Rovian Plot - Part Two

Honestly, can there be any other explanantion for the Feingold-Censure Vote-Gift that the Republicans have received:

Democratic senators, filing in for their weekly caucus lunch yesterday, looked as if they'd seen a ghost.

"I haven't read it," demurred Barack Obama (Ill.).

"I just don't have enough information," protested Ben Nelson (Neb.). "I really can't right now," John Kerry (Mass.) said as he hurried past a knot of reporters -- an excuse that fell apart when Kerry was forced into an awkward wait as Capitol Police stopped an aide at the magnetometer.

Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) brushed past the press pack, shaking her head and waving her hand over her shoulder. When an errant food cart blocked her entrance to the meeting room, she tried to hide from reporters behind the 4-foot-11 Barbara Mikulski (Md.).

"Ask her after lunch," offered Clinton's spokesman, Philippe Reines. But Clinton, with most of her colleagues, fled the lunch out a back door as if escaping a fire.

In a sense, they were. The cause of so much evasion was S. Res. 398, the resolution proposed Monday by Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) calling for the censure of President Bush for his warrantless wiretapping program. At a time when Democrats had Bush on the ropes over Iraq, the budget and port security, Feingold single-handedly turned the debate back to an issue where Bush has the advantage -- and drove another wedge through his party.

So nonplused were Democrats that even Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), known for his near-daily news conferences, made history by declaring, "I'm not going to comment." Would he have a comment later? "I dunno," the suddenly shy senator said.

Republicans were grateful for the gift.

The guy has to be a plant. I'm thinking to myself: "There's no way a person could be that out of touch." But now I remember a recent car ride home from work...

I was listening to AM 760 (only for the entertainment value, mind you) and heard a "progressive" radio talk host and a caller talking about how they wished Feingold would run for president because he was the only Democrat with any guts to confront the President.

At the time, I got a warm, tingly feeling because I knew that no matter how badly the Republicans seemed to be screwing up the mid-term election, there were crackpots on the other side who would ensure that the Republicans stay in the majority through even more serious missteps. It's the football equivalent of intercepting the pass and fumbling it back to the other team on the run back.

Thinking about this, I realize that Feingold isn't out of touch with his constituents; rather, his constituents are out of touch with reality.

I'm getting that warm, tingly feeling again.