Meet The New Boss

There's nothing in the streets
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Are now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
(Pete Townshend, Won't Get Fooled Again, 1971)

Radley Balko, in Reason Magazine, notices the problem with politics, elections and the party in power. He invokes the penultimate line in the 1971 Who classic, Won't Get Fooled Again.

….Democrats who rightly railed against the "Bridge to Nowhere" can't be taken seriously if they sit back and let Byrd resume diverting millions of taxpayer dollars to wasteful pork projects in West Virginia.  Harry Reid should remove him from the Senate Appropriations Committee.

It won't be easy — Byrd in particular is likely to raise holy hell.  But if you're going to change the culture of corruption in Washington, you'd go a long way toward demonstrating your seriousness by starting with your own party. 

It would also be nice to see the lefty blogs pick up on this, and give Pelosi and Reid the cover they need to do the right thing.

UPDATE:  Several readers have written to point out that Pelosi is set to pass over Rep. Jane Harman to  make Rep. Alcee Hastings chair of the Intelligence Committee.  Hastings is of course a formal federal judge who was impeached and removed from the bench by a Democratic Congress in 1989 for taking bribes.  Apparently, the Congressional Black Caucus is demanding a chairmanship for Hastings to compensate for the loss of influence caused by Rep. William Jefferson's removal from the Appropriations Committee — also due to corruption.

This, within 72 hours of the election.   Meet the new boss…

Welcome, my friends, to the show that never ends…… But that's another song. Or is it.