Update [2006-3-15 9:39:27 by howieinseattle]: “Feingold says he has a small number of private commitments. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said yesterday that she would support Feingold’s resolution if it ever gets a floor vote.”-from Wednesday’s story in The Hill.
Sen. Feingold said the following to Fox News’ Trish Turner:
“I’m amazed at Democrats, cowering with this president’s numbers so low. The administration just has to raise the specter of the war and the Democrats run and hide. … Too many Democrats are going to do the same thing they did in 2000 and 2004. In the face of this, they’ll say we’d better just focus on domestic issues. … [Democrats shouldn’t] cower to the argument, that whatever you do, if you question the administration, you’re helping the terrorists.”
-from Think Progress.
Senator Feingold is currently my senator. I live in Wisconsin.
He’s calling them out.
He’s essentially saying, Yall got stones? Well then, here’s an opportunity to show them. Stop weaseling and thinking that being an actual opposition party replete with liberal leaders is too much of a risk to the fake PR aura of a liberal.
What are Dems offering? Not just to the middle, but to everyone? Tired of the Bushite shoveled month after month? Well, do something about it now. Crunch time is here and now.
Not just the middle is waiting for leadership, dummies, to get us all out of this hole we’re in.
Otherwise, yall ain’t worth the trouble, seriously.
I’m jealous of you and your senator. I live in PA. Blech.
me too…and I am from TN…;o(
Me three. And, I am so MAD at Carl Levin!!
You’re lucky. I’m currently stuck with Kit Bond and Jim Talent as my Senators. Anything I write to them would simply be turned over to the FBI to add to the anti-war and Bush enemy list.
Probably the same thing that happenned last time I contacted Mike Rogers office.
Take heart Disgusted:
I have been keeping track of McCaskill/Talent polling, but it’s really hard to take heart from it at the moment considering how close the polling remains despite Bush being at a 39% approval rating (57% disapprove) and Governor Baby Blunt being at a 33% approval rating (63% disapprove).
The 2002 election results where Talent won over Jean Carnahan:
Talent 934,093 50%
Carnahan 911,507 49%
I take heart that its this close before any money has been spent.
I somewhat lose heart when I remember that Talent has so much more money in the bank than McCaskill.
On the other hand, it’s better than listening to more talk about that damn Pennsylvania race 🙂
And don’t forget Talent’s money from Tom DeLay and associated PACs. Of course that doesn’t really matter in the Christian State of Missouri.
yeah Delay’s everywhere. But I just can’t get too upset over the wingnut resolution since it doesn’t have any legal force.
Of course I’m more than willing to get other people in the state upset about it if it means they’re more likely to vote for Nixon or McCaskill 🙂
I live within walking distance of four Jewish synagogues, two Orthodox and two Conservative congregations — the two Orthodox are within 1/4 mile. So, many of my neighbors are greatly alarmed by this resolution. Not being Christian myself, I am also greatly alarmed by it along with the latest from the Repubs in the state legislature preparing an anti-abortion bill, Senate Bill 1248, similar to that in SD.
The abortion bill is a worry. Not only because it is a REAL bill but because they want to put the issue on the ballot in November. Yet another wedge issue to bring out the wingnuts to vote.
The other is worrying only because it is symbolic of the direction these people want to go. But it has no legal effect.
Here in Virginia there we’re stuck with wingnuts like Sen. Warner and George Allen.
We need to turn up the heat on the Democrats, especially the DNC as Dean and company seem to be locking a move for impeachment by John Conyers.
We can’t take this county back by cowardice.
Go Feingold! I think he just won at least one 2008 supporter.
For a long time, I’ve been hoping that the Democrats had some secret plan, that they were waiting for the right timing, and then they were going to do…whatever they were going to do.
But suddenly I realize.
They’ve done it. They are so busy going through the motions, playing the politeness game, worrying about the little pictures, that they are completely, for the most part, oblivious to the big picture. That, or they SO get what’s happening that they have truly lost heart.
To me, that means the burden is on OUR shoulders. Can anyone name any important legislation that was generated entirely within the Congress? Meaning, most bills start outside, with activists or lobbyists doing the first draft. When enough people start calling about the issue, then the Congressman/Senator runs with it.
So what can WE do re the NSA Spying? Can’t WE draft legislation, maybe sponsored by the ACLU, which has that important story today re the FBI caught red-handing spying on a group solely because they opposed the war?
Are their legislative activists among us?
LISA, I read someplace today that they were waiting for enough roap for the repus go hang themselves…well, I think they got the wrong party if you ask me.
They seemed to ahve forgotten why they were elected for and for whom as well….
whoops rope…instead roap..
You can hang them all you want and they won’t admit they’re dead! That’s why the strategy isn’t working…
Love the roap/rope. Sope on a roap. 😉
I know that sometimes it can be hard to keep a perspective on the internets, ironically because right at your fingertips are blogs and fora (fori, forae?) and opinion sites that span the entire full several inches of the US political spectrum.
But being human, we tend to gravitate more, spend more time on, those sites that are likely to have links to news articles that we may be interested in reading, and where there are people whose views are more likely to be closer to our own. That is of course, relative, and closer to your own than WHAT? is a valid question, but you get the idea.
In real life, we tend to do the same thing. Where possible, if we are going to discuss world events, we are probably going to do that with people who we feel are less likely to notify gunmen of our presence.
So it’s easy to forget that “mainstream” does not mean mainstream like the most right wing posters HERE, for example. The real mainstream “Democrats” consider the most right wing folks that post here to be radical left wing fringe extremists.
The gap is wide.
Recently larger numbers of people who were polled have indicated some displeasure with Bush.
It would be a mistake to confuse that with opposition to US policies.
The Democrats are pragmatic, and they are shrewd, and they understand that. Their job is not to oppose US policies, but to suggest more efficient and cost-effective ways to implement them, and to present them in more attractive terms.
There is no clearer illustration than this than a comparison of the PNAC and PPI documents. Both say the same thing, at least from the point of view of the folks who are intended to be on the receiving end, but PPI says it all in a much nicer way.
Democrats would never give an extermination operation the official name of “Operation Iron Fist,” for example. They wouldn’t call it Operation anything. They might not even give it an official name. The gunmen in theatre might assign some number letter code to it, and if the Democrats, for some reason were forced to give it a name, they would call it something like “Breathe Free” or “Fresh Breeze.” Not “Iron Fist.”
That’s not to say that the Democrats are namby pamby or afraid to talk tough, talk straight, about the war on terror.
If you will read Senator Feingold’s Iran statement, it is clear that this is no hippie fringe peacenik.
He has voted against some things many of his fellow Democrats have voted for, and for some things they’ve voted against, but he is no Hugo Chavez del Norte, and I know that there have been some attempts in the corporate media to try to label him as “left wing” or “radical,” but these smears are not justified, and in fairness the media does this to Democrats quite a bit, and it is never justified.
I don’t pretend to understand why he would have suggested something so unpopular and dicey as censuring a president who has already decreed it is a crime to suggest he committed a crime.
Last night I was thinking maybe the Party officialdom wanted to get rid of him, so they told him sure, do that, and then left him out to dry.
Today, I’m not so sure, I think maybe neither he nor anybody else had really talked to Dr. Dean et al about it, and maybe that is why they thought doing that before taking any votes would be a really really good idea.
I do not claim to fathom the arcana of Democratic party minutiae.
But I don’t think that you need to be an expert analyst to see that while in some urban centers maybe, there may be a bit of buyer’s remorse here and there, that all this money is being spent in Iraq and gas prices are still up, there are just not a lot of those good news stories coming out, and there is frankly, some resentment that the Iraqis don’t seem as grateful as had been anticipated.
For the most part, though, the overwhelming most part, no matter how displeasing people may find the persona of Bush, they support their country’s policies, they believe in the “war on terror,” and they have ample Resolve to make the necessary sacrifices to Prevail.
EVen to the current administration, Bush is expendable. My personal opinion is that he was chosen as figurehead for his very expendability, and there are some people at the big tables in Washington who are frankly surprised he has made it this far.
To sum up: Dislike for Bush is not opposition to US policies. What will “resonate,” what will “win” is a candidate who can both present and implement those policies better – better meaning cheaper, more efficient, and with a more attractive face.
The stoneless ones will call him a divider and will try to sink him. I hope that the Progressives across the US rally and vote the fuckers out who will not stand up to the President. We need more Russ’s in Congress.
Has even one other Dem senator stepped up in support of Feingold’s resolution?
Jesse Jackson today in the Chicago Sun-Times:
Man, now I understand Feingold’s supporters. This man gets it. I know Senators historically have a hard time in Presidential races, and divorcees are even worse off, but it sounds like Feingold might just have what it takes to win.
And, he supports single payer health care!!!!
commie!
AP story.
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) – Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold accused fellow Democrats on Tuesday of cowering rather than holding a vote to censure President Bush over domestic spying.
“Democrats run and hide” when the administration invokes the war on terrorism, Feingold told reporters.
Feingold introduced censure legislation Monday in the Senate but not a single Democrat has embraced it. Several have said they want to see the results of a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation before supporting any punitive legislation.
Republicans dismissed the proposal Tuesday as being more about Feingold’s 2008 presidential aspirations than Bush’s actions. On and off the Senate floor, they have dared Democrats to vote for the resolution.
“I’m amazed at Democrats … cowering with this president’s numbers so low,” Feingold said.
The latest AP-Ipsos poll on Bush, conducted last week, found just 37 percent of the 1,000 people surveyed approving his overall performance, the lowest of his presidency.
—snip—
Anybody know for sure what Feingold is up to here? I mean…he IS a professional politician, right? So this simply cannot be a naive expreession of shock that the Dems have the spine of a jellyfish. All you need to know about THAT was illustrated by the removal of Howard Dean from contention in the 2004 Presidential election and the subsequent replacement of Small K kerry for Big D Dean.
So…what IS this about?
Did he really think that they would suddenly see the error of their ways?
Please. They’re all making VERY nice livings now, thank you very much. The Constitution? Not an issue. Morality? Nope.
Security. THEIR security particularly. Now there’s an issue.
Does he think that he can drive them leftward by shaming them?
Not likely. If the DemRats had any shame at all they would have strenuously opposed this war and this administration’s march towards media-enforced fascism from the get-go. They would have stood up six years ago when the election was stolen in Florida, and CERTAINLY would have stood up in 2004. But they didn’t.
Bought and sold.
“At long last, have you no shame?”
Nope.
Is this move simply a truly principled stand, no matter WHAT the consequences? Possibly. If so…nice. But a little…quixotic, don’tcha think?
Does he think he can inspire some sort of voter revolt in ’06? Both against he Ratpubs and against the institutionalized system of DemRats?
Maybe.
Is he simply playing classic Dem politics for ’08? Setting himself up as the outsider/dark horse? Getting publicity? (“The Mae West gambit. “Call me anything, but call me often.”) Liberal Dems LOVE a loser. A couple of times they even made them into near winners.
Could be.
Or…and I would LOVE this one…is he setting himself up for some kind of independent run?
Let me ask y’all…has anyone seen even ONE positive reaction from a Dem insider regarding this move?
Hostile or carefully neutral at best, the entire Dem establishment so far.
Faux news:
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters he would not comment on the issue while the Democratic leadership mulls the issue. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said, “Feingold has a point that he wants to make by introducing that resolution.”
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said the resolution “raises some very important issues,” but she refused to discuss what they were.
“I think it needs to having hearings, we need to look what exactly what all of that means and give the opportunity for both sides to speak,” she said.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has declined to endorse the resolution and said he hadn’t read it. —snip—
I won’t even mention Senator Loverman’s (D-Beltway) take.
Oh, what the hell.
Yes I will.
Forbes. (Of course…)
“I’d prefer to see us solve the problem,” Lieberman told reporters.
SCOLD!!!???
He oughta be HANGED. (After proper judicial proceedings of course.)
I got yer solution right HERE!!!
But does Russ Feingold?
Have the solution?
Is he thinking of walking away from these cowards?
I hope so.
Even if it were a losing proposition, it would illustrate how far the Democratic Party has fallen over the years since they allowed the Rats to Swift Boat …Hot Lip, really…Bill Clinton out of position and nearly out of office.
NO MORE DEMOCRATPUBLICANS IN ’08!!!
That’s MY motto.
If Russ sees the truth of the matter…it ought to be his too.
Win OR lose.
The truth is a win/win situation.
Go, Russ.
Anyone with the temerity to get up in the Senate of the United States given the current conditions and read from the U.S. Constitution and the Federalist Papers is my kinda fool.
You go, kiddo.
You go.
Later…
AG
We’re on the same page Arthur!!!
Now posted as a diary.
Russell Feingold. IND-Wisconsin?
Let us pray.
I’d work for him.
AG
So would I!
The Daily Show had a great piece tonight on the necessary reshaping of Paul Hackett into the proper candidate….hilarious.
i saw it too. great piece. “again, but without the emotion” ha!
I’m strong on environmental issues. That’s why I’m standing in front of a river for this spot.
They threw a big ‘ol spotlight on a few problems.
😀
He was a really good sport about it, even though he did lose to a girl</TDSnark>
Within 24 hrs. of Feingold’s call for censure, Rep. John Murtha delivers another shot at BushCo’s “Claims v Facts, concerning the War in Iraq”, with a letter to the House and Senate.
Serendipitous Synchronicity?…or dialing up the heat?
Posted at Huffington Post
Peace
Wellllllll….the sane thing to do, with the GOP on the ropes would be to hit them, hit them hard, and hit them where it hurts.
Of course these are far from sane times, so what I think is “sane” may not appear that way to those Beltway types.
It isn’t my area and I don’t live around D.C. so I have no idea what the talk on the street is either. I sit on my stool in Alabama and all I can come up with is that there are certain rules being broken that most of Democrats aren’t challenging because that could change things. I think they would like the “break the rules” doors to be wide open and waiting for them whenever they a get a chance to walk through them or maybe even walk through them right now. It is the only thing that makes any sense at this point!
Check this out and see if it helps explain what the democrats might be wary of unleashing. If you’re saying that most dems will follow once the door is open, I agree.
Russ Feingold serves as a telling reminder for the rest of the Democratic party that the road to victory in the next Presidential match doesn’t run away from the values of liberalism.
What is this, rumi? I’d like to see it but the link isn’t working…
I think this link might be another copy of it. I don’t know what happened to the first one.