Long-shot Democratic White House contender Chris Dodd broke new ground by becoming the first presidential hopeful to announce plans to vote against confirming President George W. Bush’s nomination of Michael Mukasey to be U.S. attorney general.
 
In a conference call with reporters on Monday, Dodd voiced outrage at what he described as Mukasey’s excessively broad view of presidential powers — and accused the retired judge of failing to understand “we are a nation of laws, not men.”
 
At his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month, Mukasey was asked whether the president is required to obey federal statutes.
 
Mukasey replied: “That would have to depend on whether what goes on outside the statute nonetheless lies with the authority of the president to defend the country.”
 
Dodd said to suggest that the president is above the law “is a very, very troubling statement and more or less a continuation of the Alberto Gonzales’ mentality at the Justice Department, which many people found troubling.”

Dodd said he plans to raise the issue at Tuesday’s debate in Philadelphia by Democratic presidential candidates.
 
Mukasey is expected to provide answers this week to written questions from members of the Judiciary Committee on a number of matters, including presidential powers and if he believes the widely denounced interrogation technique known as waterboarding constitutes torture.
 
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a Republican White House contender and former prisoner of war in Vietnam, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that waterboarding, simulated drowning, is clearly torture, McCain said he’s anxiouis to hear if Mukasey agrees. 

– Reporting by Thomas Ferraro

– Photo credit: Neal Hamberg (Dodd in New Hampshire last month)