Interview with Sen. Russ Feingold

[Jefferson23]

Tuesday, Sep 14, 2010 06:15 ET

(updated below - Update II - Update III )

Even for those who are disillusioned and angry with the Democratic Party, or even apathetic about the outcome generally of the 2010 elections, Russ Feingold is one of the very few candidates whose re-election is genuinely worth caring about. No matter how bad Democrats generally become, Feingold's presence in the Senate provides unique and real value. I spoke with him for 15 minutes late last week about a variety of topics, including Obama's civil liberties record. The discussion can be heard by clicking PLAY on the player below. But before you listen, I'd like to review just some of the reasons for my view that Feingold's re-election is compelling and important, and why I strongly encourage donating to his campaign as part of his "Money Bomb" today -- here -- as he tries, within the confines of his self-imposed campaign finance limits, to defeat an extremist, multi-millionaire, right-wing candidate who will be as radically awful on civil liberties, secrecy and war issues as Feingold is great.

Feingold is responsible for what is easily one of the most courageous political acts of the last decade, when he stood up on the Senate floor a mere six weeks after the 9/11 attacks -- in a climate in which almost nobody with a real platform was willing to dissent on anything, let alone anything significant -- and vehemently warned of the dangers posed by the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act. He then proceeded to cast the only Senate vote against that Orwellian-ly named bill, making it a 98-1 vote in favor. As he explained on October 25, 2001, he had even spoken on the Senate floor on September 12 -- within 24 hours of the 9/11 attack -- to warn of the dangers to the Constitution which overreaction would cause. I'm quoting his October 25 Senate speech against the PATRIOT Act at some length because, even now, it's so worth hearing, but back then, literally within weeks of the 9/11 attacks, he was one of a tiny handful of people with a national platform who was saying any of this:


I also quickly realized that two cautions were necessary, and I raised them on the Senate floor the day after the attacks. The first caution was that we must continue to respect our Constitution and protect our civil liberties in the wake of the attacks. . . .

The second caution I issued was a warning against the mistreatment of Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, South Asians, or others in this country. Already, one day after the attacks, we were hearing news reports that misguided anger against people of these backgrounds had led to harassment, violence, and even death. . . .

remainder: http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/radio/2010/09/14/feingold/index.html

[Jefferson23]

1. A shameless kick for Russ. n/t