...and hear the lamentations of their women.

This weekend's announcement by Senator Feingold of a motion for censure was great to hear. It brought the predictable "for us or agin us" blathering from Frist who claimed it sends the wrong message to our enemies at a time of war. The Righty rag The New York Sun referred to Feingold's announcement as "pandering." Is it possible to pander when you assume a position that most Americans share with regards to the NSA spying? From where I sit the real politicians that are pandering on this issue are the Republicans who refuse to even investigate the program thus caving to the wishes of Bush.

Of course their weenie-dom pales in comparison to the rest of the Democratic party. I see Ted Kennedy and possibly Barbara Boxer being the only other two Senators that will sign on to Feingold's resolution. Just another in a long line of examples of the party choosing an election strategy that amounts to "we're not as bad as those guys." I'd love to be wrong about this but the Democratic party if nothing if not predictable.

Predictably chickenshit.

UPDATE: I realize I've been harping on this a lot lately but I know a lot of people share my frustration. The Democratic party is the only organization with enough financial and political clout to pull back the reigns on the reactionary craziness that poses as conservative these days. That so many of the leadership of the party seem to view "winning" as simply retainining their seats as oppossed to winning a majority and being able to affect REAL change just drives me absolutely crazy.

I want more leaders like Feingold. He isn't afraid to tell it like it is:

When the domestic spying story first broke, the President went from saying he wouldn't be able to talk about it, to suggesting there was no other way to wiretap terrorists, to implying that the FISA law is out of date. He went on to claim that sweeping inherent powers of the presidency or the authorization of force back in 2001 gave him such authority -- neither of which is legally or factually correct. While the President has cherry-picked information before, he cannot do the same with the laws of our land.

Censuring the President is not something that should be taken lightly. But the President has BROKEN the law and there needs to be action and accountability.

Which is why I'm off to put a call in to Wyden's office to urge him to support Feingold's motion.