'Feingold starts civil war': say it ain't so!

by skeptic06, Tue Mar 14, 2006 at 01:26:07 PM EST

Raw Story has a piece suggesting that the feathers of a number of plumed knights of the Senate on the Dem side of the aisle have been well and truly ruffled by Feingold's censure res and - most particularly - by the way he went (or is supposed to have gone) about introducing it.

The piece quotes several staffers anonymously knifing Feingold - and Feingold hitting back on the record:

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 administration, you're helping the terrorists.

And he said this on Fox!

A lot of dust needs to settle before one can start to sort this one out, I think. Jumping to conclusions unwise.

Oh to be a fly on the wall in the Senate Democratic cloakroom...

Tags: Censure Resolution, Democrats, Feingold, Senate (all tags)

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how out of touch is DC?

Raw story quotes a senate staffer

If he were interested in holding George Bush accountable he would've made his pitch in the Democratic caucus behind closed doors."

Is this just posture or are things so bad that staffers actually believe this?

by blogswarm 2006-03-14 01:35PM | 0 recs

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Re: how out of touch is DC?

My sense: Dem senators are mightily pissed off with Feingold for grandstanding without having given them a heads-up.

They've been bellyaching to staffers from (at the latest) the start of Monday along the lines of: How could not not have known? Don't you talk to Feingold's people? You know what a shmuck this makes me look? Etc, etc.

And the staffers unload their bile on a passing hack.

It's still the cowering crack that's more puzzling, I reckon: Feingold crosses the street to poke his Dem colleagues in the eye.

There's something I'm not seeing here.

by skeptic06 2006-03-14 02:15PM | 0 recs

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Re: how out of touch is DC?

I don't think it is that complicated, I think it is a lot like McCain/Feingold, Patriot Act, and Iraq. In all three Feingold went out and said what he felt and was proven right by history. But his only victory came, not from fighting the GOP, but from shaming the Democrats into actually doing what they knew was the right thing to do.

The Democratic Party needed the poke in the eye, what I don't understand is whether staffers actually think going to the caucus would do anything to hold Bush accountable. I think most Democrats know that censure is the right thing to do, regardless of their opinions on sequence. But if they don't realize that even other Democrats don't trust them to do the right thing, then this could (and should) get uglier.

I think both sides are talking past eachother. I think it is clear that Feingold is talking past the caucus because he doesn't respect the potential of the caucus to do the right thing. My question is what is motivating the establishment Dems to talk past Feingold.

by blogswarm 2006-03-14 02:26PM | 0 recs

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Re: how out of touch is DC?

If Senate Dems are in general one thing, it's risk-averse.

Which is not to say that they don't have policy goals that are independent of the process of getting themselves reelected.

But it's reelection that's the prime motivation.

Add to that conformism (a Senate speciality) and (for a fair few of them) fond memories of what it was like to be in the majority.

And the perception that, at 55-45, one election might bring them back into control.

Provided they don't rock the boat or throw bombs.

Even the liberals are conservative - in that sense.

For instance, even Boxer - who threw a bomb over the Ohio EVs - hasn't repeated the experiment (so far as I can remember). As if her certified ration was one stunt per Congress!

It's a dialogue of the deaf between Feingold and senators like these because, right now, each party has nothing to give to the other.

The cowering crack, as I see it, takes the story to a whole new level - it's one thing moving the res, quite another to taunt fellow Dems for not tagging alone.

I wonder whether Feingold is planning to go walkabout like Wayne Morse did - run in 08 as an independent/third party candidate.

A crazy idea! Not much crazier than what seems to be going on on the Hill just now, if one can believe the reports. (Major caveat.)

Escalation = Morse = Vietnam = I think these Senate Dems may want to take a moment.

by skeptic06 2006-03-14 03:10PM | 0 recs

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Re: how out of touch is DC?

Can you flush out the Morse thing further, I don't have enough grasp of the history. I know he voted against the Tonkin reso and lost his seat, but what is the walkabout reference?

by blogswarm 2006-03-14 03:25PM | 0 recs

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Re: how out of touch is DC?

Morse started off as a Republican - last of the Western insurgents. He then went independent for a while before joining the Dems.

He wasn't generally taken terribly seriously by his fellow senators, I believe, even the liberals.

And, by the time he was calling the Tonkin Gulf business as not kosher, he had zero credibility.

On reflection, I think Henry Wallace is a better fit. He eventually burnt his boats with Truman with his Madison Square Garden speech which flatly contradicted Administration foreign policy. Then ran against him in 48 under the Progressive Party label.

Up till yesterday, I'd have said that neither Morse nor Wallace were remotely analogous to Feingold. Who has been one of the most liberal senators, certainly, but working within Senate conventions. I can't remember him throwing any bombs.

He would not have changed that MO on a whim, I'm thinking.

There lies the puzzle.

by skeptic06 2006-03-15 04:25AM | 0 recs

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Best way to send our thanks to Feingold

I want to be part of the group that encourages him to ignore the establishment backlash and continue doing what he is doing so well. Anything better than just sending an email to his office?

by Pravin 2006-03-14 03:12PM | 0 recs

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Re: Best way to send our thanks to Feingold

Go join moveon.org, it looks like Moveon will soon make up their mind whether or not to go for it. True majority was all over this like a thin penny.

http://www.moveon.org

IF you already have, then get a republican to join it, the last thing moveon.org needs is to be associated with just one party.

by turnerbroadcasting 2006-03-14 11:01PM | 0 recs

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Re: 'Feingold starts civil war': say it ain't so!

hahaha, Feingold starts civil war. I think "Bush starts civil war in Iraq" would be more accurate.

by Fran for Dean 2006-03-14 04:18PM | 0 recs

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Three things you can do to support Russ

First, never , ever refer to Bush Republicans as conservatives. There is no such thing as a no bid contract to becoming a conservative.

Second,
Join the ones that have already voiced support -

http://www.truemajority.org
http://www.moveon.org/
http://www.russfeingold.org/

Third,
Fly a flag in your front lawn. Never let it touch the ground. Get a new, clean one. Not some ratty thing people tried to use in 2004, as campaign props - but the one that still flies today.

by turnerbroadcasting 2006-03-14 11:07PM | 0 recs

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MoveOn Sends Email for Feingold

I received this email today from MoveOn.org:

Dear MoveOn member,

Yesterday, Senator Russ Feingold introduced a resolution to censure President Bush for breaking the law by illegally wiretapping American citizens.

Censuring a sitting president is serious business. But when the president misleads the public and Congress while willfully and repeatedly breaking the law, there must be consequences--that's how the law works for everybody else.

While most politicians sat back and weighed the political pros and cons of holding the president accountable, Senator Feingold stuck his neck out and did it. Now it's up to us to show broad public support. Can you sign our petition asking Congress to join the call for censure?

http://political.moveon.org/censure?id=7 035-5838164-7NRTAXnTw_A

by Curt Matlock 2006-03-15 03:13AM | 0 recs

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When will see the "real" HILLARY?

All these years, all we got were excuses from the Hillary supporters regarding her mediocre tenure in the senate 'Oh she needs to display a more moderate side to the wing voters.". Well, now the tide is turning firmly against Bush among the independent voter base and what has Hillary been doing regarding the censure motion by Feingold - NOTHING! The lady even hides behind some person to avoid talking to the press. She doesn't have to support the censure(well, actually I would want her to), but the least she could do is toss an attaboy at Feingold.

DISGUSTING! Please, I have asked for a list of Hillary's accomplishments in public life for a while now, and I am yet to receive even a small one from one of her supporters. What great things has she done in public life to counter this kind of cowardice?

by Pravin 2006-03-15 09:45AM | 0 recs