Reply #8: I think your and Tay's points are well taken

[karynnj]

This is happening very fast and is getting nastier than it should. Even looking at who gains and who loses explains little. I tried to figure out logical possibilities but rejected them all.

What doesn't make sense is why Feingold, who's been in the Senate for years, didn't talk to his fellow Senators, many of whom had said the warrantless spying was illegal. It may be that he has a strategist who thought he needed to differentiate himself from the other possibilities. That the Patriot act and the IWR already did this makes this hard to believe. Some mentioned that Feingold was frustrated with the way things are - but I assume every Democrat there is frustrated too. This action, if echoed again, could be Feingold's "Dean Scream". Could it be a desperate attempt to attract partisans who will donate money?

What we know is:
-He talked to no one before speaking on TV

-He made little effort to get the legislation to his peers (though now it's publicly available)even though some like Kerry had called for investiagations of some kind and had said they thought he broke the law.

-He wouldn't debate Spector - which seemed strange. Durbin picked up the pieces brilliantly, but looked mystified at the beginning. Feingold 's hurridly leaving the room, with Spector asking him to stay could hurt Feingold. He looked childish compared to Spector and Durbin. If he had another committment he should have said so. I never thought I'd say this - but it made him look weak - can you picture Kerry running from a debate?

I can't believe a leading Democrat would hand Fox News a sound bite attacking other Democrats. It's possible that he was asked leading questions - that triggered the response given.At this point all the outside factions moved quickly, but I don't think any were really suspicious:
-The RW attacked not just Feingold but anyone (Democrat) who had said anything negative about Bush on this. This was likely prepared before Feingold spoke and that was added as the centerpiece. This was typical of their hit pieces.

-The lefties annointed him quickly - as this was identical to their reaction to Boxer and Murtha, it's tyical.

- Left of Center media and blogs declared him the latest darling - but that has been true in reality for a long time. So, this wasn't hard to get out quickly.

-The MSM is just beginning to really cover it. That some cover it as to how it impacts 2008 is typical.