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Coburn on Exec. Privilege: Dems Repeating GOP Mistakes
While Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) hasn't "expressed a specific opinion yet on this latest development," according to spokesman John Hart, the White House-Senate Judiciary Committee showdown over the U.S. Attorney firings puts him in mind of GOP blunders with the Clinton administration. It would be better for the Democratic majority to focus on government waste than "witch hunts," in Coburn's view. Says Hart:
"Recall that Dr. Coburn is perhaps the only Senator who called for Gonzales' resignation to his face so he can't be dismissed as an administration apologist. He would rather see the Majority engage in waste hunts rather than witch hunts. If Congress spent a fraction of the time it spends on political oversight on real, objective oversight of agencies we could save the taxpayers billions of dollars every year. Also, if the Majority wants to set the standard for openness and transparency they should follow Senator Obama's lead and disclose their special interest pork-barrel requests.
He continued:
"Democrats shouldn't make the mistake Republicans made during the Clinton years when our party obsessed about the White House while spending exploded, waste went unchecked and conflicts of interest developed that eventually landed members in jail. The Democrats' feigned outrage about this subpoena is more of the same short-term approach to 'oversight' that has far more to do with fundraising than improving government."
As it stands so far, no Democratic member of the House or Senate judiciary committee has yet sold his or her house at way above market value to a defense contractor, or has been indicted for laundering money in an election scheme, but it's food for thought nonetheless.
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Josh
Zachary
Tom, some things are more important than money. Oh, wait, wait, that's right, you have an "(R)" after your name. Never mind.
June 28, 2007 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
"He would rather see the Majority engage in waste hunts rather than witch hunts"
Well, maybe if the Minority stopped being so obstructionist, the Majority could do both. As Steve Benen writes, the "Grand Obstructionist Party" has "obstructed almost every bill in the Senate — even ones with wide bipartisan support":
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/11270.html
June 28, 2007 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is nice of him to admit "the mistake Republicans made during the Clinton years when our party obsessed about the White House". But we're not talking about Christmas card lists (100 hours testimony) and Socks fan mail (~12 hours) these days. The issues are a tad more significant.
June 28, 2007 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
So Dr. Coburn doesn't feel that the appearance of capriciousness at the Justice Department warrants any attention from his peers. One hopes no GOP colleague of his is ever charged with a Federal crime.
Actually, one hopes that many are.
June 28, 2007 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Has John Hart shut his ears each time Sen Schumer has told Gonzales to his face that he should step down?
Sen Coburn diluted the impact of his demand, in my opinion, by slipping in a couple of demeaning asides, for example, when he granted that he "was the only non-lawyer on the committee."
June 28, 2007 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Quick, look over here - never mind the giant shit bomb planted under the non-existant elephant.
Sorry Tom, real crimes and misdemeanors are a different story than the witch hunts against the Clintons (and remember, $40 million investment found no wrong doing. All they got was catching Bill lying about a blow job.)
June 28, 2007 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Translation: The republicans are scared.
Code: Snake, as in Snake in the Grass.
June 28, 2007 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
This time the witches are real. Burn 'em out.
June 28, 2007 4:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think it's publicly known whether Coburn was one of the three Republicans on the committee who voted against the subpoenas, or one of the three who did not vote on the issue. (We know he isn't one of the three who voted for the subpoenas, as their identities are known: Specter, Hatch, and Grassley.)
But, whatever he did, I think he's offering an excuse for it here.
June 28, 2007 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Witch hunt: investigating a land deal and prosecuting a blowj*b.
Congress: do the People's business and investigate by way of impeachment, now.
We, the People: Make it happen.
June 28, 2007 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Democrats shouldn't make the mistake Republicans made during the Clinton years when our party obsessed about the White House while spending exploded, waste went unchecked..."
WTF? Which reality is "Doctor" Coburn referring to? Did not Clinton leave office with a budget surplus which the Republicans promptly inverted into a staggering budget deficit?
One hopes the DNC is recording this series of absurd comments emanting from the Rove shop to be included in next-cycle campaign literature against these blathering idiots.
June 28, 2007 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Oh please..., whatever you do, please don't throw me into the briar patch."
June 28, 2007 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is Rep. William Jefferson a Democrat? Because I'm pretty sure he got indicted for corruption, including a $90,000 cash bribe that federal investigators found hidden in his freezer.
Corruption is a bipartisan disease, nothwithstanding Mr. Ackerman's editorializing.
June 28, 2007 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, witch-hunts are VERY counter-productive to witches. Serious witch-hunts require legal documents, and formal charges and such. All they need to do is review the total publc history of this administration to find the obvious evidence. It's all hiding there in plain sight, waiting for a prosecutor with some sort of clue about what's in the constitution.
June 28, 2007 6:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dr. Coburn has us all haring after the Clinton years. WTF was the Rethug majority doing about oversight hearings to prevent waste during the Bush years?
Oh, yeah, that's right. Quite a number were checking their bank accounts.
June 28, 2007 6:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've never seen $90,000 buy so much amelioration.
June 28, 2007 7:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is utter BS that the GOP is "sharing" all their "concerns" "for" the DNC.
Baloney, the DNC if it was doing someting stupid -- which it is not with impeachment -- would be a prize for the GOP.
The facdt that the GOP is trying to "stop" the DNC from "doing bad thigns to itself" is absurd: GOP, if was really aware of "DNC doing bad things to itself," would be quiet and let the DNC hang themselves.
This GOP won't listen to its own party members; when did the GOP sudden get concerned with the "DNC internal stability"?
Get real: This 'concern' is non-sense and not a real objective of the GOP. If they were concerned about anything "backfiring for the DNC", the GOP would remain silent and not "help" the GOP.
June 28, 2007 7:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is utter BS that the GOP is "sharing" all their "concerns" "for" the DNC.
Baloney, the DNC if it was doing someting stupid -- which it is not with impeachment -- would be a prize for the GOP.
The facdt that the GOP is trying to "stop" the DNC from "doing bad thigns to itself" is absurd: GOP, if was really aware of "DNC doing bad things to itself," would be quiet and let the DNC hang themselves.
This GOP won't listen to its own party members; when did the GOP sudden get concerned with the "DNC internal stability"?
Get real: This 'concern' is non-sense and not a real objective of the GOP. If they were concerned about anything "backfiring for the DNC", the GOP would remain silent and not "help" the DNC.
June 28, 2007 7:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Since when is the GOP going to "stop" the DNC from "doing bad things to itself": This is laughable, and shows the GOP isn't serious about "helping" the DNC: They want to save themselves: Get real GOP, "Democrats shouldn't make the mistake Republicans made during the Clinton years" -- you're not trying to help the DNC, you're making excuses to induce the DNC to do nothing.
Bring on Senate Vote for 2008: Backlash against the GOP for their recklessness. How many days until the GOP is destroyed as a party and cannot raise any more money? GOP is worthless, trashed, and morally bankrupt. Stooges!
June 28, 2007 7:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where was the oversight during the Republican controlled Congress Tom? Oh yeah - handing out money for no work...
From ABC today
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/06/report-wasteful.html
The U.S. government has committed to spend a record-high $1.1 trillion with companies holding government contracts "plagued by waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement," according to a new report by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The report blames the rise in bad spending on a sharp increase in noncompetitive contracting and a general increase in the use of private companies to perform government functions.
More than $200 billion in taxpayer money was spent on projects for which only one or a handful of companies submitted bids, the committee found.
That figure has more than tripled since 2000, according to the report, and now comprises more than half of all government spending outside of entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
June 28, 2007 7:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
The witches are the wasters. When the witchs are imprisoned the waste will be halted
June 28, 2007 9:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Coburn's going down with the rest of the Republicans.
The term "frivolous lawsuit" describes perfectly the witch hunt conducted against President Bill Clinton back in the 1990s.
However, there is nothing "frivolous" at all in Democrats going after the most corrupt administration in American history, an administration filled with cutthroat Republican pirates who have plundered our democracy, set fire to our Constitution and Bill of Rights, and raped the future of our nation's children.
In other words, while most Democrats (and even some less-corrupt Republicans) are trying to save our country from being turned into a third-world banana republic run by a bunch of fascist thugs, certain other Republicans (and even some DINO Democrats) are trying one stalling tactic after another, thus aiding and abetting the continuing criminal activities of BushCo.
Hopefully, we can kick even more of these BushCo criminal accessories out of our Congress in November 2008. Our very democracy hangs in the balance, and it will still take a long, long time to undo the damage done to our democracy by these ideologically conservative "banana republic" thugs, like Coburn.
June 28, 2007 9:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
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June 29, 2007 9:58 AM | Reply | Permalink