Mukasey Quotes Socialist Eugene Debs on Discussion National Security IssuesAttorney General Michael Mukasey is having a lovely time in front of the House Judiciary Committee today, bantering about college football with Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) and quoting America’s archetypal socialist during questioning with Rep. Ric Keller (R-FL):
KELLER: Back to my original questions. You’ve got less than six months on the clock here with the end of the Bush administration, uh, will you commit today to sitting down with our congressional leaders to try to fashion a compromise relating to these national security issues that would ultimately result in you being able to reccomend that the president sign the bill or in the alternative is there no bill that you would recommend being signed?MUKASEY: Um, I’m in the same position as, um, a Socialist candidate for president named Eugene Debs who said, “I’ll talk to anybody who’ll talk to me.” I’ll sit down with anybody that wants to sit down and have a serious conversation about what can be done and what can’t be done, but first we need to talk about what’s there and what’s there is not acceptable.
Before that, Keller asked the AG some questions about the Media Shield Bill — which is a really, really, really bad idea according to Mukasey. Not even ten angels could save it, nevermind presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain:
KELLER: … Obama and Senator McCain said they would sign the bill and I think we can agree that one of those two men is going to be the president of the United States. And so, you would agree with all three of those facts?MUKASEY: I would agree with all of those facts and I would also agree that ten angels swearing on bibles that that bill was harmless would not change the provisions that are in it.