Sen Feinstein (well, her staff) responds

A bit more than a month ago I emailed Senator Feinstein a complaint about her support of the Mukasey nomination for Attorney General. Today I received a response. Here it is:

Dear Mr. ---:

Thank you for writing about Judge Michael Mukasey's nomination as Attorney General.

After doing my due diligence and carefully reviewing Judge Mukasey's record, I concluded that he will be a strong and independent leader of the Justice Department. I believe that if he was not confirmed, an acting Attorney General, who would not be confirmed by the Senate, would have led the Department for the remainder of the administration. The Justice Department is too important for that to happen.

Therefore, I supported Judge Mukasey's nomination and voted to confirm him. I made a statement on the Senate floor explaining my decision which I have enclosed, along with an op-ed I wrote and op-eds from several newspapers on the importance of confirming Judge Mukasey.

Please know that I appreciate your opinion and hope that you will continue to inform me of your views. If you should have any other comments you want to share with me, or if you have a question I can answer, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C. staff at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

I do not understand why people in her position still fail to see that this is not business as usual. She is aware that the President, like a petulant child, would have likely refused to send up another nomination if he did not get his way, and she doesn't see anything out of the ordinary in this. She is like an indulgent parent of a spoiled child.

In fairness to Senator Feinstein, she has spoken out recently on the subject of torture and made concrete proposals. I hope that she continues to pursue the topic. I hope too that she comes to see before its over that the President does not acknowledge the rules of the game in Washington.

- J