Feingold Censure Motion Status Report

Sorry this is going up so late; I had server problems. Here’s what’s new re: the Feingold censure resolution:

If Democrats are slow to get behind Feingold, maybe the problem is a lack of experience on the Internets: we bloggers, unlike either our senators or the MSM, know a concern troll when we see one. The WaPo: Republicans pounced, practically daring Democrats to vote for the measure. "The big question now," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), "is how many of his Democrat colleagues will follow him over the cliff?" Aw... he's concerned for us. A concern Republican, the cutest, cuddliest kind of them all.

Feingold, however, gets it: Feingold, a member of the intelligence and Judiciary committees, disputed Bush's assertion that a president's inherent constitutional powers trump FISA's restrictions. Feingold also rejected arguments that he may hurt fellow Democrats, telling reporters that Republicans are "nervous as cats" about having greater scrutiny of the spying policy. He said thousands of Americans have called or e-mailed his office to protest Bush's actions, with some calling for the president's impeachment.

And the party's strategists miss the point altogether, still believing that our call for censure or impeachment of Bush is based on a desire for retribution for Clinton's impeachment: Several Democratic strategists said surveillance issues are not Bush's most vulnerable spot, and they fear the party may appear extremist. "It is more likely that a big censure fight would have the effect of rallying folks to his side," said one Democratic strategist and former Clinton aide. "While some in the Democratic base want retribution for what happened to Clinton," the adviser said, "I think there is a larger reluctance to try to remove people from office."

Aaaargh! How Beltway-blind can someone get?

Please, please, please, politicians, get this message: Bush lied us into war. He considers himself above the law. He's spying on us without warrants. We need a Congress that, as Madison wanted, "jealously" reins him in and protects its own powers. And Bill Clinton, whose Presidency is now the most ancient of history (Bush having undone everything good about it), is not relevant to this discussion. This is about Bush. (And it's about censure, not about "trying to remove people from office." That's sort of the brilliance of Feingold's resolution; what's so hard to understand about that?)

Elsewhere, columnist/blogger Chris Cillizza reports that Frist already is using his blog to campaign on Feingold's resolution, and also puts the "establishment Dem" cowardice into a nutshell:

[S]ome establishment Democrats have reined in their rhetoric on the eavesdropping program -- arguing privately that most Americans see the issue as a national security question and, as a result, are more likely to side with the president.

Of course, polls show that most Americans see the program as BOTH a national security issue AND a privacy issue, and want the President to operate within the law. A new Zogby poll shows that the American people WANT BUSH IMPEACHED by a margin of 52%-43% if he wiretapped without a court order -- which he himself admits doing! But Congressional Democrats are such bad politicians that not only do they wander around looking for ready-made movements to get in front of instead of actually leading, but they can't even recognize a parade once they've found one. They have utterly forgotten that true leaders chart a bold course then persuade people to follow them. Columbus didn't find a crew that was already sailing to America and ask it make him their captain.

The letter-to-editor campaign supporting Feingold's motion remains in effect here. (If nothing else, we'll have another test of which senators are patriots and which are cowardly enablers -- info we'll use in rallying foot soldiers during the primaries and in November.) Ongoing updates on each senator's position will be posted right here (bookmark it here). Keep tapping away at the edifice, and eventually it will fall.

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