It’s easy to praise constitutional rights in the abstract, to declare that you are a believer in free speech, the right to trial, the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments when you’re speaking only in general terms. The real test comes when you’re asked to deal with difficult specific cases.

Joe LIEberman (Insurance-CON) went on Fox News Sunday this morning and in addition to promising to block the public option, he announced that he was finally planning to hold hearings in the Homeland Security Committee. Recall that LIEberman steadfastly refused to hold oversight hearings on the Bush failures in Katrina, but was still allowed to continue chairing the committee even after campaigning for John McCain (Old-GetOffMyYard) in the 2008 presidential election. What will be the topic for the hearings? Nothing other than a big round of “booga booga there’s Mooslums in the military!”