Why would Senator Russ Feingold refuse to take a position supporting Net Neutrality?
(This is short, because I couldn't find any diaries on this, and I wanted to get it out there. If I've missed one, please let me know.)
I like Russ Feingold a lot, and I respect the stands he's taken on a lot of important issues - which makes his wimpiness on Net Neutrality all the more disappointing. This ought to be a no-brainer for him, but he's refusing to take a stand. Details below.
Many of you will remember that during the Social Security privitization debacle, Josh Marshall at TalkingPointsMemo did a great job of tracking where members of Congress stood on the issue. Now, he's doing the same thing with Net Neutrality.
Today, Josh has put up a preliminary list (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...) of who, so far, supports, opposes, or refuses to take a position on Net Neutrality (this last bunch are what Josh calls the Finger in the Wind group). And as you can see, Feingold is on the FIW list. (Sorry for just pasting the url in like that, but the link feature has disappeared.)
Now, these rankings are supposed to be based on constituent reports from around the country, or on public statements by various Senators or Representatives. So either according to what Russ has said publicly, or what his office has told constituents who tried to find out, he's refusing to take a public position in support of Net Neutrality.
For someone who posts regularly at Daily Kos, and who seems to "get" the blogosphere (and clearly would like our support), Feingold's position is baffling to me, to say the least. Anyone who can shed some light on this issue, please do - and if you're a constituent, maybe you can encourage the Senator to step up in support of Net Neutrality. Because, really, there's no good reason I can think of for him to be holding back.