Legal Commentary

Fight For Russ Feingold

By Big Tent Democrat

Russ Feingold is having a money bomb today. I am contributing to his campaign and I urge you to do the same.

Glenn Greenwald explains why you should:

Feingold is responsible for what is easily one of the most courageous political acts of the last decade, when he stood up on the Senate floor a mere six weeks after the 9/11 attacks -- in a climate in which almost nobody with a real platform was willing to dissent on anything, let alone anything significant -- and vehemently warned of the dangers posed by the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act. He then proceeded to cast the only Senate vote against that Orwellian-ly named bill, making it a 98-1 vote in favor. [MORE . . .]

[I]n March, 2006, Feingold went on ABC News' Sunday morning show, pronounced that Bush's eavesdropping was "right in the strike zone" of the impeachment clause, and demanded that Congress at least formally censure Bush for breaking the law, announcing that he would introduce a Resolution calling for that sanction and hold hearings on it. For those of us who had been working for months to trumpet the dangers posed by this criminal eavesdropping program, Feingold's bold advocacy for formal proceedings was vitally important for keeping the scandal in the spotlight. When virtually all Senators in his own party, across the board, were scared to even comment on, let alone support, Feingold's Censure proposal -- and when Party-pundit-hacks like Ryan Lizza dutifully mocked him for being so stupid as to challenge George Bush on such an important National Security matter -- Feingold aggressively condemend his fellow Democrats for their lack of principle and cowardice ("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") and for being so cowardly beholden to Democratic consultants who tell them not to challenge Bush on national security issues. [. . .]

[Feingold]'s not from some deeply blue state like New York or Massachusettes or Vermont, where he can step out on these issues knowing that he has a lifetime safe seat. The opposite is true. Wisconsin is a deeply purple state -- though Obama won it handily in 2008, Kerry beat Bush in 2004 by less than 1 point -- and Feingold himself has had very close re-election battles. He takes the positions he does despite the impact they can have on his political career, not because of it.

Feingold is the exception that proves my rule that "pols are pols and do what they do." He is the conscience of the Senate and the conscience of the Democratic Party. He is a progressive champion who fights for progressive values every day. Progressives should fight for him.

Fight for Russ Feingold.

speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 14, 2010 (boomark / email).