The Latest on Russ Feingold’s Censure Resolution
by Pamela LeaveyRuss Feingold made a bold move yesterday on national TV when he announced his plans to call for a censure by the Senate of George Bush. There was quite a bit of speculation on both sides of the blogosphere after Feingold’s announcement and seems that things got a bit heated in the Senate today, MSNBC reports “A short, but sharp partisan skirmish broke out on the Senate floor Monday when Majority Leader Bill Frist tried to schedule a vote for Monday night or Tuesday on Wisconsin Democrat Sen. Russ Feingold’s resolution to censure President Bush.”
Frist said Democratic senators ought to be on the record voting for or against the Feingold resolution.
“If the Democratic Party is going to be attacking the president in a time of war, then we are ready to vote and let’s see what the Democratic Party says,” Frist told reporters right after the floor skirmish.
“I don’t know where the Democratic leadership is right now,” he said, but if they support censuring Bush “then I want them to all be on the record.”
But Democratic leaders objected to a roll call vote and it was postponed indefinitely.
Senator Paul Sarbanes, of Maryland was leading the Democrats on the floor, when Frist tried to pull a fast one and demand a vote, but Sarbanes wasn’t buying it and he said “that Frist hadn’t consulted with Democratic Leader Sen. Harry Reid beforehand to give him advance warning of what he was about to do.”
It seems Feingold’s resolution has made the rounds yet for fellow Dems to read. Harry Reid told reporters he ‘hadn’t had a chance to read Feingold’s resolution but said, “I commend Sen. Feingold for bringing this to the attention of the American people. We need a full and complete debate on this NSA spying.”’ And although a few blogs are reporting that aides John Kerry’s say “he’ll support the resolution,” Raw Story reported earlier that “his office admits they’ve yet to see it, and other media outlets are reporting that the Senator will first take a “closer look” at the document.” What Raw reports is pretty much what I heard from my contacts, and there’s this here as well.
It seems that the Republicans who were quick to decry Bush over the Dubai port deal are not ready to go the full measure and admit that he’s a miserable failure as some Republicans have recently. So for now Feingold’s censure is on hold. More tomorrow?
UPDATE: ABC News reports, “The issue is going to a committee, after a floor vote that could have alienated swing voters was avoided.”
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News to Dr. TV diagnosis frist: The war on terror will go like the war on drugs never ending are we to accept all of the bushes lies for infinity? Heck no.
I wish Kerry’s staffers if they did talk about this to someone keep their mouths shut. That’s a problem with the dems they tell to much ahead of time. Lord haven’t they heard when your in a guerilla war the element of suprise is one of the best weapons.
How quickly the GOP forget that last week bush was trying to give oversight of major US ports away and they were against it.
Like I said the GOP will rally behind bush on this one and help sure up the base.
Pen
I think the problem is that folks answering the phones might have spoke too soon. Not sure, exactly what is going down, but when there’s something to be told, I’ll have it.
This issue won’t go away as long as the majority of Americans can still breath.
Did you see what Dick had to say about the censure? That the American people have spoken and are behind the president 100%? When did that happen Dick? In your dreams?
Dick Cheney thinks that 36% equals 100%.
He’s as bad at math as he is at hunting.
Ron, Great statement–made me laugh this morning.
As always, Democrats have to weigh the pros and cons of supporting this censure. They have to consider the fallout it may create with some voters (moderates, independents, and those sensible Repbulicans who may vote our way in 2006). BUT I do feel we need to stand up for what is right. Juat like the Alito situation, we had Dems pondering, testing the wind…equivocating!
I don’t want our party defined this way. With this administration so low on approval, why are we so reluctant to practice what we preach? We say his wiretapping is illegal…we say the American people were lied to…we recognize the deceptive messages being pushed on the American people…YET we feel for some reason it is not time to push back. Maybe the time is now. We often seem to be trying to forecast the political climate instead of following our ideals and values.
There is a right way and a wrong way to present these issues to the American people. I sure hope my party can use all the talent and skills that they have to communicate this in a fair & effective way. It is possible and we have to start building this skill in our party and the people will respect us for it.
By the way, I have emailed & called my senators, Boxer & Feinstein, to ask for their willingness to work together on this. Maybe some of you will contact your senators as well.
DAS
I think the problem is that Frist tried to force the vote yesterday when 1) not all the Senators were on the floor and 2) not everyone had seen or read the resolution. Unfortunately garnering support for things take time in the Senate on both sides of the aisle I think.
[...] ie bloggers can bitch and whine all they want the horse is out of the barn. If it gets support from Reid they’ll be a war of words. Frist has been singularly impotent in s [...]