Nobody's Senator But His

Herb Kohl's "Nobody's Senator but yours" slogan has served him well. Thanks to his personal fortune and some savvy handlers, he got elected in 1988 by running as a Washington outsider.

This outsider has been inside Washington for eighteen years now and he's still campaigning with "Wisconsin first" type of ads.

Russ Feingold, in 1992, took a similar approach. He presented himself as a principled individual whose main concern was the concerns of the people of Wisconsin and he won.

The "listening sessions" that he holds around the state are meant to show that he's in touch with his constituents. He's there to serve the people.

That has become increasingly hard to swallow.

Other than a recent move to oppose budget cuts for dairy farmers, what has Feingold done for Wisconsin?

He's been looking out for number one -- Russ Feingold.

Basking in all the attention from the lib media and Lefty websites, Feingold has little time for the people he represents.

Things are only going to get worse. The more time he puts into positioning himself for 2008, the less time he devotes to his duties as a senator from Wisconsin.

From the most recent Newsweek poll findings:

The outright anger against Bush felt by many Americans was reflected in responses to questions about the effort of Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin to censure Bush in Congress for his warrantless wiretapping program. Feingold has found very little support for his move on the Hill. Four in 10 (42 percent) of the adults in the general public say they would support Congressional censure of the president, while half (50 percent) say they would not. Censure wins majority support from Democrats (60 percent) and one in five Republicans (20 percent) say they’d support it.

This positive feedback from Dems is sure to keep Feingold pushing his self-serving censure resolution.
AP writes on the divide within the Democratic Party over Feingold's move.

Tom Harkin and Barbara Boxer are the only Dem senators to jump on Feingold's censure bandwagon at this point. Other Dems are hedging their bets.

"I think to say that you should censure the president before you have had the inquiries is premature, so I don't think it's helpful to reach that conclusion at this point," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., told "Fox News Sunday."

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., agreed that it is too early to consider censure. He would not, however, rule out voting for such a measure if the Bush administration stonewalls a congressional investigation.

"It's a close case," Kennedy said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

...Many also see his effort as a distraction at a time when the administration was on the ropes over Iraq and a since-scuttled port deal.

"It just takes us off discussions we ought to be having in this country on issues that really matter in people's lives," said Rep. Sherrod Brown, a liberal Democrat from Ohio who is running for Senate.

Feingold is brushing off the lack of support from his colleagues. Actually, I think he likes it. It helps his maverick persona.

He's also enjoying the attention from Republicans that consider his censure resolution to be a gift.
"I welcome [Republicans'] attempt to make a campaign issue of the question of whether there will be accountability for the president's breaking the law," he said. "They will remind people every minute that the president thumbed his nose at the law."

The censure issue will be front and center on Friday when the Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on Feingold's resolution.

Personally, I'm looking forward to it. I want an on the record accounting.

Kohl and Feingold are both members of the Judiciary Committee.

Hopefully come Friday, Kohl will FINALLY take a stand on the measure. He can't continue to sit on the fence much longer. He'll be forced to clarify his position; so will blowhards like Joe Biden.

And Feingold-- Feingold will be posturing, and playing into the arms of the Left.

He'll continue to work on his priorities, campaigning for president and fund-raising and appealing to the radical Dems, rather than serving the people of Wisconsin.

Feingold is nobody's senator but his.