They say "timing is everything."
TODAY, four days after the largest anti-war march and rally DC has seen in years;
TODAY, two days after a massive civil disobedience action at the White House;
TODAY, one important voice found the courage to speak out directly and forcefully to the American people;
TODAY, Kos, TODAY, not last week, not last month, but TODAY, Senator Russ Feingold took to the Senate floor and delivered one of the most stinging critiques of the failed Bush policy in Iraq.
If you think the timing of this speech had nothing to do with the gathering pressure of the anti-war movement and the events of this past weekend in particular, then you don't understand politics!
(more below the fold)
IMHO, your wailing against the value of sixties-style protests earlier today is dead wrong, and the timing of Feingold's speech is the clearest evidence. Democrats, particularly those with presidential aspirations, cannot afford to look askance while hundreds of thousands of us are demonstrating in the streets of DC; while hundreds of us are arrested at the White House for demanding to be heard by this gutless administration; while the majority of democrats have begun to vocalize their disgust with their party's cowardly silence.
Courtesy of Truthout, below are some of the most forceful portions of Feingold's speech (emphasis mine).
"The President's Policies in Iraq Are Breaking the United States Army"
By Senator Russ Feingold
t r u t h o u t | Statement
Wednesday 28 September 2005
Statement of US Senator Russ Feingold
as Prepared to Be Delivered from the Floor of the United States Senate
...I have spoken before about my grave concern that the Administration's Iraq policies are actually strengthening the hand of our enemies...,
But today, Mr. President, I want to focus on a different and equally alarming issue - which is, that the Bush Administration's policies in Iraq are making America weaker. And none of us should stand by and allow this to continue...
The Administration's policies in Iraq are breaking the United States Army. As soldiers confront the prospect of a third tour in the extremely difficult theater of Iraq, it would be understandable if they began to wonder why all of the sacrifice undertaken by our country in wartime seems to be falling on their shoulders. It would be understandable if they - and their brothers and sisters in the Marine Corps - began to feel some skepticism about whether or not essential resources - like adequately armored vehicles - will be there when they need them. It would be understandable if they came to greet information about deployment schedules with cynicism, because reliable information has been hard to come by for our military families in recent years...
We are not just wearing out the troops; we are also wearing out equipment much faster than it is being replaced or refurbished...
And Mr. President, recent reports indicate that the divorce rate for men and women in the Army has jumped more than 80% since 2001. This is not a casual aside - it's a huge, glaring red flag...
Too often, too many of my colleagues are reluctant to challenge the Administration's policies in Iraq for fear that anything other than staying the course set by the President will somehow appear weak. But the President's course is misguided, and it is doing grave damage to our extraordinarily professional and globally admired all-volunteer United States Army. To stand by while this damage is done is not patriotic...
This brings me to another facet of this Administration's misguided approach to Iraq; another front on which our great country is growing weaker rather than stronger as a result of the Administration's policy choices: the tremendously serious fiscal consequences of the President's decision to put the entire Iraq war on our national tab...
Instead, the President apparently prefers to leave those tough calls to our children...
And there is no end in sight...
I cannot support an Iraq policy that makes our enemies stronger and our own country weaker, and that is why I will not support staying the course the President has set...
There is no leadership in simply hoping for the best. We must insist on an Iraq policy that works.
(NOTE: I have written few diaries and do not yet have the hang of searching this site for prior coverage. So, I apologize in advance if this has been covered. )
I will be back shortly to monitor and respond to any comments.