Feingold on Charlie Rose *** Great bits from transcript + Video link ***

CHARLIE ROSE:. . .
E.J. Dionne today argued that the problem with this strategy is that Democrats don`t have the coordination between their activists and their politicians to make it seem that challenging wiretapping is neither extreme nor soft on terrorism.

RUSS FEINGOLD: Yeah, and obviously I was interested in that column, because he is right to some extent. Here -- here`s the problem, I`m afraid, with many Democrats right now, who, of course, very much want to have a good election this year. I want that. I want us to take back the House and the Senate.

But I think a lot of Democrats, some of the Democrats who are running the -- the think tanks and those that are involved in advising, sort of the consultants and the pundits, what they are saying is, you know, the Republicans are in so much trouble, let`s just hang back and -- and let them basically mess up their own situation, and we`ll take over.

I don`t think that`s a winning strategy. I think the Republicans really get us when they say, OK, the Democrats say they want to take over. What`s their plan? What do they believe in?

And what I`m trying to say is that we need on certain issues to talk very strongly about what -- about what we believe in, and to show that we are different.

And here`s the best issue. Most Democrats agree that we should be talking very firmly about the fact that we can and will do a better job on fighting the war against al Qaeda and terrorism. I think the Bush administration in many ways has botched this from the way they handled the Iraq war to not getting Osama bin Laden and Zarqawi.

But I think we should add another element, which is that the Democratic Party stands for a value, and that value is the rule of law. That even in a time of war, we don`t believe the president of the United States should use that opportunity to abuse his power and start undoing our system of government. And we should say that the president should return to the law. So this is part of the same story.

CHARLIE ROSE: Is that what ...

RUSS FEINGOLD: And we believe we can fight terrorism and protect our liberties. And I believe Democrats should add that as a message that we really believe in something.

CHARLIE ROSE: Is that why you voted against the Patriot Act?

RUSS FEINGOLD: Of course. And you know, on all these things, my first and foremost reason is I -- I took an oath to uphold the Constitution, as all senators did and as the president does. And I read the Patriot Act -- you don`t always read a bill, but I was the chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee at the time. And when I read it, I found some things that were clearly poorly drafted and dangerous with regard to people`s library records, medical records, business records and things like that, and that were not tailored to people who had something to do with terrorism or espionage.

And so I voted against it. At the time, I was the only one. I felt like I was doing my job, at a time in American history when our soldiers and Marines and others were doing their job, our firemen were doing their job. My job was to be a member of the United States Senate, to look at that bill and say, hey, let`s get the balance right. And that is why I voted the way I did. And frankly, it`s why I have taken this step of proposing some accountability for the president, because when people look back at this time, if we don`t stand up for the law and stand up for the Constitution, we will be criticized for having not stood up for American values. And the American value is checks and balances, and accountability within our government.

. . .

CHARLIE ROSE: There are those who say on a political end, debate front, that you are playing into the hands of supporters of the president by this censure motion. And they will use it against the Democratic Party, use it to make a stronger argument for the president. The country is at war. You need to support the president. Here comes Senator Feingold, trying to undermine the president, trying to censure the president. The president is trying to lead; Senator Feingold is trying to restrain him.

RUSS FEINGOLD: Shades of October 2002. These are the same pundits, Democratic consultants and spinmeisters, who said you`ve got to vote for the Iraq war or George Bush is going to hang you out to dry and he`s going to show you, show that you don`t care about the troops and you don`t care about the fight against terrorism. They pull it every time. And the Democratic insiders in Washington and the consultants fall for it every time.

They don`t realize there is a thing that bugs people about the Democratic Party right now, is that we don`t seem to stand strongly enough for what we believe in. How can we be afraid at this point of standing up to a president who clearly has mismanaged this Iraq war, who clearly has made one of the largest mistakes in American foreign policy history? How can it be that this party wants to stand back and allow this kind of thing to happen? And then add to that the idea that the president clearly has broken the law, that a number of Republican senators have effectively admitted that, because they are saying, you know, we need this program, it is illegal, let`s make it legal -- so they are admitting it is illegal.

The idea that Democrats don`t think it is a winning thing to say that we will stand for the rule of law and for checking abuse of power by the executive, I just can`t believe the Democrats don`t think that isn`t something that not only can they win on, but it does, in fact, make the base of our party, which is so important, feel much better about the Democrats. The Republicans care deeply about whether the base of their party feels energized. What about the people in our party who believe in the Democratic Party especially because we stand up for the American values of standing up for our rights and our civil liberties?

Wizard: As for you my fine friend, you are a victim or disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate delusion that simply because you run away from danger you have no courage! You are confusing courage with wisdom. Back where I come from we have men who are called heroes. Once a year they take their fortitude out of mothballs and parade it down the main street of the city. And they have no more courage than you have. But - they have one thing that you haven't got! A medal!! Therefore, for meritorious conduct, extraordinary valor, conspicuous bravery against wicked witches, I award you the Triple Cross. You are now a member of the Legion of Courage!

Lion: Oh - oh, shucks, folks - I'm speechless!