Feingold to Netroots Nation: Call Out Corporate
Democrats

John Nichols
June 17, 2011
http://www.thenation.com/blog/161507/feingold-netroots-nation-call-out-corporate-democrats

That was the no-hold-barred message that Russ Feingold
brought to Netroots Nation.

"Sometimes we have to be very direct with the Democratic
Party itself," the former senator from Wisconsin told
the thousands of bloggers, thinkers and activists who
packed the great hall at the Minneapolis Convention
Center. "I fear the Democratic Party is in danger of
losing its identity."

Feingold was talking about the decision by some
Democrats that the party must form so-called "super-
PACS"-political action committees that use corporate
money in much the same way that Republicans have.

If Democrats fuel their campaigns with corporate cash,
the senator said, "we'll lose our souls."

"I don't just think it's wrong. I think it's a dumb
strategy," he continued, to the enthusiastic crowd
hushed and listening to a speech that went far beyond
the standard rhetoric of this pre-presidential election
year. "Democrats should never be in the business of
taking unlimited corporate money.. It's dancing with the
devil.. [The voters] will see us as corporate-lite."

Anyone who thought they were going to hear a feel-good
speech from Russ Feingold got a surprise.

The former senator from Wisconsin, long a favorite of
the progressive blogosphere, did not come to suggest
that all the world's problems were caused by awful
Republicans or that all the solutions would come from
Democrats.

The fiercely independent Democrat, who cast the sole
vote against Patriot Act and took the lead in opposing
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, may have made a name
fro himself fighting the worst excesses of the Bush
administration. But he was never a yes-man for the Obama
administration. Feingold cast a relatively lonely vote
against making Tim Geithner the secretary of the
Treasury, and an even more lonely vote against banking
reforms that failed to address the threat posed by "too-
big-to-fail" banks. And he fought Bill Clinton, George
Bush and Barack Obama on trade policy.

Feingold's speech was framed around the Citizens United
ruling by the US Supreme Court, which struck down
legislative barriers to corporate spending on campaigns.
He decried the court's 5-4 ruling as he has since it was
issued last year a "lawless decision" that "overturned
more than one hundred years of statutes and case law"
designed to keep special-interest money out of politics.

His deeper message, however, was a call to action for
progressives to practice a politics of principle rather
than simple partisanship-a theme that is central to the
work of the national reform group he leads, Progressive
United. Yes, he argued, Barack Obama should be reelected
in 2012. Yes, he hopes that Democrats make a comeback
after the devastating 2010 election cycle that cost him
his Senate seat and cost his party control of the US
House and governorships across the country.

But, he warned, a victory-at-any-cost approach will cost
the party the credibility it needs to attract Americans
who are disgusted by political corruption-and yield
little in the way of progress.

Decrying the failures of the Obama administration on
issues ranging from bank regulation to tax policy to
trade agreements, he urged progressives-especially
progressive bloggers, who have become such a powerful
influence in the party-"to call out Republicans and
Democrats" who fail to stand for reform.

Feingold's was not an Obama trashing speech, however. It
was an Obama prodding speech.

He urged bloggers to cheer the president on if Obama
issues an executive order requiring government
contractors to reveal their campaign contributions-a
move the White House is considering.

And the former senator-who many in the crowd urged to
seek an open Wisconsin Senate seat in 2012 or challenge
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in a recall election-did
not stop there.

He urged the president to make reforming a corrupt
system central to his re-election campaign messaging.

Fighting the abuses made possible by the Citizens United
ruling, and taking the steps necessary to overturn it,
should be a pivotal plank of the president's 2012
campaign, Feingold said.

"It should be in every speech, every statement,"
Feingold said of the reform message.

"We can overturn Citizens United," Feingold said,
recalling that a single appointment to the Supreme Court
could tip the balance against the corporate interests.
"But to get there, the influence of corporate interests
in these campaigns has to be front and center."

And the netroots crowd can put in there, the former
senator said.

"Together, we can call out the Democratic Party when it
strays from its ideals," Feingold declared. "And,
together, we can take our country back."

___________________________________________

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