| Joe Lieberman is using his chairmanship of an important Senate committee to question President Obama's appointment of numerous advisors, labeled "czars" by the media. (Lieberman was allowed to keep the chairmanship by the Democratic members of the Senate despite his apostasy in running against the Democratic candidate for Senate, Ned Lamont, and later supporting John McCain for President.)
Here's the story:
...The latest skirmish between conservatives and the Obama administration - the proliferation of "czars" named by the president to handle pressing issues - is prompting efforts in Congress to put limits on the White House....
Conservative commentator Glenn Beck... has fueled concern about the advisers by charging that they are another manifestation of big government run amok under control of the Democrats...
The term "czar," often used as a shorthand title by the news media, dates at least to the administration of Franklin Roosevelt, according to White House communications director Anita Dunn. Richard Nixon was the first to appoint a "drug czar," the position most commonly associated with the word. That post - officially the president's adviser on drug trafficking - was created by Congress.
The new advisers - including the czars for the auto industry, executive pay and health care - reflect the crises Obama faced when he took office and his broad agenda, Dunn says. Other positions, such as the one for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, are short-term posts, she says....
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent and chairman of the governmental affairs committee, plans a hearing on the issue on Oct. 7. He says he expects to introduce "appropriate and thoughtful legislation to deal with this problem..."
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., complains the issue has been driven by "partisan commentators" who are "suggesting this is somehow a new phenomenon that's threatening our democracy..."
Why would Joe Lieberman follow Glenn Beck's lead? Well according to this fascinating article in Salon, they were good friends:
...During his first two years in Connecticut, Beck slid further toward the abyss.
He was drinking and mixing recreational and prescription drugs. Once again, he earned a rep among his coworkers for being erratic and moody. "When Beck was not taking certain drugs he was supposed to be taking he could act very bizarre," remembers Kelly Nash, who managed Beck in New Haven...
Alone and peering over the ledge, Beck pulled back. In November of 1994 he attended his first AA meeting. That month he became a dry drunk and stopped smoking weed. He chopped off his ponytail...
Even before he cleaned up, Beck had waded into local Connecticut politics. Among his and Gray's favorite early on-air targets was Connecticut's Independent governor, Lowell Weicker, who had left the Republican Party after losing his Senate seat. Beck went after the liberal Weicker whenever he got the chance...
One local politician who appreciated Beck's regular digs at the governor was the man who had defeated Weicker in a bitterly contested 1988 senate race: Democrat Joe Lieberman. Beck and the senator were friendly throughout the '90s, until they fell out over Lieberman's refusal to back the impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998. But before they parted ways, Lieberman would play a role in Beck's search for a worldview and identity by helping Beck enroll part-time at Yale in the fall of 1996. The ADHD-diagnosed Beck didn't last long at Yale. He took one class, "Early Christology," and dropped out...
The friendship was confirmed by this little exchange:
SENATOR LIEBERMAN: ...Glenn, I apologize. I'm running to go out with Senator McCain. We're going to Colorado.
GLENN: Best of luck.
SENATOR LIEBERMAN: I'm real proud of you. I remember you back when.
GLENN: Thanks a lot. Bye-bye. |
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