Susan Collins, of the Senate OVERSIGHT Committee, killed whistleblower protection

By GottaLaff

Here's your "centrist":

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), ranking member of the Senate's oversight committee, no less, kills a whistleblower protection provision in the stimulus bill.

Angry yet? So am I. It gets worse:

To make matter worse, Collins is the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs commitee, which, as an oversight committee, might be expected to see its role as protecting whistleblowers. She also sits on the Senate appropriations committee, giving her a strong position from which to wield influence during today's negotiations.

Though Senate leader Harry Reid supported the protections, said the source, he wasn't willing to strong-arm Collins on the issue, given her central role in negotiations over the stimulus bill as a whole.

So when, in the coming months, conservatives start jumping up and down over the fact that money from the stimulus bill is being wasted, as they surely will, it's worth remember that a key measure designed to help expose that waste was removed from taken out of the bill -- and by a senator said to be a champion of fiscal discipline.

Good old Susan Collins. Good old Harry Reid. Good lord.