Reply #23: BLM makes a very good point above which I missed. I'm posting this

[Puglover]

response from far down the list at Kos.

"Can we just have a little perspective here?

The reason all these Democrats came out for censuring Clinton was that they were trying to head off the Republicans' attempt at impeachment. The idea was to acknowledge Clinton's wrongdoing, but then move on. There were also many Republicans who were interested in this approach, and IIRC, Clinton himself made it known that he wouldn't fight censure. Of course what ended up happening was that Tom DeLay insisted on impeachment, over the objections of many in his party, and the Republicans paid a price at the polls that year.

By contrast, the Feingold measure comes at a time when the Democrats have got little traction on the domestic wiretapping issue. This has been a story for a few months now, and despite the almost unanimous opinion of legal experts that the program is illegal, and the steady stream of Dems denouncing the program, the GOP has successfully framed the issue as one of you are either for or against catching the bad guys. I think the only thing to conclude is that national security is one of those issues where fear trumps reason. Democrats need to adapt to that. What this tells most Democrats is that censure will not do anything for them politically. And that's leaving aside the obvious fact that it would never pass.

So the comparison between 1998 and now is a silly one. In 1998, Democrats were in the minority and were doing what they could to defend a Democratic president. In 2006, Democrats are also in the minority but trying to prosecute a Republican president. The political dynamic could not be different.

As much as we would like to see politicians vote their convictions, and as much as a censure motion would scratch the itch to see Bush humiliated, the fact is Democrats would be better off crafting a message that brings new ideas to the issue of national security. If fear is going to trump reason on that issue, as a matter of politics, Democrats need to address the fear."