August 10, 2004

Feingold Speaks

Sen. Russ Feingold made no sense when he defended Kerry Edwards on their Iraq votes. From "Wisconsin's Progressive Newspaper," The Capital Times:

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold says the Democratic nominees for president and vice president, Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards, "got the order of the votes wrong" by voting to authorize the war in Iraq and then voting against the $87 billion to fund it.

"Their other votes were correct," Feingold said in an interview Thursday with The Capital Times' editorial board. "They just got those wrong."

Feingold, a Democrat from Middleton, said Kerry and Edwards should have voted "no against an unwise war, and yes to support the troops," as he did.

"And I realize that he (Kerry) voted against the $87 billion because this thing was falling apart, and he wanted to continue to show the disagreement over the war, but really the only vote of any consequence was the vote on the war," he said.

Feingold must be talking about the procedural votes such as the ones where Kerry actually said he voted for the $87 billion dollar bill before he voted against it. What "other votes" could he be talking about?

Feingold then praised Kerry Edwards for running a campaign that "has had a mature, dignified approach that shows you they will be mature, dignified leaders." Russ must have seemed to forgotten Teresa's tantrums.

Then, like Kerry Edwards, Feingold proves he doesn't have a serious alternative to President Bush's plans in Iraq. Feingold told The Capital Times editorial board:

The first choice is to turn over the operation to troops from Islamic countries, and the second choice is (to bring in) troops from other countries.

Certain countries have said, 'We will put in X number of troops as the United States withdraws them,' and then we do that as fast as we can.

What countries? Who has agreed to go into Iraq if the U.S. pulled out? Has Feingold been having meetings with foreign leaders like Kerry has claimed? You would think at least one of the editors would have asked Feingold that question, but being the state's "progressive paper" holding the state's progressive standard bearer would be expecting too much.

[Imagine how other media would treat an organization claiming to be "Wisconsin's Conservative Newspaper."]

The article goes into a little about Feingold's re-election race. He doesn't think the attacks by four GOP challengers are working and promised to never go negative. However, Feingold wasn't very positive when he said President Bush "doesn't come off as particularly capable" on running the Iraq War.

"Feingold: Dems' Vote on Iraq War Out of Order"