When all is said and done, the "anti-surge" resolution is all political show for the American people and is of little substance to actually remove the grip of Iraq and the Middle-East from the hands of Bush/Cheney.

No intelligent person is fooled. What we need is someone of the major t.v. or radio media to immitate the scene found in the movie, "Broadcast" where people were encouraged to stick their heads out of their windows and yell, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."

Or as the late (God love her) Molly Ivins said in her last column; "We need people in the streets banging pots and pans and demanding, 'Stop it now'."

You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

Sorry - the URL of the Metroactive piece is:

http://www.metroactive.com/metro/01.24.07/dianne-feinstein-0704.html

David: Actually, I'm a registered democrat (albeit a rather independent and centrist one). But I certainly care if my elected officials are corrupt, regardless of party, and my sense is that's the ethic of TPM too (and I have a great deal of respect for Josh et al). It just happened that I came across the Metroactive piece today. I am interested to know what our esteemed muckrakers make of it. If there's a good defense of Feinstein I'd very much like to hear it - certainly the quote from her office in the piece was not it.

If you think that it's more important to support party figures regardless of whether they are honest or not, well I respectfully but profoundly disagree.

Stuart,

Let's say Feinstein is a criminal and should be put in jail. Fine. Done.

Now, what do you think about whether the NIE should be declassified or not? What do you think about the above story in general?

Checked out the article Stuart mentioned and I have to say, it doesnt look like a swift boating. Without any new info it looks really bad for her.If she was a repub. I would be calling for her resignation.We cannot turn a blind eye to one of our own or we are no better than the repubs. As for the story above...we the public need as much info as possible to responsibly do our jobs...voting. Thats what a democracy is all about isn't it?

While you're into corruption, could you put the finger on the most corrupt administration ever to steal the executive office? And the corruption continues unabated. A lot we dems got with the November victory!
We have a dictator in the WH, with a lot more hard evidence of his criminal lying and coverups and appointments of his mandarins to run every agency and judicial post in sight. He must be run from office or convinced to resign.

Note to bemused:
You write, "...I regret to say that I don't find the article very convincing."

I would agree that it might be hasty to be "convinced" by a single article. However, for myself, I found the article to be quite "compelling" (i.e., worthy of significant follow-up). The article is well documented and Feinstein's response to it is directly at odds with the many quotes attributed to her as Chair of MILCON. For example, her disavowal of any knowledge of the particulars of remediation programs at McClellan AFB:

"The sole comment that Feinstein's office made in response to a series of written questions about facts in this story is that "Sen. Feinstein has never had any knowledge nor has she exercised any influence on the award of environmental cleanup contracts under the jurisdiction of the Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee."

Versus testimony from the MILCON committee cited in the article:

...
Demonstrating her [Feinstein's] grasp of technical details, she remarked, "I am particularly concerned with the dilapidated condition of the sewer line at McClellan that continues to impede significant economic redevelopment of the base."
...

Maybe not "convincing" but I find it most compelling.

Just noticed that my home page needed correcting. Cheers, Dan.

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