Star Wars, the Sequel

Shenon writes: "Mr. Leahy has said he would not schedule a vote on the nomination until Mr. Mukasey has responded to all written questions submitted to him since his confirmation hearings. Although Mr. Leahy and other Democrats were critical of Mr. Mukasey for several of his comments last week, including his expressions of support for the White House's view of its expansive wartime powers, it is still widely expected that he will be confirmed to the Justice Department job."

Phillip Carter and Dahlia Lithwick write for Slate: "More than any other interrogation technique employed by the United States, waterboarding has come to represent lawlessness and senseless brutality. In the eyes of the rest of the world, waterboarding has become to interrogation what Guantanamo is to incarceration. So, why won't the president (and his nominee for attorney general) go on record and disavow it once and for all? . . .

"As retired Rear Adm. John D. Hutson, a former top Navy lawyer and now dean of Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H., testified at Mukasey's hearing last week, 'Other than perhaps the rack and thumbscrews, waterboarding is the most iconic example of torture in history. It has been repudiated for centuries. It's a little bit disconcerting to hear now that we're not quite sure where waterboarding fits in the scheme of things.'"

Jonathan Turley writes in a Los Angeles Times op-ed that when it came to answering questions about waterboarding, "Mukasey suddenly seemed to morph into his predecessor, Alberto R. Gonzales -- beginning with a series of openly evasive answers that ultimately led to what appeared to be a lie. At first, he repeatedly stated that he does not support torture, which violates the U.S. Constitution. This is precisely the answer given so often by President Bush like a mantra. The problem is that Bush defines torture to exclude things like water-boarding. It is like saying you do not rob banks, but then defining bank robbery in such a way that it does not include walking in with a gun and demanding money from the cashier.

"The senators pushed Mukasey to go beyond the Bush administration mantra. He refused and then said something that made many of us who were listening gasp: 'I don't know what is involved in the technique,' he said.

"There are only two explanations for this answer, either of which should compel the senators to vote against confirmation. The first is that Mukasey is the most ill-informed nominee in the history of this republic. Torture, and water-boarding in particular, is one of the top issues facing the Justice Department, the subject of numerous lawsuits and one of the most obvious, predictable topics at the hearing. It has been discussed literally thousands of times in the media during the last six years. To say he is unfamiliar with the technique is perhaps the single greatest claim of ignorance since Clarence Thomas testified at his confirmation that he really had not thought enough about abortion to have an opinion on the subject.

"The second possibility is, unfortunately, the more likely explanation: Mukasey is lying."

Bush Fire

Jennifer Loven writes for the Associated Press: "Hurricane Katrina has many legacies for the Bush White House, none pleasant. One is the guarantee that as soon as disaster strikes in the United States, President Bush's every move is closely scrutinized to gauge the speed and tone of his response to the suffering.

"This became clear yet again on Tuesday, as the enormity of the wildfires sweeping across Southern California became apparent.

"The White House reacted with what has become a familiar pattern: Bush dropped a few lines of sympathy and promised assistance into an already scheduled speech. Across the administration, aides volunteered as many facts and figures as possible about the federal contribution to the disaster response, a federal emergency to speed relief funding was declared in the middle of the night, and a presidential visit to the affected area was quickly arranged."

But the jury is still out. Loven writes: "To be sure, the public relations piece of handling a tragedy is tricky. Overkill brings accusations of crass political opportunism. Too little attention, or waiting too long to visit, raises doubts about compassion." But "the most important piece of response, of course, isn't slideshows and presidential words of comfort. It's getting food, medical care, shelter and recovery teams to the area, not to mention staying committed during months (or years) or rebuilding."

Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times that, as of Tuesday morning, "the Pentagon had sent helicopters and troops to California and the homeland security secretary and head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency were on their way. By Tuesday evening, the White House announced that Mr. Bush himself would go on Thursday."