This is absolutely absurd. The Republicans are now threatening the Democrats for holding hearings on Iraq yesterday:

Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) is threatening to punish Democrats for using an Appropriations Committee room for an unofficial hearing on Iraq oversight if it happens again.

“They better stop this,” the Mississippi Republican said. “This will be the last one or there will be retribution.”

Lott suggested that Republicans could hold GOP-only hearings or seek other forms of payback.

But if he is looking for a culprit in abetting the Democratic Policy Committee’s (DPC) hearing yesterday, he need look no further than fellow Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, who controls the Dirksen Building room that Democrats used yesterday and have used for past hearings.

“We just call and ask,” said DPC spokesman Barry Piatt, a fact confirmed by Senate Appropriations Committee spokeswoman Jenny Manley.

The DPC has held similar hearings on several issues such as Iraq reconstruction and the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, during the 109th Congress.

But Lott and other Republicans are upset that Democrats have gone outside the committee process to highlight the Iraq war before the November election.

“They’re abusing the system,” Lott said.

Abusing the system for asking questions about the execution of the Iraq war? Asking questions following the nation’s most comprehensive intelligence report that says Iraq has made us less safe? Asking questions when we have over 2,700 soldiers dead from this miserably executed war?

Trent Lott is the one who is trading the lives of U.S. soldiers for a game of politics. They know that the Iraq war has failed miserably, so how do they answer to it? They stick their heads in the sand and act like it never happened.

And since when is it an abuse for ANY party in our democratic political system to ask questions or hold meetings? Where in the Constitution does it say the minority party can not hold meetings that are not sanctioned by Senate?

Who in the hell does Trent Lott think he is? He was one of the Republicans that felt it sooo necessary to hold hearings into a blow job, yet REFUSES to hear about the failures in Iraq. Trent Lott is now aiding our enemy because he refuses to help make our nation stronger. He wants to see a continued mission in Iraq, which is making al Qaeda stronger. He is absolutely aiding the enemy.