Move to Censure Bush Takes Small Steps Forward
March 31, 2006 -- -- After a hearing today on the subject, the Senate Democrat pushing for the censure of President Bush walked around the witness table and greeted his star witness: former Nixon general counsel, Watergate pariah and convicted felon John Dean.
No stranger to executives over-reaching their power, Dean has come out in support of Sen. Russell Feingold's, D-Wis., resolution to censure the president over his controversial domestic spying program.
It was the first congressional testimony since 1974 for Dean, who presented an argument for impeaching Bush in a recent book. He said today that Congress could have prevented Watergate by censuring President Nixon before the scandal reached its apex.
But if senators' attendance at Feingold's hearing is an indication, Democrats remain largely skittish about the measure.
The five witnesses at today's hearing outnumbered Democrats there, which included Feingold himself. Sen. Herb Kohl, Feingold's Democratic colleague from Wisconsin, started the hearing and listened to some of the opening statements, but left without saying a word.
Feingold brushed off the poor showing, saying it was Friday, when senators typically head home for the weekend, and there were no votes scheduled on the floor. There were only five Republicans present at the hearing, in addition to the three Democrats.
Leahy Joins In
The number of Democrats publicly supporting censure climbed today, with Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, coming out in favor of Feingold's resolution.
"I have no hesitation in condemning the president for secretly and systematically violating the laws of the United States of America," Leahy said today in his opening statement. "I have no doubt that such a conclusion will be history's verdict. History will evaluate how diligently the Republican-controlled Congress performed the oversight duties envisioned by the founders. As of this moment, history's judgment of the diligence and resolve of the Republican-controlled Congress is unlikely to be kind."
But with only Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, joining them so far, the list still totals just four. Other Democrats have distanced themselves from the proposal, with some saying they will wait for the results of a Senate Intelligence Committee probe.
Bush has forcefully defended the National Security Agency wiretapping program, insisting it is both lawful and necessary to prevent future terrorist attacks against Americans. Critics charge the program violates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Republicans have generally labeled the effort to censure Bush as politically motivated grandstanding, and they took sharp exception to Dean's comparison of the present wiretapping issue with Watergate.
Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., said the current censure debate differs from Watergate or the Monica Lewinsky scandal because in those cases the presidents knew they were breaking the law -- Nixon when he covered up the break-in, Clinton when he lied to the grand jury.
"Mr. Dean, You knew you were breaking the law. You knew," Graham intoned during the hearing.
Outside Support
But if the hearing itself failed to demonstrate much momentum for Feingold's proposal, he received a symbolic boost shortly afterwards.
In a news conference after the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, a woman in a shirt that read "Code Pink" -- the name of an anti-war feminist group -- shouted her support.
"Senator Feingold," she yelled as he turned with trailing staffers to march out of the room, "I just want to thank you on behalf of the 46 percent of Americans who support you in this." She referred to a left-leaning poll that reported nearly half of Americans would support Feingold's censure resolution.
More independent pools put the number at 42 percent. The woman asked Feingold what activists like her should do to help him move the censure move through Congress.
"You can make it 50 percent," he said, half-jokingly, before walking out of the room.