Feingold stirs Democratic convention with criticism of war

Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin brought his anti-war message to the Democratic State Convention on Saturday, receiving a rousing reception from hundreds of delegates who approved an impeachment resolution targeting President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Reiterating a regular theme that has propelled him to prominence as a potential candidate in the 2008 presidential field, Feingold urged fellow Democrats to challenge the president on domestic and foreign policy.

Acknowledging the party's keen interest in rebounding from its minority status in Congress, Feingold said regaining power was a top priority but not the sole Democratic goal. "It's standing on principle when you have the power," Feingold said, drawing one of several standing ovations at the two-day gathering's concluding session. Feingold introduced legislation in March seeking to censure Bush over domestic spying, saying the president broke the law and violated the Constitution when he authorized the National Security Agency to conduct a warrantless wiretapping program as part of the war on terrorism.

Feingold told convention delegates Saturday he believed the United State had responded properly to the 9/11 attacks by going to war in Afghanistan, "but Iraq is the opposite." Reasserting his call for a U.S. troop withdrawal by the end of the year, Feingold denounced an "Iraq-centric" strategy. "This is mismanagement of the fight against al-Qaida," said Feingold, who also spoke at the New Hampshire Democratic State Convention on Saturday. Also on Saturday, Feingold spoke at the New Hampshire Democratic Party's annual convention in Manchester, N.H. He said the Democrats will not win back majorities in Congress by default, rejecting the idea that they should just lay low and let Republicans self-destruct.

"Some say 'we've got it made ... let's not rock the boat,'" he said, "but I believe that's exactly how we lost in 2002 and 2004. We won't win by default. We won't win by just running out the clock. We'll only win if we show we are willing to discuss tough subjects or else we will be perceived as weak and full of fear." Regaining the majority will be meaningless unless Democrats develop the backbone necessary to stand up for their principles, he said. "The Democrats were in the majority in the U.S. Senate when we voted for the Iraq war and passed the U.S. Patriot Act," he said. "It's not enough to be in the majority, you have to stand for something."


more
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2006/06/03/ap-state-wi/d8i11d000.txt

3(?) times.

We have to FIGHT them - not give in before the battle even begins.

:)

votes as he should have. unfortunately, there are still people in this country who do not like jews. just last week i was talking to a woman in a nail salon and i mentioned my realtor's name. it was an obvious jewish name. she said "the price just went up".

on edit: i think a good presidential team would be feingold/boxer and they're both jewish and would never get elected. boxer is also considered "too liberal" a word that i'm getting tired of hearing. "liberal" and "left". they make it sound like we're communists.

that will tear him apart. See Howard Dean, ca 2004.

that Democrats get put through a media filter that strips their principles OUT of their positions and the Republican campaigns are put through a media filter that ADDS heroic steadfastness INTO their positions.

When Russ says that Democrats in 2002 and 2004 lost BECAUSE they were cowed by Bush or were afraid to rock the boat, that's NOT TRUE - it's based on media pundit perception of Democrats - and Russ is perpetuating that stereotyping of Dems.

There were plenty of issues that demonstrated solid principles - Russ could have HELPED by providing BACK UP and VOICE to those issues whenever they popped up, instead of letting Kerry hang alone on Tora Bora, the call to fire Rumsfeld, Kerry's Apollo Project for alternative fuel research, and other campaign issues. More prominent Democratic voices on the issues on a DAILY BASIS could have helped counter the media machine to some degree..

It takes a TEAM - Bush didn't win ANY of his matchups. His TEAM protected him on a DAILY BASIS.

1997 Telecommunications bill, and it was a Democratic controlled Congress that went along with Reagan doing away the Fairness Doctrine.

I we want to fix things in the media, that's where we must begin.

or at a cheap motel, like Jimmy Swaggart did.

that the repubs fight very dirty -- they take the least little thing and turn in into something negative. :eyes:

divorced?

I would like to know what his policy is on Israel and Palestine. Do you think the fact that he is Jewish may be a conflict of interest?

what feingold's views are on that subject. i think he's a fair man. this country has always supported israel which has gotten us into trouble. it's so complicated. american jews and israels are completely different. i've known both and dated both.

as long as the secretary of state was muslim. That should put a cat amongst the pigeons. I would also like to see a pacifist atheist as secretary for defense and the christians can have the other positions.

the christians were not fundies.

is ralph nader a muslim? his family is lebanese. i always thought he would be good in a cabinet position.

i see that you're new around here. take a look at the israel/palestine threads. i inadvertently got involved in some of their threads and i needed a history lesson to understand everything that's was going on.

i just did a google search for nader's religion. the muslims love him but it doesn't say whether or not he is one -- just that he has arab heritage.

and it seems presumptuous of me to get so involved in your politics, but I cant help thinking that it takes all types to make the world a better place. It would be nice to see all religions represented, as well as gays, blacks and women. I think that how religious a candidate is plays too much of a major role.

my sister has lived in canada since 1974 but is so involved in US politics. she's still a citizen and votes. she's very active on the DU and even thought she's still american, after all these years i consider her a canadian.

how are things in australia. i don't know too much about it. how is your government? is it fair or corrupt like ours? lol

Wyman before he married Nancy Reagan.

If there was nothing there to criticize they'd just make it up.

Feingold's my #2 choice behind Gore (experience counts for me) but ruling the guy out for these reasons seems premature.

Feingold's divorces will be a problem.

State Convention in Minnesota next weekend.

and then occupying it for years and killing tens of thousands of people was an appropriate response to an uninvestigated criminal act, supposedly carried out, if you believe the fairy tale put out by the White House, by people not from that country. It's an amazing twist of logic!


I am glad he spoke out against at least one of the bogus wars.

"Road to the White House features Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner (D) addressed the New Hampshire Democratic Party's annual convention. It took place Saturday, June 3, 2006, St. Anselm's College in Goffstown, New Hampshire."

http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/cspan.csp?command=dprogram&record=178462328

Why does that stir the Party?