Great. Now a Dem senator is bashing one of Obama's nominees.

[KamaAina]

Drum roll please.... it's Feinstein. :puke:

http://www.slate.com/id/2212228/pagenum/all

In fact Johnsen's sternest reprimand of the day comes from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who warns that the problems of the last eight years were caused because the OLC 9Office of Legal Counsel -Ed.) "went far to the right" and cautions that she does not want the office "to go that far left" on Johnsen's watch. (Hard even to imagine what the left-leaning parallel to John Yoo's OLC might look like. Daily yoga drills? Forced huggings for enemy combatants?)

"You have been an activist," intones Feinstein. "You said when you go in that door you will give all that up. Can you do that?" And Johnsen, sounding like she's an inpatient at some exclusive advocacy rehab center in Utah, is forced to repeat, again and again, that her mission at the OLC is to adhere to and promote the rule of law.

Part of the problem is that over the past eight years, Johnsen (who I know a little and admire a lot) has burnished her academic and professional credentials with punditry, bloggery, and advocacy. This makes her an easy target for criticism. She has spoken out clearly! She has criticized openly! She has used language like "outrage" and "torture" to describe outrages and torture. Curiously enough, nobody on the committee disagrees with these legal conclusions today. They're just mainly bothered that she said them aloud....

The low point comes when Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., begins to question Johnsen on a position she has allegedly taken, declaring that abortion bans are a violation of the 13th Amendment ban on slavery. Johnsen responds that she was shocked to see this analysis in a piece in the National Review, which pulled a footnote out of a brief written 20 years ago, tore it out of context, then baldly misstated Johnsen's position as concluding that "forced pregnancy" somehow "violates the Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibits slavery." Johnsen clarifies today that she at no point argued that abortion bans violate the 13th Amendment and explains that the footnote in question merely noted that forced pregnancy is "disturbingly suggestive of involuntary servitude." Some might call this radical lawyering. Others call it legal argument. Specter seems to understand the difference when he mutters, "I'll take a look at footnote 23. I don't have a lot of time."

Lovely. One of the three moderate* repukes we needed to get the stimulus passed, and an honest-to FSM Dem (?), are both on the attack. Sounds to me like Johnsen is doing something right!

[msongs]

1. Feinstein is the republican-lite senator from california nt

[The Hope Mobile]

2. Couldn't agree more.

She's been frustrating me more and more lately.

[joeybee12]

3. If this only posturing by DiFi, I won't do soemthing to DiFi I shouldn't do...

...if, however, she votes against Johnsen, then I WILL do it. Enough is enough of this cro-magnum female.

[madrchsod]

4. oh that dianne, she`s showing her true colors again...

[MADem]

5. It's all just Advise and Consent Theater. Johnson recited her lines beautifully.

Johnsen ultimately proves herself to be somewhat less radical than many of the Democrats on the committee might have hoped. She tells Feinstein that she will release classified OLC memos, unless there are "compelling national security reasons" not to.f When Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., asks how the process for reviewing the previous OLC's flawed memos will unfold, she tells him she plans to "start with ones that may have ongoing application." Whitehouse stops her to say she needs to focus both on the ongoing memos and also on a "lookback" at those that were withdrawn. But Johnsen, like her bosses, is clearly more interested in moving forward. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asks whether we are "at war" with al-Qaida, and she says, "Yes, we are" the way some of us recited our wedding vows. She tells him that under the laws of armed conflict, we can hold the enemy until the end of hostilities.

But for those of us who have become accustomed in the past weeks to being grateful for half a loaf, Johnsen offers up three-quarters. She says torture is illegal and water-boarding is torture. She clarifies that the president may not order torture if duly enacted laws prohibit him from doing so. She opposes presidential abuse of signing statements. She says the OLC should have a preference for transparency. She pledges not to halt or interfere with the release of the impending Office of Professional Responsibility report about the competence of previous OLC opinions. And When Sen. Whitehouse describes the previous administration's OLC as "Dick Cheney's Little Shop of Legal Horrors," she cracks a grin.


And the Academy Award...and confirmation...goes to......!!!

The Senate Judiciary Committee is famous for pulling this kind of grandstanding bullshit; they even did it under BushCo. They always get CSPAN time and they're always covered, so they feel compelled to put on a good show. They want to flex their muscles and behave as though they aren't a rubber-stamp entity.

[chill_wind]

6. Ugh! Feinstein must be worried about her own skin. n/t

[4lbs]

7. She also complained about Panetta for CIA Director.

Par for the course.

[stillcool]

8. Didn't she recently have a little..

foot in mouth problem?

[lonestarnot]

9. I didn't like the way she acted last night either! Peeee UUUUU

[Thickasabrick]

10. Whuuuu??? I missed it....what did she do last night?