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It's one thing for the Bernie Sanderses and Russ Feingolds to openly question the mission in Afghanistan. It's quite another for Dianne Feinstein to do so.

KING: Well Senator Feinstein, you're the chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence. To the question of where this ends, it is eight years after 9/11. We've paused and reflected on that just the other day. You see the things that we can't see, the intelligence. Are we winning in Afghanistan? Are we any closer to finding Osama bin Laden, and does the president have a clear strategy, in your view?

FEINSTEIN: Well, I can tell you this. A lot of the leadership has been taken out of al Qaeda. I can say and I think you would agree that Afghanistan and the Pakistani border are still the major safe haven, the major safe haven for terrorists in the world. And these are people who will, if they can, come after us, not necessarily the Taliban, but certainly al Qaeda and other affiliated groups.

So we have to consider that. We have about 60,000 troops there, another 8,000 are moving in with our allies, it about equals the force that is in Iraq. To the best of my knowledge, the president has had no request for additional troops up to this time. My view is that the mission has to be very clear. I don't believe --

KING: Has to be means it is not now?

FEINSTEIN: I believe it is not now. I do not believe we can build a democratic state in Afghanistan. I believe it will remain a tribal entity.

I do believe that clearing out Al Qaida, clearing out the Taliban is a bona fide part one of the mission. I do agree that training Afghan troops, Afghan -- Afghan police is an important piece of the mission.

I believe the mission should be time limited, that there should be no, well, we'll let you know in a year and a half, depending on how we do. I think the Congress is entitled to know, after Iraq, exactly how long are we going to be in Afghanistan.

Feinstein is actually more charitable about the presence of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan than the commanding general on the ground, Stanley McChrystal, who said this week that there are no signs of major Al Qaeda anywhere in the country.

But as far as the wariness of the viability of Constitutional democracy in Afghanistan, you need only look to their recent election, into which the opposition leader is now seeking a criminal investigation. He has accused Hamid Karzai of treason and "state-engineered fraud". Despite this, Karzai will probably win election on the first ballot, and a vote that has been horribly compromised will be made official. We saw in Iran how this can lead to violence and chaos, and Afghanistan is not nearly as stable. Without a viable partner in the government, as Feinstein says we cannot expect an endless commitment. Yet because Karzai is Pashtun the US will likely back him in this fight, alienating the other ethnic groups in the region. Kalashnikovs are flying off the shelves in the Tajik areas. Civil war is not an unlikely scenario at this point.

This further limits the mission, away from state-building and toward dealing with the elements in the country willing to deal. Otherwise we set ourselves up for a decade-long slog that will only end with more dead and more treasure squandered, to little effect. And yes, as Sen. Feinstein says, that process should have an end date.

(h/t Heather)

The Sunlight Foundation:

Today Russ Feingold and Dianne Feinstein brought S.223, the Senate electronic disclosure bill, to the floor for a unanimous consent vote. When they asked if there was any objection, Sen. Lamar Alexander, filling in for the minority leadership, announced that he had an objection, indicating that some Senator in the Republican caucus has placed a secret hold on the disclosure bill. This is twice in two years that a Senator has placed a secret hold on legislation providing for more disclosure to the public.

Update: Here's Feingold's statement.

Would it be wrong of me to guess that Sen. Stevens is once again the secret hold placer, due to his fear of disclosure on the internet tubes?

Atrios

As our descent into homocidial lunatic-land continues, Bill Bennett, Assrocket, and Hugh Hewitt got to cheerlead the prosecution of the media on the Sunday shows. Greenwald:

There has been substantial media coverage recently about the crazed, fringe radicals who fuel the "liberal blogosphere" (apparently, some use curse words in their posts and like Russ Feingold!). Just for a change of pace, if for no other reason, the Times might want to consider examining the dynamic in the right-wing blogosphere that causes the home addresses of their photographers to be published on the Internet along with calls that their reporters and editors and their children be "hunted down." None of this is aberrational; quite the contrary.

Nancy has a post up on Daily Kos. Why don't we go over and ask her why she came out against Russ Feingold over his censure proposal since she's not even in the Senate.

In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. poll 45% say he should be censured and 53% think he shouldn't. The gap has closed and now Russ Feingold looks even stronger for his stand.

Also:

"A majority of registered voters, 55 percent, say they plan to vote for the Democratic candidate in their House district, while 40 percent support the Republican candidate. That is the largest share of the electorate favoring Democrats in Post-ABC polls since the mid-1980s."

I'm no book reviewer, but "Crashing the Gate," is a must read that incorporates Jerome and Markos' ideas of making Democrats winners at the polls again. They lay out a strategy that includes distancing the Dems from the consultant elites who pocket money with no real consequences for their ineptitude while trying to get special interest groups to work together instead of prioritizing their own issues against the benefit of the party.

"CTG" outlines how the Republican noise machine-financed by the wealthy elites have honed their messaging techniques over the last twenty years or so into a force that has effectively changed the landscape of political debate and has left the Democrats with no real answer to it. Not until now that is. Markos and Jerome give us examples from their own travels and you'll be nodding your head in agreement as the pages unfold.

"Crashing the Gate," details how the netroots is opening up a new gateway to implement the changes they suggest and we are all part of this new on-line activism now. The chapters on Russ Feingold, Paul Hackett and Howard Dean are excellent as well and provide the backdrop that highlights their vision for success. Make sure you grab yourself a copy.

Coming off his weekend straw poll victory (lol) in his own backyard, Frist responded to Feingold's proposal.
Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT Download | play -MP3 ( David Edwards)

FRIST: George, what was interesting in listening to my good friend-Russ, is that he mentioned protecting the American people only one time, and although you went to politics a little bit later, I think it's a crazy political move and I think it in part is a political move because here we are, the Republican Party, the leadership in the Congress, supporting the President of the US as Commander in Chief, who is out there fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban and Osama bin Laden and the people who have sworn, have sworn to destroy Western civilization and all the families listening to us. And they're out now attacking, at least today, through this proposed censure vote, out attacking our Commander in Chief. Doesn’t make sense.

Raw Story has the complete transcript posted

FRIST: Well, George, this is the first I've heard about it. I really am surprised about it, because Russ is just wrong. He is flat wrong. He is dead wrong.

And as I was listening to it, I was hoping deep inside that the leadership in Iran and other people who really have the U.S. not in their best interests are not listening because of the terrible--the terrible--signal it sends.

Just google your senator's name and you'll find the information.

ReddHedd:

"Your action steps: call both your Senators first thing in the morning and ask if they support Russ Feingold's censure proposal. If they don't, ask what their position is on the issue -- and why.
The more people we have calling, the more staffers in the offices start to realize that Feingold struck a political chord with a bunch of us in America. And then the more we continue to call, the more that message starts to sink in...and then some. Plus, it forces Senators to go on the record one way or the other, which is useful information for all of us to have...read on

georgia10 has more contact information:

"Five minutes is all it takes, really. Less, if you're not that chatty. In five minutes, you can speak up for the rule of the law. In five minutes, you can put your own footprint in history, as one of the mass of millions who advocated for the censure of a President who broke the law...read on"

Russ appeared on CNN this morning and had a little chat with Soledad O'Brien about his censure proposal.

Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT (Hat tip to the blog-Chicotown for the vid)

(reader Downtown):

Soledad: "Why a censure, it's basically a slap on the wrist."

later

Soledad: "Why something so serious as a censure."

...Before he spoke, Bayh told reporters that he does not support efforts by Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., another potential 2008 presidential candidate, to censure Bush for authorizing domestic eavesdropping. Bayh said it's not clear whether the law requiring court approval before surveillance was broken, and he instead favors revisiting and possibly updating the law...read on"

That's so big of him. Bush sticks his thumb in the eye of the FISA laws and Bayh takes the Republican stance instead of being a man of conviction. Nobody knows exactly what Bush and his super-duper-secret wiretapping program has done, but hey, no problem here. Way to go. Time to call his peeps.

Evan Bayh
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