The Gift’s Keep Coming

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As I stated in my earlier post about Feingolds pandering to the left:

Nothing says being WEAK on national security then punishing a President for protecting us during the war on terror. It would be great if every ?08 Democratic nominee votes for this censure, can you imagine the ad?s we could come up with! What a gift this would be from the left

And guess what? None of them are standing tall with the dummy:

Democrats distanced themselves Monday from Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold’s effort to censure President Bush over domestic spying.

The White House hit back at the same time, Vice President Dick Cheney telling a fundraiser in Feingold’s home state that the resolution was an “outrageous proposition.”

As the crowd in De Pere, Wis., booed Feingold’s effort, Cheney said, “Don’t hold back.”

Feingold’s fellow Democrats did just that Monday, with several saying they wanted first to see the Senate Intelligence Committee finish an investigation of the warrantless wiretapping program that Bush authorized as part of his war on terrorism.

Asked at a news conference whether he would vote for the censure resolution, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada declined to endorse it and said he hadn’t read it.

Sen.Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said he had not read it either and wasn’t inclined simply to scold the president.

“I’d prefer to see us solve the problem,” Lieberman told reporters.

Across the Capitol, reaction was similar. Feingold’s resolution drew empathy but no outright support from Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi “understands Senator Feingold’s frustration that the facts about the NSA domestic surveillance program have not been disclosed appropriately to Congress,” her office said in a statement. “Both the House and the Senate must fully investigate the program and assign responsibility for any laws that may have been broken.”

You know it’s bad when Pelosi and Reid won’t go along. A little more detail on what happened:

So Feingold brings it up, Senator Frist calls for Unanimous Consent to VOTE on it, and Reid has to object to having a vote, because they don’t actuall want to vote on it.

Then after Feingold speaks, Arlen gets up to have a “debate” with him, but Russ runs off, with Arlen asking him to stay and then asking his staff to go get him.

Then he spends most of his speech trashing Feingold for not staying around to actually debate his resolution.

Durbin comes and asks a question of Specter, and Specter says “you’re harder to debate than the senator from wisconsin”.

Talk about a coward, running like a little girl from Specter. Hard to believe any person in this country voted for this piece of dogcrap. I mean Specter is not even a real Republican and this guy runs from him? What the hell!

Even more from Tim Chapman:

As noted, Democratic Senator Russ Feingold has introduced a resolution that would censure the President of the United States for “eavesdropping” in the wake of 9/11. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, moments ago, made a unanimous consent motion that the Senate vote on the resolution tonight. Maryland Democrat Paul Sarbanes rose to object to the motion. Frist then motioned to vote on the resolution again tomorrow. Sarbanes objected, saying no vote should take place on the resolution until Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid had cleared the timing.

In other words, Democrats know this is a political stunt, without a chance of passage, but want to time it politically for maximum impact.

Later, Harry Reid took the floor to say he was offended that Frist would go to the floor and motion for unanimous consent on such an “important issue” without talking to him first.

Reid’s two-facedness knows no bounds. Does he not remember last year taking the Senate floor and invoking Senate Rule XXI, thereby shutting down the Senate? When he made that parliamentary move to score political points over pre-war intelligence, he broke all Senate precedent by invoking the draconian measure without first seeking the compliance of the Senate Majority Leader as has always been done in the past.

Outrageous? Yes…Surprising? No…

UPDATE

Hugh Hewitt is thinking the same thing as myself about Feingolds cowardice:

Fun and games on the Senate floor as Russ Feingold goes full Ahab on Bush but when called upon to stay on the floor and discuss his wild-eyed charges by Senate Judiciary Committee Specter, Feingold turns, looks at Arlen, and exits stage way left.

Lots of spine there. Hat tip to Chairman Specter for deftly exposing the poser for what he is –a charade.

I can just see it now, Feingold is on a conference call to his cronies yelling “come on guys, the DU’ers are behind us, we can’t lose!”

Suitably Flip gives the left a much needed history lesson:

If you think back to 1998, when we had a President who really did break the law, who really did lie to the American public, who really did earn our collective condemnation and disdain with his deceit and abuse of power, you’ll remember that the prospect of Congressional censure of Bill Clinton, first proposed by Senator Trent Lott, was viewed as a potential compromise between exoneration and impeachment.

Of course the censure never happened, but he was rightly impeached for lying to the American people. No matter how much the left whines and cries, Bush will not be censured, nor will he be impeached. The American people are not that stupid.

UPDATE II

A Blog For All lays it out succinctly:

Just as they did over the call to withdraw immediately from Iraq, the Democrats have gifted Republicans a rubber mallet to whack Democrats with. Democrats make statements that they simply do not believe in, and will not vote to support.

I have to say the more I think about it the more I’m amazed that two pretty weak leaders (Specter & Frist) on the Republican side stood up without hesitation and showed the country that they actually have a pair. Now if they hold to their promise and demand a vote, then I will be REALLY impressed.

From Ed Morrissey:

Only an idiot would attempt to make a president the enemy during wartime, especially for an action that he performed in defense of the country. In fact, the 9/11 Commission specifically scolded the Bush and Clinton administrations for not allowing the NSA to do its job and surveil international communications.

Some good quotes today about this whole idiocy. First from Dick Cheney:

“The outrageous proposition that we ought to protect our enemies’ ability to communicate as it plots against America poses a key test of our Democratic leaders.”

And then from Rush:

“Once again, the Democrats portray themselves here as some oddball lunatic fringe movement that has more in common with Ramsey Clark and Saddam Hussein and George McGovern than it does with the average American in a post-9/11 world.”

And from Real Teen comes a great banner:

Other’s Blogging:


Talk about a coward, running like a little girl from Specter. Hard to believe any person in this country voted for this piece of dogcrap. I mean Specter is not even a real Republican and this guy runs from him? What the hell!

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but what was spammy about it? i’d love to know how an automated filter decided whether my non-vulgar post was spam. if i wanted to leave i wouldn’t bother typing up the posts. i read blogs on all sides and don’t usually post but this place seemed decent enough and you guys smart enough to try a debate.
hey tell me to leave or tell your filter to tell me to leave if you want, it’s your blog. i just wonder what in my post flagged the filter. i think it might have included one “f*ck”, which i changed to fudge and still no go.

I hear that Frist is not letting this one slide by either. Of course, when he actually forces a vote, I’ll be impressed. I really can’t believe that Feingold actually ran from Specter. That’s priceless! THIS guy wants to run for President? How can someone face down Iran or North Korea if he runs from the opposing political party in his own country? I think everyone here knows the answer to that one and I’m guessing the rest of the country knows now too. In the meantime, the work of our government is not getting done while we keep playing partisan games in Congress!! Lovely!

Carol

W-O-W!!!
Amazing. I don’t know what else to say.
Carol

How about “Get that idiot a megaphone so he can ruin the Democrats’ chances of winning seats in the Midterms”???

Better yet, buy some ad time and put Feingold and
John Murtha on together. Wouldn’t that be lovely?