Little Russ & the GOP

Yesterday on Meet the Press Tim Russert proved himself, once again, to be the lapdog of the Republican party. The interview in question was with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Russert's harassment of Leader Pelosi exemplified his fear of right-wing-backlash, repercussions and recriminations. From tax cuts, to impeachment, Russert tried to tie Pelosi down to words she would not utter. He was insistent. He bordered on rude. Personally, I don't really care how hard he pounded Pelosi. He can ask as many tough questions as he likes, and he can repeat them as many times as he likes. All I insist on, is that he does the same to the right-side of the aisle, and sadly, he does not. Russert, afraid to be called a liberal sympathizer, blatantly overcompensated for his internalized right-wing deficiencies. If Russert was looking to appease the right, he succeeded.

Thankfully not everyone took Russert's crap lying down. A certain congressman, who's name has been thrown around to scare the Republicans into thinking the world will come to an end if the Democrats take over the House in November, had an answer to Russert's right-wing pandering on impeachment and investigations. It's called OVERSIGHT. Thank you Congressman Conyers. Read on from the Huffington Post:

Perhaps Mr. Russert has forgotten, but I have been a Chairman before. For five years, from 1989 to 1994, I was the Chairman of the House Government Operations Committee, now called the Government Reform Committee. I have a record of trying to expose government waste, fraud and abuse.

That was back when Congress did something called "oversight." You know, in our tri-partite system of government, when Congress actually acted like a co-equal branch. The Republican Congress decided to be a rubber stamp for President Bush instead.

Perhaps, if we had a little oversight, we wouldn't be mired in a war based on false pretenses in which we have lost thousands of our brave men and women in uniform and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.

Perhaps we would not have had an energy policy drawn up in secret with oil company executives that has led to gas prices of more than three dollars per gallon.

Perhaps, if we had a little oversight, we wouldn't have a prescription drug plan written by the pharmaceutical companies, that prohibits the government from negotiating for lower prices with the same drug companies, and that no one really understands.

Perhaps, if we had a little oversight, we would know the extent to which our own government is spying on our phone calls, emails and other communications, contrary to the law of the land.

Oversight should not be a partisan undertaking. As we saw in the late 90's, when oversight is used out of anger or spite, or to gain partisan advantage, the American people express their strong disapproval.

Personally, I have had enough partisanship for the last six years to last a lifetime and I think we need to bring the American people back together.

But we also need to serve their interests. Congressional oversight is part of that. It is a check and balance, designed to protect the American people from too much power being concentrated in too few hands.

If I become a Chairman again, I intend to push for oversight of this Administration. Our Constitutional system of government requires no less.

For more of Tim Russert being an ass I suggest a trip to the Meet the Press home page. The transcript is not up yet, but hopefully it will be soon. Or, you can watch the entire edition of Sunday's Meet the Press here.

Update: The transcript is up and can be found here.