by James Oliphant
Sen. Russ Feingold Tuesday called out Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence.
Feingold (D-Wis.) sent McConnell a sharply-worded letter concerning McConnell's speech at Furman University on Saturday. McConnell spoke about the legislative battle over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and here's what he said that rankled Feingold:
We had a bill go into the Senate. It was debated vigorously. There were some who said we shouldn't have an Intelligence Community. Some have that point of view. Some say the President of the United States violated the process, spied on Americans, should be impeached and should go to jail. I mean, this is democracy, you can say anything you want to say. That was the argument made. The vote was 68 to 29.
And indeed, the Senate FISA bill passed with wide bipartisan support. (The House passed a different bill, and currently leaders of both chambers are trying to figure out how to move forward in a way that can garner some Republican votes and avoid a White House veto.)
But Feingold objected to McConnell's characterization of the floor debate (i.e., some Democrats are Communists.) and wrote him the following:
As you correctly noted, the bill was the subject of vigorous debate. Many members of the Senate expressed serious concerns about the lack of checks and balances included in the legislation and the potential impact of the new authorities on the privacy and civil liberties of Americans. Many Senators were also concerned that retroactive immunity for companies alleged to have cooperated with the President's warrantless wiretapping program would undermine the rule of law.
However, I am not aware of any Senator saying or suggesting that "we shouldn't have an Intelligence Community" or that President Bush "should be impeached and should go to jail." I would therefore appreciate your providing a list of all statements made by Senators during the debate that you believe support these assertions. If there are no such examples, you should issue an immediate correction and an apology.
While all sides of this debate deserve to be heard, to falsely attribute statements to United States Senators serves only to mislead the American people. It also undermines your credibility and that of the position of Director of National Intelligence.
If you listen closely, you can almost hear Feingold slapping McConnell across the face with a white glove. But absent a duel, he may have to wait awhile for his correction and apology.
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Comments
"FEINGOLD SPEAKS"
"CENSORED" IS THE WORD I USED, NOT IMPEACHMENT.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE USED THE WORD "IMPEACHMENT"
"CENSORED" IS THE VOICE OF THE SENATE.
GEORGE BUSH SAID "WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORDS WIRETAP" WELL THAT REQUIRES A COURT ORDER. NOT THE SENATE! GEORGE BUSH IN CONJUCTION WITH HIS FORMER DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICES "YES MAN" ALBERTO GONZALES, WHO RESIGNED BECAUSE HE "BROKE THE LAW"
SO THE PUSH PUSH IN THE BUSH WON'T WORK.
SO WHO IS THE BIGGER LIAR?
THE SURGE?
THE FBI?
THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE?
COMEY?
MUELLER?
KARL ROVE?
"CENSORED" IS THE WORD USED, NOT IMPEACHMENT.
ALTHOUGH, THAT WOULD BE "PRUDENT" OF AMERICA UNLIKE THE "FEDERALIST SOCIEITY" YOU LIVE, EAT, AND SLEEP AND WILLING TO "CIRCUMVENT THE CONSTITITUTION" AND THE LAWS OF THIS LAND.
IMPEACHMENT IS REALITY, REALITY IS IMPEACHMENT!
LONG LIVE NANCY PELOSI!
Posted by: Roger Morris | April 1, 2008 4:25 PM
Let Mukasey keep crying, who gives a rat's a** what he want's. Let Mukasey cry a hundred times. Maybe it will become contagious. Perhaps Cheney can have a crying fit for the telecoms too. Would make great Daily Show footage.
One of the senior attorneys for one of the telecomms involved is none other than Mukasey's own son!
Posted by: John E | April 1, 2008 4:26 PM
Feingold is the man! Hey, Intelligence Community, were you eavesdropping on Cheney's phone calls, or Libby's, or Rove's or AIPAC's. Were you really doing your job? That is the question!
Posted by: the truth | April 1, 2008 4:53 PM
How come Democrats tend to be Rhodes Scholars such as Senator Feingold and Republics, well they are just racist old coots that don't know nothin fer nothin.
Posted by: jo | April 1, 2008 5:27 PM
What can you expect from an incompetent Republican administration? They are more interested in their agenda, than they are in our constitutional rights! America is hanging her head in disgust, at this time in her history. This Republican administration has besmirched her good name!!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | April 1, 2008 5:34 PM
How can anyone "insult the intelligence" of a US Senator like Feingold who has no intelligence?
Posted by: Stephen Field | April 1, 2008 6:41 PM
jo, if you mean by "Democrats tend to be Rhodes Scholars," that exactly one Democratic senator is a Rhodes Scholar, then you are correct. But to me a set of one doesn't prove any tendency. I mean, the Republicans have a Rhodes Scholar in the Senate, too. His name is David Vitter. And I wouldn't vote for him any more than I would vote for Feingold. And if you're keeping score, my research shows that the GOP has a member of the House who is a Rhodes Scholar, Heather Wilson of New Mexico. But none show up on the Democratic side in the House. So I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish with a post like yours, but it didn't work. Unless, that is, you just want to make yourself sound smart by being associated with the party of Rhodes – who, incidentally, was a racist old coot himself.
Posted by: JB | April 1, 2008 7:00 PM
Feingold is one of the senators that should be tared and feathered, rode out of town on a rail, shot at the city limits and his nasty a$$ fed to hogs. Can't do that, the hogs would get sick.
Posted by: Scrapiron | April 2, 2008 12:23 AM
RF comes from that pre-NewSpeak world where English had meaning.
Posted by: C.Morris | April 2, 2008 9:31 AM
I agree with Mike McConnell several Democrats are communists. Most are socialists except for the yellow dog Democrats who are conservative. All you have to do is look at their votes they are leftisits they prefer to be called progressives because they don't want to tell us what they really think. Jerry White, Springfield, IL Russ Feingold definitely fits the category.
Posted by: Jerry White | April 2, 2008 10:02 AM
Feingold is a liar. He had looked into impeaching Bush and I believe even said Bush should be impeached.
Also, Democrats (some anyway) actively have been hampering the intelligence community, which in the end will only assist the terrorists attack us again.
The FISA bill would overwhelmingly pass in the House too, but the Democratic leadership is not letting a vote take place. I thought the Dems were for voting? The reality is the Democratic party has not been in favor of voting for decades now. They only want votes to occur under their terms, and of course want to change the rules to suit their desires too.
Posted by: John D | April 2, 2008 10:51 AM