Fast Action, Just Slightly Late

More noise from the left about censure, that all powerful “senatorial time out” lurks in the media again. This time, sans fellatio. Fiengold (D-WI) proudly admitted that he will introduce into official senatorial proceedings today, a resolution to censure Mr. Bush for authorizing an illegal and warrantless domestic surveillance program. This news was made public on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopolous.

See http://feingold.senate.gov/~feingold/releases/06/03/20060312.html

This proclamation arrives on the heels of the House and Senate’s reinstatement of the USA PATRIOT Act, which received overwhelming bilateral support last week. Again, I’m left with that empty feeling like this censure measure has been stayed, or worse, “effectively contained” as the potency of this resolution has been stripped of any real power, now that the PATRIOT Act has been restored to it’s natural, all present –and lurking everywhere – state. One might be left with a curious sentiment: why didn’t this idea strike Fiengold during the proceedings that call this very act of illegal wire tapping and surveillance into law when the sister bill to such a censure was on the table? Hard to say exactly.

It’s the dance that the Democrats have been so deftly engaged in for so long, isn’t it? Complain, make noise, get up and scream Howard Dean style, and in the end, quietly submit, but right before taking your last breath and completely caving in, the proud and bedazzled Democratic Death Rattle of Protest makes it’s way to the headlines just in time to do absolutely nothing about the current situation. Kerry handed Bush the 2004 election victory without so much as a “what happened in Ohio?” or a “what electronic voting irregularities?” Jagged dangerous details are always so much easier to swallow when taken with a sense of quiet submission. Fighting back only inflicts more pain, more suffering on all of us.

But today’s announcement by Russ Feingold comes at a time when it may yet actually bring awareness to the American media that covering the Senate occasionally means delivering content that is directly opposed to their agenda. There’s no ignoring it in the headlines. It’s big news, introduced by a thorn in Bush’s side that we’ve not seen since Paul Wellstone’s (D-MN, deceased) plane went down when he announced he’d entertain a third term in the Senate. Wellstone, by the way, voted for the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001. Fiengold, as you may recall, was the only voice of dissent. And today, perhaps his announcement marks him as one that still is. But I’m left with the feeling that Democrats, in the light of all that afflicts American civil liberties, and all that could be done to rectify the mistakes of the Bush administration, have consistently fallen short of acting in a timely manner. No surprise, really. It takes two to tango.

Full Story: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/03/12/feingold-censure/