Feingold on Bush's Speeches This Week

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) is certainly doing a good job of stepping up to the microphone and showing the leadership required if he is indeed running for president in 2008. Here's Feingold in a statement released in response to President Bush's stay-the-course speeches this week, in which he also strongly implied that those dissenting on the Iraq war are aiding and abetting the enemy.

“The President once again failed to provide the American public with a plan and a flexible timetable to redeploy U.S. forces out of Iraq. While he acknowledged the growing level of violence and the challenges that we’ll face in the coming year, he still doesn’t recognize that our seemingly indefinite military presence in Iraq is fueling the insurgency and is not creating the conditions for a smooth transfer of authority to the new Iraqi government.

"The President still doesn’t see the connection between his failing policies in Iraq and our country’s diminishing capabilities to conduct a global war on terrorist networks. The longer we maintain a massive military presence in Iraq without a clear plan to redeploy our troops, the longer we’ll be incapable of executing an aggressive campaign against terrorist networks that threaten our country. The President needs to change course in Iraq, and he needs to do it immediately. Doing so will help Iraqis rebuild their country, and will help us defend ours.”

Good work, Senator Feingold, in not letting Bush's spin sit out there unanswered.