". We may expect legal decisions to reflect Israel's interests. Does he also enjoy dual citizenship? I wonder if AIPAC is happy with this appointee?
When we finally get our first "chosen" president, AIPAC will still be loudly insisting that it doesn't exert any undue influence on our politics or foreign policy. Sure and Sheldon Adelson is really just a pauper with good connections.
Mukasey being from Brooklyn, I wonder if he ever tried to sell that bridge.
.
Posted by: Doubtom | October 18, 2007 2:13 AM
If Giuliani should win he'll have an experienced AG in place .
Posted by: John Joyce | October 18, 2007 2:48 AM
But please don't INSULT us with tales of
this or that senator questioning Mukasey.
MUKASEY was chosen and vetted, with great enthusiasm, by AIPAC.
And therein lies the end of the story.
Except that he will fill the major vacancies in DOJustice with very AIPAC friendly appointees...
Posted by: blaine | October 26, 2007 3:53 PM
Is it not overkill to have Lieberman and
Schumer introduce Mukasey? Why not
Netanyahoo?
Posted by: PS | October 26, 2007 3:55 PM
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Video: House Science Submte. Approves Bills -- Ocean Exploration, Industrial Efficiency & Storage
The Subcommittee reports out three bills: H.R. 1834 - National Ocean Exploration Program Act; H.R. 3775 - Industrial Energy EffiencyResearch and Development Act of 2007; and H.R. 3776 - Energy Storage Technology Advancement Act of 2007.
http://video.energypolicytv.com/displaypage.php?vkey=f977cb6d9da15b76c3f3&from_search=1