Are All Politics Local?

by: Media In Trouble

Mon Mar 13, 2006 at 01:05:27 PM EST

Over the weekend, Sen. Russ Feingold announced he was going to introduce a motion to censure the President. This is largely a symbolic gesture to ask the Congress to hold the President's feet to the fire over his blatant disregard for the law (see wiretapping, domestic and warrantless).

Russ is reaching out to the netroots today with a diary on DailyKos, following suit is Atrios and Firedoglake , and Anonymous Liberal with a call to help them help Russ.

All you have to do is contact Sen. Lautenberg, and Sen. Menendez and ask them if they support Sen. Feingold's censure, if not why not, and if so have they made any plans to talk to the press about it.

Sen. Lautenberg:
(202) 224-3224

Sen. Menendez:
(202) 224-4744

While you are at it, you can call the rest of your Congresscritters (find them here, and ask them the same questions.

Below the fold are some talking points you can refer to on these exciting phone calls.

Once you do, report back here (in comments), and I will report back to Firedoglake and in the end, we should have a report about how all Congresscritters feel about  Russ Feingold's maneuver. Of course, any congressfolk (or their authorized representatives that are reading this) can directly answer these questions in comments.

Have fun engaging in the political process!

UPDATE: Feingold to speechify at 4PM

As Shakespeare's Sister reminds us, censuring a sitting President hasn't been accomplished since Jackson.  I realize that like many other things these days, censuring Bush may require a pig and some anal unicorns to take flight but we can at least make a phone call to see if the forecast calls for swine.

The President admitted to conducting a domestic spying program outside the scope of FISA, despite knowing that FISA is the exclusive means of such surveillance inside the United States. President Bush broke the law, and this is the only way this Republican Congess can hold him accountable.

President admitted he did not brief the full intelligence committees. This is against the law.

We don't have to wait for an investigation before censure. President Bush admitted to his crimes publicly. An investigation is needed, but that should not preclude censure at this time.

Andrew Jackson was censured in 1834 for refusing to hand over papers to Congress and assuming power not granted by the Constitution. With his stonewalling of the investigation and by ignoring FISA, this is exactly what President Bush has done, and he should also be censured accordingly.

PS. If they say something like well, the NSA has competent people that can be trusted, remember all the other departments that have been "trusted" to do their job competently and without flaw (Department of Defense, and FIMA come to mind).

Simply put, A., Bush broke the law, and B., he should be held accountable, not retroactively given the authority he does not have.