Lieberman Betrays the City of New Orleans...And his buddy Sen. Mary Landrieu

Lieberman has just flip-flopped on the issue of White House disclosure regarding Hurricane Katrina documents and records. His outright hostility toward the democratic party, which he believes embarrassed and betrayed him, is becoming pathological. The following is from a Jan. 12th Newsweek article written by Mike Isikoff and Mark Hosenball:

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the only Democrat to endorse President Bush's new plan for Iraq, has quietly backed away from his pre-election demands that the White House turn over potentially embarrassing documents relating to its handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans. 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.

Asserting that there were "too many important questions that cannot be answered," Lieberman and other committee Democrats complained in a statement last year that the panel "did not receive information or documents showing what actually was going on in the White House."

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.

I've also attached below Lieberman's press release from last March containing the text of his letter to the Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Sen. Collins, in which he demanded that the Committee issue subpoenas to compel White House disclosure. Here are some other statements by Lieberman regarding the White House's failure to provide documents pertinent to the Katrina investigations - statements he made while he was running for re-election:

"Virtually everyone in the White House who had anything of operational significance to do with the preparation for and response to Katrina falls into the category put off limits to us." Lieberman, in a latter to Sen. Collins last March demanding the issuance of subpoenas.

"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." Lieberman, last January. "Only a full understanding of what went wrong and who was responsible will enable us to correct our path for the future." Lieberman, last February.

"Only a full understanding of what went wrong and who was responsible will enable us to correct our path for the future." Lieberman, last February.

Click here to see Lieberman’s letter last year demanding that subpoenas be issued to procure the very documents he now seems to be uninterested in.