Get FISA Right

Hey everyone, here’s your final opportunity to weigh over whether or not we should sign on to the International Action Center’s letter to Stop FBI Repression of Anti-War Activists NOW: Condemn the FBI Raids and Harassment of Anti-War and International Solidarity Activists.

To vote ay or nay, just write a comment to this blog post. This way, you will also be able to explain your reasoning if you care to.

Update: and it’s unanimous! 16 ay’s to 0 no’s. We sign the letter.

I just got an email from the Feingold campaign:

Johnson’s support is slipping rapidly. His once commanding lead has dropped down to a statistical tie with Russ. Despite the millions in slash-and-burn ads special interests are dumping into Wisconsin media markets, Wisconsin voters aren’t having any of it. In fact, Johnson’s Washington, D.C. corporate special interest strategy has backfired – Johnson’s negatives are way up – more than 10 points in just the past week alone.

Johnson’s desperation means only one thing – a massive wave of attack ads targeting Russ. Even as I write this to you, I fully expect that Johnson and his corporate special interest cronies are plotting out their final wave of attacks. […]

Russ’s campaign is capitalizing on this shift in public opinion. We’re working with supporters like you to expand our grassroots operation throughout Wisconsin. Television and radio ads only go so far in an election; it’s our grassroots ground game that’s going to get the win for Russ on November 2.

Let’s dig deep and pitch in some more.  I know there are a lot of other pleas for money going around out there — but this is our guy, we need to stand by him.  Thanks to all who’ve given so far — now can you give a little more?  And if you haven’t, please give now — it doesn’t have to be $100, $5 and $10 is fine too.

Above all, start spreading this URL — http://actblue.com/page/gfr4russ — to the people on your email lists, to your Facebook friends, to your Twitter followers.  Let them know Russ is in a tight race, but it’s one he can win — with their help. And with yours.  Thanks!

By: Thomas Nephew

While the Citizens United/Moveon.org exchange between Feingold and Johnson was the highlight of Monday’s debate for me (see my Free speech for Me, Inc. but not for thee – the second Feingold-Johnson debate post), the Afghanistan/national security exchange was extremely interesting as well.

Let’s go to the transcript I’ve compiled; all time indications are for the online rebroadcast provided by the Wisconsin PostCrescent.com web site.

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About midway through the debate, journalist Pam Warnke posed the questions, “Can the US afford the current strategy abroad? What specific kinds of policies do you support that will bring about the successful conclusion to our military presence and also keep Americans safe?” Feingold responded that at a cost of a hundred billion dollars a year, no, we couldn’t afford the current strategy and recommended setting a timetable for withdrawal. Johnson by contrast, was very much against setting a timeline — and very much for bashing Feingold for allegedly “weakening” the U.S.:

Johnson (35:53): We do need to recognize that we are still under the threat of terrorism. Certainly what we’re trying to do Afghanistan is deny sanctuary for those terrorists. That’s where they launched the attacks on 9/11. And certainly we need to be mindful of where else they may be hiding. We need a very strong intelligence capability. And I’m not sure how Senator Feingold has tried to weaken our intelligence capability in his career (Feingold laughs).

Feingold parried the baseless attack easily — and notice how he did it:

Feingold (37:21): Well if I could respond to this notion that…
Moderator: Just a second Senator; Pam Warnke, you have a followup?
Warnke: With all of that being said, what does it mean to win Afghanistan?
Feingold: This has been the mistake of the last nine years. It isn’t about invading one country after the other, it’s about destroying an organization that’s present in many countries in the world. So it’s not about winning in Afghanistan, it’s about destroying Al Qaeda, wherever they might be.

And the notion that — Mr. Johnson, who I respect what he does in his business, but Ron, for five years I’ve been on the Intelligence Committee, and I’ve worked day and night to try to figure out exactly where this threat is. People in the military, people in the intelligence community consider me to be the person that’s worked the hardest to understand the threat of Al Qaeda in places like Africa. So the notion that you dismiss that as ‘weakening’ America? I’ll tell you something Ron, that’s just dead wrong and it’s unfair. …

What Johnson meant by ‘weakening intelligence’ was highly likely to be Feingold’s efforts to prevent gutting FISA’s due process and civil liberties protections with the FISA Amendment Act.

But Feingold’s response skipped over the (very valid) point that “hoovering up” every conceivable scrap of communication does little to advance the cause of anti-terrorist intelligence — instead of finding the needle, that just grows the haystack. Instead, Feingold emphasized actually finding the needle. That is liable to be just the kind of straightforward answer middle of the road Wisconsinites — and Americans — will accept.

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Great news on two fronts: first, the Feingold campaign’s internal polling shows Feingold now statistically tied with Johnson among “definite voters.” The reason appears to have to do with Johnson’s description of manufacturing decline in Wisconsin and elsewhere as “creative destruction” — a phrase that may earn him points at the next Ayn Rand book club meeting, but doesn’t sit so well with Wisconsinites actually trying to put food on the table.

Second, as you can see on the thermometer to the right, our fundraising drive has nearly reached our goal of $1500 for Russ! Now I think we can do even better than $1500, but that means we need to get there first. If yours is one of the 36(!!) donations so far — thanks so very much! If you haven’t — here’s your chance to put us over the top!

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Finally, you can help the Feingold campaign as a phonebanker — even from out of state — with GOTV calls already underway to supporters. To get more information, contact lemke@russfeingold.org or call 414-727-5682 for more information and to schedule your training conference call.

[crossposted from newsrackblog.com]

Let’s use this thread for final discussion over whether or not our group should sign on to the International Action Center’s letter to Stop FBI Repression of Anti-War Activists NOW: Condemn the FBI Raids and Harassment of Anti-War and International Solidarity Activists.

We first introduced potentially endorsing the letter in our last update post, and now we can move to look at the pro/con arguments made before finalizing whether we sign or not with a vote.

By: Harry Waisbren

Day 1 of our fundraising push for Feingold is over, with initial returns of 10 donations for a total of $371. This is  a modest sum, but in just a day we are over a third of the way to our $1,000 goal, and any donation is help that our constitution’s best ally in the Senate wouldn’t have otherwise had!

I just made a donation, and I must admit, I couldn’t be prouder to do so. I’m biased, though, because Sen. Feingold is my state’s Senator, and I happen to be a particularly proud Wisconsinite at that. Past mere state pride though, my close proximity to his leadership growing up really did have an impact on me. This was especially the case going to school at the University of Wisconsin Madison, where the power of his example runs deeply in the values of the city at large.

In fact, reading an old article I wrote about him for The Badger Herald reminded me just how much I was inspired by Feingold’s passion then…and how little has changed since. Then as now, Feingold: political rarity in today’s world.

As a progressive Wisconsinite, I often feel spoiled by the quality leadership emanating from U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold’s office. Mr. Feingold is that rare sort of politician, from any political party, who is truly willing to stand strong behind his principles no matter the political efficacy of the situation.

Ouch…Given Feingold’s current constraints, the intro to my article hits pretty close to home, quite literally for me in fact. This isn’t to say that he would be in a better situation politically if he would stand up any less resolutely for his principles, just that I still feel that spoiled to have this rare sort of politician as my Senator.

How many politicians can we reasonably say stand as firmly behind their principles, no matter the political efficacy of the situation, as Feingold does? I’d go so far to say that there aren’t any politicians today that have proven this as concretely as he has. When things get the darkest for the rule of law in contemporary America, he always seems to be the politician civil libertarians of all stripes end up thanking the most profusely, and this is a big part of why I so proudly call myself a #FeingoldDem.

So if you can, send a reward to Feingold for putting patriotism over politics. Even if you aren’t a Democrat, it will make you feel good to support a politician who actually does this, rather than merely talks about it. Isn’t that an example we wish every politician would follow—-and wouldn’t you feel proud to support this kind of politician when they need it most?

By: Thomas Nephew

If you haven’t checked your inbox yet, go have a look now — for an email titled “Russ Feingold needs our help *now*!”

Fundraising drive status;
click through to donate!

We want to raise at least $1,000 for Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI).  Why?  As our email — announced here yesterday and developed jointly by Thomas Nephew, Harry Waisbren, and others — puts it:

As a supporter of getting FISA right again, and of repealing the PATRIOT Act, we probably don’t have to tell you Russ Feingold is our best ally in the Senate.   National security and human rights advocates have had to develop separate scenarios for the post-election period, depending on whether or not Russ is re-elected. One activist tells us “Even if Democrats hold the Senate, if Russ Feingold is not among them, the dynamic (and the White House, internalizing the message that “civil liberties don’t sell”) will tack demonstrably to the right.”

It’s absolutely critical we help Russ out as much as we can.

If you haven’t already — please give now!! Senator Feingold is facing well-financed opponent and — (no) thanks to Citizens United — a tidal wave of uncontrolled campaign advertising by other groups.  We need to have Russ’s back:

• Russ Feingold was the only senator to vote against the PATRIOT Act, presciently warning, “I am also very troubled by the broad expansion of government power under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA. […] ….the government can apparently go on a fishing expedition and collect information on virtually anyone. All it has to allege in order to get an order for these records from the court is that the information is sought for an investigation of international terrorism or clandestine intelligence gathering. That’s it.”
• Senator Feingold’s principled stand against the PATRIOT Act gained him allies in the effort to block the Military Commissions Act in 2006. Speaking in opposition, Feingold said : “Under this legislation, some individuals, at the designation of the executive branch alone, could be picked up, even in the United States, and held indefinitely without trial and without any access whatsoever to the courts. …why would we turn our back on hundreds of years of history and our nation’s commitment to liberty — particularly when there is no good reason to do so?”
• Senator Feingold has worked with President Obama, but has called Obama to account when necessary. Feingold produced recommendations doubling as a scorecard for evaluating Obama’s performance on the rule of law in his first hundred days in office. The senator was among the first to criticize the Obama administration’s overuse of state secrets privileges — giving the Obama administration “Grade: D | Status: Troubling”
• And of course, Senator Feingold was at the forefront in fighting against the FISA Amendment Act ratifying lawbreaking by the Bush administration, joining Senator Dodd in proposing an amendment to keep the telecom companies on the hook for assisting illegal surveillance. Feingold: “…even as the administration sought and obtained broad new authorities to collect communications of Americans, the administration refused to even consider when it might be violating the Constitution. If the administration can’t assure us that they respect the Constitution, Congress needs to step in.”

Again — please give what you can, even give a little more than you planned to.  And share this with your friends and followers on Facebook  and Twitter (hashtag #feingolddem); when you donate, there will be buttons for spreading the word.

Let’s rally for Russ!