Why the roll-eyes? He's never said Hillary is his choice for '08, that I recall, only that she had a good shot, and that he was following her closely. I disagreed with him, at first, but the more I thought about her assets, mainly Bill, the more I thought she did have a shot, and could do the job. (see Clinton, Bill) Also, don't you think that Democrats are sizing up potential candidates now? The time is fast approaching when serious candidates will have to make their intentions known, if they hope to lock up support and money for a run. If you don't believe me, go look at a calendar. My personal choice, right now, is Barack Obama. He's often described as too young, but he is 44 years old, and has an impressive resume, especially if you compare him to the current President. I'm hoping that, somehow, he can make a serious run for the '08 nomination. Feingold and Clinton also deserve consideration, as do others. Keep D&D Civil.
I don't understand all the fuss about Barak Obama. Other than his rant in '04 Democratic Convention, do we really know much about him?
he's articulate, charismatic and comes off as having a nice personality. thats more than we can say about kerry/gore.
To be quite honest, I am not that impressed with some parts in his keynote speech at the Convention - those xxxxx-America's and repeated alluding to god.
As someone has mentioned, a potential pitfall in Feingold's candidacy could be his divorce, make it two divorces. More precariously, his status as divorced, single man when running for prez. Although it's not a concern to me, but I can imagine some idiot in a townhall-style presidential debate raises this stupid family value/sanctity of marriage issue.
So he believes in God. I don't, being agnostic, but most Americans do. So what? Do you seriously believe that someone, in the America we live in today, would have one chance in hell of being elected to the Presidency if he/she openly said they didn't? Be realistic. Look at the guy's resume. It's damned impressive. The only thing he doesn't have is a great deal of political experience in the higher levels of American politics. Neither did George W. Bush. Obama has an enormous amount of experience in the grassroots level and, guess what? That's experience with average Americans. He knows what their hopes and desires are, what those trying to pull themselves up and get things so many of us take for granted, like healthcare for their kids, much less for themselves, and jobs that mean something and have a future, need to have a chance at that phrase used so much that, for most Americans, it has lost all meaning... the American dream.. All of these different possiblities need to be looked at, and the Democratic Party better not think that "business as usual" is going to get the White House back in their control, much less one, or both of the branches of Congress. Keep D&D Civil.
Believe God all he wants - he can pray to God 100 times a day in private and it's not my business. But if he tries to rally public support using his religious belief or by wearing god on his sleeves then he's out for my consideration. At one time there was a grassroot support for the Iraq War, but so what? Heck, I still believe there is a grassroot support (especially among soccer moms) for cheap gas, at the expense of foreigner's lives and/or miseries, if the amount of US troop casualties is "acceptable" and no draft is looming for their kids of college age. I am not saying Barak currently supports the War, though, but do we really know he, as a member of U.S. Senate, would have voted, or not, to give Bush authority to start the War? You know he can say he voted for the War because his constituents supported it, and most people would forgive him later on.
I really like Russ Feingold. Anyone with the stones to vote against the Patriot Act is someone I can get on board with. I really hope 2008 sees Feingold and McCain run against one another. Not only would it be ripe for McCain-Feingold Act 2 jokes, but I would feel like either candidate was a decent human being and an acceptable choice for president.
And Obama is FEARLESS in telling hhis base or specialinterest supporters that he won't do something because they demand it ruffles feathers and is much more "do the right thing" than what Dubya fans think.
I only skimmed the article and this thread but living in MN I've been hearing quite a bit about Feingold and am pretty impressed with him. Feingold is not a centrist Democrat but is one of the more liberal ones and on many issues I don't agree with him but I do think he is one of the most principled politicians out there and one whose really willing to come out and vote on principal even if it might hurt him politically. Five votes really stand out for me. The first was being the sole Democrat to vote for continuing the Clinton removal from office hearings in the Senate. While he did think they were politically motivated he also recognized that it was good for the Senate and country to at least allow the House prosecutors to present their case. The second was his vote against the Patriot Act which was one that many considered traitorous at the time but he stood by his belief in civil liberties. The next two were his vote against authorization to go to Iraq and his vote for the $87 Bil.. while he felt the war was wrong he still recognized the need to support the troops safety along with rebuilding Iraq once we occupied Iraq. I wonder if these votes may come back to haunt him because they certainly open him up to the criticism that Hayes brought up in another thread about opposing the war but supporting the troops, since funding the troops is continuing the mission. Also if he could be attacked from the left for further enabling the mission in Iraq by voting to fund it. The converse of the Kerry argument could be used where Kerry claimed that he wouldn't vote for the $87 bil. because by then he had realized the Admin. had duped him and the country regarding the reasons for the war and showed a lack of accountability regarding running it while Feingold knowing all of that still voted for it. The last vote that I admire Feingold for is for voting for Roberts and while this may also haunt him from the left IMO was the right thing and his reasoning is absolutely correct on it. I'm not sure what Feingold's chances are of getting the Dem. nomination in 2008 and I'm not even sure if I would support him but I definately think that in terms of character and principal there aren't many other politicians that can measure up to Feingold.
My kind of guy. From wikipedia on Russ Feingold: Campaigns Senate Feingold's senatorial career began in 1992 with a surprising victory over incumbent Republican Senator Bob Kasten. Feingold, who had little name recognition in the state and was campaigning in a primary against a pair of millionaire opponents, adopted several gimmicks to gain the electorate's attention. The most memorable of these was a series of five promises written on Feingold's garage door in the form of a contract. These were: 1. I will rely on Wisconsin citizens for most of my contributions. 2. I will live in Middleton, Wisconsin. My children will go to school here and I will spend most of my time here in Wisconsin. 3. I will accept no pay raise during my six-year term in office. 4. I will hold a "Listening Session" in each of Wisconsin's 72 counties each year of my six-year term in office. 5. I will hire the majority of my Senate staff from individuals who are from Wisconsin or have Wisconsin backgrounds. Also much-noted was Feingold's advertising campaign, which was widely compared to that used by longshot candidate Paul Wellstone in his victorious Senate campaign in Minnesota. Shot in the form of home movies, the ads attempted to portray Feingold, who always referred to himself as "the underdog running for U.S. senate," as a down-to-earth, Capra-esque figure, taking the audience on a guided tour of the candidate's heavily-mortgaged home and introducing them to his children, all of whom were enrolled in public school. The ads also contained a significant amount of humor. One featured Feingold meeting with a faux Elvis Presley, who offered Feingold his endorsement. Another showed Feingold, standing next to a pair of half-sized cardboard cut-outs of his opponents, refusing to "stoop to their level" as the two were shown literally slinging mud at one another. In still another, Feingold was shown conclusively demonstrating that there were no skeletons in any of his closets. During the primary campaign, Feingold unveiled an 82-point plan to eliminate the deficit by the end of his first term. The plan, which called for, among other things, a raise in taxes and cuts in the defense budget, was derided as "extremist" by Republicans and "too liberal" by his Democratic opponents. Feingold also announced his support for strict campaign finance reform and a national health care system and voiced his opposition to term limits and new tax cuts. On primary day, Feingold, whose support had shown in the single digits throughout much of the campaign, stunned observers by surging to victory with 70% of the vote. With only seven weeks before the election, the momentum created by this upset win, along with support from people who came out to vote for presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Ross Perot, allowed Feingold to beat Kasten by 6% on election day. During his 1998 re-election campaign, Feingold once again eschewed big-money campaigning, despite the fact that the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee had targeted him for defeat. Feingold placed a cap on his own fundraising, refusing to raise or spend more than $3.8 million (one dollar for every citizen of Wisconsin) during the campaign. In addition, he placed the same limits on his fundraising that he would have faced under the McCain-Feingold bill. He refused to allow his party to raise any soft money to air ads favoring him and he requested that several special interest groups, including the AFL-CIO and the League of Conservation Voters, refrain from airing pro-Feingold "issue ads." His Republican opponent, Congressman Mark Neumann, also limited himself to $3.8 million in spending, but allowed soft money to be used in his favor by a variety of pro-Republican groups. On election day, Neumann won 71 of Wisconsin's 72 counties, but an extraordinarily strong showing in the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee allowed Feingold to win by less than one percent of the vote. In the 2004 Senate election, Feingold defeated the Republican candidate, construction magnate Tim Michels, by 12% (56%-44%), earning a third term. During the campaign, Feingold refrained from imposing spending caps on himself as he had in the past, and raised and spent almost $11 million. Although Republicans attempted to use that fact to paint him as a hypocrite, Feingold's records showed that more than 90% of the money came from individuals, that the average contribution was only $60, and that, once again, a majority of it was raised from Wisconsin residents. Feingold's victory was seen by many pundits as a vindication of the many controversial stances that he had taken during his second term, as it was by far his largest electoral victory thus far. Feingold even won many counties which also supported the re-election of Republican President George W. Bush. Senator Feingold regularly holds what he refers to as "listening sessions" in all 72 Wisconsin counties to listen to his constituents' concerns, and has held more than 850 since he was elected to office. Perhaps as a result of his success in the 2004 elections, in late December 2004, Feingold was appointed to be one of four deputy whips for the Senate Democrats. Feingold has pledged that the new role would not sway his maverick stance within the party or the chamber. Possible Presidential run There is talk of Feingold seeking the Democratic Party's Presidential or Vice-Presidential nomination in 2008. In December 2004, a website urging Feingold to run for president was created, followed by others. In late January 2005, Feingold told the Tiger Bay Club of Volusia County, Florida that he intended to travel around the country before deciding whether or not to run in 2008. In March 2005, his senate campaign registered the domain www.russfeingold.com, as well as the .org and .net versions; Feingold will not face reelection to the Senate until the 2010 election. On June 1, Feingold launched a political action committee, the Progressive Patriots Fund. Launching a PAC is seen as an important step in running for President. On August 17, 2005, Feingold became the first U.S. senator of either party to suggest a firm date for American withdrawal from the Iraq war, saying that he favored a complete withdrawal by no later than December 31, 2006. The announcement was widely seen by both Feingold's supporters and detractors as a de facto announcement of his intention to run for president, although Feingold himself continues to remain silent on his alleged plans. On September 22, 2005, during the hearing on Judge John Roberts's nomination for Chief Justice of the United States, Feingold became one of three Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote in favor of sending Roberts' nomination to the floor for a full vote. He also announced that he would vote to confirm Roberts. Many members of the Democratic blogosphere have predicted that this vote will have a negative impact on his presidential aspirations, although Feingold's supporters point out that this is not the first time that he has voted in favor of President Bush's judicial nominees. Although Feingold continues to languish near the bottom of opinion polls featuring various potential Democratic presidential candidates, often appearing as an asterisk or receiving support in the low single digits, he remains highly popular among Democratic grassroots activists. A recent nonscientific poll of a popular liberal blog, MyDD, placed Feingold in second place behind General Wesley Clark, a former 2004 presidential candidate, for most popularity among Democratic activists. Many of Feingold's supporters blame his poor results in scientific polling on poor name recognition and point to the success of Senator Gary Hart, who, during the 1984 presidential election, managed to campaign his way from 1% in the polls to twenty-six primary victories. Bills and policy positions Feingold's primary legislative focus has been on campaign finance reform, fair trade policies, health care reform, environmentalism, a multilateral foreign policy, Social Security, abolishing the death penalty, and eliminating wasteful spending. Senator Feingold was the only Democratic senator to vote against a motion to dismiss Congress' 1998-1999 impeachment case of President Bill Clinton, and in 2001 he voted for the confirmation of Attorney General John Ashcroft. Neither decision was popular with his party, but Feingold claims that he voted based on respect for the due process of law and the right for a President to choose his Cabinet, not because of his own personal opinions on Clinton or Ashcroft. Feingold has also been an opponent of NAFTA and other free trade agreements, an unpopular position among some Democrats, but one lauded by others. On December 21, 2004, Feingold wrote an article for popular webzine Salon.com regarding his golfing trip to Greenville, Alabama. After noting how friendly the people were, and that Wisconsin had many similar places, he expressed his sorrow that such a poverty-stricken area was "the reddest spot on the whole map", in spite of Republican policies that Feingold considered incredibly destructive to the lives of the poor and middle class. Alabama's Governor Bob Riley and Greenville mayor Dexter McLendon, both Republicans, were perturbed at Feingold's description of "check-cashing stores and abject trailer parks, and some of the hardest-used cars for sale on a very rundown lot." McLendon invited Feingold back for a more complete tour of the city, and Feingold agreed. He visited the city on March 28, 2005, making amends and increasing speculation about his presidential plans for 2008. Campaign finance reform Feingold is perhaps best known for his work alongside Senator John McCain on the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, better-known as the McCain-Feingold bill, which took the two almost seven years to pass. On July 14, 2005, Feingold introduced a bill to the Senate that would ban lobbyists from giving gifts to senators and impose a $50,000 fine for violating the ban; force lawmakers to sign statements saying that lobbyists did not pay their travel expenses; bar congressmen, staffers, and executive branch officials from serving as lobbyists for two years after leaving office; and require that lobbying reports be disclosed on a quarterly, rather than semi-annual, basis. At the same time, Congressman Marty Meehan of Massachusetts, who co-wrote the House version of McCain-Feingold, and Congressman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois introduced a similar bill in the House. Neither bill has yet come to a vote. Government spending Feingold is also a well-known advocate for reductions in pork barrel spending and what he deems to be corporate welfare. Citizens Against Government Waste, the Concord Coalition, and Taxpayers for Common Sense, three large, nonpartisan organizations dedicated to those causes, have repeatedly given him awards, words of praise, and endorsements for his actions. Feingold, who was elected to Congress on a promise not to accept pay raises while in office, has so far returned over $50,000 in such raises to the U.S. Treasury. In addition, he is notoriously frugal in his office's spending and sends back the money that he does not use. In one six-month period in 1999, for example, his office received $1.787 million in appropriations and returned $145,000, a higher percentage than any other senator. Patriot Act Feingold was the only senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act, which, he said, infringed upon citizens' civil liberties. Many at the time predicted his political career was over, but a majority of Wisconsin residents had little problem with his vote. Later, as public opinion turned against certain portions of the Act, his vote became a major selling-point for his re-election campaign. Ideological rankings Americans For Democratic Action, a liberal advocacy group which rates members of Congress on a scale of 0 to 100, with zero being totally conservative and 100 being completely progressive, gave Senator Feingold a lifetime average rating of 96. With the death of Minnesota's Senator Paul Wellstone in 2002, this leaves Feingold tied with California's Senator Barbara Boxer for the title of the "most progressive person" in the Senate, according to ADA. At the same time, the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan advocacy group that pushes for fiscal responsibility, has placed him on its "Senate Honor Roll" every year since 1997, making their suggestion that Senator Feingold is also one of the top budget hawks in Congress. The Democratic Freedom Caucus, a group of libertarian-leaning Democrats, has endorsed him during his last two senate campaigns. In 2004, the National Rifle Association gave him a grade of D (with F being the lowest grade and A the highest). On environmental issues, he was given scores of 100% from the League of Conservation Voters, and 73% from CUSP. The American Civil Liberties Union gave him a score of 89%.
Feingold is obviously an intelligent guy, and I've often said all things being more or less equal, I tend to focus as much on the (wo)man as the message. However, Feingold is just plain wrong on the central issue of our times, the war in iraq and it's relationship to the fight against islamofascism. moreover, he's wrong on cafta and nafta, and he clearly fails to understand the connection between the bill that bears his name and the rise of the 527 groups. interesting that he only called out the swiftvets by name, and failed to mention the fair larger, better known and better funded moveon.org. i respect the man has an inkling of a plan for iraq. unfortunately, his plan would result in utter chaos in the country, and the abandonment of the country to terroists. i am struck by his callous disregard to the fate of the iraqi people. as christopher hitchens has said, no one deserves the label of liberal who is so indifferent to whether others live in freedom or under tyranny. The crimes committed daily against the Iraqi people by other Arabs who wish to re-enslave them seem to be of little interest to feingold. Rage against the daily assaults on children and women by islamofascists doesnt seem to concern him. The sacrifice of U.S. soldiers, their allies and of Iraqis is horrifically painful. But if we can stay long enough to enable the Iraqis to lay the firm foundation of civil society, their deaths will not be in vain. We should leave when the elected Iraqi government asks us to. It is astonishing and discouraging that the left just doesn't seem to get that the people we're fighting in iraq, as elsewhere, want nothing more than to destroy the promise of freedom, a value that the entire american political family should be prepared to support. then again, as long as the evil neocons are dealt a political defeat, why should the left give a good goddam about the iraqis?
i think i'm on record, and have started many threads, suggesting condi would be an ideal president. she's not jewish, however, at least, TTBOMK, although she might be a lesbian! but that's just me, a black lesbian soul singer trapped in a straight white operatic man's body. OTOH, if the reaction of some democrats to liebermann's candidacy is any indication, is by no means guaranteed that a Jew could win the democratic nomination, vide jesse-hymie-town-jackson, among only one of the more glaring examples.
i played the rabbi in a little theater production of fiddler on the roof. then again, i was also caiaphas in jesus christ superstar, and we know how that turned out...
The other 527's weren't based mainly on lies like the swiftboats were. That is probably why he called them out. I totally agree with Feingold on Iraq, but not on his vote for that version of the 87 billion bill which ended up wasteing and losing billions of dollars. If he had voted for the bill Kerry was for which would have also funded 87 billion to the troops but in a less useful way. As usual you have zero credible evidence for your position that someone doesn't care about innocent Iraqis, but you continue to make such baseless claims so Feingold will have to live with that.
