Joe Biden says that
Vice President-elect Joe Biden — offering one last defense of the institution he’s inhabited for three decades — conceded the Obama transition team made a “mistake” in not consulting the Senate before tapping Leon Panetta to head the CIA.
“I’m still a Senate man and I always think this way,” he told reporters in the Capitol. “I think it’s always good to talk to the requisite members of Congress.”
On Monday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the incoming chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she was surprised by the pick and complained that she wasn’t consulted.
“I think it was just a mistake,” Biden said of the transition team’s failure to check in with Feinstein and outgoing Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), who was also miffed.
Betsy asks What happened to consultation? Betsy raises an important point, but the Dems have a long tradition of not consulting… at least with the electorate.
For instance,
Joe Biden himself was sworn in today for his 7th term with his own antique Bible,
an ancient, leather-bound volume about six inches thick that a spokeswoman said has been in the family since 1893
and will be resigning his Senate seat in a few days so his chief of staff will take it. Any question of Joe resigning before the general election so the people could chose someone else? Of course not. Wouldn’t want to take any chances of the Dem party losing that seat.
Blago didn’t ask his fellow democrats what they thought of his naming Roland Burris to Obama’s US Senate seat, and now Burris was denied entry to the Senate chambers.
In the state level, Jim McGreevy here in NJ resigned (in the most famous “Gay American” ruse in history) much too late for a different candidate to appear in the 2004 election ballot and named Dick Codey governor at the last moment . Then there’s Frank Lautenberg, who came back from retirement when Robert Torricelli had to quit because of corruption charges (imagine that!) in a last-minute ballot name change, so last-minute that the average – uninformed – guy on the street thought Lautenberg was running for reelection.
And at the local level, Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand resigned in December and was replaced by Bernie Miller, who was elected by the Township Committee and not the general election.
What happened to consultation? The Dems have long forgotten to consult with the electorate. It comes as no surprise that now they’ve forgotten to consult among themselves.
Imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth if any of these fine, upstanding citizens had an ‘R’ after their name!
Biden also could have resigned his seat when Obama did, but that would have triggered a special election. So Biden gets sworn in as Senator so his Chief of Staff can be appointed.