Sen. Russ Feingold on FISA, June 2008 ...

[slipslidingaway]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=150878&mesg_id=150878http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=150878&mesg_id=150878

Hope the link works.

When they were reviewing the FISA bill Feingold stated at the time that in the years to come his colleagues will be amazed about the amount of information that is being collected.

[snot]

1. Wish he were still on the hill!

[slipslidingaway]

2. Me too, what a loss for the people :( nt

[emulatorloo]

3. Still makes me sick to think about.

2010 election was a real low point for the people.

[slipslidingaway]

4. Yes, when words are not backed by actions ...

people are less motivated.

[emulatorloo]

9. Yes, must punish Democrats by electing KochBro Republicans.

Feingold was especially deserving of punishment I guess.

Great election strategy by Republicans - block and fuck up everything, then claim Dems weren't "doing anything"

Republicans ran on "Jobs Jobs Jobs" and then delivered "abortion abortion abortion". Talk about actions not following words, LOL

[still_one]

5. It was those people who voted him out. Maybe those who did not bother to vote, or voted for the

Other person if they are upset now about the NSA issues, they should take a hard look in the mirror at who to blame

[slipslidingaway]

6. Even if you did not have a vote in that election ...

it was still a loss for the people of the US ... IMHO.

[still_one]

7. That I agree with

[sabrina 1]

8. Progressive Democrats voted in the 2010 election. Democrats lost the Independent vote

The fact that they pretended that the base was to blame meant they learned nothing from what they did to lose that Independent vote. We cannot win an election without Independents. They feel no obligation to vote for anyone who has not kept the promises they made to get their votes in the first place.

This party needs to look closely at why they lost that Indpendent vote in 2010 and maybe they should not be so confident they can always count on their base this time and start STANDING UP AGAINST POLICIES. This president told us this week that he 'kept Bush policies'! We elected him to get rid of Bush policies. He has appointed many Republicans to positions of power in the government AFTER WE THREW THEM OUT. Clapper, a liar and a Republican is another, and now we find out he is also a former employee of Booz Allen. Did the President know this? Are there no democrats around who are qualified for these positions? If we wanted Republicans we would have voted for them.

Express your concerns to the WH, we are not the ones putting Republicans back in power, this WH is responsible for that. WE THREW THEM OUT. So sick of this garbage. A Dem President puts Republicans in power after we throw them out, he admits to 'keeping Bush policies' after we worked to get rid of them and still he is not held accountable by some here, they blame those who ELECTED HIM.

[emulatorloo]

10. Yes Feingold was an egregious lap-dog of the right wing.

And had to go.

2010 voters stuffed the House with tea-baggers and other Republican extremists. They were not appointed by the President.

The story of the election is more complicated than "losing independents" and claiming that is the fault of Democrats.

Republicans effectively sabotaged the country by blocking everything Dems proposed. Then they claimed "Dems arent doing anything"

Then they ran on JOB JOBS JOBS.

Then they won and then they blocked Jobs Bills, but went full tilt after women with "Abortion Abortion Abortion"

They had "attack from the left operatives" here who did their damndest to discourage DU'ers from voting or voting Democratic. Gullible DU'ers recommended thread after thread of duplicitious bullshit. If they were active here, they were active at other sites where "independents" gather.

[sabrina 1]

11. Is this a serious post?

I am not sure if you are being sarcastic or not. Because if you are serious, show one DUer who was influenced here not to vote for Democrats, just one person would do. Or link to people 'who were active on Independent sites' who were influencing people not to vote for Democrats.

Are you seriously saying that people are influenced by what people say on the internet rather than by what Politicians do, when they vote??

If only that were true. If it were we would have a Progressive Democratic Congress and Feingold would still be a Senator. Please enlighten us, assuming you are serious, as to how we influence people to vote on the internet. I know how hard I tried to keep Feingold in office. I guess I'm not very good at influencing people on how they should vote.

[emulatorloo]

12. You are naive if you think the Internet is free of GOP operatives

pretending to be Lefists in order to stir the pot and divide Democrats.

Long history of that, fake Leftists infiltrating leftist groups to cause trouble. Goes at least back to Nixon's gang, who called themselves "ratfuckers."

You want a name? BetterBelieveIt. Posted endless false hit pieces against Democrats and Dem candidates.

All of it was about misrepresenting what Democratic politicians do. Creating false narratives.

Never posted a single bad word about Republicans. Everyone of her OP's were rec'd to the skies, in spite of the fact that her smears were easily disproven.

Eventually she screwed up and began citing right-wing sources.

That is pretty much the pattern. Smear Dems, with the goal of keeping Dem turnout low.

How effective or ineffective these tactics are I don't know.