written before Russ introduced resolution but well worth reading.
E-mail: jnichols@madison.com
Published: March 13, 2006
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/index.php?ntid=76059E-mail: jnichols@madison.com
Published: March 13, 2006
Feingold says Bush should be held accountable for wiretaps
Senator favors censuring President
By John Nichols
U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold today is asking the Senate to officially censure President Bush for breaking the law by authorizing an illegal wiretapping program and for misleading Congress and the American people about the existence and legality of that program.
If the Wisconsin Democrat's move were to succeed, Bush would be the first president in 172 years to be so condemned by Congress.
.............An outspoken civil libertarian, the Wisconsin Democrat has a long record of confronting abuses of Constitutional protections by the executive branch.
When it was revealed in December that, despite previous denials by the president and his aides, Bush had repeatedly authorized a secret program by the National Security Agency to listen in on Americans' phone calls, Feingold charged that the spying scheme was indicative of a "pattern of abuse" by a president who was "grabbing too much power."
"We have a system of law. (Bush) just can't make up the law," complained Feingold. "It would turn George Bush not into President George Bush, but King George Bush."