Feingold May Try to Amend Patriot Act

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- Faced with losing his bid to block the USA Patriot Act, Sen. Russell Feingold is preparing a last-ditch strategy to amend the legislation with stronger safeguards against government intrusion and more frequent congressional oversight.
....
Without any apparent supporters for his filibuster, Feingold agreed to Frist's insistence on holding a procedural test vote Thursday that would clear the way for Senate debate on the legislation. Frist said the Senate would hold its final votes at the end of the month, when Congress returns from a weeklong recess.

During the process, Feingold will try to introduce several amendments that would strengthen protections for civil liberties. One would set a four-year expiration date on the use of so-called national security letters under the Patriot Act _ secret government requests for information, according to Feingold's office.
....
While his filibuster was a lone endeavor, Feingold had plenty of company in wanting the 2001 terrorism law to contain more curbs on the government's power to investigate people.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Arlen Specter, agreed that the legislation before the Senate contains few new protections over those adopted in a failed House-Senate accord last year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/15/AR2006021501244.html

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. Russ for President!

Ok, I know it's 2 years away, but damnit! He's the only one standing up against this crappy civil rights crushing worthless piece of legislation.

[Rose Siding]

2. I have NO idea why the dems are caving on this. The bill's AUTHOR pans it

This post by digby, though directed more toward the spying issue, frames the ENORMOUS error they make in this kind of mega-waffle:

snip>
Every time the Democrats first speak out strongly and then fall in behind Republicans on national security like this, selling out their principles and the deep concerns of their constituents, they reinforce the image that there is nothing the Democrats are willing to fight for and the national security vote goes to the Republicans who have shown they are willing to fight for everything.

Via Rick Perlstein's book "The Stock Ticker and The Super Jumbo" here are some typical focus group answers about what people think of Democrats:

"I think they lost their focus"
"I think they are a little disorganized right now"
"They need leadership"
"On the sidelines"
"fumbling"
"confused"
"losing"
"scared"

Republicans openly defied the polls when they impeached a president who had a 60 percent approval rating. (They had the help of the press, of course, but it never made any difference in public opinion.) They used the language of principle and "the rule of law" and paid no price for what they did beyond the loss of a few seats in 98. People do not hold it against politicians for standing up for principle even if they know there is political intent. They do hold it against politicans if they are seen as having no principles at all.

.....

If the Democrats in congress simply stood together on principle instead of listening to overfed, out of touch strategists who have misdiagnosed the problem for years, they would begin to crawl out of this hole on national security. In order for the nation to trust them to defend the country the first thing they must do is stop believing that going along with the Republican Eunuch Caucus will ever improve their lot. People trust leaders who lead not followers who fall in line.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_02_12_digbysblog_archive.html#114002270134166341

[blm]

3. He's not against the Patriot Act - he wants it AMENDED - big difference

especially if he runs for president. RNC will say he's against the Patriot Act and doesn't care about tracking terrorism, when the truth is that Feingold, like many other Dems and some Rs, would be fully behind a Patriot Act that amended the more onerous parts of the current bill.

[Exiled in America]

5. Big wrong difference.

How about someone actually telling the truth. And saying that the PATRIOT ACT is a disgusting bill that does nothing to make us more secure. It was ramed through congress on the ashes of 9/11 at a time when everyone was too scared to question anything - basicially no one in congress bothered to read the bill in the first place, they just passed it.

What the PATRIOT ACT does very well is give more and more power to the goverment to undermine the constitution and erode the basic freedoms and protections that are the birthright of every american. What it does not do is focus on the kinds of things that would actually make use more secure. Sripping away the due process and checks and balances of the courts does NOT make us "safer." Giving the goverment unrestricted power to spy or detain americans without judicial oversight does not make us safer.

When the RNC attacks someone with the conscious to actually stand up and tell the truth, that's when you respond that the RNC uses "security" as a cute poltical slogan, while only really passing laws that consolidate more power to the goverment and undermine american liberty at every turn. You list the ways in which this republican dominated goverment has FAILED on security, and there are plenty of things to list. You say you REFUSE to be bullied by rheotoric into taking a stance that would make america less secure under the ILLUSION of "security" and give more and more power to a CORRUPT adminsitration who uses these tools not for protection of our democratic society but for the suppression of democratcy and as a tool of control over the people of the united states.

When the RNC says someone is soft on security because they oppose the PATRIOT ACT, which by the way, is the only morally responsible option a person of any conscience has, you don't wilt and run away. You use that as an opportunity to have a spine and stand up and tell the truth about the republican party and its lies. Americans aren't stupid. The problem isn't that no one would believe a democrat when he/she says that a republcian is lying. The problem is that no democrat ever says that.

[blm]

7. The entire Patriot Act is not wrong, the onerous parts are.

[twaddler01]

4. He would get my vote!

:thumbsup:

[Vidar]

6. Most days, Feingold & Conyers are my only reason for living.