Radical Russ

Could Russ Feingold do more than he's already doing to suck up to the radical Left?

I suppose, but he seems to be pushing it to extremes as it is.

Russ went down kamikaze-style in the Senate on Wednesday, as the Patriot Act was virtually guaranteed renewal before it expires on March 10.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Russ Feingold lost his bid to filibuster the USA Patriot Act Wednesday. But that didn't stop the Wisconsin Democrat from reading from the U.S. Constitution during Senate debate, a tactic used in previous filibusters.

Feingold, the Senate's most passionate Patriot Act critic, was just getting started. When he returned to the floor, he also read aloud from eight state resolutions, four local Wisconsin resolutions and several newspaper editorials that expressed concerns about the legislation.

Note that the AP account calls Russ "passionate," rather than obstructive.

His actions are portrayed as heroic, rather than potentially dangerous to the security of the American people.
"In these final hours before the Patriot Act is reauthorized, I want my colleagues to hear the voices of the citizens of this country," he said. "These voices cannot be stifled by votes taken here."

...Feingold frequently cleared his throat and drank from glasses of water as he made his way through the resolutions and editorials, speaking in an uncharacteristically flat tone of voice. The four Wisconsin resolutions were from Douglas County, Eau Claire, Madison and Milwaukee.

Well, that must have been impressive. Is a remake of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in the works? He may have been auditioning.

By the way, those "voices" of the four resolutions from Wisconsin came out of liberal hotbeds, not the red counties.

In Douglas County, 65.71% voted for Kerry. In Eau Claire, it was 54.32%. In Dane County where Madison is, 66.09% voted for Kerry, and in Milwaukee it was 61.82%.

Russ didn't speak out for the people of Ozaukee, Dodge, Brown, and Calumet Counties -- Bush country in Wisconsin. Apparently, he was willing to allow their voices to be stifled.

In short, Russ cherry-picked.
But his passion returned as he summed up his remarks:

"This was our opportunity to respond to the voices of those legislatures and the people of those states, to their heartfelt concerns about the degradation of their civil liberties," said Feingold, a potential presidential candidate.


Personally, I found the slaughter of 3000 people on 9/11 to be degrading.

In terms of heartfelt concerns, I don't ever want to see anything remotely like that happen ever again. I'm concerned with protecting the lives of Americans. Of course, I care about civil liberties. However, I believe that there are sufficient safeguards in place to uphold our freedoms while the government goes after terrorists bent on destroying those freedoms.

His voice rising, he said, "We're capable, in this Congress and in this government and in this country, of getting the terrorists and stopping the terrorists, but also protecting the fundamental rights on which this country was founded."

A rising voice -- I'll bet it was quite a performance.

Russ says we should be able to get the bad guys without stripping Americans of civil liberties. He's right.

We're capable of it and we're doing it successfully, in spite of his crusade to prevent that from happening.
Earlier in the day, the Senate voted 84-15 to end Feingold's filibuster (it takes 60 votes to end a filibuster). That had effectively ended Feingold's months-long blocking of the Patriot Act's renewal.

"Blocking" is a good word. Russ is an obstructionist, a weak on terror obstructionist.

"The rules of the Senate have changed since the days of Jimmy Stewart and 'Mr. Smith goes to Washington,'" Feingold said. "One senator, no matter how strongly he or she feels, cannot single-handedly stop a bill when 60 or more of his or her colleagues are dead set on passing it."

OK, we already knew that Russ has fantasies of being Jimmy Stewart.

Some politicians read Churchill for inspiration. Russ watches Mr. Smith Goes to Washinton.
In 2001, Feingold was that "one senator," as he cast the sole vote against renewing the Patriot Act. But by last December, he had convinced all but two Democrats, along with a handful of Republicans, to block renewal of the law. They had come to share his concerns about the anti-terrorism law's impact on civil liberties.

But the White House and Republican leaders were able to peel off opponents by including limits in the government's power to compel information from people targeted in terror probes.

That sounds like Republicans did something sinister. Not so.

What happened was Dems realized that it was not it in their best interests to kill the Patriot Act and appear soft on terror, especially after adequate controls to protect civil liberties were included.
Feingold asserted that the restrictions on government power would be virtually meaningless in practice.

Of course, that's what he asserted. He's lapping up the adoration of the far Left loons. Russ certainly doesn't want to drop the issue that has endeared him to the Lefties.

This is interesting. Craig Gilbert of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that Russ clicks with blog readers.
In an online poll last month on the nation's most widely read liberal blog (DailyKos. com), Feingold led the Democratic presidential field, picked by 30 percent of the 11,000-plus people who visited the Web site and voted.

"He definitely is the most popular Democrat among the 'netroots,'" said liberal blogger Chris Bowers, referring to activists in the party who engage in online politics.

Bowers' blog (MyDD.com) did its own online poll in early February, and Feingold led that as well.

...At a time when the practice of politics online is growing, Feingold clearly sees the "netroots" as integral to the sort of long-shot campaign he may be waging against more established Democrats.

In an interview last fall, Feingold political aide George Aldrich said the Internet "has a huge impact in terms of leveling the playing field for the candidates that don't have huge financial networks, but can develop one pretty quickly if the netroots community gets behind them."

To cultivate such support, Feingold has an Internet coordinator on his political staff, consults with a team of Internet advisers, has held conference calls with Democratic-leaning bloggers, offers downloadable video podcasts, and allows supporters to vote online for which congressional candidates should receive contributions from Feingold's political committee.

Feingold also frequently posts his own comments on liberal blogs, blasting the Bush administration and accusing his own party of timidity on such issues as the Iraq war and the USA Patriot Act.

That explains a lot.

It should be noted that Russ is by no means faking his liberal status just to appeal to the radical Lefties in his quest for popularity. He's a dyed-in-the-wool lib. No question about it. However, his extremist rhetoric is becoming far more extreme.

He may be a cult figure among the Daily Kos crowd, but that won't get him anywhere in a national race.

"I sincerely think this is going to transform politics. It's almost a miracle," Feingold said of online activism in an interview last fall.

The Internet and blogs are miracle workers?

Time will tell. If I were Russ, I wouldn't be waiting for any miracles.
I sincerely think it would take a miracle for Feingold to find himself on the Dem ticket in 2008.
_________________________________

Read Russ' statement "On Opposition to Ending Debate on the Patriot Act."

There's an audio link as well.

That's entertainment!