CNN: Political Play of the Week

(Mods - not sure what the rules are regarding transcripts - it did not say it was copyrighted material. I have to leave to go to a meeting, please lock if this thread violates the rules - thanks.)

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/17/sitroom.01.html

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Senator Russ Feingold isn't afraid to take a stand. He was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act after 9/11 and the first senator to propose a deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. Now he has moved to censure President Bush for authorizing wiretaps without a court warrant.

SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D), WISCONSIN: Congress should censure a president who has plainly broken the law.

SCHNEIDER: Republicans are scornful.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: If he's more interested -- interested in the -- in the safety and security of the terrorists, as opposed to the American people.

SCHNEIDER: Democrats are nervous.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: I think that people should cool their jets and let the process take its course. SCHNEIDER: Conventional wisdom say Feingold's move will backfire and rally Republicans. "Russ Feingold, Karl Rove's Secret Weapon," a conservative blogger writes.

Knowing heads say Feingold is positioning himself for the Democratic nomination. He has certainly become a hero to the left. A liberal blogger urges readers to "donate your spine to Senate Democrats."

Here's another possibility:

REID: My personal conviction is that Senator Feingold did this as a matter of principle.

SCHNEIDER: Imagine that. Acting on principle need not be political suicide. Ronald Reagan gave Republicans a healthy injection of principle just when they needed it, after Watergate. It did them a world of good.

Now people are asking, what do Democrats stand for?

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, at -- at some point, the Democratic Party and the leadership must grow a backbone.

SCHNEIDER: Spines, backbones, they help you stand up for what you believe. Of course it's risky. That's what a "Play of the Week" is all about.

Did the Freepers capture him?

every law on the books and ruin the country!

I'm glad they put it that way!! :applause:

If by some miracle I could be completely objective about this issue I would know immediately that the Repubicans are wrong cuz they avoid the issue and bluster about terrorism. I would ask them, "Are we really that weak a country that we need to allow illegal spying on our own citizens because we are so fearful of these terrorists? Is the siutation so desperate that that is our only recourse? Why, Congressman, do you hold the terrorists in such high regard and why is it that you can find no reasonable way to protect us?"