MNpublius.com

What a horrible week for Coleman so far. Then he makes this grave mistake:

Washington, D.C. - United States Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) issued the following statement today regarding Senator Norm Coleman’s record of aggressive oversight as Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

“As Chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, I know that during his time as Chair and Ranking Member of our Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Norm Coleman has uncovered over $80 billion of government waste, fraud and abuse.  Norm has been aggressive in protecting taxpayers, and rooting out corruption.  His leadership is marked by groundbreaking reforms in Medicare, the United Nations and border security.

Joe Lieberman standing with Coleman on oversight? That’s weird. Turn back the clock just two years to hear Lieberman tell a different story on oversight subtitled “Massive Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Goes Unexamined”:

“Waste, mismanagement and corruption undermine America’s mission in Iraq,” the Senators said in their letter. “And in some instances, the failure of contractors to fulfill their obligations has jeopardized the health, welfare and safety of American troops and civilian personnel… 

We ask that the Committee exercise similar oversight more broadly of the Iraqi reconstruction contracts to prevent further waste of precious tax payer dollars and to hold accountable those who misused Iraqi funds entrusted to U.S. government management. 
 …

The Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation is currently looking into one example of contractor abuse involving allegations that U.S. troops were exposed to contaminated water in Iraq. We ask that the Committee exercise similar oversight more broadly of the Iraqi reconstruction contracts to prevent further waste of precious tax payer dollars and to hold accountable those who misused Iraqi funds entrusted to U.S. government management. 

It was sent to Susan Collins, chairwoman of the HSGAC which is the parent of the PSI, chaired by Norm Coleman. It’s the PSI, as Leiberman noted, that was asked to exercise more broad oversight in Iraq. 

Lieberman pleads for more oversight in and then turns around and “praises” Coleman’s work on oversight on the campaign trail. Whoops. Did they think the press and bloggers would simply forget?