Harper's: Mukasey Asked To Obstruct Justice By Movement Conservatives?

[Hissyspit]

From Larisa Alexandrovna's blog:

http://www.atlargely.com/2007/11/real-journalism.html

Real Journalism/News Roundup...

Harper's Scott Horton drops a bomb in which no one appears to be interested, although everyone should be:

"Several days before his first meeting with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Michael Mukasey’s Justice Department handlers arranged a private meeting for him with a number of “movement conservatives.” Two different administration sources have described the meeting to me. During the meeting, Mukasey’s counterparts, largely figures associated with the Federalist Society, pushed him on two points in particular.

First, they wanted him to undertake that he would not appoint a special prosecutor to look into the U.S. attorneys scandal and related charges concerning political prosecutions. At this point it is clear that if an independent investigation were to be launched, it would quickly run head-on into some of the same figures who sat in the room with Mukasey. The email traffic which has surfaced already — and it is only a tiny fraction of the total — shows how Rove and Miers repeatedly relied upon the Federalist Society and its members to help them out in addressing recalcitrant U.S. Attorneys who would not debase their office by converting it into a political tool. Let’s be cynical and say that the first request they put to Mukasey was designed simply to protect themselves and keep their behind-the-scenes involvement with the Justice Department’s highest profile scandal so far out of the spotlight."

In other words, promise us you will obstruct justice - a crime.

MORE

[KoKo]

1. Let me be FIRST to RECOMMEND! K&R!

[calimary]

3. Let me be the - uh - FOURTH!

Only one more needed!

Great find! NOT surprising.

[EFerrari]

8. 23rd and thanks!

:kick:

[Richard Steele]

25. Checking in at #88 here! nm

[lala_rawraw]

10. i am always late to the party...

:)

[cali]

2. yes!

that is a vitally important point.

[magellan]

4. While America sleeps, the government is subverted

...yet again. And still the Dems can't get their shit together.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Do they want to?

That is the question

[seafan]

6. These 'movement conservatives' who *vetted* Mukasey BEFORE his nomination was announced...

Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel) at The Next Hurrah is on it:

Here's an interesting question from Dick Durbin to Mukasey. It addresses whom the Administration felt it needed to give buy-in before nominating Judge Mukasey:

11. According to the Washington Post, before you were confirmed you "spent part of the weekend meeting with leading figures in the conservative world, seeking to allay their concerns about philosophy and suitability for running Justice Department."

a. With whom did you meet?

ANSWER: Prior to the announcement of my nomination, I met with former Attorney General Edwin Meese III, Lee Casey, Leonard Leo, David Rivkin, Jay Sekulow, and Edward Whelan.

b. Who asked you to take these meetings?

ANSWER: Officials within the White House. I cannot remember the specific individuals.

So:

* A former Attorney General implicated in Iran-Contra and additional corruption allegations.

* Casey and Rivkin, a one-two team serving as the public intellectuals defending the unitary executive

* Leo, the Executive VP of the Federalist Society alleged to have been involved in the Civil Rights Division politicization

* Sekulow, the Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, one of the brains behind the Terry Schiavo circus, and someone with his own ethical challenges

* Ed Whelan, himself a bit of a public intellectual for the right, not to mention a former OLC lawyer when most of the crap was written and--my personal favorite--a former Senior Vice President of Verizon


Mind you, Addington the White House can ask Mukasey to meet with whomever they want--I'm not alleging this is in any way improper. Still, it's interesting to see who the select few who get to vet an Attorney General candidate are.

This is ONLY about loyalty to the Bush Administration. This never was, is not now, and will never be about the AG nominee to best represent The People of the United States.


Another 14 months of this criminal gang in power... that is, if they don't decide to stay in the White House permanently.

[Hissyspit]

7. Man, if I was President of the United States, I would be impeached for crap like this.

I would be a Democrat president, of course.

[ananda]

19. Democratic President, that is.

D e m o c r a t i c

[barbtries]

9. the daily outrage

appointment of a special prosecutor should have been at the top of the list of things for this AG to do

[Dr.Phool]

11. Hey Shoomer and Frankenstein!!!!

What do you think about this crap? Is this still the best they have to offer?

[Hissyspit]

12. .

[OnyxCollie]

13. K&R. nt

[deacon]

14. k + r

[orleans]

15. wow--thanks for posting this. n/t

[elehhhhna]

16. Conspiracy to Commit Treason. Hmmm, what's the punishment for THAT?

[Skidmore]

17. Seems to me this story should be more widely reported...

let's see if we can help boost it by sending it to people who will report on it and fast.

[formercia]

18. A jolly kick on a Sunday Morning...

and again..

[peacetalksforall]

20. I think Shumer and Feinstein need to resign before they cast the vote

they have declared.

[KoKo]

21. k&R....Muckasey 'threatened' or 'bought off' Sorry for hyperbole...but

don't know how else to describe it.

[peacetalksforall]

22. This is a pinnacle of justice for us. If we let this operative do the

work of Cheney, how are we going to win anything else?

John Mitchell was a pussycat compared to what we're facing.

[L. Coyote]

23. K & R> My surprise. That they ask. Mukasey knows what to obstruct. Weren't

they just making sure he would do it?

[slipslidingaway]

24. K&R We can either fight every fire that starts or we can go after

those who are starting the fires in this administration.

Start with Cheney this week :)


Military action still an option with Iran, Cheney says in Dallas

09:16 AM CDT on Saturday, November 3, 2007

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/110307dnmetcheney.1ce9a79e2.html

"Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday that peaceful measures to prevent Iran from menacing the Middle East and developing a nuclear weapons program have not yet worked, leaving military action as a possible solution.

"Nobody wants to resolve this in any means other than peacefully, if it's at all possible," Mr. Cheney told the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth.

"But in the final analysis, the worst outcome would be a situation in which Iran is sort of let loose, if you will, in that part of the world with an inventory of nuclear weapons prepared to be used against other nations in the region or to dominate that part of the globe and to threaten not only the United States, but many of our friends and allies out there as well."

[dmr]

31. I hate how that asshole talks

He likes to sound so smooth with his words, but his words are truly violent. Always, always dangerously violent.

[MasonJar]

26. Has this been sent to Leahy, Shumer and Feinstein? If not, please send it to all

Senate dems. I would myself if I knew how. I'm an oldtimer.

[bobthedrummer]

27. .

IMPEACH CHENEY FIRST-IMPEACH CHENEY NOW!

[The Wielding Truth]

28. Corrupt...to the bones.

[bonito]

29. K&R

[Joanne98]

30. Put the whole Federalist Society BEHIND BARS! YAY!

[crickets]

32. Okay, who is surprised?

:looks for show of hands:

Didn't think so. K&R

:dem:

[ulysses]

33. someone send this to Feinstein

so she can ask Mukasey after he's been confirmed.

[Bozita]

34. just emailed this thread and links to Peter Werbe (stream LIVE tonight at 11EST)

www.peterwerbe.com

[AuntPatsy]

35. K & R, by the way, did Sundays political bantering shows talk about this?

[jeff30997]

36. Harper = Mini Bush.

[deminks]

37. K&R and bookmarked. nt

[Joanne98]

38. KICK

[spanone]

39. this guy is gonzales reincarnated....swapping one criminal mind for another