Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal Commentary Blogs -> Althouse

Legal Commentary

: Althouse

Netroots Nation invites Russ Feingold to deliver its convention keynote because, like, he's from Wisconsin, and, you know, Wisconsin.

MyD says:

Feingold's direct involvement in protests and push-back against Walker's 'budget' in Wisconsin position him well. Reaction to events in Wisconsin have helped to define a clear narrative for this year's [Netroots] conference on the vigourous [sic] (and organized) GOP attack on unions, mass progressive push-back, and linking it all back to increased coporate [sic] influence through Citizens United.

Huh? Ignore the misspellings and shorthand leftspeak and focus on the factual deficiency: When was Russ Feingold involved ? directly or indirectly ? in the Wisconsin protests? He's been notably absent. Feingold is an important politico, and he's from Wisconsin, but that's what raises a big question around here: Where has he been? I guess from a distance, it's all just Wisconsin!

Here's FireDogLake trying to connect Feingold to the Wisconsin protests:

With the events in Madison over the past month sparking a new mass movement on the progressive side, Feingold is a good choice. He has involved himself in the Wisconsin labor protests and marched with protesters at one point, and practically every rally in Madison has included some variant of a ?Feingold for Governor? sign. 

Hmm. Meade and I have been going to the Capitol for the last month ? Meade has skipped, at most, 2 days, possibly 0 days ? and he says he's seen "probably 2" "Feingold for Governor" signs. He has seen a few signs with a "Where's Feingold?" theme. Feingold marched with the protesters? When? I didn't notice that. Googling, I see he walked through the Capitol with some firefighters back on February 18th. Has there been a peep out of him since then?

Sorry. To me, Feingold has been a conspicuous no-show. No show, and no talk. The same is true of President Obama, but he's not out of office and living in Wisconsin, so his no show, no talk is less conspicuous. Somehow, the Netroots see Feingold as an embodiment of Wisconsinosity and that looks good enough in their blurry, woozy vision.

Full post as published by Althouse on March 20, 2011 (boomark / email).