DU "Hell, Yeah!" Russ Feingold Appreciation Thread!

Hissyspit

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Tue Nov-02-10 10:16 PM
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DU "Hell, Yeah!" Russ Feingold Appreciation Thread!

Edited on Tue Nov-02-10 10:44 PM by Hissyspit

Whether Sen. Feingold has to condede or not, we should let him know how much he has been appreciated by us over the years. A TRUE Senate Maverick. From Wikipedia:

Feingold's primary legislative focus has been on campaign finance reform, fair trade policies, health care reform, conservation and environmental protection, a multilateral foreign policy, Social Security, civil liberties, and the elimination of capital punishment and wasteful spending.

Feingold was the ONLY Democratic senator to vote against a motion to dismiss Congress's 1998�1999 impeachment case of President Bill Clinton.

Feingold was the ONLY senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act when first voted on in 2001.

Feingold was one of 28 US senators to vote against H.J. Resolution 114, which authorized President George W. Bush to use force against Iraq in 2002.

On March 14, 2006, Feingold introduced a resolution in the Senate to censure President Bush.

On August 17, 2005, he became the first senator to call for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and urge that a timetable for that withdrawal be set. He called other Democrats "timid" for refusing to take action sooner

Senator Russ Feingold, one of the harshest critics of the Bush administration's national security policies, says he cannot bring himself to support President Obama's apparent decision not to investigate or prosecute illegalities from those years.

"If you want to see just how outrageous this is, I refer you to the remarks made by Peggy Noonan this Sunday," he said, referring to the longtime conservative columnist's appearance on ABC's This Week. "I frankly have never heard anything quite as disturbing as her remark that was something to the affect of: 'well sometimes you just have to move on."

"Gay and lesbian couples should be able to marry and have access to the same rights, privileges and benefits that straight couples currently enjoy."

"I also quickly realized that two cautions were necessary and I raised them on the Senate floor within one day of 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. As the chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, I recognize this is a different world with different technologies, different issues, and different threats. Yet we must examine every item that is proposed in response to these events to be sure we are not rewarding these terrorists and weakening ourselves by giving up the cherished freedoms that they seek to destroy.

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.

This was not, in my view, the finest hour for the United States Senate. The debate on a bill that may have the most far reaching consequences on the civil liberties of the American people in a generation was a non-debate. The merits took a back seat to the deal."

"I voted against these deficit policies. I voted against financial recklessness policies. And I voted against trade policies," Feingold said Tuesday to The Journal Times Editorial Board.

The deficit policies he is referring to are George W. Bush's policies, which Feingold said led to the deficit. When President Bill Clinton left office there was no deficit, now 75 percent of the "mess" we have now is from the Bush period's unfunded policies, Feingold said.

"Bush embarrassed the Republican Party," Feingold said.

September 25, 2002 � At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing on Iraq, Feingold questions the administration's shifting justifications for going to war in Iraq.

October 4, 2002 � Feingold indicates that the majority of Wisconsinites who have contacted him agree and oppose the war in Iraq.

January 30, 2003 � At a Foreign Relations Committee Hearing on Iraq, Feingold says that war with Iraq does not make sense and we must not take action - risking American lives - that will make us less secure in the end.

May 22, 2003 - At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Feingold continues to inquire about the role of the United States in a post-conflict Iraq. Feingold questions Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz on the reconstruction and stabilization of Iraq.

September 29, 2005- From the floor of the U.S. Senate, Senator Feingold once again speaks out against the war in Iraq. Feingold highlights that the Bush Administration's policy to stay the course in Iraq is actually making America weaker. "I cannot support a war that makes our enemies stronger and our own country weaker and that is what I will not support the strategy that the President has set."