Feingold Doing the Right Thing

I read an editorial this morning that criticized Feingold and I suspect there are a number of other editorials doing the same. But I suspect the editorial writers aren't doing their homework. The issue raised by Feingold is not some temporary politics that will come and go in a season. The NSA spying goes to the core of who we are as a nation and to the US Constitution. We are either a nation of laws or we are a nation of powerful coalitions that can do what they please irrespective of the rest of the nation.

I'm uneasy that Feingold isn't getting much support. The poll watchers in the Democratic Party resemble too much the poll watchers in the Republican Party. The Iraq War is failing because Bush wants to appear tough but doesn't want the Iraq War to endanger his political position so decisions are made based on poll results rather than on getting the job done. Part of the toughness that Bush pretends to have is tied to the fact that he can't seem to admit that he has made mistakes and therefore has to correct them; that too might cause him to go lower in the polls. When your poll numbers drop into the mid-thirties, it seems to me the strategy needs to change. And personnel need to change.

Talking Points Memo has a post on the Feingold situation:

I think I'm with Kevin Drum on this whole Feingold censure thing. It's really not that surprising that not every Democratic senator would want to jump on the bandwagon with this. But I also don't think there's any particular reason to run from it like it's Dem kryptonite or the plague. I've said this before. But I think the bigger problem for Dems is not the things they do but the very public hand-wringing and navel-gazing about how people might react to the things they do.

That doesn't look good. And it doesn't look good because it really isn't good.

President Bush really does deserve to be held accountable for breaking the law and then even more for claiming after the fact that the law actually doesn't apply to him. In constitutional terms, that bogus claim is a very big deal. So 'censure' him. Or don't censure him. But most of all don't get all bent out of shape or whiny about whether it might make some Bush supporter unhappy or might prompt some scold on the WaPo oped page to say tut-tut.

Let's keep in mind that conventional wisdom and the media have constantly been behind the curve when it comes to the many blunders and scandals of the Bush administration. Josh Marshall and Kevin Drum have a reputation of being rational and more on the moderate side of the Democratic Party; it is not a reach for the Democrats to hold Bush accountable.