Posted on 09/29/2005 6:02:10 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
POTENTIAL 2008 Democratic presidential contender Senator Russ Feingold has made an early appeal to anti-war activists and set himself apart from possible rivals by calling for a pullout of US troops from Iraq by the end of next year.
No other Democrat pondering a run for the White House, nor any of the party's congressional leaders or prominent foreign policy voices, has broken with Republican President George W. Bush and endorsed a timetable for Iraq withdrawal.
The lack of strong opposition on Iraq from a deeply divided Democratic Party, even as polls show growing public unhappiness with the war, has frustrated anti-war activists and created an opening for a dark-horse candidate like Senator Feingold.
"There is a huge political vacuum waiting to be filled," said Tom Andrews, national director of the anti-war group Win Without War and a former Democratic House of Representatives member from Maine.
"People are very disappointed in the Democrats," he said. "Where is the leadership?"
Senator Feingold, a maverick from Wisconsin, will get early reaction to his proposal this weekend during a visit to New Hampshire, home of the nation's first presidential primary and traditional starting point for White House contenders.
But he said his stance is not an electoral calculation and he is not deliberately trying to follow in the anti-war tradition of Democratic White House candidates like Eugene McCarthy in 1968, George McGovern in 1972 and Howard Dean in 2004.
While the war in Iraq has created a new terrorist training ground and made the country weaker, he said, Democrats are fearful they will be painted as unpatriotic or soft on defence if they call for US troops to leave.
"Democrats continue to be timid on this subject in a way that is not only wrong policy but also very bad politics," Senator Feingold said in an interview. "I would think it would be a good thing for Democrats to talk about bringing the troops home in a positive way."
Senator Feingold, who voted against authorising the war in Iraq in October 2002, said Mr Bush and Republicans were successful in selling the war as the next step in the fight against terrorism after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
"It intimidated the Democrats, it cost us the elections, and it arguably cost us the presidency," Senator Feingold said. "There was such a fear that we would be labelled as soft on terrorism and not supporting the president on 9/11."
He said Democratic 2004 presidential nominee John Kerry's tortured attempts to explain his Senate votes to authorise the war and against $US87 billion ($114.3 billion) to fund the war were critical to his loss of the White House.
All of the other Senate Democrats considering a run in 2008, including New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, voted for the war in 2002. Senator Feingold said they would "have to do some explaining".
"People want a candidate in '08 who has the capacity to see through the mirage that the Bush administration put up in support of the Iraq war," he said.
Mr Bush and prominent Democrats reject Senator Feingold's approach, saying it would embolden insurgents. Senator Clinton, who has called for sending more troops to Iraq, said it would be a mistake that "would be like a green light" to terrorists.
But Senator Feingold said setting a withdrawal date would give Iraqis a sense of urgency in their effort to establish a working government and effective security force.
"When you know things are coming to a head and all the marbles are on the line, that's when people actually do things," he said. "Democrats haven't worked hard enough to look under these arguments and figure out ways to say 'You know, that's not accurate'."
Senator Feingold, the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act expanding police powers immediately after the September 11 attacks and one of 22 Democrats to back Chief Justice nominee John Roberts today, said he does not think he will be in the minority on Iraq for long.
Although the anti-war momentum of August was slowed by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the public and Senate are turning their attention back to the war, he said.
"As of this week, a number of my colleagues have said to me, 'I'm not where you are, but I'm awful close'," he said.
Russ is slick willy jr. I'm not falling for his maverick routine.
That explains Feingold's dozens and dozens of fans nationwide on such bastions of light and reason as DU.
O laying dead doesn't seem like much of a strategy, but it works for the opossum, commonly known as the possum.
Possums are famous for "playing dead" when threatened, but this isn't quite accurate. They are not "playing" dead at all: the possum goes into shock when particularly stressed. While not dead, it can be found lying on its side with its legs extended and is, in fact, limp and unconscious during this time, like a person who has fainted.
While playing dead discourages predators from chasing the possum, it also makes them vulnerable. When drivers see the limp possum in the road, they don't bother to swerve, since they assume it's already dead. There are also accounts of people shooting the comatose possum in order to "put it out of its misery." There is such a thing as overplaying a part.
Vote Feingold-Sheehan 2008!
A vote for us is a vote for whirled peas and trees,
and 'peace in our time'
I'd ROFL if 1/4 of America wouldn't vote for that ticket. But may God have mercy on us, I'm not laughing.
America slammed the door on Howard Dean, George McGovern, and John Kerry! They'll also reject Russ Feingold!!
~Scott~
OH your soooo shrewd MR. Slimegold.
Scarry thought.
(lol) So is Dan Ratherbiased!
Mr Bush and prominent Democrats reject Senator Feingold's approach, saying it would embolden insurgents. Senator Clinton, who has called for sending more troops to Iraq, said it would be a mistake that "would be like a green light" to terrorists.
I know I am young and naive but I think I my have to makea comparison here to Vietnam, it is my understanding as someone who did not witness those times firsthand that the only reason we lost the war was because at home the mission of our troops and country was undermined. Now it appears they are at it again, If all these weenies could just stand by their country and their troops we would probably be done already, every time a report ike this makes news it just gives terrorist B@$tards more hope...which I might add hope is the only thing they've got going for them because they can't stand against the USA! This is why supporting our troops and their mission is so important, the jihadists must know that America as a whole is after their raggedy a$$es!!!
You are SOOOO VERY, VERY right!
right-o!
be steady and show your peers the way.
Congratulations, Komrade Feingold. You are now irrelevant.
Say "hello" to George McGovern on your way out, Russ. Don't forget to pick up your thirty silver pieces now, y'hear?
I think we're missing the point here. A "Dean without the Scream", a more reasonable Far-Left, Peacenik challenger who could force Her Heinous to the left of looney, and spend lots of campaign cash in the process, is a consumation devoutly to be wished. A bitter fight within the Democrat Party with many hard lefties staying at home, disgusted, on election day, does it not delight the imagination?
"Feingold is an ass and has about as much chance, in the Dem presidential '08 primary, as Kusinich had. Just as Dean and Kusinich made Kerry look vaguely normal, that's what Feingold will do for Hillary."
Well stated.
Thanks.
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