Leahy and Sanders Say “No” To Lieberman
Here at They Will Say ANYTHING! the things they say run somewhere between ridiculous and reprehensible. In fact, that’s what I like to report. Yet, sometimes the things they say can be remarkably refreshing, and this entry delights in two United States Senators who have broken a few plates, so to speak, in the Senate Club dining room, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
On Friday, November 14, Daily Kos reported a Vermont Public Radio interview with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Leahy who asserted that, for his deplorably raucous support for Senator John McCain in the presidential election, Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) deserved to lose his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. As you’ll hear on the audio below, Senator Leahy was quite straightforward in his views, and for a United States senator that’s both remarkable and refreshing. Smashing dinnerware right and left, Leahy disturbed the casual attitude of the Senate Club as he loudly listed the obvious facts about Lieberman’s treachery, facts that most other Democratic senators choose to ignore, deny, or tread softly upon. Worse, some Senate Democrats propose, as Blue Dog Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) did, letting “bygones be bygones,” and eagerly await welcoming Lieberman back to the Democratic caucus and his chairmanship.
Senator Leahy, however, has different thoughts about Lieberman: “I felt that some of the attacks that he was involved in against Sen. Obama, whom I did support — I was one of the first in the Congress to support him — I thought they went way beyond the pale. I thought that they were not fair. I thought they were not legitimate. I thought that they perpetuated some of these horrible myths that were being run about Sen. Obama.” In the clubby atmosphere of the Senate, this is like shouting “Sez who?” at the Pope during his Easter homily. And this kind of breach of etiquette is definitely what is needed in re Joseph Lieberman.
Senator Sanders, in another matter-of-fact statement sent to Talking Points Memo was equally forceful as Senator Leahy, “To reward Senator Lieberman with a major committee chairmanship would be a slap in the face of millions of Americans who worked tirelessly for Barack Obama and who want to see real change in our country. Appointing someone to a major post who led the opposition to everything we are fighting for is not ‘change we can believe in.’ I very much hope that Senator Lieberman stays in the Democratic caucus and is successful in regaining the confidence of those whom he has disappointed. This is not a time, however, in which he should be rewarded with a major committee chairmanship.”
Allowing Lieberman to run the Homeland Security Committee is akin to simply handing the committee over to the Republican party. He already has been instrumental in their bidding through the do nothing agenda he adopted as 
chairman in the 110th Congress, holding no investigative hearings regarding Bush administration misfeasance and neglect. In fact, it would be a good bet that had John McCain been chairman then, investigations and oversight would have been more likely. In addition to his abject failure as committee chair, his efforts for the McCain candidacy on the campaign trail are as infamous as they are legendary. He even supported Republican senatorial incumbents against Democratic challengers.
When considering Lieberman’s role in the 111th Congress, consider the importance of the oversight and investigatory responsibilities of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, one of the more powerful Senate committees. Surely, the country needs to have Bush administration practices examined in full light, and with the executive branch in Democratic hands information will likely flow more freely to congressional committees of all stripes. It is unfortunate, but likely, that nothing like full-scale investigations of the Bush administration will occur during an Obama presidency, and oddly enough, this is precisely because of the incredible mess Bush has left in his wake. The new administration will be forced by circumstances not of its making to move in a forward direction towards resolving the “ongoings”: the financial crisis, the recession, the wars, the very idea of “public service,” and the general mess left by GOP Luddites at the helm. Yet, some investigations of the Bush years are utterly essential, not merely for historians, but for the c
ountry as a whole. Therefore, the very committee that Lieberman chairs needs to be led by an individual who shares the beliefs of the Democratic party as a whole.
Senator Lieberman has forfeited his right to lead. This is not, as Evan Bayh suggested, “retribution,” it is justice. As the Republicans told us time and time again, “elections have consequences.” If he bolts parties as some Dems fear, so be it. The Democratic party cannot afford to sell its prized committee chairs for the likes of Joseph Lieberman. Nor can it be seen as caving in to his demands, nor to his insincere apologies, should they come next week in the Democratic caucus meetings. The consequences of this election for Senator Lieberman ought to be nothing less than a long banishment to the political wilderness, and bravo to Senators Leahy and Sanders for pointing Senator Lieberman and staff toward the dusty road to the lonely prairie. There, “thanks” to the housing crisis, he will find some very fine cabins available on the cheap . . .
