Senate Democrats’ decision to keep Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) as chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is not going over well on the liberal blogosphere. By giving Lieberman only a slap on the wrist for campaigning for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Democratic leaders show that they’re not up to the task of leading, according to bloggers on the left. The choice of Eric Holder as attorney general in the Obama administration gets mixed reviews from bloggers.
By bucking the loud calls for removing the committee gavel from Lieberman, Democrats in the Senate are telling regular people that they don’t matter, writes Firedoglake’s Jane Hamsher. It’s foolish to consider as teammates the Democratic leaders who are okay with leaving Lieberman alone, a list that includes party chairman Howard Dean and President-elect Obama, writes Open Left’s Matt Stoller. kos writes that he’s done with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) as a leader, since Reid and his fellow Democrats have ignored the millions of Americans who voted this month against “Bush/McCain/Lieberman policies.”
Liberals’ loss over Lieberman is only one of several disappointments they’re facing Tuesday, along with the possible appointment of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as secretary of State and the Obama administration’s reluctance to prosecute Republicans for war crimes, writes Contentions’ Jennifer Rubin. For conservatives, who have had a frustrating year, it’s nice to see liberals devouring themselves even before Obama is sworn into office, writes Don Surber.
Holder, a former lawyer in Bill Clinton’s Justice Department and an adviser to Obama’s presidential campaign, has accepted the offer to become attorney general, reports Newsweek, NPR and MSNBC. Holder is a safe, loyal choice who has criticized the Bush administration’s torture policy and has worked for high-profile clients before, writes the Washington Independent’s Daphne Eviatar. By picking Holder, Obama is confirming that he wants to shift away from Bush’s interrogation policies, writes Adam Serwer at TAPPED. Holder, however, was the lawyer who seemed to approve of the pardon of Marc Rich by President Clinton, who caught serious flack for doing so, writes Contentions’ Rubin. It’s an open question whether Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a fierce critic of the pardon, will vote to confirm Holder, writes Politics magazine’s Shane D’Aprile.
FROM THE BLOGS:
FROM THE BLOGS:
Lieberman Gets Slap, Keeps Gavel – The Hill
Big 3 Carmakers Beg for $25 Billion – Associated Press
Paulson, Bernanke Defend Bailout Actions – The Hill