Left Coordinates 11th Hour Push Against Mukasey

Two of the signatories (Colleen Rowley and Larry Johnson) of this "urgent" letter to the majority and minority leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee have posted it at the Huffington Post and No Quarter. The letter asks the committee to prevent Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey's nomination from moving to the full Senate.

From Larry Johnson's website, No Quarter:

A group of distinguished intelligence and military officers, diplomats, and law enforcement professionals delivered an urgent message this morning to the chairman and the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling on them to hold the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey until he takes a clear position on the legality of waterboarding.

I suppose "distinguished," in the sense of "widely known" is technically correct here, but the list includes too many people who have been "distinguished" by partisan activity and relentless self-promotion for their letter to be taken as anything other than a political stunt. "Notorious" might better describe some, including signatory Mary McCarthy, who was dismissed from the CIA, allegedly for leaking classified information to the Press.

And, of course, when one of the most prominent signatories is a DailyKos diarist, as Larry Johnson is, there can be little doubt that the motivation for making so much noise over a technique that has been used three times is a partisan statement.

Also from Larry Johnson's website: