Russ Feingold Throws Progressives Under the Bus

[cottonseed]

He's so ashamed to associate with us "true progressives" that he's cozying up to right wing who wants to kill us all?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/feingold-highlights-his-support-among-far-right-republicans.php

In a release accompanying his first radio ad in Wisconsin, Feingold's campaign runs through a laundry list of conservative supporters. "The conservative group Americans for Prosperity, the 'nation's premier grassroots organization committed to advancing every individual's right to economic freedom and opportunity' and a major backer of the Tea Party movement, praises Feingold, saying 'I applaud Senator Feingold for voting against the 2009 Omnibus Spending bill and truly respect his principled stand against wasteful earmarks.'"

The list goes on.

FreedomWorks, another conservative organization, called Feingold a "true fiscal conservative" and praised him for being the only Democratic vote against a 2005 pork-laden bill.

And on:

The conservative group Club for Growth rated Feingold the "top scoring Democrat" in its 2007 RePORK Card that scores members of Congress on their record of eliminating wasteful pork-barrel spending. In 2009, the Club for Growth also noted that Russ tied with or scored "better than thirty-nine Republican senators."

I thought he loved us all and was the one shining light opposing Obama and his conservative agenda. All I can do is cry right now. What's a true progressive to do?

[Catherina]

1. Lame. Unrec. n/t

[lob1]

2. I guess I'm out of the loop with Feingold. I thought

he was a liberal. What happened to change him, or am I mistaken?

[Oregone]

5. Apparently you can't be a liberal if you don't like pork

Right...I mean...just read the OP

:shrug:

[PBS Poll-435]

9. Muslins don't like pork

No wonder Tony Romas closed in my city.

:cry:

[EFerrari]

13. The OP attributes to Feingold what the right wing nuttery is doing.

[Nite Owl]

3. Being a Progressive means

spending tax money wastefully? I think not.
Plenty of things to cut, it's what is cut not the fact of cutting the budget.

[Oregone]

4. They are applauding him for being responsible about spending

SHAME ON HIM! PUT HIM UP AGAINST THE WALL!!!!!

[frazzled]

12. There's a real danger in appealing to the right on those terms

It reifies their world view about "small government." It doesn't matter where Feingold is really coming from on these bills, or currently on Fin Reg. If he's going to appeal to them by quoting Freedom Works lauding him as a "true fiscal conservative," more and more people are going to think fiscal conservatism (as defined by Freedom Works, a Tea Party organization) is the right and proper policy for our country.

And they will use it to argue for cuts to every government program, from Medicare and Social Security to unemployment extension and schools.

So, no. Russ, don't go there.

[Oregone]

16. Pork it up just to spite them

:toast:

[frazzled]

22. No, vote how you want, but don't sell them back their own crap

If you don't see that, you're stuck in some kind of idol-worship, and don't want to see how this kind of advertising is ultimately dangerous to any progressive cause.

[Oregone]

24. You're assuming that voting against pork wasn't what he wanted to do

[frazzled]

28. I assume he did want it, but not because he believes in "small government"

and the same things Freedom Work does.

Perhaps I'm not expressing myself well. I have no problem with how Feingold votes: I'm interested only in the effects of his touting himself to crazy right-wingers on the basis of how he votes.

[msongs]

6. umm OBAMA says we should reach out to and compromise with right wingers, what's the prob? nt

[berni_mccoy]

19. Jane Hamsher of FDL *did* join forces with Norquist and the Teabaggers

Guess everybody's doing it.

[Cant trust em]

7. Hooray for wasteful spending!

Damn you, Russ.

[PBS Poll-435]

8. LOL

Oh My Fucking God.

:rofl:

:cry:

[TheKentuckian]

10. Russ must really scare some folks. unrec

[and-justice-for-all]

11. I am sure his intentions were not to earn the praise from those

terrorist groups.

[Old and In the Way]

14. So Freedomworks/CFG will be supporting Russ this fall against the Republican?

No? Then I'll file this under "Undermining your opponent's base".

[EOTE]

15. Silly me, I tend to vote for a politician based upon their political record.

I guess I should be furious that Russ is willing to reach across the aisle. I mean, the fact that he's one of the (if not the) most progressive senators around shouldn't provide him any cover. Nope, he works with the enemy, and must therefore be destroyed.

[FLAprogressive]

23. +1

[Ozymanithrax]

17. I guess the people in his state don't like progressives either. n/t

[old mark]

18. Why not - seems like a popular thing to do....nt

[MineralMan]

20. So, now, lay out some of his other positions. Can you?

He opposed pork-barrel spending. That's a bad thing? How'd he vote on the unemployment insurance extension? Do you know anything else about him?

Hint: Go to the link below. Judge based on voting record, not statements from right-wing organizations.

http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=53361

[Scuba]

21. He's just trying to get re-elected ....

... in a campaign against a far-right Tea Party millionaire. I believe in Russ. Please help. www.russfeingold.org

[Bluebear]

25. 'All I can do is cry right now. What's a true progressive to do?' Wow ain't you subtle.

[cottonseed]

27. When you sleep with dogs...

If he's spending money extolling the virtues of cutting programs... then he'll be cutting programs.

[FLAprogressive]

26. I'd say he's THE most fiscally conservative senator, because he wants us out of Iraq/Afghanistan....

[Canuckistanian]

29. Feingold is an anti-pork crusader?

That's news to me.

Maybe he just happened to vote against bills that Freedomworks thought were "pork-laden".

Just MAYBE he didn't like the main point of a bill, not it's "pork".