Russ Feingold laments congressional Dems' Iraq "collapse" (Maybe the senator can't afford his own cadre of caution-counseling Democratic handlers?)

"We can't back down when the stakes are so high. I know you'll keep ratcheting up the pressure, and that's exactly what we need right now. Now is the time to be pulling out all the stops to end the war."
--Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold

Speaking of political truth-telling, as we just were, and charisma (or lack of it) as well, I suppose most politically savvy observers would say that Russ Feingold could never be a serious presidential candidate because he has too little of the latter and indulges in too much of the former. Well, maybe that's why he's worth paying attention to. He posted this on Daily Kos a couple of hours ago:

A Collapse for Democrats
by Senator Russ Feingold

Tue May 22, 2007 at 09:28:13 AM PDT

I wanted to link to a couple really good posts that I've seen in the past few days about the Democrats' strategy on the Iraq supplemental spending bill. They drive home what a mistake it is to just give up and pass a supplemental that doesn't include language to stop the war:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/21/17842/4957

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/may/18/liberals

This situation is a collapse for Democrats. We had a strong start, pushed back against the President's failed policy and held our ground that the supplemental should include binding language to end the war. But now, as Congress gets ready to send the President a bill that does nothing to get our troops out of Iraq, we are just folding our cards. As one person commented under Greg Sargent's great post at TPM cafe, "Send the Congressional Dems over to my place for some poker--I could use a windfall right now."

This is no time to back down. This fight to end the war isn't something that we can just put off or kick down the road. As mcjoan pointed out, it doesn't make any sense to wait until this "mythical September" when Republicans will suddenly decide that we need to get out of Iraq. Why should this wait until September? First Americans had to put up with a Republican Congress that did nothing, and now we are faced with a Democratic Congress that is giving the President exactly what he wants-- continuing his failed policy and leaving our troops stuck in the middle of a civil war. Some strategy. We can't back down when the stakes are so high. I know you'll keep ratcheting up the pressure, and that's exactly what we need right now. Now is the time to be pulling out all the stops to end the war.