Now Feingold is an enemy ?

People need to get a grip.

Russ Feingold is a great senator in the best of the midwest labor populist progressive tradition.  

Feingold is reliably progressive on foreign policy.  Feingold is reliably progressive on domestic policy.  He was the ONLY Senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act, i.e., to vote in support of the first and fourth amendments.

If we weren't a nation of lingering religious prejudice and sexual hypocracy (OMG!  He's divorced 2 x!), Feingold would be an acknowledged future presidential prospect and on any Democrat's vice presidential short list.

But, Feingold worked with McCain on campaign finance reform, and Feingold now refuses to rip a guy he's worked with closely.  He supports Obama strongly, and he attacks McCain's stands on the issues, but Feingold won't hit below the belt, i.e., Feingold is being a good guy.

And what happens to good guys?

"Really idiotic and downright stupid of Feingold to do this now. Looks to me like Feingold has a beef with Obama and wanted to take a swipe at him, or else Feingold is just an idiot.  Kind of makes you wonder if Feingold actually cares about any of those progressive issues he always talks about . . I've always liked Feingold, but seriously, what has he accomplished in the past several years on anything that we actually care about? Like most Democrats, he grandstands real well, but actual accomplishments?"

http://www.americablog.com/2008/08/125-o ut-of-130-times-mccain-votes-with.html

"It's time that Senators Daschle and Feingold were told to STFU or pay a serious price for supporting the enemy. . . . Feingold - good God, why don't you just get on stage alongside Joe Lieberman at the GOP convention, if you like McCain so much, Senator. . . . Feingold, the man who talks progressive but never really actually does anything - should be told that if he opens his big mouth one more time he should kiss his committee assignments good bye."

http://www.americablog.com/2008/08/obama -and-reid-need-to-tell-daschle-and.html# disqus_thread

I know folks get hungry, but can we stop eating our own?  Particularly, the best of our own?


Poll
Russ Feingold - -
We'd be a better nation if every senator was a Russ Feingold.
He should lose his committee assignments.

Votes: 30
Results : Vote Link : Polls

Display:


Tips for Russ Feingold !!! (2.00 / 4)


John McCain says he would stay in Iraq for 100 years? That's crazy talk!
by kosnomore on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 05:59:55 PM EST

Re: Tips for Russ Feingold !!! (2.00 / 5)

Weird for you to write a diary about "eating our own" with your diary history regarding certain Dems, no?


by Dog Chains on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 06:14:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Tips for Russ Feingold !!! (2.00 / 6)

Come on.

Kosnomore has spent COUNTLESS hours combing the blogs and calling out people who trashed Obama.

She also goes WILD if anyone says something bad about Pelosi, for example.

You just missed it.


On Nov 4th, Barack Obama officially ends the Southern Strategy....
by WashStateBlue on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 06:17:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Damn it... (2.00 / 2)

I was having such a good day, what with the "7 Houses" gift from the gods and all, until I read this diary and found myself having to agree with kosnomore.

Now, I'm just depressed.


Wouldn't it be nice if there were no rhetorical questions?
by Elsinora on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 08:09:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Yes, it's strange. (2.00 / 2)

I'm pinching myself.  I think I hear Twilight Zone music playing, but it might be my CPU fan.  


by Dumbo on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 08:25:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Feingold needs to STFU. (1.00 / 1)

Imagine if Bill or Hillary had said this.


by Geekesque on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 06:02:24 PM EST

'cause what has Russ ever done for us? (2.00 / 2)

except be consistently one of the best senators in Washington?


John McCain says he would stay in Iraq for 100 years? That's crazy talk!
by kosnomore on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 07:06:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]

It is not acceptable to say that the other (2.00 / 1)

party's nominee would be a good president.


by Geekesque on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 08:26:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Geek... (2.00 / 1)

I'm a HUGE John Aravosis fan, but he's wrong this time.

Feingold has earned the right to be an asshole occasionally.  


by Dumbo on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 08:27:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Feingold rules (none / 0)

Not that Bob Casey doesn't also, but sometimes I find myself jealous of Wisconsinites.


by Bob Sackamento on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 06:03:19 PM EST

Ugh, don't be. (2.00 / 1)

Sure, Feingold's my Senator...but Sensenbrenner is my Representative.

Remember, we're the state that gave rise to both Bob LaFollette and Joe McCarthy--and neither of them was unrepresentative of the state.  Wisconsin is effing BIPOLAR, man.


Wouldn't it be nice if there were no rhetorical questions?
by Elsinora on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 08:13:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Now Feingold is an enemy ? (2.00 / 4)

I might think my ex-girlfriend is a good person, but I don't go around talking about it in front of my wife.  There's a time and place for praising people, and surely Feingold could have used better judgment.


"Another problem we have...is that in election years we behave somewhat as primitive peoples do at the time of the full moon." --Harry Truman
by Steve M on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 06:12:10 PM EST

Re: Now Feingold is an enemy ? (2.00 / 1)

But it was stupid.

And honestly, there's nothing in your diary on the level of the stuff you've written about the current nominee so I don't understand what your problem is THIS time.


I'm voting for Saxby Chambliss!
by Jess81 on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 06:17:25 PM EST

Feingold is not an enemy (2.00 / 4)

But he is an idiot for opening his mouth. If he doesn't have anything to say that is going to help the Democrat's chances of winning the presidency, he needs to zip it. I could care less that he is so progressive. I'm tired of being a purist and still losing.


by highgrade on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 06:19:11 PM EST

Re: Now Feingold is an enemy ? (none / 0)

I'd like to pick both actually. Both are true.


by MNPundit on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 06:30:34 PM EST

Do as he says..... (2.00 / 2)

can we stop eating our own?

....not as he does.


by Glaurung on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 06:40:33 PM EST

Re: Now Feingold is an enemy ? (2.00 / 2)

. But even though I feel strongly about that, I can't sit here and say that John McCain doesn't have the temperament to be the president of the United States. I frankly think he does. And I think he'd be a good president....

John McCain supports torture, domestic spying, pre-emptive war, an end to checks and balances, criminalizing abortion, shredding the social safetynet, privatizing Social Security, health care as a privilege, drilling to enrich oil companies while doing nothing for consumers, discriminating against gays, and many other things that don't fly from the top of my head to the pit of my stomach to make me sick.

The question is not about "throwing people under the bus" (as the usual nitwits trot out there little trolling phrasebook) but it these things mean anything to Russ Feingold. I believe they do.
So how can Russ Feingold, as he put it a week ago, be "comfortable" with a McCain presidency?

There are two Beltway diseases on display here. First of all, Feingold is polishing his own knob, masturbating to the thought of a what a mavericky, non-partisan he is. Two, putting social relationships before policy. This is why we still have Lieberman. If Russ wants to have dinner with John, that's none of by business. If Senator Feingold is jerking himself and his friend off at the expense of the things I believe in (and that he does, which is why he's an idiot), then it becomes my business.


by BlueinColorado on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 07:20:20 PM EST

Re: Now Feingold is an enemy ? (2.00 / 1)

On your first paragraph even if McCain does beleive everythng you stated, and he tries to enact it, he still would have to wheel and deal with a Democratic Congress.  And my guess is a bunch of watered down legislation is more likely to become law, which is why Sen Feingold said he is comfortable with a McCain Presidency.

As for the beltway diseases at play here, I think you would better yourself if you understood how the Senate works.   As for the Connecticut Senate race of 2006, it amazed me how many folks really thought the many Democratic Senators would turn on their fellow Senator running as Idependent, I hope you are not going to be shocked either if the said Senator is still in the caucus as a committee chair also.  

As for Sen Feingold, you may beleive he sould stay up all night worrying about offending you, but I douby no one else does.  


by swl1966 on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 08:11:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Now Feingold is an enemy ? (2.00 / 1)

Feingold doesn't sell himself as an inside player who works the Senate rules. He sells himself as a paragon of virtue and principle.

but I douby no one else does.

hmmm... everybody makes typos, but it looks like you lost the thread of what you thought was going to be some devastating repartee there.

I think you would better yourself if you understood how 'preview' works.


by BlueinColorado on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 09:30:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Now Feingold is an enemy ? (none / 0)

"even if McCain supports those things..."

Jesus, moron, maybe you should read a newspaper and learn what the candidates stand for before you long in and start prissily lecturing people on "how the Senate works".

Lemme guess, 'you didn't leave the Democrat party, the Democrat party left you when they turned on a fine, principled statesman like Joseph I. Lieberman!'


by BlueinColorado on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 09:40:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Now Feingold is an enemy ? (2.00 / 3)

Why do you always have to take such extreme positions with your polls?  Feingold made a mistake; if he feels the need to praise McCain, he should bite his tongue for a few months.


by rfahey22 on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 07:43:22 PM EST

Why? (2.00 / 1)

It's called sarcasm and parody - - because none of these polls are scientific or prove anything however drafted.
You know, sometimes you can have FUN.
John McCain says he would stay in Iraq for 100 years? That's crazy talk!
by kosnomore on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 10:18:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

this with us or against us mentality (none / 0)

is eerily familiar


vote blue in 2008
by sepulvedaj3 on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 08:24:39 PM EST

Re: this with us or against us mentality (none / 0)

There's a difference between electoral politics and foreign policy. And Feingold's mealy-mouthed simpering in politics increases the risk of more Bush/McCain foreign policy. And domestic policy.


by BlueinColorado on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 09:42:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Now Feingold is an enemy ? (none / 0)

I hate to say this as a blue dog democrat but I agree with you that Feingold should not be praising McBush.  If he can't find anything bad to say, heaven help us why, than he shouldn't say anything.  I also question why he didn't come out and endorse Obama during the primaries when he said that he voted for him??


by Spanky on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 09:34:07 PM EST

Feingold is the man (2.00 / 1)

Anyone who wants to take a crack at Feingold needs to go through me.

That is all.


The pebbles have voted and the avalanche has begun.

President-Elect "That One"

by Dracomicron on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 09:57:06 PM EST

Re: Now Feingold is an enemy ? (none / 0)

Props for not mentioning anything about a bus.


by Cincinnatus on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 10:03:43 PM EST

Aravoisis is an idiot (none / 0)

and a blithering one at that too. He seems to have forgotten which senator voted for the shameful eavesdropping bill and who did not.


by tarheel74 on Thu Aug 21, 2008 at 10:11:47 PM EST

Thank you for posting this! (none / 0)

Some people on the left are becoming or are just as bad as the righties!


Washington Woman

Progressive Blue

by kevin22262 on Fri Aug 22, 2008 at 12:05:28 AM EST

Not an enemy (2.00 / 1)

But in this case, an enabler of continued Republican administrations. Very UnProgressive moment for Russ.

Message. Discipline. It's why we lose.


by Neef on Fri Aug 22, 2008 at 01:43:53 AM EST


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