I've been wanting to but just haven't had the time to comment on Senator Russ Feingold's (D-WI) proposal to censure President Bush.  The last President to be censured by the Senate was Andrew Jackson, in a move that was also largely political.

 

I've disliked Feingold ever since he defeated Sen. Kasten, whom my father had worked with (before he was a Senator), in a very misleading campaign.

 

Feingold wants to run for President in 2008 and figures this move will win him the respect of the American left, and as Michelle Malkin observes it seems to be working.  It is also sure to win support with the socialist academia in Madison and the fraud peddlers in Milwaukee who helped hand Wisconsin to John Kerry in 2004.

 

The basis of Feingold's censure move (besides self interest) is that the NSA terrorist intercept program is illegal and the President has violated the Constitutional rights of the American people.  For referece Feingold has been a consistent opponent of the Patriot Act -- he was one of the 10 Senators in the 89-10 vote to renew the Patriot Act and had threatened to fillibuster to prevent it's passage.

 

I've commented on detail here on the legality and necessity of the NSA intercept program.  This is amusing on many different levels but one of the best examples is how on the Sunday news shows after discussing his basis of the censure of the President, he defends his oppostion to the Dubai ports deal because he thinks security comes first and trumps all other concerns.  So after 9-11 he opposes spying on terrorists, and opposes the Patriot Act, but supports killing the Dubai ports deal because security comes first.  Try to reconcile that.

 

I could write far more but Senator Fool's Gold isn't worth it.  Powerline has also observed that DNC chair Howard Dean is using the oldest trick in the book to deflect criticism of Feingold by sending out an email that accuses Republican Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO) of calling Russ Feingold a "traitor" because Allard pointed out that Feingold "time and time again [sided] with the terrorists".

 

UPDATE:

 

Howard Kurtz at the Washington Post says:

Kurtz should have been a bit more verbose.  Actually many Democratic leaders hate it for the reasons he mentions, but the Democratic base, the KosKids and George Clooney absolutely love it.