Michael Mukasey’s name sounds awfully familiar to me and I wonder if he’s come through my part of town at some point. He’s the nominee that could replace Alberto Gonzalez in the vacant Attorney General slot. Amusingly, he seems to be trying to audition for a spot in the Bush administration by meeting the assumed qualification of making a regular ass out of oneself. When asked by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday whether waterboarding is torture, Mukasey replied that he wasn’t sure. He said he’d have to look into the matter and it certainly sounds bad enough, but he’s not sure if the US practices it. You can’t be sure it’s being used for torture purposes.

Waterboarding by the way is where you put a washcloth over a guy’s face as he’s laying down and pour water over his face. It’s an effect similar to drowning basically.

I’d actually respect him if he were honest (I know, politicians) and came out and said the truth instead of trying to please everyone. I’m on the fence about torture right now so I’m not coming out against or for it. I think it’s pretty obvious this country participates in it, between Mukasey’s response as well as Bush ducking the question in a comically inept manner during a press conference last week. Don’t want to get caught in a lie in case evidence comes out.

Meanwhile, Bush has a 24% approval rate right now. Not even a quarter of this country supports him. Has any president in recent memory ever had it that bad? Serious question, I don’t keep up on this stuff.