November 8, 2007: Senate Will Vote on Mukasey Tonight; In earlier action, Senate makes Bush veto override official

[19:57]
The Senate is going to vote on Michael Mukasey's confirmation for Attorney General tonight.

Arlen Specter (PA), ranking member of the judiciary committee, spoke minutes ago in favor of the nomination, noting that despite Mukasey's shortcomings on the waterboarding question, Mukasey has made clear that he believes in the right of habeas corpus. Specter contrasted Mukasey with the prior attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, whose reading of the Constitution frustrated the "plain language" of the document.

Patrick Leahy (VT), chairman of the judiciary committee, is now speaking against the Mukasey nomination, basing his opposition squarely on the question of torture. For Leahy, the issue is whether or not our country is one that will torture people. Are we a country that will ship captives to Syria for torture? he asks.

Leahy notes that the State Dept. has instructed its employees to refuse to admit that the waterboarding of an American soldier would amount to torture. Can you imagine that? says Leahy. He says that Mukasey sidestepped the question when asked if a foreign country's waterboarding of an American soldier would be "an abuse."

Resist the temptation "just this once, just this once" to overlook the fact that waterboarding is torture, he says.

Earlier Today

The Senate made a water resources bill law when it voted 79-14 to override a Bush veto of the bill. Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) remarked as the awesomeness of the bill becoming law the second that the result of the vote was announced on the floor of the Senate.

Only two Democrats voted against the bill, Claire McCaskill (MO) and Russ Feingold (WI). This duo has consistently sided with Republicans this year in voting against federal spending projects. It was a rare federal projects bill that won support from Kit Bond (MO) but didn't get McCaskill's vote. Being a Missouri denizen, I am guessing that McCaskill was particularly opposed to some of the projects in the bill concerning Army Corps projects affecting the rivers of Missouri.