Russ Feingold, A Laugh Riot

The Progressive Patriots Fund, a PAC run by Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin has put out a TV ad in which an actor portraying a presidential advisor suggests to President "G.W" that, ""The war still got everyone running scared. They'll go along with whatever you say. Forget the rules and quit treating the Constitution like it's set in stone. For starters, we should be eavesdropping on anybody who has the nerve to disagree with you - court order or not."

Now that they've caught by Factcheck.org at this bald faced lie, they claim that it was just a parody. Does this sound like Feingold is kidding? According to Factcheck:

The ad concludes with Feingold's voice saying, "Our country hasn't stood for this kind of abuse of power in over 200 years. Let's not stand for it now."

Feingold may be forgetting his history. President Lincoln threw people in jail without charges during the Civil War, including members of the Maryland legislature and at least one former member of Congress from Ohio. Franklin Roosevelt moved 112,000 Japanese Americans out of their homes and held them in internment camps during World War II. They had support at the time but would be considered "abuses" by most today. In 1988 Congress declared that the WWII internments constituted "fundamental violations of the basic civil liberties and constitutional rights" of citizens. The wartime measures of Lincoln and FDR were far more serious that warrantless eavesdropping on overseas conversations.

What a kidder that Russ is.