Feingold supports a fillibuster

[pstans]

I posted this on my blog, Iowa for Feingold.

It is unknown if the Democrats can garner enough support in the coming days for a filibuster or not, but Senator Feingold has announced that he will be supporting a filibuster. This is a strong stance by Sen. Feingold, who in the past has given the President the benefit of the doubt on nominees.

The right can hardly call Russ an obstructionist. Feingold has voted to confirm John Roberts as Cheif Justice, Condoleeza Rice as Sec. of State, Michael Chertoff as Sec. of Homeland Security, and John Ashcroft as Attorney General. It is a big deal that Feingold is voting no on Alito and even more of a big deal that he is suporting a filibuster.

Feingold sees major troubles with Alito and the fact that he is making a stand should be a sign to all other moderate Senators on both sides of the aisle to oppose this nomination. Here is an excerpt from an article from The Nation about this topic.

Simply put, if Alito is unacceptable to Feingold, then he should be unacceptable to a good many other senators -- including moderate Republicans with whom Feingold has worked closely on campaign finance reform and a host of other issues over the years, such as Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee.

Why give this special status to Feingold? Because, since his arrival in the Senate in 1993, he has distinguished himself by his consistent if often controversial approach to presidential nominations.

The senator from Wisconsin has a record of supporting disputed Republican picks for top posts -- including former Attorney General John Ashcroft and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts -- because of his belief that presidents should be afforded broad leeway when it comes to making appointments. A progressive who is perhaps best known for casting the sole Senate vote against the Patriot Act in 2001, Feingold has long argued that Democrats must support the qualified conservative nominees of Republican presidents if they expect Republicans to support the qualified liberal nominees of Democratic presidents.

Thank you for standing up once again for what you believe in. Russ stands for US!


http://iowafeingold.blogspot.com
http://www.russforpresident.com

[bleever]

1. Someone like Russ could win over the midwest, and then find that

the coasts were enthusiastic about a "common-sense, heartland Democrat".

I wish him the best.

[hopein08]

8. Good point...

if we want Russ for President, perhaps it would be best to leave the Iowa caucuses nice and early in the primary season.

[FogerRox]

2. WOOT WOOT WOOT give ALito the boot

[saltpoint]

3. On some night of the coming year Senator Clinton of New York is

going to come to the realization that Senator Feingold of Wisconsin is moving fast along the inside and may pass her and leave her in the dust in the Iowa caucuses in 2008.

It isn't going to be a pleasant race for Senator Clinton. She may also find herself behind other candidates, too, like John Edwards, Al Gore, or General Clark.

[pstans]

4. People want someone who stands for something

Senator Feingold stands for something and will fight for it.

Now we need all Democrats to stand up against Alito.

[blm]

5. I only wish he had led the filibuster fight right out of the Committee.

Kerry is getting killed by the media for it when he decided to stand with Kennedy because no one else would.

Feingold would have been all over the talkshows today pleading the case if he had taken up the task straight out of committee. Kerry was scheduled to be out of the country throughout this period, and had to cancel everything to return last Friday.


I'm glad Feingold is on this now, but he sure would have made our fight easier if he had taken the lead from the get go.

[Mass]

7. I agree - I wished that the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee

had taken a strong position on filibuster last week and I was expecting that. That my two senators had to start it by themselves (and had to be ridiculed by half the Democratic caucus for doing so)is a little disappointing.

I am happy that he decided to vote against cloture though.

[saltpoint]

11. Completely agree. That's why Senator Feingold is so appealing to

so many, and also why Senator Clinton is not.

I am NOT bashing her because she's an intelligent, capable woman. But her veering toward the center-to-right is not encouraging to me.

[Mass]

6. Not that I am a supporter of Hillary on this one, but she has signed

on the filibuster nearly as soon as it was announced.

Good to see that Feingold is signing on . Has he made a statement about supporting the filibuster though. We need help of people who are ready to speak out strongly for a filibuster.

[saltpoint]

12. Yes. Credit where it's due. I support Senator Clinton in as far as she

is a Democrat, and as I've posted before, I get riled up when Limbaugh, hannity, and other right-wing assholes attack her. She clearly threatens them, whether or not she is ever a presidential nominee.

But I am still kind of nervous about a rightward shift by her to try and occupy the middle. I vote in primaries and the middle-to-right Democrat usually doesn't get my vote.

[NJ Democrats]

9. Yeah! Go Russ!!!

[low_phreaq]

10. How about Kohl?

The article also says Kohl's not sure how he will vote on filibuster. I know he voted no in committee. This thread speculates he might skip the vote, but that hasn't been confirmed, as far as I know:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x263323

Are we concerned about Kohl?