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March 15, 2006

Russ Feingold: The Only Dem Senator With Any Guts?

Believe it or not, right now Russ Feingold can't get a single other senator to sign on to his push to censure Bush over illegal wiretapping and lying about Iraq.

The other Democratic senators counter that before voting for censure, they should push for investigations. That would be nice, but the Republicans have blocked every attempt to investigate. Not that investigations are even needed to unearth what the Bush administration will happily tell you to your face: that they believe the president is above the law. Forget about the wiretaps and war lies - what about these "signing statements" where the president now claims to have ultimate authority to determine the meaning of legislation? McCain pushed through his anti-torture bill, Bush signed it, but then added a "signing statement" that boils down to "this law doesn't really apply to me." And McCain, sadly choosing electability over integrity, let him get away with it.

This isn't a partisan issue, however it may be framed by the media. Any senator, Democratic or Republican, who doesn't work to check this executive's frightening, unconstitutional usurpation of power is doing a grave disservice to the future of American democracy.

During Watergate, at some point Republicans with integrity broke with Nixon. What the Bush administration already admits to doing is far worse than Watergate. When will any politician other than Feingold - Democrat or Republican - show some spine?

UPDATE: Tom Harkin has now signed on as the bill's first co-sponsor.

UPDATED UPDATE: Here's a story from Dana Milbank in the Washington Post that would be hilarious if it wasn't so depressing: Dem senators stumpling over each other to avoid answering reporters' questions about the Feingold resolution.

"I really can't right now," John Kerry (Mass.) said as he hurried past a knot of reporters -- an excuse that fell apart when Kerry was forced into an awkward wait as Capitol Police stopped an aide at the magnetometer.

Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) brushed past the press pack, shaking her head and waving her hand over her shoulder. When an errant food cart blocked her entrance to the meeting room, she tried to hide from reporters behind the 4-foot-11 Barbara Mikulski (Md.).

"Ask her after lunch," offered Clinton's spokesman, Philippe Reines. But Clinton, with most of her colleagues, fled the lunch out a back door as if escaping a fire.

See also this great piece from Anonymous Liberal.

Posted by tedf at March 15, 2006 08:07 PM

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