Rookie mistake by Feingold

[Dr Ron]

http://www.factcheck.org/article388.html

[_dynamicdems]

1. Owch! They have some pretty harsh words for Senator Feingold. n/t

[Dr Ron]

2. Better now than later

If ths was done during the height of a campaign, the right would be all over him for dishonesty and the mainstream media would likely go along.

[karynnj]

4. Good Point

I hope he learns from it - the ad really does go beyond good taste. It also isn't funny, though it seems like they want it to be. I think he is appealling to the lefty freakers. If he continues in that direction he becomes Kuchinich rather than Dean.

It surprises me that as a lawyer he went beyond the proof, which I can't recall Kerry ever doing.

[sandnsea]

11. And who did the ad

Because in the GE, it doesn't matter whether it comes from the campaign or not. People see them all as representative of the candidate. So when any left group does an ad like this, it reflects on everybody left of Olympia Snowe.

Having said that, I do note that Factcheck failed to list any of the political groups that we know have been spied on, even if not through the NSA program. That would have been fair. I don't really like Factcheck as a source for the whole truth when it comes to Dems.

[ProSense]

3. I know he's spying on people, and that's all that matters!

NOT!

A Feingold spokesman insists the ad is "just a parody." We're not sure everybody will get the joke. It's based on an accusation for which no proof exists – that the Bush administration is using, or wants to use, a secret National Security Agency surveillance program to spy on political opponents, something Bush says is untrue.

That's what a lot of people here refuse to acknowledge: you can't outright acuse someone of something because you have a feeling it's true. Feingold when to great length to not include that aspect in his call for censure, but then does so in the video. The irony is that "innocent on until proven guilty" is also a cornerstone of American life.


Kerry drew parallels to Clinton's scandal and Bush's Iraq lie when he mentioned the word "impeach" on the Senate floor, but remember the stir Kerry's private impeachment joke caused?


As Ron pointed out above, better now than during the height of a campaign.




Edited: The DU-style intro was a joke!

[karynnj]

5. Controversial as Kerry's supposed impeachment comment

was - he would have been only suggesting impeachment hearings.

[beachmom]

7. Plus he didn't make an ad out of it!! Sombody leaked that info n/t

[beachmom]

6. THIS is what those whiners on GD want!

I had a little conversation you may have seen within that flamey thread for which everyone was mad about yesterday. The guy was annoyed with Kerry, because he didn't say * went into Iraq for oil; instead Kerry said there was a perception he was because of his actions giving corporate favors, et al. See, Kerry went all the way to the line, but unlike Feingold, he knew not to cross it into wild speculation. As much as we SPECULATE that * went into Iraq for oil, we don't have the evidence to prove that. All we can say is that it LOOKS like it, certainly to the Muslim world.

I say all of those folks go support Feingold. Feingold will be the Dean of '04. He'll probably be ahead or 2nd place in the polls for a long time, until the media magnifying glass exposes his many weaknesses. I really like and respect Feingold for many things he's done in the Senate. But the Big Leagues are a game he needs to show he knows how to play. Not sure he's going to be up for it.

[Dr Ron]

8. Doubt he'll duplicate Dean's early success

Dean managed to move ahead in the early polls because he go people to see him as the main personification of opposing Bush and the war.

Now Kerry is far more prominent with the general population. Most people don't share the misconceptions of him as on GD here and will not see Feingold as the only choice.

As for threads, they are getting pretty pathetic. There's the one where he didn't use "wrong" about the war where the poster thought he should, and therefore was a sell out. I mentioned wrong war, wrong place, wrong time. Then there's the one which says Kerry called Bush a liar, but waited too long. I also brought up an older quote.

These flame threads might not be a total loss. Some people will always bash Kerry, but others do so because that's all they hear. After I explained Kerry's history of opposing the war, I did get a private message from someone who had a post questioning Kerry saying I might be right.

[ray of light]

9. Awesome. I'm interested in your opinion of Dean and

this Feingold thing particularly since you eventually chose Kerry. I think your thinking may help us identify what others might be willing to think about too.

[Dr Ron]

10. Public and DU people are different groups

Keep in mind we are dealing with very distinct groups.

The left blogosphere and DU will love Feingold. Whether Feingold breaks out as a major candidate for the general population is a different matter. Kucinich may be a closer model to how Feingold winds up than Dean, although as a Senator Feingold has more of a chance of breaking out.

Obviously it is way to early to predict how people will really do in the 2008 primaries.

[karynnj]

12. I saw the conversation

you were crystal clear. I don't think he understood that just because somethingis assumed to be true in the leftmost reaches of DU doesn't mean it is. It would have been painful if the reaction to Kerry's gorgeous speech was an irate call that he was lying. When telling the truth is one of your main points you have to scupulous in not going beyond the facts yourself.