Censure motion watch

The Nation's blog has this preview of tomorrow's Judiciary Committee hearings on the Feingold censure resolution:

Congressional Democrats have pretty much abandoned their Constitutionally- mandated responsibility to check and balance the excesses to the executive branch – so much so that the one Democrat who seeks to hold President Bush to account for ordering the warrantless wiretapping of American's telephone conversations accuses for party's leaders of "cowering."

So where is Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold finding support?

Among Republicans. Or, more precisely, among prominent alumni of past Republican administrations.

When the Senate Judiciary Committee convenes as extraordinary session on Friday to consider the Feingold's motion to censure the president for ordering federal agencies to engage in eavesdropping in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's requirement that judicial approval be obtained for wiretaps of Americans in the United States, the dissenting senator will call two witnesses.

Making arguments about the extreme seriousness of the warrantless wiretapping issue -- and the need for a Congressional response -- will be noted constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein, who served in President Ronald Reagan's Department of Justice as Deputy Attorney General, and author and legal commentator John Dean, who served at Richard Nixon's White House counsel before breaking with the president to reveal the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Watergate era.

Well, I suppose that survivors of the Nixon and Reagan administrations would be in a position to know high crimes and misdemeanors when they see them.

What will it take for the Dems to make that all-important evolutionary leap from pre-vertebrate to vertebrate? How far will Bush have to cross the constitutional line before they realize it's their duty to take him on? (Or, for the more cynical, how low will Bush's numbers have to sink before the Dems realize it's safe to take him on?)

Georgia10 at DailyKOS adds this comment:

While Democrats still remain hesitant to back Feingold's measure, opting instead to wait for Godot an "investigation," their stance will look more pathetic than prudent as members of past Republican administrations testify to the gravity of the President's crimes.