At the hearing, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the committee's ranking Democrat, embraced Feingold's call to censure Bush. "I … have no hesitation in condemning the president for secretly and systematically violating the laws of the United States of America," he said.
But the hearing also dramatized, in the form of a long row of empty chairs, the hesitance other Democrats have about the resolution. Besides Leahy and Feingold, the only other committee Democrat who attended was Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin. And he left without delivering an opening statement or questioning any of the witnesses.
Democrats skipping the session included Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware. Five of the panel's GOP members also were absent.
Feingold's resolution has been championed by an array of left-leaning blogs and the online liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org. But it has attracted only two co-sponsors — Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).
--http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-censure1apr01,1,7596813.story?coll=la-news-politics-national
(i'm using safari, which won't produce the WYSIWYG editor for blogger, and i stll can't post using atom)
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