Did you catch Bush's speech at the Heritage Foundation yesterday --and his threat not to name any AG at all if the Senate doesn't confirm Mukasey?
It's wrong for congressional leaders to make Judge Mukasey's confirmation dependent on his willingness to go on the record about the details of a classified program he has not been briefed on. If the Senate Judiciary Committee were to block Judge Mukasey on these grounds, they would set a new standard for confirmation that could not be met by any responsible nominee for Attorney General. And that would guarantee that America would have no Attorney General during this time of war.Plus he had a laundry list of things Congress is doing to permit another 9/11 (my characterization):
- Stalling on the confirmation of a new AG
- Failing to renew the Protect America Act, which closes an intelligence gap & allows us to track terrorist plotters
- Stalling 8 months on emergency war supplemental funds so troops in Iraq & Afghanistan don't get their up-armored vehicles and such.
- Failing to pass the Dept. of Defense authorization bill.
- Failing to pass a veterans funding bill.
Bush ended on an up note, though.
I believe 50 years from now an American President will be speaking to Heritage and say, thank God that generation that wrote the first chapter in the 21st century understood the power of freedom to bring the peace we want.
