Feingold to Senate Dems: Stop the Weakness

Sen. Russ Feingold had this to say (and more) on "Countdown" last night about getting the Senate to take real action on Iraq:

"This requires public pressure. It requires people to let their elected officials know that not only do they want a debate, but they want action. They don't want just non-binding resolutions that say -- hey, we don't want to have more troops -- we want a resolution, we want legislation that says that here's a time frame during which this war needs to end -- lets' say six months from the enactment of the bill -- and that the Congress is going to cut off the funding for the war.... [Senators] want to sort of say they're against the war, but they don't want to take the steps to end the war."

Go watch the rest of his interview at Crooks and Liars. Sen. Feingold also had a conference call with national bloggers last night that pinned much of the blame for Dem foot-dragging on Iraq action on one of our favorite party elements -- the decrepit and despised DLC of Clintonista fame. Down With Tyranny discusses Feingold's call. Quote:

... it isn't only Republicans and right-wing Democrats like Ben Nelson dragging their feet on this. In fact, Russ told us the Inside-the-Beltway consultants (the old Clinton crowd) supported this war and know now they made a mistake of great historical proportions. They "don't want to come out of this with egg on their faces" and "they are setting the parameters of the debate"-- and Democratic senators are still listening to them ... "They want their cake and to eat it too since they voted for the war."

Down With Tyranny also provides a transcript of Feingold's opening remarks on the phone call. Excerpt:

...You know I went out again this weekend, in the very cold Wisconsin weather, just as I did in the previous two weekends, and I went to some of the most rural, Republican towns in the state and held town meetings. And you know this attitude about what should be done in Iraq is a consensus ... everywhere but in Washington. People do not want us to just slow walk this, they don’t want us to just worry about the escalation, they want us to get out of Iraq.

... [Regarding the Warner-Levin resolution], we should not sign onto something that in my view, looks almost like a reauthorization of what’s going on right now. It is incredibly weak, even dangerous, and I think reminds me more of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution than it does of a resolution that really gets us out of the situation.

David Sirota has an audio clip of his exchange with Feingold on the call that deals with the DLC-fueled inaction that stands in the way of real action. He suggests

You know what I'm going to say next. Please contact your Senators and other elected officials to urge their support of Sen. Feingold's Iraq Redeployment Act of 2007, which would use the power of the purse Congress is granted by the Constitution to redeploy most U.S. troops out of Iraq within six months.

I agree with Feingold that unless we keep up a CONSTANT BARRAGE of emails, calls and faxes to our elected officials, they'll continue to take the road of least resistance and refuse to take decisive action to get our troops out of the many-sided civil war in Iraq. You know what to do. Again. And again. And again. You can also participate in Act for Change's latest call for action. If we don't do it, who will?