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Dayton calls Feingold's censure resolution dangerous
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WASHINGTON - Sen. Russell Feingold's move to censure President Bush caused a bout of shyness among some Democrats this week, but Minnesota Sen. Mark Dayton is not among them.
On Thursday, he called the resolution irresponsible and dangerous, and accused Feingold of grandstanding.
"I thought it was premature and overreaching and primarily motivated by his 2008 presidential candidacy rather than the best interests of our caucus and the nation," Dayton said of the measure introduced by his colleague from Wisconsin that would formally rebuke Bush for his domestic spying program.
Dayton said Democrats were "blindsided" by the move. "I think it's very dangerous territory for the democracy that we have in this country to be playing around with those kinds of resolutions and without any consultation from his colleagues," he said.
Asked whether he thinks Bush's program is illegal, as Feingold contends, Dayton said that it was a gray area and that Feingold needs to pick his battles better.
"If the president overreached legally, which he may have done so, this is the wrong issue on which to engage the president -- especially on something constitutional like a censure," he said.
Feingold responded by pointing to Dayton's remarks in January, when he called domestic wiretapping an "abuse of power." At the time, Dayton said, "It may or may not be illegal, but it's wrong."
Feingold said it's up to the Senate to respond to that.
Four Republican senators, meanwhile, introduced a bill that requires the president to go to court as soon as possible to get approval for wiretapping and other forms of monitoring.
Bush signed an executive order directing the National Security Agency to conduct the operations without a judge's approval.
Aaron Blake is a correspondent in the Star Tribune Washington Bureau.
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