Mary Landrieu, Mary Landrieu

Sen. Landrieu, are you happy & proud of your support for Lieberman? He sure is helping you know, isn't he? When will you wake up?

14. Lieberman's office announced this week that despite his election-year rhetoric, he would not use his new post as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee to investigate the Bush administration's bungling of Hurricane Katrina. Newsweek reported:

Last year, when he was running for re-election in Connecticut, Lieberman was a vocal critic of the administration's handling of Katrina. He was especially dismayed by its failure to turn over key records that could have shed light on internal White House deliberations about the hurricane, including those involving President Bush.

[...]

But now that he chairs the homeland panel -- and is in a position to subpoena the records -- Lieberman has decided not to pursue the material, according to Leslie Phillips, the senator's chief committee spokeswoman. "The senator now intends to focus his attention on the future security of the American people and other matters and does not expect to revisit the White House's role in Katrina," she told NEWSWEEK.

[...]

Asked whether Lieberman's new stand might feed complaints that he has become too close to the White House, Phillips responded: "The senator is an independent Democrat and answers only to the people who elected him to office and to his own conscience."

Last year, Lieberman said he could not give "high marks to the Executive branch for its response to our investigation. The problems begin at the White House, where there has been a near total lack of cooperation that has made it impossible, in my opinion, for us to do the thorough investigation we have a responsibility to do. ... They have opposed efforts to interview their personnel. And they have hindered our ability to obtain information from other federal agencies regarding White House actions in response to Katrina. ... I hope the Committee will continue to pursue all these unanswered questions asked of the Executive branch until we have the information to answer the questions that must be answered."

Now, Lieberman won't use his new subpoena power to seek those answers. What has changed? Why does he no longer believe the committee has a "responsibility" to conduct a "thorough investigation"? Or was Lieberman simply grandstanding last year in an attempt to mollify Democratic voters?

Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu campaigned for Lieberman last October, saying, "I do believe that Sen. Lieberman's record in the Senate justifies my support of him, not only what he's done for Connecticut, but what he's done for Louisiana, what he's done for the nation." Did Lieberman discuss his decision not to pursue the Katrina investigation with Landrieu?

Via Media Matters.