Scaring Democrats

The Blog | RJ Eskow: Feingold And the 'Foxhole Democrats' | The Huffington Post:

"A relaxed Russ Feingold made news when he had lunch with a small group of bloggers on an overcast Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles. Stepping outside the usual stereotype of a politician, he picked up the check. And he pointedly distinguished himself from those he characterized as 'foxhole Democrats' who run scared from Republican intimidation tactics.

'They're not very good at running the country,' he said of the GOP, 'but they're brilliant at intimidating Democrats.' As for his fellow Democratic contenders for the 2008 nomination, he suggested that many of them are still dominated by fear of a Rovian attack on their patriotism or national security credentials.

Feingold argued that reluctance to be baited on national security cost Democrats the Presidency in 2004, and that 'most Democrats don't know how to talk straight to the American people about what they believe.'

'They all listen to the same small group of consultants,' Feingold said. 'Those consultants would've told me that my career was finished in Wisconsin after I voted against the Patriot Act. And I was re-elected by a wider margin than before . . ."