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Second Nixon term :
After the largest landslide in U.S. history in 1972
(in which the Democrats win only one state), Nixon's
Democratic opponents --emboldened by Vietnam and
Watergate-- aggressively investigate the President,
and force him to resign.
Second Reagan term :
After another Republican landslide in 1984
(in which the Democrats win only one state),
Democrats launch a probe of the Iran/Contra
scandal, and diminish Republican control of
foreign policy in Central America.
Second Clinton term :
After Clinton handily wins the 1996 election,
Republicans aggressively investigate Clinton's
private life, and impeach him, weakening his
vice president's 2000 White House bid.
Second Bush term?
After George W. Bush narrowly wins the
2004 election, Democrats elect a new
congressional leadership to replace the
complacent Tom Daschle. Democrats
aggressively investigate the Iraq War,
denials of civil liberties, and security lapses
before and since 9/11. Anything can happen,
because a strong opposition has less to lose
in a second term.
By John Stauber
http://www.alternet.org/election04/20388/
Only one U.S. Senator had the courage and the commitment to civil
liberties to vote against the Patriot Act in the weeks after the terror attacks of
9/11. Pop quiz, quick, name that Senator! If you said the late Sen. Paul
Wellstone, you'd be wrong. Even the feisty progressive from Minnesota
failed to oppose John Ashcroft's attack on civil liberties sold as essential to
fight Bush's war on terror.
The lone opponent of the Patriot Act was Sen. Russ Feingold of
Wisconsin, Wellstone's colleague across the Mississippi River.
Fast forward to the fall of 2002 and the run-up to Bush's war on Iraq.
Democratic senators, including Hillary Clinton, Tom Daschle, John
Edwards and John Kerry all voted to give President Bush the authority to attack
Saddam Hussein. Russ Feingold voted against the war. I spoke at the time
with a Feingold staff member who worried that these two votes would doom
Feingold in his 2004 race for re-election. "We'll be bashed viciously as
weak on terror and anti-war, they'll trash us mercilessly and it will
cost Russ his race."
Probably just what advisors to Kerry and Edwards were thinking. Indeed,
Feingold's 2004 opponent Republican Tim Michels, a millionaire
construction company owner and a former US Army Ranger, beat three Republicans to win
his party's nomination. Michels dumped over a million dollars of his own
money into an aggressive advertising campaign skewering Feingold as weak on
terror and not supportive of the troops. However, when the polls closed at 8 PM
on November 2nd, with no votes even counted yet, all the major media
declared the race over and predicted Feingold's victory based on the exit polls alone.
John Kerry voted for the Patriot Act and the war, and was barely beating
George Bush in Wisconsin. The lesson is this: Russ Feingold proves that
an anti-war, populist Democrat, a maverick campaigning to get big money out
of politics, can win and win big. But given a choice between a real
Republican and a Democrat such as John Kerry who acts like a Republican, many
voters will choose the Republican. Progressives looking for a viable candidate
for the presidency in the future should not overlook the man from Middleton,
Wisconsin, Russ Feingold.
John Stauber, Executive Director, Center for Media & Democracy
520 University Avenue #227, Madison, WI 53703
Phone(608)260-9713 Fax260-9714 http://www.prwatch.org/
Co-Author of: Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing is Turning
America Into a One-Party State (2004), and Weapons of Mass Deception:
The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq (2003).
CNN.com figures
Feingold
(voted against Iraq War, Patriot Act):
1,618,174 (56%)
Kerry in Wisconsin
(voted for Iraq War, Patriot Act):
1,482,583 (50%)
Difference
135,591 (6%)
(Bush/Nader/other voters for Feingold)