2015考研英语阅读集中练Abdicate and Capitulate_大学英语阅读

2015考研英语阅读集中练Abdicate and Capitulate

　　The Democrats, however, also deserve a large measure of blame. They did almost nothing

　　while they were in the minority to demand better nominees than Mt. Bush was sending up. And now that they have attained the majority, they are not doing any better.

　　On Thursday, the Senate voted by 53 to 40 to confirm Mr. Mukasey even though he would not answer a simple question: does he think waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning used to extract information from a prisoner, is torture and therefore illegal?

　　Democrats offer excuses for their sorry record, starting with their razor-thin majority. But it is often said that any vote in the Senate requires more than 60 votes-enough to overcome a filibuster. So why did Mr. Mukaey get by with only 53 votes? Given the success the Republicans have had in blocking action when the Democrats cannot muster 60 votes, the main culprit appears to be the Democratic leadership, which seems uninterested in or incapable of standing up to Mr. Bush.

　　Senator Charles Schumer, the New York Democrat who turned the tide for this nomination, said that if the Senate did not approve Mr. Mukasey, the president would get by with an interim appointment who would be under the sway of the extreme ideology of Vice President Dick Cheney . He argued that Mr. Mukasey could be counted on to reverse the politicization of the Justice Department that occurred under Alberto Gonzales, and that Mr. Mukaseys reticence about calling waterboarding illegal might well become moot, because the Senate was considering a law making clear that it is illegal.