Why Wholey Joe Loserman suddenly has found the will to govern, Steve Benen (Washington Monthly) NAILS IT!"...Reid offered Lieberman a chance to stay in the Democratic caucus, keep his seniority, and become the chairman of some other committee. Lieberman thinks that's "unacceptable" and reportedly "begged" to stay on as chairman of Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.I can think of none better, actually, other than holding Obama's feet to the fire to try to accomplish things that would turn Wholy Joe's scrofulae to concrete. Let's lose Lieberman NOW!
...(I)t's only partly about holding Lieberman accountable for his betrayals. This is actually about a specific power Lieberman is intent on keeping for a specific reason.
...(C)onsider what the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs actually does: it's the committee principally responsible for oversight of the executive branch. It's an accountability committee, charged with investigating the conduct of the White House and the president's administration.
As chairman of this committee for the last two years, Lieberman decided not to pursue any accusations of wrongdoing against the Bush administration. Lieberman's House counterpart -- Rep. Henry Waxman's Oversight Committee -- was a vigilant watchdog, holding hearings, issuing subpoenas, and launching multiple investigations. Lieberman preferred to let his committee do no real work at all. It was arguably the most pathetic display of this Congress.
And yet, now Lieberman acts as if keeping this chairmanship is the single most important part of his public life. Why would he be so desperate to keep the gavel of a committee he hasn't used? I'll let you in on a secret: he wants to start using the power of this committee against Obama.
Lieberman didn't want to hold Bush accountable, but he seems exceedingly anxious to keep the committee that would go after Obama with a vengeance, effectively becoming a Waxman-like figure -- holding hearings, issuing subpoenas, and launching investigations against the Democratic president.
Lieberman doesn't care about "reconciliation," he cares about going after a Democratic administration. Why else would he fight diligently to be chairman of one committee instead of another?
In anticipation of Senate Dems deciding Lieberman's fate, MyDD's Josh Orton, AmericaBlog's John Aravosis, and others, are getting organized, preparing to push the party to do what Harry Reid apparently wants to do. It's a very worthwhile endeavor.
(DOTOF™ to Eli/Multi-Medium! Emphases supplied.)
3 comments:
I would suggest that in his position as chair of Homeland Security, Lieberman keeps his access to intelligence like that being used in the Holy Land Foundation trial. The intelligence depends heavily on cooperation with Israeli intelligence. I am sure that Lieberman keeps his community aware that he is deeply involved in Israeli security matters, and gains a lot of support that way. Do look at my posts on the HLF trial, the U.S. prosecution is just creepy. Thursday it was maintaining that the Palestinian problem is created by all those Ayrabs breeding like rabbits. This is a disgrace to our country.
Good point, Ruth...
I wanna see Holy Joe gone as much as anyone, but I don't see him using the HLS committee to go after Obama. He's not that stupid. But the committee does need a competent chair and Joe ain't it. At very least he should be forced to give it up. -- Sparkle Plenty
P.S. Ruth, I'm gonna go look up yr HLF posts now.
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