Russ, I will never forget your efforts to protect our civil liberties.  Many of us will continue to contribute in whatever way we can to your efforts for sanity.

Thanks. 

Thanks for looking out, Senator Feingold. Good luck with the rest of the Patriot Act debate. I know I will be watching.

Matt O.

Let's continue to make it fun. Please notify us about every dopey bill that gets proposed in Congress (unfortunately that seems to be a fairly high percentage of them). We all can be Dawes, Prescott, and Revere spreading the word "the right wingers are coming; the right wingers are coming".

You're a good looking dude Senator Feingold. 
You'll have bear with my levity though.
lol!
Seriously, I'm in a wonderful mood because of these efforts. I would like to be able to live out my life knowing that I advanced the cause of intellectual freedoms. Without them, we can't sustain health, curiosity, and innovation. More fundamentally, I worry that we will bleach the potential authenticity and genuineness, something that I worry about every day. 
So thanks again.
 

I guess all politics is local, as my former USRep Tip O'Nelll said, but your coming here and your standing up for American principles (I'm getting a freakin' flag lapel pin before the new year) has sold me on any possible plans to run for president. Sign me up.

Senator Feingold...

Thank you sir.  It is time the people took back their government.

Thank you for giving us a fighting chance

    I salute your persistent efforts in defense of civil liberties and against the extra assault on them embodied in the Patriot Act.  I hope that your efforts meet with success.

   It appears that Frist could quickly chisel away a few votes from his Party, and maybe one or two Democratic votes in another quick cloture vote or two.  But the real test comes as provisions of the bill are about to expire.  Will the Repugs stick together in the logically ridiculous position of opposing temporary extension while insisting that it is an emergency that the bill not lapse?  It appears that an extension would have no chance of passing the House, so Bush wouldn't be in the position of having to sign it.

I do not believe that if the Democrats are aggressive about pursuing the 90 day extension in both Houses, and blocked by the Repugs, that swing voters will blame them for any perceived evil in the temporary lapsing of the Patriot Act.  The RW in the media will, of course, be adamant, and the liberals equivocal, so the Democrats following this course will have to be ready to really lay into the media for failing to inform the public accurately, and for not being vigilant in defense of civil liberties, for those mainstream media that WILL be equivocal.

I am still pessimistic that, when the dust settles, the Bush Administration will get everything they want in this bill, or just about everything.  It is a very difficult battle, and the only gain Democrats and opponents of the bill are most likely to be able to get from it is by highlighting those supposedly "moderate" Repugs who support it, and taking the issue to them in the polls. 

I was shocked at the number of Democrats in the House that supported their hideous version of the reauthorization.  What's the story with those Democrats, and who is bringing political pressure to bear on them?

At any right, it's the right struggle, even though it appears to me to be doomed to failure, at  least in the near/mid term policy arena.  The only thing is that the Democrats have to be really fighting to win in the 2006 election, instead of 'reporting for duty' (toeing the line of usurpatory power instead of upholding the idea of competitive elections implicit in the Constitution).

Senator Feingold...

Thanks for joining us here this week...this week of all weeks.  This week was a defining week in our country's history and you were an integral part of that history.  In your efforts to protect our freedoms we got to see a real patriot act.  Thank you...and you make me proud to be an American.

Thank you for giving the Democrats a voice - again.  Between you, Gov. Dean, Sen. Levin & Boxer, and Cong. Dingell & Conyers maybe we can get this party to quit being so afraid of the Republicans.   We all know how to deal with a bully.  You kick their butt, you don't capitulate.  Thank you, thank you. 

What on earth are you thinking? You want us to sit here like potted plants while our rights are ripped away from us. Bush can agree to an extension. He won't because as always partisan petty short term political advantage is what's important to him. This man needs to be impeached, removed from office, and sent to the International Court at the Hague to be tried as a war criminal - not coddled by cowardice.

That's a great way to vent anger and a sure way to lose the election. As I've said many times Dems lose because they act from anger not from reason.
Sitting like potted plants is exactly what an opposition is supposed to do. It doesn't help much if you are screaming inside with anger and want to do something immediately, no matter how destructive it is in the long term though.
The simple fact is it will be a miracle if the Dems don't lose seats next year because their tactics are so awful. And though you want them to win people like you will be the ones who push them into losing.
And when the Republicans win again you and others like you will be astonished like last time. Awful tactics will fail no matter how angry and indignant you are.

Kudos for remembering that debate is the cornerstone of Democracy.  Somewhere along the line, the current political envirornment has come to accept a one sided,  no room for analysis or  compromise,  type of thinking.   Thank you for reminding all Americans that  there is room and time for discussion. We can  make better informed and wise decisions if we take the time to look at all facts and not mindlessly succumb to the drumming of the waves. 

Democracy works by respecting those you disagree with.  By respecting those you disagree with, you listen to their viewpoints.  By listening to their viewpoints, you can refine your own viewpoints.  By refining your own viewpoints, you can demonstrate beliefs that will build concensus amongst the people.

The namecalling you are espousing will be passed on to our children, who will do the same namecalling.  When you or our children resort to namecalling, we are telling people that we cannot be reasoned with and that we refuse to listen to their viewpoints.  Since only a truly arrogant fool believes that all of their viewpoints are right 100% of the time, logically, someone else's viewpoint must have merit at some point in time.  Because of this, every viewpoint must be considered.  By being hotheaded and calling names, you will teach your children to stubbornly insult those who disagree with them, ensuring that they will cause conflict with someone.  And, in the end, isn't a stubborn belief that he was right exactly what caused Bush to invade Iraq to begin with?