Our Co-Reigning AntiChrists: Schumer and Feinstein

Somewhere within the vertical configuration of Dante's nine circles of hell, there's a mezzanine level reserved for torture-adoring Republican pols to eternally consort with their simpatico brethren of Gestapo Funktionär, KGB apparatchiks and Pinochet's tenientes.

Now under construction, word from below has it, is an annex to that subterranean hellhole, just a bit to the left and a little lower, newly and exclusively reserved for Democratic collaborators.

And Baby Jesus just punched Charlie Schumer and Dianne Feinstein's tickets.

For what transparent farce can they successfully huckster to St. Peter? The one they'll peddle to the Earthly benighted two years or five from now, when yet more evidence of America betrayed comes in the ignominious form of a Torture-Revisited document dump? The farcical plea that goes, simply and sweetly: We didn't know?

Judge Michael Mukasey sat in front of them both -- right there, right in front -- and let loose a consciousness-stream of Gonzales Think that would have warmed the icy heart of Hermann Goering. His testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee bore no recognizable relationship to the U.S. Constitution, statutory law, democratic ethics or even fundamental human decency. It was, in short, yet another page of Mein Kampf explicitness, a fascist love letter to dictatorial power, authoritarian ascendancy and rule by capricious thuggery.

When would-be Attorney General Mukasey's overt smiling upon America's vulgar degeneration threw his nomination into question -- as anyone who fondly remembers any Constitutional generalities might imagine it would -- the good judge then backpedaled and obfuscated in literally unbelievable doublespeak.

Did I say that? said he of that famous lawyerly imprecision. Oh my. Those mere hundred hours of preparation must have clouded my clarity. Permit me to backtrack with this written horseshit, which students of Orwell should find just as malodorous, but admirably so.

You know it and I know it. The country knows it, the U.S. Senate knows it, the majority leader knows it and the judiciary committee chairman knows it and Michael Mukasey knows it: The next attorney general will be indistinguishable from the last.

How do we all know it? Because he said so.

Is it at all plausible that Senators Schumer and Feinstein were, in good conscience, innocently in the dark? -- the only two dunderheads among an enlightened 300 million?

Could they, perhaps, be but incurably stupid, and thereby escape the flames of righteous damnation with an extravagant plea of unmitigated gullibility?

Well, not quite, since "one Democratic aide said Schumer" -- with whom Feinstein worked in cooperation -- "gave the administration guidance about what Mukasey should include in [his] letter" of cryptofascistic intent to Senate Democrats.

These two senators held in their hands the most pregnant opportunity yet to body-block and pin the most lawless administration in the history of this declining Republic. Yet they took that opportunity and bargained it away; they sold out their country, their conscientious colleagues and their souls.

We can only hope and pray, at this forsaken point, that Schumer and Feinstein be held in political purgatory for the remainder of their now-obscene, Earthly careers. Then, with Heaven's nod, they can go straight to hell.

****

if you appreciate p m carpenter's commentary -- and thank you!

Comments

[Nick Howard]

Nice article!
Senators Schumer and Feinstein are just 2 of the Dems that are likely being blackmailed by the Bush Regime; there's simple no other rational explanatin for them...

[The Old Hippy]

BUSH = BLACKMAIL

Grandpa Preston would be proud of Nazi Georgie.

[chabuka]

I am so outraged at these two over this capitulation and their trumped up "excuses" for their Mukasey support....I only hope and pray there is enough anger in California and New York that these two despicable excuses for human beings are shown the door ASAP..I hope that having Mukasey for 16 months as the A.G. is worth their entire future, to them...Its not just the "waterboarding" issue...Mukasey is also, all for the Unitary Executive power of this President, "when the President does it, its not illegal" frame of mind...I am just as sickened by the Democratic leadership as I am of the GOP and Bush/Cheney...

[stu]

Wow. Nice one, PM! The punches were hard and well-aimed, all the way through.

Whee!

[S.W. Anderson]

"These two senators held in their hands the most pregnant opportunity yet to body-block and pin the most lawless administration in the history of this declining Republic. Yet they took that opportunity and bargained it away; they sold out their country, their conscientious colleagues and their souls."

Sheesh, if your dudgeon gets any higher you're going to suffer hypoxia.

Ever hear of recess apppointments — like the one that sent John Bolton to the U.N. in spite of Senate disapproval?

Have you given one moment's thought to the prospect of having Ted Olson, David Addington or maybe even Harriet Miers recess-appointed A.G.? Or maybe the post would just go unfilled, with a real Bush & Co. flunky serving as acting A.G. You know, someone Cheney and Addington could order around like he was the Pizza delivery guy.

No, I'm not satisfied with Mukasey's answers about waterboarding either. Still, Mukasey has an honorable and solid record as a judge and no past as a right-wing hack or butt kisser for Bush.

Sometimes it's necessary to look beyond two steps ahead and choose the least-bad path.

[S.W. Anderson]

"Grandpa Preston would be proud of Nazi Georgie."

Actually, the name was Prescott.

[Nancy Boulicault]

In response to stu.

My eyes have been opened!

I can see the millions rallying around that cry from the heart, 'The Least Bad Path'.

Why oh why was I too stupid and lacking in foresight to see the 'wisdom' of this political move on the part of Schumer, Feinstein, and the Democratic leadership (well that's what they call themeselves)? It worked so brilliantly for all those Good Germans didn't it?

I was so 'stupid' that I cancelled my Democracy Bond and will now be using my resources to create conditions in the US that may make it possible for the Party that I cared about and that my parents supported return to some semblance of common decency.

The Mukasey vote is beyond shameful. I feel sullied at the very thought that I donated money and time to these people.

The idea that this vote could be defended on utilitairian grounds is revolting.

[deeply worried]

Nancy Boulicault is entirely correct. There can be no justification for torture using utilitarian benefits calculus.

At issue is the very notion of self. Who we are. What we do, we are. Doing horrendous things we become horrendous ourselves.

PM Carpenter's outrage is not excessive and collaborators of torturers are as morally reprehensible as those agents, who they allow with their benign protection and tacit acceptance, to flourish A virulence of barbarism has been injected into our national identity and all for the sake of mere brute survival.

[Hotrod54235]

PM,
Absolutely brilliant! One thing that remains to be said is that Feinstein, Schummer, and Mukasey all happen to be the same religion. Nobody is willing to put that fact into play.

[chanceny]

Excuse me , hotrod. Implying the jewisness of Schumer/Feinstein was responsble for their caveins in favor of a fellow traveler is as obtuse a notion as I've heard, even from the dumbed down dittohead dolts that bloviate such drivel masked as informed (wink-wink) comment. What rewards are in it for them certainly do not come from their grateful rabbis. Perhaps further investigation is required, ya think?

[deeply worried]

Religion is probably not a factor in Feinstein, Schumer and the other numerous supporters of this nomination deliberations. Or so I guess.

I would think its some variant of utilitarian ethics that have become regnant of late. Greater goods compel "lesser" evils in their realization. Recall Tolstoy's famous declaration that going to Heaven would be untenable if Heaven itself were built on the necessity of one starving child? That is the refuting point.

"Nihil magnum, nisi bonum..." Nothing is great that is not good.

I believe that at one time America approached greatness precisely because we eschewed the ethics we now avidly embrace.

Now we have forsaken goodness and greatness and are only powerful.

And not so oddly we are respected less, loved less nowadays than when. imperfect as we were, we still aspired to a higher standard in human conduct.

Napoleon once said that he cared not if other nations loved him so long as they feared him. The current administration seems to cherish this odious viewpoint and it will be to our certain destruction if much prolonged.

[jon]

PM Carpenter finally tears his breathing tubes off.

People recognized for their creative genius often depict moments of inspiration as an electrifying convergence of rational and irrational thought. If there is an edge to be found between the rational and the irrational; between the known and the unknown; between the conventional and the innovative, and if this edge is where creativity takes place, it makes sense that a creative mind runs the risk of going "too far." Skin-divers are prone to fall victim to "the rapture of the deep" and tear their breathing tubes off.
I actually read this PM Carpenter piece with rapt amazement. Am I witnessing the downward spiral of a career when a superior intellect and a psychopathic temperament coalesce? Is this the beginning of an Ernest Hemmingway or Virginia Woolf moment, when in the next installment written by friend's of Carpenter tell us that he has blown his brains out? I mean really:
"Somewhere within the vertical configuration of Dante's nine circles of hell, there's a mezzanine level reserved for torture-adoring Republican pols to eternally consort with their simpatico brethren of Gestapo Funktionär, KGB apparatchiks and Pinochet's tenientes."

"And Baby Jesus just punched Charlie Schumer and Dianne Feinstein's tickets."

"It was, in short, yet another page of Mein Kampf explicitness, a fascist love letter to dictatorial power, authoritarian ascendancy and rule by capricious thuggery."

[j7915]

If recess apointments are a problem, then DON'T take a recess. At this point in the year, the congress critters have already had more days off, and more vacation than any good union man with 40 years seniority. Simply stay in DC, celebrate the holidays there and toot your horn about how long you work. Dubble whammy.

[S.W. Anderson]

"Nancy Boulicault is entirely correct. There can be no justification for torture using utilitarian benefits calculus."

The bunch of you are jumping to the conclusion torture is being carried out now and that if confirmed Mukasey will cover for it so more torture can be carried out. Oh, and there's a Jewish conspiracy at work here as well.

We know that torture, including waterboarding, was going on in 2003-2004. Since then, maybe and maybe not.

I can't guarantee Mukasey is nonpolitical and dedicated to doing what's right. Going by his record, as I pointed out, there's good reason to think he won't be a political toady or subservient crony the way Alberto Gonzales was.

If I could have my way Tom Daschle would get the job. It's in the nature of our system to sometimes have to settle for the best you can get. In the current situation, like it or not, Bush has the hole card: recess appointment. He has used it before and undoubtedly would in this case, for spite if nothing else.

You folks can get hysterical, allege conspiracies, write off a long-serving judge's record as if it's nothing, and liken those being realistic about what's going down here to Nazi sympathizers, if doing so makes you feel better.

Your impugning of Schumer and Feinstein's character, honesty and motives because they understand the reality of the situation and are handling it as best they can doesn't make the senators look bad. Sorry, but I can't say as much for the way you folks come off looking.

There's an old saying, "The truth will out." If torture is going on now and goes on in the last year of Bush's term, sooner or later the truth about it will come out. If that happens, I hope suitable consequences will follow for those responsible.

[Dana Hatch]

Yeah, long-serving judge, record of integrity, blah, blah, blah. Gimme a break. Bush has never appointed anyone with an ounce of independence or integrity and Mukasey is no exception. His job as Attorney General under Bush is to devise legal justifications for the administration's lawlessness and to squash any investigations into same. And to protect the voting rights of white Christian conservatives at the cost of everyone else's.

[LJ Edwards]

"I can't guarantee Mukasey is nonpolitical and dedicated to doing what's right. Going by his record, as I pointed out, there's good reason to think he won't be a political toady or subservient crony the way Alberto Gonzales was."

What possible "good reason" is there for believing that Mukasey will not enable the lawlessness of the Bush administration? EVERY SINGLE individual Bush has installed in this government reeking of corruption has been put in place for one reason: to allow Bush/Cheney free reign to continue to do whatever the hell they want. Don't expect the stench of shit in the air to suddenly transform into perfume, just because of delusional thinking.
Feinstein has voted for FISA, the confirmation of Judge Leslie Southwick, and now Mukasey. I cannot imagine what her reasons for voting with the Repugs could possibly be. Threats from Blackwater thugs perhaps?