SocraticGadfly: Feinstein hoist by own petard

April 10, 2008

Feinstein hoist by own petard

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Betty Crocker), who along with Chuck Schumer was key in getting Mike Mukasey approved as Attorney General, is now hoist by her own petard as Mukasey refuses to give her a straight answer as to whether or not John Yoo’s 2001 memo claiming the Fourth Amendment had “no application to domestic military operations.”

Here’s the exchange:
“I’m just asking you, ‘Is this memo in force that the Fourth Amendment does not apply?’”

“The principle that the Fourth Amendment does not apply in wartime is not in force,” Mukasey replied.

“That’s not the principle I asked you about,” Feinstein countered. The memo referred to domestic military operations, she said.

“There are no domestic military operations being carried out today,” Mukasey replied.

“I’m asking you a question. That's not the answer.” …

Finally, Mukasey responded, “The Fourth Amendment applies across the board whether we’re in wartime or peacetime. It applies across the board.”

But, Mukasey then said he didn’t think the Yoo memo had focused on the Fourth Amendment.

I’ve said before, Dianne Feinstein’s political stances would be wonderful if she were a Democratic senator from, say, Oklahoma or Alabama. They would be solid if she were a Democratic senator from Ohio or Missouri.

But, she’s a waste, in essence, as a Democratic senator from California.

1 comment:

Gadfly said...

Having just tweeted this as a part of a thread, that started with a quote-tweet of Hemant Mehta comparing Sen. Betty Crocker to the Notoriously Neoliberal RBG, "Feinstein hoist by her own petard" is ironic, but only semi-true, as she doesn't think she's being "hoist" at all.