Ain't No Pedestal High Enough, Ain't No Quirk Low Enough

As I acknowledged earlier, their is dissension in the ranks of my loyal four readers concerning Sen. Feingold's lonely Democratic NO vote on the watered down financial reform bill which recently passed the Senate. Here's a piece about that vote. Go read it. & since they turned the ladies from Maine, Russ' vote wound up not hurting the chances of it passing. I certainly understand the frustration some of us have about Russ. I don't trust him either, after his vote with the ReThugs during President Clinton's impeachment. That vote took on a personal note for me, since The Kid was working the phones for the Democrats that night, working the phones in raising money. Boy, she got several earfuls, but stayed the course that night (she needed the money for rent). But as John Nichols said to me in a bar in Ashland, Wisco, "You'll finish your beer, comrade, then vote for Russ." He was, as usual, correct. So, I'm actually not putting Russ on a chair, or something. There were great reasons to oppose this bill. Anyway, go read the piece. Here are a couple of snippets.

...Feingold definitely gets it. He has long understood the dangers of bank deregulation, and, he points out, he was one of only eight Senators to vote against repealing Glass Steagall--the Depression-era law that forced banks to keep their investment houses and regular, commercial operations separate. He even voted against the TARP.

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But after much wrangling and a floor speech denouncing the watered-down bill and demanding tougher reforms, Feingold explains to voters in a video posted on is official web site why he won't support the final reform legislation.

"Unfortunately, this bill doesn't do the job," Feingold says. The two major issues that it doesn't address, he says, are replacing the firewall between regular banking activities and gambling on Wall Street and breaking up institutions that are "too big to fail."

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The bill does do plenty of good, however,.... (for nonheroicvet, ed.)