A Refusal of Law

It’s official; Attorney General Michael “The Refuser” Mukasey is indeed the second coming of former AG Alberto “Albatross” Gonzales…

Speaking before the ABA today, Mukasey said that the “negative publicity” those that politicized the DOJ’s internship and Honors programs was punishment enough and out-rightly rejected any possibility of prosecution. Said Mukasey; “That does not mean, as some people have suggested, that those officials who were found by the joint reports to have committed misconduct have suffered no consequences. Far from it. The officials most directly implicated in the misconduct left the Department to the accompaniment of substantial negative publicity. … To put it in concrete terms, I doubt that anyone in this room would want to trade places with any of those people.”

Negative publicity is enough of a deterrent for crime… really? Granted, I’m not an attorney, but it seems to me that Mukasey’s view is spectacularly minimalistic and naïve.

Why have laws if all it takes is “negative publicity” to ensure someone doesn’t do something again?

Why have the death penalty? If someone kills someone, the “negative publicity” would be more than enough of a deterrent to stop them from doing it again…

Granted, it’s two totally diverse law breaking… but when the AG of the United States says that the “negative publicity” faced by someone who broke the law is enough… that’s just wrong.

Mukasey is the man confirmed to head the nation’s law enforcement… the man confirmed to ensure laws are followed and not broken… the man confirmed to be everything this administration wasn’t.

And now Mukasey has done nothing but prove himself as incompetent as Gonzales… perhaps more so.

And Mukasey wasn’t done as he said “not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.”

Not every violation of the law is a crime??? Isn’t that the definition of crime; a violation of the law?? So the man heading the nation’s law enforcement is, essentially, refusing to enforce the law?

And does Mukasey truly expect anyone with a brain to believe that “negative publicity” is hampering the job search of any of Bush’s former cronies?

Name one, just one, person with direct connections to this administration whose life or career has been ruined by “negative publicity.”

I’ll be waiting…