Caught Off Guard

Caught Off Guard

\”I haven't read it,\” demurred Barack Obama (Ill.). \”I just don't have enough information,\” protested Ben Nelson (Neb.). \”I really can't right now,\” John Kerry (Mass.) said as he hurried past a knot of reporters — an excuse that fell apart when Kerry was forced into an awkward wait as Capitol Police stopped an aide at the magnetometer. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) brushed past the press pack, shaking her head and waving her hand over her shoulder. When an errant food cart blocked her entrance to the meeting room, she tried to hide from reporters behind the 4-foot-11 Barbara Mikulski (Md.). \”Ask her after lunch,\” offered Clinton's spokesman, Philippe Reines. But Clinton, with most of her colleagues, fled the lunch out a back door as if escaping a fire. (snip) \”Most of us feel at best it's premature,\” announced Sen. Christopher Dodd (Conn.). \”I don't think anyone can say with any certainty at this juncture that what happened is illegal.\” Dodd must not have checked with Sen. Tom Harkin (Iowa). \”The president broke the law and he needs to be held accountable,\” he said. \”Talk about high crimes and misdemeanors!\” Harkin said he'll vote for the Feingold resolution — if it comes up. … …

The
Feingold Resolution and the Sound of Silence

Caught off guard. (photo by Jason Reed — Reuters)

Read the comments from Senate Democrats. Read the stories in the
press and one thing rises to the surface about Russ. He didn't watch his own
back. He suggested censure without telling his own caucus, which is now cutting
him across the political grain.

Is anyone shocked that the Democrats
were surprised by the censure motion? It's painfully obvious. It's unbelievably
inconvenient. But it demands we all understand that what's afoot is not settled
in stone amidst silence. It's being mulled by the Democratic power structure
who had no warning that censure was coming. At least Democrats, minus the Connecticut
caucus, had the sense to hold their fire until they can deliberate.

Frankly, it's not \”cowering\” to get your bearings on
something as serious as censure. Look at the photo, feel the heat. Democrats
aren't \”cowering,\” they're being made to react in real time on censure,
while the cameras roll, the reporters bark and the American people wake up to
someone who is standing up and demanding accountability. With all due respect
to Russ Feingold, if he didn't want this response he shouldn't have sprung censure
in the bright lights of TV on a lazy Sunday morning.

It's never optimal to ask a high stakes question to which you
do not know the answer. Feingold challenged the notion of censure when he didn't
know whether Democrats would follow. Biden has it right, frustration is what
likely fueled Feingold's move. Americans like me and others feel that frustration
too.

A question beckons amidst the brouhaha. Who are you going to choose, Russ Feingold and the people who
are demanding accountability, or the rubber stamp Republicans who
lost Iraq?

The answer is simple enough for Americans across the political
spectrum. That's why Democrats who were caught off guard by Senator Feingold's
censure motion are moving slowly. They've heard from people around the country
on censure, so Democratic senators know we want some action.

What we've wanted for a very long time is accountability. What
we've been met with is a rubber stamp from the Republicans who control Congress.

A Wall
Street Journal editorial suggests the Feingold agenda is impeachment. I
laughed out loud. Sure, that may be the agenda of others, but it certainly isn't
mine. I couldn't be less interested in impeachment right now. The WSJ wants
a diversion to distract from the relevance of what Russ has suggested. They
want the political hail Mary so everyone starts running instead of a thoughtful and serious discussion
on a very serious issue, which isn't just censure, but ACCOUNTABILITY.

See, it's simple for me and I would say many others. I want to
hold the Republicans who lost Iraq accountable for what they're doing in the
name of the \”war on terror,\” which takes our democratic republic and
shreds it on the shores through secret means. I've talked to many attorneys
and I am convinced that President George W. Bush broke the law. I want him held
accountable.

There is a silent majority in America that wants the Republicans
held accountable for their weak, rubber stamp attitude, as they back a president
who has clearly exceeded his powers, lost a war, made us less safe, while also
making plans to sell our national security to the highest bidder.

Russ Feingold caught the Democrats in the Senate off guard. That
doesn't make him wrong or them \”cowering.\”

We're about to see if the rubber stamp Republicans are going
to take our lead, or follow George W. Bush yet again into the abyss. Russ Feingold
put forth censure, leading the way. The American people want accountability.

With all the fuss over the Democratic response to Russ, one thing
is being missed. If Republicans vote against holding the president accountable
for illegally wiretapping Americans they have even more to lose. See, the Feingold censure motion may be directed at illegal wiretaps and the NSA program, but to the American people it is a symbol. The details are less important than the symobolism of what censure means. It means someone is finally willing to hold the Republicans and George W. Bush accountable for the years of incompetence, loss of life and destruction in Iraq, not to mention the mishandling of every single domestic issue they've touched.

So, if Republicans continue the rubber stamp and refuse to
hold Bush accountable they may lose Congress through their weakness. Democrats then might actually win back the power of the subpoena in 2006, which is one scary scenario for Republicans, for sure. Democrats may be deliberating right now, but Republicans, you can bet, are finally facing a stark reality.

Democrats have the advantage, because we're asking for accountability. It beats the hell out of the rubber stamp Republicans are holding for a president who's lost the confidence, trust and belief of the American people.

UPDATE: Jane Hamsher asks the right question.