The Savage Republican

I know...I really shouldn't ask, not with the Democratic Party in the state it is in now...from today's Washington Post:

"A liberal Democrat and potential White House contender is proposing that the Senate censure President Bush for authorizing domestic eavesdropping, saying the White House misled Americans about its legality.
"The president has broken the law, and, in some way, he must be held accountable," Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) said."

Oh really Senator????? Gee, I must have missed the trial. Or is it just because the Junior Senator from Wisconsin says that the law was broken that we should just take your word for it?

Of course you just know that the Kos Kidz are all over this:

""It goes without saying, though, that there better damn well be 44 co-sponsors on Feingold's resolution," a user called Georgia10 posted on the popular left-wing blog DailyKos.com within minutes of Mr. Feingold's television appearance."

However, not every Democratic operative is positive about the effectiveness of this course of action.

"Mr. (Joe) Trippi warned that any potential candidate who dismisses the censure idea risks being flamed online. "Anybody who says this is going too far is somebody who's probably writing off that side of things," he said. "Anybody who writes off the netroots or says you don't have to pay attention is really playing with dynamite."

"Another Democratic operative, Daniel Gerstein, said his party's candidates need to proceed cautiously with rhetoric condemning the president. "If all people hear about your message is you're against taking all reasonable measures to protect the country from terrorism and you don't want the CIA listening to Al Qaeda, it puts us in an even deeper hole on this issue," he said."

Mr. Gerstein has a huge point here. This just plays into the Republican's hand. Recent polls have shown support for the President when it comes to eavesdropping on al Qaeda. More telling is the fact that 59% of the people polled said that they felt that this kind of spying has prevented post 9/11 attacks!

Naturally, the Senate Republican leadership has publically stated that this not a bright move from their colleagues on the left and at least one conservative commentator has dared to call this kind of talk "treason". Actually, I'm kind of surprised that my Senior Senator (Mark Dayton) didn't attach his name to this Quixotic venture since he is not running for (or from) anything.

Personally, I think that this action is little more than the Senator pandering to the progressive internet activists over at the Democratic Underground or the