Russ Feingold 2008

In the next few days, I will opening up a second portion of this site, feingoldforpresident.com. (Nothing there yet!)
My primary focus will remain this site (and as the Senate race heats up) Montana issues, but I am convinced that Democrats/progressives/liberals need to stand up–and make clear that we support candidates who are truly interested in the values not only of our side of the political aisle, but of our nation.

If any of you happen to be interested in helping collect information to post on the Feingold site, I could definitely use the help.

Finally, given the craven failure of the Democrats to fight against the Patriot Act today, a few thoughts from the Senator:

Without freedom, we are not America. If we don’t preserve our liberties, we cannot win this war, no matter how many terrorists we capture or kill.

That is why the several Senators who have said at one time or another during this debate things like, “Civil liberties do not mean much when you are dead” are wrong about America at the most basic level. They do not understand what this country is all about. Theirs is a vision that the founders of this nation, who risked everything for freedom, would categorically reject. And so do the American people.

Americans want to defeat terrorism, and they want the basic character of this country to survive and prosper. They want to empower the government to protect the nation from terrorists, and they want protections against government overreaching and overreacting. They know it might not be easy, but they expect the Congress to figure out how to do it. They don’t want defeatism on either score. They want both security and liberty, and unless we give them both – and we can, if we try – we have failed.

“If Democrats can’t stand up on something like this when the president’s poll numbers are 34 percent, I just wonder how much right we have to govern this country,” Feingold said in an interview Tuesday. “You’ve got to show people you believe in something, not just that you’re gaming the issues.”

The Senator has his remarks available for viewing and listening here.

Last 5 posts by Pogie

• The Independent Record Making the Most of Limited Resources - January 4th, 2009
• President Bush Offers Another Parting Gift For Montana: Subdivisions in our Forests - January 3rd, 2009
• Coal Bed Methane Moves Forward? - January 2nd, 2009
• Our Most Popular Posts of 2008 - January 1st, 2009
• Best of the Montana Blogosphere, 2008 - January 1st, 2009