OPW08 - Russ Feingold

[Chilly]

Purpose: OPW08 is a series of threads designed to inform and ignite discussion on TBD of the 2008 Presidential Elections. The new President in 08 can be heavily influenced by promotion and discussion today. Be informed, follow politics, take action, and help America grow. OPW08 stands for Our Political Watch - 2008.

 

This threads focus: Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin

 

Signs that he is going to run: Announced to a meeting of the Tiger Bay Club of Volusia County, Florida, in January 2005 that he was considering a run for the nomination, and would decide after "going around the country" to campaign for fellow Democrats running for other offices.

 

On January 21, 2005, he filed papers with the Federal Election Commission to form the Progressive Patriots PAC, soon to be renamed the Progressive Patriots Fund, a "leadership committee," which will be financing his travels around the country.

 

In early March 2005, his senate campaign registered the domain name for the Web site www.russfeingold08.com as well as the .org and .net versions.

 

Russ Feingold on the issues

 

Abortion

 

Mr. Feingold is very pro-choice. He received a 93% rating from NARAL. He also wants to expand Embryonic stem cell research.

 

Affirmative Action

 

Mr. Feingold is very pro-Affirmative Action. He supports expanding current Affirmative Action laws.

 

Homosexuality

Mr. Feingold believes that homosexuals should be protected by civil rights laws, including allowing same sex marriages, adding homosexuality to hate crime legisltation, and prohibiting job discrimination based upon sexual orientation.

 

Health Care

 

Mr. Feingold favors more federal funding for health coverage for most issues.

 

Prayer in schools

 

Mr. Feingold strongly opposes prayer in public schools.

 

Social Security

 

Mr. Feingold strongly opposes privatizing social security.

 

Death Penalty/Crime

 

Mr. Feingold strongly opposes the death penalty and the war on drugs. He also opposes 3 strikes sentencing laws and absolute right to gun ownership.

 

UN

 

Mr. Feingold supports the UN and efforts to promote multilateral foreign policy attempts.

 

Patriot Act

 

Mr. Feingold was the ONLY senator in the government to vote against the patriot act.

 

Economy

 

Mr. Feingold has consistently leaned toward the right with Economic issues.

 

Noteable Acts in Congress

 

Mr. Feingold's most notable act is probably the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform. He also is known for continuously being against the Patriot Act and for expanded Civil Rights.

 

My Outlook

 

If Mr. Feingold does run in 2008 for the democratic nominee, he will be a tough force to be reckoned with. He leans left of center, but not too far at all. He could be considered the "John McCain" of the democratic party, and has a lot of the appeal of John Kerry without the negative aspects of it. He could win the presidency by picking up plenty of Independent votes as well as Republicans who feel the hardline conservative stance has ostracized them but who prefer the economic philosophies of the republican party.

[blzrul]

This is America. No-one named Feingold will ever win the Presidency, even if he heals lepers and walks on water.

 

Of course, if I really mean that, given the fact that most people here think I am wrong 99% of the time, I'm gonna go ice some champagne now.....on the other hand, I could be being sarcastic. Hard to tell sometimes.

 

That said, he's definitely more attractive as a candidate than John Kerry or Hillary Clinton.

[TracyLee]

given the fact that most people here think I am wrong 99% of the time,

 

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C'mon blz, on these boards you know that if you're not a Republican and Anti-Union, then you're wrong 100% of the time !

[Wacka]

Left of Center??

Try left of everyone!

[Rich in Ohio]

Nice try, but "a little left of center"? Please..... thus guy has zero chance.

 

The queen will dominate the nomination process, and the left can do little to take shots at her for a multitude of reasosn. She will cruise thru almost untouched and then get destroyed by the right....who just can't wait.

[KD in CA]

Homosexuality

Mr. Feingold believes that homosexuals should be protected by civil rights laws, including allowing same sex marriages, adding homosexuality to hate crime legisltation, and prohibiting job discrimination based upon sexual orientation.

 

Economy

 

Mr. Feingold has consistently leaned toward the right with Economic issues.

 

 

 

Wow, thanks for that detailed analysis of his philosophy and proposals for economic growth. (I'd love to know what exactly "leaned towards the right" is supposed to mean).

 

Also glad to see this summary had 3 times as much written about homosexuality as it did about the economy. It's really good to see that people are still focused on the important issues.

 

By the way, I guess I missed his stance on things like how the fug we get off of the Arab oil dependancy someday, but hey, at least I know that he wants to expand Affirmative Action.

 

Good God.....this country is really FUBAR if people like this could actually gain supporters for the Presidency.

[Bill from NYC]

Wow, thanks for that detailed analysis of his philosophy and proposals for economic growth.  (I'd love to know what exactly "leaned towards the right" is supposed to mean).

 

Also glad to see this summary had 3 times as much written about homosexuality as it did about the economy.  It's really good to see that people are still focused on the important issues.

 

By the way, I guess I missed his stance on things like how the fug we get off of the Arab oil dependancy someday, but hey, at least I know that he wants to expand Affirmative Action.

 

Good God.....this country is really FUBAR if people like this could actually gain supporters for the Presidency.

331863[/snapback]

>>>>Good God.....this country is really FUBAR if people like this could actually gain supporters for the Presidency.<<<<

 

You got that right! Did you see his stance on "Crime?" It appears that he is FOR unlimited felonies! Wonderful.

Sometimes I am forced to wonder if the Dems even WANT to win the Presidency with idiots like this!

[KD in CA]

You got that right! Did you see his stance on "Crime?" It appears that he is FOR unlimited felonies! Wonderful.       

Sometimes I am forced to wonder if the Dems even WANT to win the Presidency with idiots like this!

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Actually, I stopped reading before I got to crime. I presumed it was something insightful like "Mr. Feingold strongly opposed crime."

 

 

[Bill from NYC]

Actually, I stopped reading before I got to crime.  I presumed it was something insightful like "Mr. Feingold strongly opposed crime."

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Reading his platform, one could make the case that he LIKES crime.

[OnTheRocks]

Left of Center??

Try left of everyone!

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I agree.....this description in the original post tells me this guy is so far to the left he can't quite make out Mike Moore standing so far to his right.

 

 

having said that...and to keep on the "OPW08" topic......what do you folks in Virginia think of George Allen Jr.?

[/dev/null]

what do you folks in Virginia think of George Allen Jr.?

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very telegenic. hasn't really done much to impress me either positively or negatively. well, except at Jimbo's HoF ceremony when he refered to somebody not named Bruce Smith as the greatest defensive end of all time

[Chilly]

The goal of this post isn't to say every stance that a guy has - that would be pretty impossible and I don't have the time. There are PLENTY of websites out there that will go into more detail on that. Rather, it was intended to start a discussion on him.

 

What are his chances? What does he need to do to seperate himself from the rest of the pack? What type of bills should he introduce into congress? Has anyone even heard of him?

 

The reason why I posted a few of his stances on issues to start a discussion about them and what he's done so far. It was my hope that people would expand on what I've said about the issues and talk about how he could improve how people view him and the issues. Unfortunately, I seem to have had too much faith in people to put aside their usual dribble in order to do something like this.

[Johnny Coli]

The goal of this post isn't to say every stance that a guy has - that would be pretty impossible and I don't have the time.  There are PLENTY of websites out there that will go into more detail on that.  Rather, it was intended to start a discussion on him.

 

What are his chances?  What does he need to do to seperate himself from the rest of the pack?  What type of bills should he introduce into congress?  Has anyone even heard of him? 

 

The reason why I posted a few of his stances on issues to start a discussion about them and what he's done so far.  It was my hope that people would expand on what I've said about the issues and talk about how he could improve how people view him and the issues.  Unfortunately, I seem to have had too much faith in people to put aside their usual dribble in order to do something like this.

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I thought it was a good post, and it made me do some research on him.

 

As for some of these other lads, a lot of their stuff comes directly from Karl Rove's Anti-Liberal Emergency Response Kit. Mention Michael Moore, take a shot at Hillary, tell us we lost the election, and trot out the "soft on crime" angle.

[UConn James]

The reason why I posted a few of his stances on issues to start a discussion about them and what he's done so far.  It was my hope that people would expand on what I've said about the issues and talk about how he could improve how people view him and the issues.

332380[/snapback]

 

How can he improve on how people view him? He could suck less.

 

As you mentioned, I only know of him in connection to the soft money issue. From the sounds of it, he is nearly the candidate John Kerry was at times trying to portray himself to be. Unless he vastly increases his profile and has a stellar showing in the prelim debates where a lot of what the write-up says on him, he doesn't have a snowball's chance.

 

Many in the party are saying the Dems will try to run an established governor rather than yet another Senator. I don't know who that'd be right now, but it's a long time b/w here and there.

[KD in CA]

The reason why I posted a few of his stances on issues to start a discussion about them and what he's done so far.  It was my hope that people would expand on what I've said about the issues and talk about how he could improve how people view him and the issues.  Unfortunately, I seem to have had too much faith in people to put aside their usual dribble in order to do something like this.

332380[/snapback]

 

Sorry if my post came off as a slam at you....it wasn't intended as such and you're right, there should be more discussion.

 

From what is posted here (I'm not sure if this is all your words or if some of this comes from his website), I don't see how this guy could move much further to the left on any of the issues you raised. As for the economy, I highly doubt he is anywhere near the center, much less 'leans right'. I'll look it up later, but did he vote in favor of any of the Bush tax cuts? You already stated that he favors increasing the commitments to the already crippling social programs, so unless he has sponsored a slew of bills to cut government spending, I'm not sure how he would qualify as a conservative or even moderate on the economy.

 

Aside from that, I guess I am mostly frustrated by the fact that this country shows no interest in getting away from having endless debate on issues like gay rights, affirmative action, prayer in schools, and other crap which IMO is all secondary and pretty damn unimportant considering the huge challenges our country faces. Where is the real discussion about our future foreign policy? Where are the real initiatives on alternative fuels? Where is the honest discussion about who really pays the tax burden and who really benefits from the billions in social programs? Unfortunately, as many here have already stated, both parties suck and their interests are more vested in keeping the status quo than in actually fixing things.