Democrats "Hear" Victory: Congressional oversight hearings highlight issues, gain media attention

[DeepModem Mom]

WP, "Capitol Briefing," by Paul Kane
Democrats "Hear" Victory

Check out this week's Congressional hearing landscape, and you'll see the spoils of the Democratic victory last fall across both ends of the Capitol.

Far and wide, House and Senate committees are holding oversight hearings into various actions and activities by the Bush administration, highlighting controversies from the handling of recuperative care for Iraq war veterans and the allegations of political reasons behind the mass firings of federal prosecutors three months ago.

Democrats openly gloated yesterday at the prospect of holding President Bush and his advisers' feet to the fire -- and gaining the requisite media attention to further highlight these issues.

Democrats now say they have held 81 oversight hearings on the Iraq war since taking over the gavels from the former GOP chairmen, and that's just on one issue....

***

Clearly, (Senate Majority Leader Steny) Hoyer and Democrats are considering this week a victory on message issues.

"The Administration's missteps and miscalculations went unchallenged for far too long," Hoyer said. "When concerns arise, they need to be dealt with quickly and decisively in order to ensure that problems are remedied and challenges are overcome."

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2007/03/democrats_hear_victory_through.html

[vireo]

1. "Missteps and miscalculations"?

This implies that the Bushies are well intended but somehow less than competent. I wish Dems would quit promoting that notion and instead characterize Republcian behavior and policies as the deliberate criminality which it is.

[alfredo]

2. It's about time.