Congress: Trouble ahead

Well, that feeling of elation was great while it lasted. We now see troubling signs that, instead of impeachment hearings, two years of "controlled" congressional investigations may ensue.

Alcee Hastings: As mentioned earlier, Nancy Pelosi does not get along with Jane Harman, who wants to head the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Instead, that important job seems destined for Alcee Hastings, a darling of the Congressional Black Caucus. Alas, Hastings has a troubling past:

While a federal judge in Florida -- and only two years after being appointed to the bench by President Jimmy Carter -- Hastings was charged with accepting a $150,000 bribe in exchange for giving a lenient sentence to two men charged and convicted of racketeering.

He was acquitted of the charge of bribery in a Miami court after an alleged accomplice went to prison rather than testify against him. But in 1989 the Democratic-controlled House took a look at the evidence and impeached Hastings for bribery and perjury by a 413-3 vote. The Senate -- also Democratic controlled -- convicted him on eight articles of impeachment and removed him from the bench. Pelosi voted for Hastings' impeachment.

Harman may have been too chummy with the Republicans, but she has done good work on the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal -- which is, in its depths, an intelligence scandal. The task of following that line of investigation to its final destination should not go to someone who himself has a history of bribery.

Hastings has claimed that the charges against him resulted from racism. No less a figure than John Conyers has called him on that bullshit.

If you read enough "true life" spy literature, you'll occasionally encounter statements by CIA alumni who openly brag that the intel community controls the congressional oversight panels. That history must stop here and now. I don't know if Harman is the right person, but Hastings is certainly the wrong one.

Joseph Lieberman: By making noises about a party switch, this Connecti-cunt has positioned himself to get whatever he damn well pleases from the Democratic leadership. And what pleases him is to chair the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

This is precisely the wrong position for Lieberman. Is he going to uncover security lapses? Will he find dirt on an administration which allowed him to keep his job? Will he get at the truth of 9/11? I think not.

Obviously, the Bushites abandoned their own candidate in CT in order to put Lieberman in a position where he could offer cover. In short: Joe and Karl cut a deal.

Although I tend toward political realism, this is one case in which I might have advised the Democratic leadership to hand Joe Lieberman a small note with two simple words written on it: Screw and you. Boot the bastard out the back door with a donkey's hoof-print on his backside, and let him crawl through the final six years of his political life as an impotent and despised figure. Even control of the Senate isn't prize enough to justify tolerating that vile traitor.

A divided Congress might be best during the next two years. If we don't get the impeachable goods on the Bushies -- and it now looks as though we may not -- we'll find it useful to have someone to blame.