Bill Frist Calls Russ Feingold’s Bluff, Dems Don’t Have Onions for Censure Vote

RUSH: Senator Frist yesterday called the bluff of Senator Feingold on this censure business, and was it delectable. It was just a beautiful thing, ladies and gentlemen, because once again we found out… I told you yesterday it was a gift, the Democrats telling us who they really are, but they’re scared to show us, and so Feingold’s left swinging in the wind all by himself and all he accomplished yesterday was making a solid appeal to the lunatic fringe of the Democrat base. But the Democrats didn’t want to go on with it. Harry Reid was said when Frist went up, “Go ahead. Go ahead, have a vote. The floor is yours. Let’s have a vote on this right now,” and Reid supposedly looked sick when he said no. I don’t think he looks good anyway when he’s supposedly feeling good, but he didn’t feel good about this. Let’s review. This is late yesterday on the Senate floor. Here is Russ Feingold himself.
FEINGOLD: When the president of the United States breaks the law, he must be held accountable. That is why today I’m introducing a resolution to censure President George W. Bush. The president authorized an illegal program to spy on American citizens on American soil, and then misled the Congress and the public about the existence and the legality of that program.
RUSH: Up next, Senator Frist, a portion of his response.
FRIST: We’re talking about censure of the president of the United States at a time of war, when this president is out defending the American people with a very good, lawful, constitutional program, it is serious business, and it is an issue that the other side of the aisle wants to debate or debate through the night, I guess we’re willing to do that as well. But the censure of the president is important, and if they wanted to make an issue of it, we’ll willing to do just that.
RUSH: Inviting them to go ahead and vote. Way to go, Senator Frist. It wasn’t that bold a move because everybody knew the Democrats weren’t going to support this, but it was refreshing because it didn’t show cowering in the corner, and it didn’t show any kind of fear. So the threat here was exposed. The Democrats once again did not have the fortitude to move ahead with this, and this is their problem. They can say and they can huff and puff, but when it comes down to it they’re incompetent. They just simply do not have the ability to follow through on all these things. It’s all for show, and it’s all about campaigns and appealing to the base. Here’s Senator Specter, who also responded to Feingold on the floor of the Senate late yesterday.

SPECTER: I think all would concede that the president is doing the best job he can, and is diligent. You may not agree with him, may not think his best job is satisfactory, but no one has ever accused him of bad faith. In the absence of any showing of bad faith, who has standing to censure and condemn the president and then not stay in the chamber to debate the issue?
RUSH: Yes. You see, that is key. Feingold fled after offering his censure movement. He fled the Senate! He fled the Senate floor, and Specter called him out on it. Specter said, “Come on. Come on back and debate this. Let’s debate this and have a vote.” Up next Senator Lieberman.
LIEBERMAN: This is a critically important program to the prevention of terrorist acts here in the United States, and I don’t know a person here in the Senate who is against this program.
RUSH: Exactly right! Nobody in the Senate has said, “Shut it down.” Nobody in the Senate has said, “Stop it.” What they’ve said is, “Hey? Hey! You can’t do this without telling us! We want to be in on this so we can leak it to the New York Times,” and Lieberman points out: How can you censure the president for something nobody opposes? Nobody is willing to stand up and say, “Pull the program.” Up next was Senator Biden on the Today Show today. Katie Couric interviewed him, and she said, “Feingold introduced a resolution to censure the president. What do you think of his doing that, and do you think this is — as Republicans have said — grandstanding for ’08?”
BIDEN: No, I — I — I — I think it’s born out of an intense frustration. We should really censure the intelligence committee and the Republican led Congress for not having hearings. Do any [of] you in the news media or any of us have any idea what the president is doing? This is outrageous. We have no idea what this program is.
RUSH: They’re getting crazier. Now they want to censure the Republican Congress! They don’t have the guts to follow through censuring the president. Now Biden, who thinks of himself as a serious and optimistic candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, has suggested censuring the whole Congress and the intelligence committee — and, senator, do you realize how disconnected this all sounds? If you don’t know what the program is, and if you can’t find out what the program is, and if it’s outrageous, then why don’t you demand that it be curtailed? There were hearings on this, anyway. We had the attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, testify for an entire day. There were judiciary committee hearings on the NSA program, and they continue to be discombobulated. That’s why I continue to tell you people: Do not panic and do not fret when you get the notion from the news media, from these Democrats that they’re riding the crest of a wave of a tsunami to launch them back to power. They’re as disorganized, and they’re wandering aimlessly out there, not only in vain search of an agenda but in vain search of a thought. They’re simply delusional and incoherent. Lawrence, Wisconsin, yesterday Vice President Cheney…
THE VICE PRESIDENT: The junior senator from Wisconsin, Russ Feingold (audience booing and laughing)
RUSH: Ooooooh!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — believes the terrorist surveillance program is grounds for censuring the president. The president clearly has the authority to direct the National Security Agency to direct the communications of our enemies in wartime.

RUSH: The American Spectator today reporting on this quotes an unnamed staffer to a far-left senator. This staffer sounds exactly like something you would read on one of these wacko blogs. “We’ve gotta continue to do this! We’ve gotta take the fight to Bush! Whether we win or lose, we gotta take the fight to Bush.” Whether you win or lose? They still think that they have to show their base that they can be mean, that they can be tough. I’ve always said, “They have no idea how they sound or how they look,” and this is just further evidence.
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RUSH: Chris in White Plains, New York, I’m glad you called, sir. Welcome to the EIB.
CALLER: Rush, you’re a great American.
RUSH: Yes. Thanks so much.
CALLER: I was going to ask — as you always say, too — the liberals never do anything without a plan, and, you know, whenever they leak something or come out with some major thing it’s before an election or before some grand event. Upcoming in weekend is the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq after Resolution 1440 to get Saddam out. Would that have anything to do with Feingold’s grandstanding right now?
RUSH: I don’t think so. I think it’s all about presidential politics. It’s nothing more complicated than that. Feingold is at the top of the heap of the “chosen ones” amongst the people of Kooksville — and I mean they’re kooks. The left-wing fringe, the people that have become the Democrat mainstream: the MoveOn.orgs, the blogs and all that. They love Feingold, and they love what he did yesterday. They don’t care that he bombed out; they don’t care that he fled the floor and refused to debate it. They don’t care it come up for a debate. They just think it’s great that they got somebody willing to take on Bush instead of lay down, and they just think it’s great that somebody’s got the guts to say it like it is. They accomplish nothing. These people have gotten themselves into circumstances where emotional satisfaction has become a substitute for actual victory. That is going to stand us in amazingly good stead. They don’t need to win anything in order to feel good. They’re so mad, they just need somebody to stoke it — and yes, it is a profundity, Mr. Snerdley, and I’m full of those. That might qualify a new series of Undeniable Truths of Life. Emotional satisfaction has become a substitute for victory for these people, and that is actually going to help us.
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