Patriot Acts

WASHINGTON - In Congress, where numbers are everything, the math on the Patriot Act suddenly seems to be moving in favor of Sen. Russell Feingold.

He was a minority of one four years ago, when the Wisconsin Democrat cast the lone Senate vote against the USA Patriot Act in the traumatic weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks. The law, he said then, gave government too much power to investigate its citizens. Ninety-nine senators disagreed.

Now add more than two dozen senators to Feingold's side, including the leaders of his party and some of the chamber's most conservative Republicans, and the balance of power shifts.
[...]
Feingold finds himself with some unlikely allies, including the Christian Defense Coalition. Notably, the National Rifle Association has not endorsed the Patriot Act renewal that was personally negotiated by Vice President Dick Cheney. The NRA's non-position allows its Senate supporters to oppose renewing the law in its entirety.

"Folks, when we're dealing with civil liberties, you don't compromise them," said Sen. Larry Craig (news, bio, voting record), R-Idaho, an NRA board member.

-Feingold Now Has Numbers On His Side
Associated Press
15 Nov 2003

A showdown vote was scheduled Friday, with the White House and its congressional allies rejecting suggestions for a short-term extension of the current law as is. White House allies said they would prefer to let the 16 temporary provisions expire completely rather than give critics more time to add additional restrictions on the FBI's ability to comb through Americans' computer files and bank and library records.

Making most of the Act's provisions permanent is a priority for both the Bush administration and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill before Congress adjourns for the year.

-Senate May Derail Patriot Act Extension
Associated Press
16 Nov 2005

Today's going to be a big day for Russ Feingold. Consider the fact that Russ was the ONLY Senator to vote against the PATRIOT Act in the first place. This vote was cast in the context of the US just being attacked by al Qaida and the subsequent "rally around the president." This could never be considered as a "political vote." It was pure conscience.

Yet now, Feingold has lined up support all across the political spectrum. He has single-handedly - single-handedly - orchestrated the impending defeat of one of the Cheney Administration's major legislative goals.

And he's done it in a hostile political climate. He's done it in spite of being labeled as a "terrorist sympathizer." He's done it in a GOP-controlled Senate. He's given courage to the Senate Democrats (perhaps the most amazing coup!).

And he did it because he's a fighter and because any patriot would; he loves this counrty. Kind of like something a nation would look for in a President...

Whatever happens with the renewal, the mere debate is a boost for Feingold and any presidential aspirations he may nurture after next year's midterm elections — a development that carries some irony.

"People don't go to the well of the Senate and become the only senator to vote against something called the 'USA Patriot Act' five weeks after 9/11 because they're trying to get ready to run for president," Feingold said.

But four years later, during visits to the presidential proving grounds of New Hampshire and Iowa, Feingold says there's evidence his position has resonated with more than just the Democratic base.

"It's something that people like about me," he said. "We'll see where it goes."

-Feingold Now Has Numbers on His Side

We'll see indeed...