…to Russ Feingold for his success in Congress today. Good news out of Washington has become so infrequent that I was slightly stunned—happily so, but stunned nonetheless—that Bill the Cat Killer Frist and friends weren’t able to block the threatened filibuster on the Patriot Act (or as I like to call it, the “Real Patriots Don’t Care about Civil Liberties” Act). This means that the sun will, fortunately, set on some of the more odious provisions of the act, including the library provisions that are, of course, the ones that I have paid the most attention to.
It’s just a small toast, because I’m not an unequivocal fan of Feingold.* I was, early in his career, when he seemed like an almost miraculous combination of sincerely held lib-dem views and genuine willingness to work with the opposition on issues of bipartisan concern, without compromising his beliefs. But some peculiar—and distasteful—positions he’s taken, such as his enthusiastic endorsement of John “Spawn of Satan” Ashcroft for Attorney General, his vote to impeach Clinton, and his rather zealous support of John Roberts for Chief Justice, have put me off him in a big way. On this issue, though, he was outspoken (and many of his fellow Dems, including some who would likely place themselves to the left of Feingold on the political spectrum, should be ashamed that they didn’t join him, the wimps) and unwavering in his opposition to the most invasive provisions of the act. (It’s also worth remembering that he was the only United States senator to vote against the Patriot Act in the first place). And for that, he has my gratitude. He probably won’t have my vote, should he decide to run in the Dem primaries in ‘08, though then again I don’t know that the weakass, hapless Dems are going to put up anyone I’d be more inclined to vote for. But he does have my gratitude, and, I hope, the gratitude of everyone who is horrified by the steady, stealthy erosion of our civil liberties at the hands of the Bushies…which should include pretty much everyone in the US.
(And yeah, I’ll grudingly also give credit to the few Repubs who were brave enough to cross the aisle on this issue, notably Larry Craig of Idaho, about whom I admit I know nothing, but also Chuck Hagel and Ben Nelson, both of whom are slowly earning my…not admiration, I can’t admire Repubs under any circumstances, really, but something close to it, for their willingness to break ranks. I would like to reiterate, however, that this credit is given grudgingly. I wasn’t raised to give credit to Republicans for anything, and it makes my teeth hurt a little to do so.)
And related to that, as if those of us who fear that our civil liberties are being steadily taken away needed any more evidence that this is true, I hope everyone saw today’s New York Times article revealing that the Bushies quietly—and illegally—allowed the NSA to spy on “hundreds, perhaps thousands” of people within the United States, without first obtaining the court orders required to do so. (The fact that the Times apparently sat on the story for something like a year is another matter, and a question that needs to be answered quickly, because it’s tied to the fundamental question of whether we can even claim to have a free press anymore.) It’s sort of horrifying that I’m not even really shocked by this latest demonstration of the arrogance, cynicism, and basic disregard for anything resembling democracy exhibited by this administration, but I don’t know if anything they do can shock me anymore. (Though every time I say that, they turn around and do something even worse. Did anyone hear Rumsfeld being interviewed by Melissa Block on “All Things Considered” this evening? And if you did, can you believe the tone that bastard took? There really is no end to their lies, self-justifications, lies, flagrant cynicism, and lies.)
*I will say, though, that I sort of get a kick out of the fact that the junior senator from Wisconsin, that rolling green (and blonde) emblem of goyishness, is Jewish. Yeah, I know, Madison and Milwaukee have reasonably large Jewish populations. But still.