"I do."

Should we believe? I read this while trying to not work on the talk I have to give tomorrow.

Mr. Mukasey noted that a 2002 memorandum by Jay Bybee, an assistant attorney general at the time, stating that the president had the power to circumvent the Geneva Conventions as well as laws banning torture, was later disavowed and superseded.

“Would it be a safe characterization of what you’ve just said that you repudiate this memo as not only being contrary to law, but also contrary to the values America stands for?” Mr. Leahy asked.

“I do,” the nominee replied.

“Thank you,” Mr. Leahy said. “Is there such a thing as a commander-in-chief override that would allow the immunization of acts of torture that violate the law?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Mr. Mukasey said.

On one hand, this is encouraging to hear. On the other hand, he isn’t exactly going against any current practices in the Bush administration — as he noted, they have already decided that memo is wrong. But what about all those other memos that came afterwards that redefined various practices as “not being torture?”