In September, the White House has declared that its “next priority this fall” is to obtain Senate approval for Steven Bradbury, “the man who is advising President Bush on the extent of his terrorism-fighting powers.” In 2005, Bradbury replaced Jack Goldsmith as head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) and has since been interim OLC chief.

Today, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) expressed reservations about Bradbury. “What we know is troubling. Mr. Bradbury refuses to repudiate un-American and inhumane tactics such as waterboarding and mock executions. … There are also serious and unanswered questions about Mr. Bradbury’s role in NSA warrantless surveillance programs.”

Durbin announced that he, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), have written a letter to President Bush calling on him to find a more independent nominee:

I think we need new leadership at the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. Today, joined by Sens. Ted Kennedy and Russ Feingold, I’m sending a letter to President Bush calling on him to withdraw the nomination of Steven Bradbury … and to submit another nomination. … OLC is a small office, but it really has a lot of power, especially in this administration.

Watch it:

A lengthy New York Times expose this month revealed that in 2005, Bradbury signed off on a secret DoJ torture memo that endorsed “the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the CIA.” Bradbury also approved an executive order approving “enhanced” interrogation techniques.

The White House “relies on OLC for legal approval of surveillance programs, detainee treatment” and a host of classified issues; subsequently, Bradbury has been on the forefront of these efforts, allowing himself to become a politicized tool of Dick Cheney’s office. Such politicization appears to have occurred, “with Cheney’s blessing, to ensure that the department didn’t balk, as Goldsmith and his allies did, over torture or surveillance or indefinite detentions.”

In July 2006, Bradbury testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and proclaimed that “the president is always right.”

Marc Ambinder channels some solid oppo research:

By the way: A wag working for a rival campaign picked up on Giuliani’s criticism of George Soros today: “I think that George Soros and MoveOn.org is kind of a new low in vicious, politics of personal destruction…Every campaign I’ve ever seen from them has been about personally destroying the Republican”…. and points out that Giuliani appointed Soros to a coalition opposing “Anti-Immigrant Forces” in DC.

Question: Which do conservatives hate more, Soros or immigrants?

On Thursday, ThinkProgress reported that Don Stewart, the communications director for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), had sent an e-mail encouraging reporters to cover the right-wing smear campaign of 12-year old Graeme Frost. But on Friday, McConnell claimed his office was not involved:

Q: Was there an indication that your office was trying to push reporters to dig into this 12-year old’s background?

McCONNELL: No

Q: Then what was the deal with the e-mail from your staffer?

McCONNELL:There was no involvement whatsoever.

Q: From your staff.

McCONNELL: None.

Watch it:

Yesterday, Stewart admitted that he helped launch the smear campaign.

(HT: Page One Kentucky)

The AP reports, “Republican White House candidates pounded Iran Tuesday, with Rudolph Giuliani warning of a military strike to deprive it of a nuclear bomb, and a top rival lashing ‘terror masters’ in Tehran.” Giuliani said, “If I am president of the United States, I guarantee you, we will never find out what they will do if they get nuclear weapons, because they are not going to get a nuclear weapon.”

During her appearance on MSNBC today, Lynne Cheney attempted to discredit Cheney’s Law, the new Frontline documentary exploring her husband’s “secretive, and often bitter battle to expand the power of the presidency,” calling it “predictable,” “one-sided” and “a hit job.” Cheney charged that the film, which premieres tonight, has a “complete and total lack of objectivity”:

A piece like this, which is the second in a series. The complete and total lack of objectivity in this piece. The fact that no long form documentary is being prepared, or will ever be prepared that would show it from the other point of view. This is a one-sided, it’s a, what do you call it, a hit job.

Watch it:

While Cheney is complaining about Frontline’s supposed “one-sided” report, she neglects to mention that neither Vice President Cheney nor his Chief of Staff David Addington “agreed to be interviewed” for the documentary. Their point of view is expressed, however, by former Office of Legal Counsel lawyer John Yoo, who had an integral hand in formulating the legal basis for Cheney’s policies.

Additionally, Ms. Cheney is demonstrating an exceptionally weak memory when she claims “no long form documentary…will ever be prepared that would show it from the other point of view,” considering that just this past weekend Fox News aired an hour-long hagiography titled “Dick Cheney: No Retreat.”

Who gave Cheney’s “point of view” to Fox? Dick Cheney.

UPDATE: Watch the preview of Cheney’s Law: