Russell Feingold Quotations

Mr. Chairman, if those items could be entered in the record?

One reason I voted for him and voted against Alberto Gonzalez (for attorney general) is that Gonzalez could not find the words to say that torture is illegal and that the President is not above the law. Roberts could.

None of us want it to expire. It is only the president who is basically playing chicken with us.

No one should make the mistake of thinking that a shorter extension will make it possible to jam the unacceptable conference report through the Congress. That bill is dead and cannot be revived.

no doubt that that's going to happen in a reasonable time frame.

Perks are a serious issue. If the bill only involves disclosure, that's not acceptable. That is not anywhere near what the public expects us to do here.

Business is finding out that this is the biggest domestic issue. I'm doing everything I can, but Congress should be spending a lot more time on it.

If by dignified they mean that tough questions are out of bounds, I must strongly disagree,

If you are confirmed, you will essentially disappear from public view,

It is not undignified to ask the nominee questions he would rather not answer, should he prefer to remain inscrutable, or worse yet, all things to all people.

My view, as of this moment, is that to dismiss this case would in appearance and in fact improperly 'short circuit' this trial,

I tell you, he's President George Bush, not King George Bush. This is not the system of government we have and that we fought for.

The absence of any kind of timetable is not fair to our troops and their families. It's making the American people increasingly anxious. And it's hurting, not helping, our Iraq policy and our broader national security strategy.

Were up to our necks in deficit spending. Were piling up billions more in debt that our children and grandchildren will have to pay,

The problem is soft money, ... The question is, which candidate is willing and ready to fight for an end to soft money. It's no contest. There is only one candidate and that is Vice President Al Gore.

The president has, I think, made up a law that we never passed.

The president ... fails to understand the limited role the US military should play in Iraq's long-term political and economic reconstruction efforts. Our brave servicemen and women won a resounding victory in the military operation, and their task is largely over.

There can be debate about whether the law should be changed (but) the idea that the President can just make up a law, in violation of his oath of office, has to be answered.

While the president has now given four speeches ... the American public, the Iraqi people and our brave troops still don't have any clarity about the U.S. military mission in Iraq.

Even the Heritage Foundation is interested in that kind of approach,

At such a time it would just seem hardly justified to schedule a pay raise for members of Congress.

Do you believe that the chief justice has the duty to influence the overall philosophical direction of the court through his personal leadership or through opinion-writing assignments or any other means?

There's a deepening feeling of dismay in the country about the way things are going in Iraq, ... I think he's wrong. I think not talking about endgames is playing into our enemies' hand.

It would have allowed the Senate to consider the strength of the evidence presented on the two separate articles and the possibility that one of the articles comes closer to the core meaning of high crimes and misdemeanors than the other,

Sometimes you say the perfect shouldn't be the enemy of the good.

The mood has really shifted. We are in a whole different period.

This bill is fair and even-handed. It affects groups on both sides of the political spectrum, it is not aimed at any particular group or players in the election, it is aimed at getting rid of secrecy,

although I strongly prefer that this trial conclude with a final vote on the articles.

There seems to be a disconnect between the rhetoric in Washington about what this is all about and what we hear here.

All of us have made mistakes, ... But it is a common device of those who seek to thwart reform to insist upon the perfection of the reformer.

It's an unusual step. It's a big step, but what the president did by consciously and intentionally violating the constitution and laws of this country with this illegal wiretapping has to be answered.

It's the reality of a situation like this that when you have a large troop presence that it has the tendency to fuel the insurgency because they can make the incorrect and unfair claim that somehow the United States is here to occupy this country, which of course is not true.

Despite cheap-shot attempts to suggest he is not supportive of campaign finance legislation, the fact is that Al Gore was there for reform from the time of McCain-Feingold and before, every single time.

It's hard for me to imagine it not being first,

comes closer to the core meaning of high crimes and misdemeanors.

This is a confirmation proceeding, not a coronation.