7 thoughts on “Russ Feingold”

  1. Personally, I’m happy to see it. The bill has become a bad joke. Bank stocks rose on the news of it. That he doesn’t want to give cover, to make it appear as if the problem’s been fixed when it hasn’t been, IMO, doesn’t make him a tool. If more alleged progressives in the Senate were willing to do this, maybe we’d get a better bill. Instead, they’re going to sign on to this watered down nothingburger and proclaim victory. Because that is now the most important thing – the appearance that they’re doing something for regular Americans even as they really serve Wall Street. Good on Feingold for refusing to go along with that appearance.

  3. I have to disagree. I like Feingold but he’s wrong on this one. Kevin Drum sums it up well:

    This is the final report of a conference committee. There’s no more negotiation. It’s an up-or-down vote and there isn’t going to be a second chance at this. You either vote for this bill, which has plenty of good provisions even if doesn’t break up all the big banks, or else you vote for the status quo. That’s it. That’s the choice. It’s not a game. It’s not a time for Feingold to worry about his reputation for independence. It’s a time to make a decision between actively supporting something good and actively supporting something bad. And Feingold has decided to actively support something bad.

    With Robert Byrd’s death, Feingold’s vote could end up being the one that dooms financial reform for another decade. I sure wouldn’t want that to be my legacy.

  4. How is it that Chuck Schumer and Scott Brown can wheel around K Street with their pants around their ankles and their asses up in the air, Barney Frank can blame the senate for everything he’s done to whittle down the stronger senate bill, Susan Collins can demand to start negotiations once the bill is this close to a vote from the committee, and Scott Brown can start to waver now that he’s got every single loophole you can drive I-95 through, Obama can put his hand on his heart look to the sky and speechify (lie, when you get down to it) about a watered-down junk bill mislabeled as “reform” that’s the most important since FDR but doesn’t actually contain Glass-Steagal, and Russ Feingold is the tool for calling bullshit?

    Are you serious? Didn’t we do this already with Health Care “Reform”?

    How is it that 59 Democratic Senators can pass Republican bills, only as well as 48 Democratic Senators? Maybe it’s time that instead of criticizing Russ Feingold, that Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman should lose their committee seats, their offices near the capitol, their staff funding, and their fucking shirts, and that the caucus should stop elevating weak, susceptible milquetoast moderates like Daschle and Reid to leadership positions?

    Russ Feingold is the tool? No. Next time the DSCC or DNCC come calling for money, it’s not Russ Feingold that’s the tool.

  5. Feingold isn’t “the” tool. He’s certainly not in the running for that title. But if he sits on his hands through the entire process and then announces his opposition at the last minute, you have to wonder what he’s thinking. Sounds like he just gave up.

    And there is some good in this bill. It’s not a total joke.

  6. Feingold is a tool? For voting against weak tea when ipecac is needed? And you’re suggesting that it’s Feingold who gave up? What about the people on the conference committee who are putting out this useless bill? They’re the ones who gave up on trying to do anything effective. Or how about when they gave away the Volcker Rule to please Scott Brown – who is now going to vote against it anyway? Kevin Drum is certainly right – this is not a game. It’s time that Democrats stopped supporting bills which are essentially a giant waste of time, which only tinker with the status quo and instead stand up for pointing out that nothing effective is getting done. Again. Feingold may be the only liberal left – or at least the only liberal who calls himself that who actually votes like one.

  7. I won’t accuse Sen. Feingold of doing anything other than his level best to improve this bill. He has been working with Sen. Cantwell to fix portions of this bill. It’s not like he hasn’t been doing what he considers to be the right thing.
    I think that in the failure that is Congress, this is perhaps the best we can manage at this point in our history. This in itself is a sad statement about who we are. I would hope that Sen. Feingold could be convinced to at least vote for cloture on the conference report. Remember that he also wasn’t in favor of the Senate bill that went to conference but allowed that bill to go through cloture to a final vote. I would hope that he could be convinced to do the same here.

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