Can it get any better then this?
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.
Talk about being a freakin idiot. Don’t they realize they did very well with the Port deal, thanks to some panicked Republicans, but now are in real danger of taking things WAY too far. This would never get the needed votes and it also forces some frontrunners in ’06 and ’08 to take a stand that they may never wanted to.
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.
Not only is this a gift from Heaven but as other’s have alluded to, imagine if the Democrats gain the House or Senate, this kind of idiocy would be occurring every week. If nothing else this kind of shananigans would force those Republicans who are too lazy to get into the voting booth to get off their ass and vote.
Frist, one of the worst Senate leaders in a long time, acted shocked and dismayed:
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist tore into his Senate colleague, Russ Feingold, on Sunday, saying the Wisconsin Democrat’s plan to introduce a resolution of censure against President Bush in a time of war would give aid and comfort to America’s enemies.
“Russ is just wrong. He is flat wrong. He is dead wrong,” Frist fumed on ABC’s “This Week,” minutes after Feingold announced his censure plan on the same show.
The top Republican complained: “As I was listening to it, I was hoping deep inside that the leadership in Iran and other people who really have the U.S. not in their best interests, were not listening because of the terrible, terrible signal it sends.”
Asked if he thought Feingold’s censure resolution “actually weakened America abroad,” Frist told “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos, “Yes.”
But if had any gonads he would force a censure vote on Feingold himself, as Mark Noonan suggests:
Given that the only possible beneficiaries of such an action are the terrorist enemeis of the United States, I believe that we should urge the Senate to censure Senator Feingold for giving aid and comfort to the enemy. I would ask for his expulsion from the Senate, but as that requires a 2/3 vote its a non-starter – the Democrats, for whom political power is the be-all and end-all of existence, simply would not vote to harm one of their own. Censure, though, only takes a majority vote. There are 55 Republican Senators, and even a few Democratic Senators who haven’t driven off the anti-war cliff.
Great idea actually, he has a sample letter to being sending to your own Senators on his blog.
Other’s:
Give me a break. That partisan liberals like Feingold are reduced to agitating for a toothless Congressional “scolding” of the President over the NSA stuff proves just how wrong they were about the whole thing from the get-go.
Obviously, for me to call this a stunt would be understatement. What will be interesting to see though, is which other Democrats will get on board with this. I have a feeling not many. But it sure puts a lot of potentional Democrat ’08ers in a tough spot–especially Mrs. Clinton.
I wonder how much dough this will enable him to raise from the MoveOn.org/Daily Kos crowd?
If he wants to pander to the fringe, let him – he can slip into history along with the likes of Howard Dean and become the next generations Ted Kennedy.
Others Blogging:
- Sister Toldjah
- Rhymes With Right
- Bare Knuckle Politics
- Decision ’08
- Blackfive
- Don Surber
- Small Town Veteran
Talk about being a freakin idiot. Don’t they realize they did very well with the Port deal, thanks to some panicked Republicans, but now are in real danger of taking things WAY too far.
See author page
Unbelievable!
Gee, Curt….we really should start reading more and quit agreeing with everything the bigots we listen to tell us! Then we can parade around like one of THEM! That is, until the mother ship comes to beam us up.
:thumbup_tb:
Wah Hoo! Thanks for proving my point on what a bunch of schizo freakzoids you guys are.
There is no War on Terror. There is more than enough evidence to prove that 9/11 was an inside job, that the Bush Admin is planning a similar false-flag operation to toss us into a bullshit war with Iran, and that Halliburton is building detention centers around the country to lock up political dissidents (i.e. anyone who doesn’t agree with our Fuhrer…err, I mean, Bush…)
The evidence is out there. I suggest you do some reading, and stop agreeing with everything the bigots you listen to shove down your throats.
Feingold doesn’t do “election year ploys” — whatever you want to say about him, he doesn’t really do stuff out of political calculation. (See, on the one hand, his being the only one to vote against the original Patriot Act, and on the other hand, his vote to confirm Chief Justice Roberts. Neither vote made any kind of political sense at the time.)
I doubt the other Democrats will go along with it, but it’s too bad, because it is a good idea. Bush ignored a law that was meant to prevent exactly the kind of behavior he engaged in; Congress has at the very least a moral duty to say, on the record, that he shouldn’t have broken the law. Instead of what they’re doing, which is change the law retroactively to make Bush’s actions legal.
Oh, and if you’re depending on the Senate Republicans to make the case for Bush’s actions, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Did you see Frist responding to Feingold’s announcement? A bigger bunch of pointless, outdated talking points that no one believes any more (the President is acting boldly and making us safer, Feingold is giving aid and comfort to the enemy, yada yada). The Republicans totally think it’s still 2004.
As to whether it makes the Democrats look weak on national security — that’s more 2004 thinking. We are talking about an ineffective, poorly thought-out program that went around the law primarily because Bush hates the courts and Congress. If a few Democrats stand up against the all-powerful Bush and for the power of Congress and the courts, that can only help at a time when Bush is seen as too inept to protect us.
Small Town Veteran
In which Uncle Jimbo takes another idiot to the woodshed…
Don Feingold de la Madison censures Bush *** Michelle Malkin has thought on the matter here, with an update here. Curt at Flopping Aces has two excellent posts on the subject here and here. Jay at Stop The ACLU comments…