Russ Feingold's Failed Anti-war Rhetoric

The Janesville Gazette joins the discussion we've been having at BBA regarding Russ Feingold throwing his gauntlet into the ring:

Feingold's war stance may be battle plan for 2008

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold's proposal to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2006 met with two reactions within his own party. One is acclaim; the other is a polite-but-cold shoulder. In either case, his stand has obvious implications for his possible dark horse run for the Democratic nomination in 2008.

After tossing this around a week ago last Saturday with Lance and Jib, thanks to an AP article, I decided to give readers a peek at Russ's record.

This all spun out of the AP's attempt to make something of Feingold's grandstanding on an exit date from Iraq. Unfortunately, the best they could do was to liken him to Howard Dean or Eugene McCarthy, both men of questionable political staying power. Like the two candidates, the "exit date" demand isn't really gaining traction either.

Given the number of military families in Wisconsin, and the number of sons and daughters who have proudly given their lives to the cause of the Iraq war and its role in the GWOT, the Gazette is right to give this story time to develop, and Russ's colleagues are right to eschew pinning their political aspirations on this issue.

Cross-posted at Guide to Midwestern Culture.