[AGL] 3 Real Democrats

[Harry Edwards]

  Feingold's Censure Call Gives Him Boost
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press Writer
Sun Mar 26, 11:36 AM ET

While only two Democrats in the Senate have embraced Sen. Russ Feingold 
(news, bio, voting record)'s call for censuring President Bush, the 
idea is increasing his standing among many Democratic voters as he 
ponders a bid for the party's presidential nomination in 2008.

Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, insists his proposal has nothing to do 
with his political ambitions. But he does challenge Democrats who argue 
it will help energize Republicans.

"Those Democrats said that within two minutes of my announcing my 
idea," Feingold said in a telephone interview last week. "I don't see 
any serious evidence of that."

A Newsweek poll taken March 16-17 found that 50 percent of those 
surveyed opposed censuring Bush while 42 percent supported it, but 
among Democrats, 60 percent favored the effort.

Feingold's resolution would censure the president for authorizing a 
warrantless surveillance program, which the senator contends is 
illegal. Co-sponsors are Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa and 
Barbara Boxer of California.

Other Democrats have said bringing up such a punishment is not helpful 
before an investigation of the eavesdropping program is complete.

"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 (news, bio, voting 
record), D-Mich., told "Fox News Sunday."

Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), 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."

The White House argues that Bush was authorized to order eavesdropping 
on American citizens under his wartime powers as commander in chief.

Feingold said his sole purpose was to hold Bush accountable, but he 
argued that it's also good politics.

"These Democratic pundits are all scared of the Republican base getting 
energized, but they're willing to pay the price of not energizing the 
Democratic base," he said. "It's an overly defensive and meek approach 
to politics."

Some Democrats have accused Feingold of putting his 2008 presidential 
ambitions over helping Democrats try to recapture the House and Senate 
in this year's midterm elections. Should Feingold run, his opposition 
to the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act and the spying program would help 
position him as the liberal candidate.

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 (news, bio, voting record), a liberal Democrat from Ohio who is 
running for Senate.

Some Republicans have been thanking Feingold for what they consider a 
political fumble.

"This is such a gift," Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show. The 
National Review came to the same conclusion. In an online editorial 
titled, "Feingold's Gift to the GOP," the conservative magazine wrote 
that Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman would hug 
Feingold if given the chance.

The Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a 
hearing Friday on Feingold's resolution.

Mehlman, visiting Wisconsin last week, skipped the hug and instead 
criticized Feingold. That reinforced an RNC radio ad buy in the state, 
in which a narrator says, "Call Russ Feingold and ask him why he's more 
interested in censuring the president than protecting our freedom."

Feingold's response, essentially, is bring it on.

"I welcome their 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."