Russ Feingold Stands Alone Against Death Penalty
Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, a man who many hoped would be running for President in 2008, is standing alone, on principle, while every single one of his colleagues looks the other way.
Feingold has introduced S.447, the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2007. The legislation would, if passed in to law, do what the title suggests. It would abolish the federal death penalty.
It has been a month and a half since Senator Feingold brought the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act to the floor of the Senate. Yet, in all that time, not one other senator has given a co-sponsorship to the bill. No other member of the United States Senate has taken a serious stand against the death penalty.
That includes the four Democratic US senators who are running for President:
Joseph Biden
Hillary Clinton
Christopher Dodd
Barack Obama
Not one of these senators opposes the death penalty. They may talk, hypothetically, about the shortcomings of capital punishment. When they have the opportunity to act, however, they do nothing.
So much for the idea that America would be saved by a Democratic Congress.
You are exactly right. All of the Democratic presidential candidates should be required to defend their pro-death penalty postion in detail. Feingold’s position represents the historic Democratic Party position before the party lost its moral compass.