With Dems in Charge, Accountability Suddenly Back in Fashion

From firedoglake:

Come Saturday Morning: Why Lieberman REALLY Wants The HSGA Gavel

Quoted from the Washington Monthly:

This seems to be routinely overlooked, but take a moment to consider 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?

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If you want to make sure that President Obama doesn't get CoupGated the way President Clinton was -- if you want to make sure that he has the time and freedom to pursue his agenda instead of being tied down by witchhunts the way Bill Clinton was (and do remember that Joe Lieberman, who professed to be Bill Clinton's friend, was aiding and abetting the GOP witchhunt) -- then Joe Lieberman must go. Now. Take his gavels away before he and his Republican friends can work to destroy Obama.

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Personally, I'd like to see Joe Lieberman made to wear copies of the Congressional Record documenting his betrayal of the American people on chains around his skinny neck. He's a backstabber that needs to be expelled like the POS he is. And flushed.