Singing Waxman's praises

By Libby

Rolling Stone has an interesting profile on Henry Waxman. I didn't know that much about him so I was surprised to learn that he's so well regarded on both sides of the fence. Especially considering how well he does his job.

Read the whole thing but this quote I thought best summed up what's been wrong with our entrenched political elites, particularly in the last seven and a half years.

In his short tenure, Waxman has made the once-moribund body into a force on the Hill, calling nearly fifty hearings on subjects ranging from the inefficacy of airport screeners to charities that bilk veterans. The same cannot be said for Joe Lieberman, who chairs the Senate's oversight committee. "You don't hear about Iraq-contracting hearings over there," says Melanie Sloan, director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "You don't hear about any hearing out of them that could be critical of the government." A typically hard-hitting session held by Lieberman in recent months was titled "Census in Peril: Getting the 2010 Decennial Back on Track."

Hearings on the matter are expected to continue through 1/20/09 at which point Mr. Lieberman will suddenly discover a new found interest in oversight of a Democratic administration. [Yes, I made that last part up but wait and see if I'm not right.]