Sen. Feingold -"America Is So Much Better than This"

[rodeodance]

I am proud to say that he is MY senator:-)

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/120804A.shtml

"America Is So Much Better than This"
By Senator Russ Feingold
AlterNet.org

Tuesday 07 December 2004

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) has the unique distinction of being the lone dissenter in the Senate on the vote approving the Patriot Act. He also was among a handful of Senators opposing the resolution to authorize the Iraq war. And last month, he won re-election, beating his well-financed Republican opponent 55-44 percent. On Nov. 18, when President Bush's nomination of Condoleeza Rice to replace Secretary of State Colin Powell came before the U.S. Senate, Sen. Feingold stood on the Senate floor and, in his characteristically forthright manner, spoke the following words.

Mr. Feingold: On Tuesday, the President announced the nomination of National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice to be the next U.S. Secretary of State.

I admire Dr. Rice's obvious intellectual gifts and her communication skills, and I congratulate her. I also believe that the president has the right to appoint cabinet officers who reflect his ideology and his perspective. Barring serious concerns about a nominee's qualifications or ethical record, and in keeping with Senate practices and precedents, my inclination is to give the president substantial deference in his cabinet choices, so I do expect, barring something unforeseen, that I will be supporting Dr. Rice.

But I am deeply troubled by the signal that this nomination appears to send - a signal suggesting that the modest moderating influence of the State Department over the last four years will disappear, and that the next four years will be guided even more closely by the voices that shouted loudest in the first term, and that led our country into seriously flawed foreign policies. Our country cannot afford to continue down the foreign policy path that was forged during the first term of the Bush administration. .......

[President Kerry]

1. great stuff.. Go Feingold

and the opposition lives!

[dolo amber]

2. I *heart* Russ Feingold so much

I moved to WI just so I could vote for him. :D :loveya:

[whalerider55]

3. i love feingold, but...

he was the deciding vote on the nomination of Ashcroft. the deciding vote. that didn't work out too well.

i think his tendency to deference is not a good one. Rice lied and refused to testify under oath. i think the country deserves better than "deference" on rice. He knows she lied, and he is willing in the name of deference to allow that sack of shit to become ensconced in the Sec'y of State office when she deserves to be indicted for her malfeasence on 9/11 and her dissembling about it.

am i missing something here?

I expected more from Feingold, although i have always been troubled by what i consider to be a morally weak argument he made for supporting ashcroft- looks like he hasn't learned from it.

whalerider55

[fbnb]

4. A principled vote, but ...

a vote I disagreed with.

Russ Feingold is also my senator, and I wrote him as a constituent regarding the Ashcroft confirmation, and received a detailed response explaining his reasoning behind the vote. In effect, it was an olive branch offered across the aisle to the new administration. Unfortunately, that branch was used as a club by the DoJ.

My last letter to Sen. Feingold was to urge a "no" vote on the Gonzalez nomination. We'll see.

[indepat]

5. But Senator, this is America

[proudbluestater]

6. But why will he still support her?

Anybody can craft an eloquent speech. Principles are STANDING up for something, too.

I'd prefer he save the speech and vote against the nomination, rather than give the speech and vote FOR the nomination.