Censureship

Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold recently introduced a proposal to censure the president over the controversial domestic spying program. (the mechanics of which I've attacked... both early and often).

One of the few progressives in Washington, Feingold was the only senator courageous enough to vote against the hastily-written Patriot Act when it was rammed through Congress shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The censure motion would condemn Bush's "unlawful authorization of wiretaps of Americans within the United States without obtaining the court orders required" by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Censure of a president is rare and has happened fewer times than impeachment.

Feingold's motion has found no supporters even among his fellow Democrats, which is no surprise since his party members have repeatedly failed to stand up to the president on critical issues. Whenever the administration has cried wolf... umm I mean, national security, most members of the 'loyal opposition' have dutiful gone silent and ceased responsible skepticism. Several Democrats claimed that they wanted to wait until a report is issued by the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee but Feingold expressed amazement that Democrats were "cowering with this president's numbers so low,"

I'm not a big fan of the usually shrill pressure group MoveOn, but they are sponsoring a petition to encourage Congress to censure the president. As some readers may be interested, it can be found here.