Joe Biden’s Last Presidential Test

As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden is going nowhere fast. He is the favorite of 1 percent of surveyed Democratic voters in the latest CNN poll, down from 2 percent a month ago. Last week bumper stickers, buttons and t-shirts in promotion of Joe Biden‘s presidential candidacy accounted for less than one percent of all Election 2008 items we sold.

And yet Senator Joseph Biden is in a powerful position. He is a high-ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which today is holding confirmation hearings for George W. Bush’s nominee to the position of Attorney General, Michael B. Mukasey. Senator Biden has a history of wasting opportunities to ask incisive questions, instead taking his moment on the stage to talk about his kids, remark about his college days, and complain that he doesn’t have enough time.

The presidential primaries are fast approaching, Senator Joseph Biden, and if you want to change the prospects of candidate Joe Biden you have one last opportunity. This is it. The Attorney General under George W. Bush has the authority and responsibility of upholding the system of American justice. In the Bush administration, the system of American justice stands for the use and legitimation of torture. Candidate Joe Biden can demonstrate that he deserves to be president by bringing some discipline and incision to the confirmation hearing of Michael B. Mukasey today. He can ask the following line of questions:

Question 1a. Federal law, specifically 18 USC 2340, includes in its definition of torture the infliction of severe suffering. Do you consider sustained chilling of the human body to be an infliction of severe suffering?

Question 1b. Do you consider sustained chilling of the human body to be torture?

Question 2. Federal law, specifically 18 USC 2340, includes in its definition of torture the threat of imminent death. Do you consider the practice of waterboarding to be a threat of imminent death?

Question 2b. Do you consider the practice of waterboarding to be torture?

Question 3. Federal law, specifically 18 USC 2340A, specifies that U.S. citizens U.S. nationals, and individuals on U.S. soil who commit torture whether here or overseas “shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.” As Attorney General, will you order the prosecution of individuals who have under 18 USC 2340-2340A committed acts of torture?

Question 4. Federal law, specifically 18 USC 2340A, specifies that “A person who conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.” As Attorney General, will you order the prosecution of individuals who have participated in a conspiracy to commit torture?

Biden can rise to the occasion and demand an moral and legal accounting by the man who would head our nation’s Department of Justice. Or Biden can waste a final opportunity to demonstrate his presidential merit, letting the country’s legal and moral framework slide downward while he talks about something he did one in 1972.

Here’s your moment, Mr. Biden. What will you do with it?