Who Are the Real Partisans on Feingold? Where Are Our Fighters?

It seems most Democratic Senators are running as fast as they can to avoid confronting Russ Feingold's proposal. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/14/AR2006031401519_pf.html

Meanwhile, other liberals are wringing their hands over whether it will work or not, or whether Republicans, all-knowing all the time, are licking their chops for another chance to play the tough guys. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

Why can't any of our leaders have the guts to say something like this? They are so afraid of "looking partisan" that they have forgotten who the real partisans are. Here is a one-minute answer. If I had the time, I could make it shorter and punchier, but it's better than anything else I'm hearing.

Look, you know what’s going on here. No Republican will have the guts to bolt from what Karl Rove orders and do the right thing. And nobody wants to lose. So even we Democrats balk initially at supporting something that has little chance of being successful.

Of course it’s the right thing. Every member of this Senate, including every single Republican, knows perfectly well that the President broke the law. It is an open-and-shut case, [and anybody who claims otherwise is either dishonest or stupid]. It should be a non-partisan condemnation, but the Republicans are too partisan these days to let that happen.

What is particularly absurd and irresponsible are charges that dissenting from the President, or making the President live up to his oath to execute the laws of the United States, supports the terrorists or “sends the wrong signal.” [Quotation marks gesture.] Dick Cheney loves that one, doesn't he? What supports the terrorists, and makes it harder for the U.S. to fight it, is when we don’t follow our own rules. Not only have the terrorists won when they bait us into breaking our own rules – when President Bush falls for the bait -- but it makes it harder for other countries to cooperate with us when we cannot be trusted to follow our own rules.

So yes, Russ took us by surprise, but so what. He's made us think. Obviously, it’s the right thing for the country. We can do surveillance on al-Qaeda within the law, and breaking the law is the worst possible thing you can do trying to beat the terrorists. Russ Feingold is courageous for forcing the issue. You’re damn straight I am voting to support him, win or lose.

What is so damned hard about figuring out how to say this, and saying it?