The full Democratic Caucus is set to vote on Joe Lieberman's Chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee next week. Write to your Senators, or call them, today!
Here's what I sent to WA Senators Murray and Cantwell today:
Dear Senator Murray: First, thank you for visiting our Canvassing Kickoff with Howard Dean and Governor Gregoire on the Saturday before the Election!
I am writing, as a constituent from West Seattle, to beg you on bended knee to vote to remove Senator Joe Lieberman (Joe Lieberman for Joe Lieberman party, CT) from his chairmanship of the Homeland Security committee when the Democratic Caucus convenes next week to vote on this issue. While I'm sure you're receiving plenty of emails, letters, and phone calls from constituents urging Sen. Lieberman's ouster from his committee Chair assignment for more partisan reasons (and his broken promise that he would support Senator McCain's candidacy, but refrain from attacking Senator Obama, is certainly a breach of faith with the Party, the Caucus, and his own word), there's something just as important to consider, if not more so:
Joe Lieberman has been incredibly ineffectual in his role as chair of the Homeland Security committee - particularly when it comes to the role he, and the committee, were supposed to play in standing up to the shameful actions of the Bush White House during these past years. Unlike its much more effective and active counterpart in the House, the Committee, under Joe Lieberman, failed to challenge the Bush Administration on its failures and offenses on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the "war on terror", torture, Hurricane Katrina, and a host of other issues the Committee was charged to oversee and investigate. It could be argued that Joe Lieberman's inaction as head of the Committee enabled and shielded a whole laundry list of failures of the Bush Administration, resulting in countless wasted tax dollars - and lives.
But there's ample reason to be suspicious, given his past behavior patterns, that an embarrassed, embittered Joe Lieberman may abuse his Chairmanship to "go after" the Obama Administration in a way he abjectly failed to do under the Bush Administration.
While Joe Lieberman's personal and political conduct during the Presidential election of 2008 (and his campaigning in support of other Republican candidates to the House and Senate in the recent past) are shameful enough, it's his dereliction of duty, lack of leadership, and failure to fulfill his role as chair of his Committee that should be the primary rationale for stripping him of his Committee assignment.
Let Joe Lieberman continue to caucus with the Democrats if he so chooses. Offer him Chairmanship of a different Committee - something that Mr. "Agreed with us on everything but the War" can be trusted with. But he's been an embarrassingly ineffective Chair of the Homeland Security Committee, and has failed at his duties in that role.
It's time to give someone else a chance to do a better job. If I dared to exhibit such lackluster performance and failure at my job, I would have been fired a long time ago.
Please vote to strip Joe Lieberman of his Committee Chair assignment.
Chris Roy
Precinct SEA 34-1545 / 34th District Democrats
---- 15th Avenue Southwest
Seattle WA 98136
206-_-__ nullemail@nullemail.com
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