Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

Senator Feingold Deals a Direct Hit –updated–

Hey, Arlen, this is what a leader looks like. Think Progress and Crooks and Liars

Hey, Senator
Specter, if you want to see what courage looks like, take a gander at Senator
Russ Feingold. Or better yet, read the Philadelphia Inquirer…

Will Americans stand still for a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil
whitewash of the mysterious domestic surveillance program run by the National
Security Agency? On Capitol Hill, Republican congressional leaders have punted.
Domestic
Spying Powers Show some spine, Congress (via dk)

That's exactly what Senator Feingold continues to do, show spine.

And people thought this
post was harsh. I've been around politics a long time and can smell political
flop sweat a continent away. But if Specter was sweating before, he's now having
a virtual down pour.

Howdy Frist, a man who delivers diagnosis from videotape, and the biggest gift to Democrats since Jack Abramoff… or South Dakota.

However, Bill Frist, fresh from his straw poll victory, the
biggest gift the wacko Republican base has given the Democrats since South
Dakota, once again proves why he's the Howdy Doody of the
Republican Party. Coming after Senator Russ Feingold, Frist
attacks Feingold for wanting to hold President Bush accountable. Wondering
what Iran might be thinking, Frist claims Feingold's direct hit on Bush for
breaking the law over the illegal NSA wiretaps will aid Iran.

Where were the Republicans when al Qaeda was amassing in the late 1990s?
Impeaching Bill
Clinton for having an affair with an intern. If you think this is off point
you weren't paying attention back then. During the escalating attacks of al
Qaeda, the Republican Congress had one goal: impeach Clinton. During Clinton's
entire presidency, the Republicans were more focused on Bill and Hill than they
were on affairs of the nation. Committee after committee was involved in getting
Clinton removed from office, as the entire Republicans Party had one goal, without
thinking of the consequences. So, while the petty Republican Party worried about
a consensual affair, bin Laden got busy. They couldn't be bothered with bin Laden, so to hear the likes of Howdy Doody Frist talk about aiding Iran is hypocrisy and spinelessness at its worse. Besides, if they were so worried about Iran, why did we attack Iraq?

President Bush has been involved in an illegal wiretapping scheme inside the
U.S. for years, but Senators Frist, Specter and the rest of the rubber stamp Republicans have used the last months to do worse than nothing. They're trying to figure a way to rewrite the law without holding George W. Bush accountable. That's why
I wrote this post, saying Specter's in the bag, on the team, backing the boss. He may be holding hearings, but we all know what is likely to happen. Senator Feingold's move today proves I got it right.

The rubber stamp Republicans don't intend to hold the boss accountable, even
when he clearly breaks the law. They'll just rewrite the law. Senator Feingold has shown the spine needed if Congress is truly to be an oversight body, as The Founders intended.

Here's part of the transcript of Feingold on “This Week.”

STEPHANOPOULOS: Tomorrow in the Senate, you're going
to introduce a resolution to censure George W. Bush. Let me show that to our
viewers. It says, “Resolved that the United States Senate does hereby
censure George W. Bush, president of the United States, and does condemn his
unlawful authorization of wiretaps of Americans.” That is a big step.
Why are you taking it now?

FEINGOLD: It's an unusual step. It's a big step, but
what the president did by consciously and intentionally violating the Constitution
and laws of this country with this illegal wiretapping, has to be answered.
There can be debate about whether the law should be changed. There can be
debate about how best to fight terrorism. We all believe that there should
be wiretapping in appropriate cases — but the idea that the president can
just make up a law, in violation of his oath of office, has to be answered
.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But as you know, the president says
he was acting on his inherent authority under the Constitution — and even
your resolution acknowledges that no federal court has ruled that a president
does not have that authority as commander in chief. So aren't you jumping
the gun?

FEINGOLD: Not at all. You know, we've had a chance
here for three months to look at whether there's any legal basis for this
— and they're using shifting legal justifications. First, they try to argue
that, somehow under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, they can do
this. It's pretty clear that they can't.

Then there's the argument that somehow the military
authorization for Afghanistan allowed this. This has basically been laughed
out of the room in the Congress.

So the last resort is to somehow say that the president
has inherent authority to ignore the law of the United States of America.

… … … …

FEINGOLD: Well, censure isn't prohibited by the Constitution…

STEPHANOPOULOS: It's not prohibited, but it's not talked
about.

FEINGOLD: Well, in fact, there have been six or seven
instances that I have here where presidents have been attempted to be censured

– and Andrew Jackson was censured.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But the only one censured.

FEINGOLD: So it certainly is not prohibited. And what
we have to do here is do what's right for the country. Our number one priority
is fighting terrorism. The president is right about this. His intentions here
may have been honorable. He may have been just trying to do everything he
could to protect the country. But that's not our system of government. He
has a right to do everything he can to protect our country within our laws.
We have to respond in a way that's responsible.

I'm not ruling out other actions.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you might go for impeachment down
the road?

FEINGOLD: I think we have to look at all the
options. But I think this one could help us resolve this.

The problem here is that we're trying to just
gloss this over. Almost every member of Congress is saying, “Well, yes,
he broke the law — but let's see if we can fix the law.” Well, if we
have that kind of a system, if we don't answer the president now with a censure,
then we're not going to get back on track. We're
not going to get back to a system where the Congress makes the law and the
president signs the law. He doesn't get the laws — to make up the laws by
himself.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So, have any other members of Congress
or senators signed on to your resolution?

FEINGOLD: I'm announcing it right now, George, so we'll
talk to them about it…

STEPHANOPOULOS: You haven't talked to any of them about
it?

FEINGOLD: No. I'm announcing it right now.

Full
transcript on Raw Story

The rubber stamp
Republican leadership vacuum is staggering. Who are you going to follow,
Jack Murtha
or Dick Cheney…
Russ Feingold
or Bill Frist?
The contest isn't even close.

UPDATE: Jane has an action post up. Get ready to pick up the phone.