Feingold Calls for Censure of Bush
by RonChusidRuss Feingold has called for censure of George Bush for the NSA warrantless wiretaps:
In an exclusive interview on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold called on the Senate to publicly admonish President Bush for approving domestic wiretaps on American citizens without first seeking a legally required court order.
“This conduct is right in the strike zone of the concept of high crimes and misdemeanors,” said Feingold, D-Wis., a three-term senator and potential presidential contender.
He said President Bush had, “openly and almost thumbing his nose at the American people,” continued the NSA domestic wiretap program.
This naturally received considerable support in the liberal blogosphere. I can’t help but wonder if John Kerry had said this if some of the same bloggers would be attacking him for not calling for all out impeachment.
Bill Frist, who kept his Presidential hopes just barely alive while McCain’s front runner status received a serious blow, has defended Bush.
Filed under: In The News, Senate | Get Permalink or trackback |
I agree with the idea – and let’s be real here, there’s lots to pick and choose from as far as censure goes. But until BOTH the House and Senate are under Democratic control, what’s the point of demanding this, or even impeachment?
At a minimum, shrub s/b censured and we could talk about it all we want. BUT the first order of business is to win in November, then move on to censure, or impeachment or whatever else is out there.
I have no problem with his call. My only question is how many Democrats (and particularly potential 08 candidates) will follow.
I find interesting that all of them rushed to follow Kerry when he started the Alito filibuster and that barely none followed him in his filibuster of the Patriot Act.
Same thing when it came to propose a plan for Iraq. Feingold offered something a couple of months before Kerry (not as detailed, but still something). Nobody moved. Then Kerry offered his plan and nearly everybody rushed to offer their own plan after that.
It makes it very clear who is the potential 08 candidates that the other ones are concerned about.
This said, kudos for Feingold for offering that and I sincerely hope that others will follow.
“I have no problem with his call. My only question is how many Democrats (and particularly potential 08 candidates) will follow.
I find interesting that all of them rushed to follow Kerry when he started the Alito filibuster and that barely none followed him in his filibuster of the Patriot Act.”
Good observations Mass, maybe Kerry inspired them to wake up and fight. Wonder if anyone will get behind this also.
Mass Says: March 12th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
In a nutshell you hit the nail or nails on the head.
The reason wby the bloggers’ response would have been different is because Feingold has been all over illegal wiretapping since the story broke. He has the most credibility on this.
I’ll give him kudos for that.
Mac Daddy Says:
The reason wby the bloggers’ response would have been different is because Feingold has been all over illegal wiretapping since the story broke. He has the most credibility on this.
Absolutely true, and he should be recognized for that. These types of issues are Feingold’s trademark and he has a lot of credibility on them.
However, two remarks:
1/ He is in the two committees that are directly related to that, so he is better placed to lead the fight. Hopefully, he can convince other Democrats to follow.
2/ Kerry has not been silent on this issue, far from it. He has spoken several times on it to say that Bush was breaking the law.
Mass Says:
March 12th, 2006 at 3:58 pm
Good points.
I think if Dems run on the platform of elect us so we can impeach, we will loose.
The good thing: Feingold is forcing Dumbo to play defense; something they are very bad at.
We need constantly keep reminding the public how awful Dumbo is.
All Democratic web sites should have an issue or talking points list with a laundry list of errors and then the magic three;
What Dumbo did wrong and what we will do different.
What Dumbo did right and we will do better.
What Dumbo did not do and we will do.
We have to differentiate our party from the Repubs.
So far, all we get is a bunch of moaning and groaning with no meat.
Every House seat and a third of the Senate are up for re-election. If we can get just one, Bush is toast.
Dumbo is screwing up so bad; the writers need to be speed typists.
I meant if we can get either the House or the Senate, Dumbo is finished.
battlebob,
“I think if Dems run on the platform of elect us so we can impeach, we will loose.”
Agree they can’t run putting it this way. They can run (as one campagin argument, not the entire platform) on the need for accountability in government. They can charge the GOP Congress with failing to fulfill its Constitutional duties to serve as a check and balance on the Executive Branch, and point to the many failings of the Bush Administration as to why this is necessary.
Ron,
I agree with you. As most of you know, I wasn’t a big fan of Clinton the man, but was a fan of how he uses the political process.
His method is to fit every issue into one of the three conditions.
What Dumbo did wrong and what we will do different.
What Dumbo did right and we will do better.
What Dumbo did not do and we will do.
If it doesn’t fit then it is noise.
This narrows the scope of each issue and makes the response very specific.
I would think this covers pretty much everything–whether he is doing it right, wrong , or not at all.
Yes but just complaining is not enough.
Dems have to come out with their own solutions.
For instance, the war in Iraq…
What is the Dem position? What is their goal other to watch burn?
-Get other countries involved? Not a chance.
-Move the troops to Afgan where they can go after bin Forgotten and still be in the area?
-Bring them home?
-Do what Bush is doing?
s/b watch Dumbo burn.
I agree that until dems have control of one of the houses this will be a mute issue unless it unites the rethugs under bush. Portgate and the fact that Dubai may still get the deal is more of a meat clever issue at this moment.
I don’t think dems will win with the elect us and we’ll impeach stupid because rove and co are better at weaving the dems are weak on security issues than the dems are at counterattacking it.
Arlen Specter made an fool of himself when he interupted Feingold.
Feingold could have made a better case if he had a face to go along with who all is being wiretapped. an average joe/josie who have nothing to do with terrorism being illegally wiretapped by bush and gonzales and rummy would go a long way towards convincing more americans that this isn’t a tool for fighting terrorism it is an invasion of privacy and breaking the law.
Kerry being a prosecutor may not go along with it because the conclusive evidence hasn’t been presented and a sound jury hasn’t been found.
The blogsphere may cheer but
Feingold should have timed it better. Now the congress has a week home and bush has a week to show a war time president under seige from partisian dems.
Let me see if I got this correct…
Feingold is saying what we all want said and no other “power” Dem is backing him up?
I think we need to grow some spines!
Battlebob
From what I read yesterday, Feingold went to the floor with this with showing anyone the resolution yet. We may all want it, but signing on to it without reading it first isn’t a good idea.