"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake," Napoleon Bonaparte once said. No one bothered to tell this to Senator Russ Feingold. George W. Bush has had one of the worst years of any president in recent memory. The continuing Iraq debacle, failure on Social Security reform, the political hurricane following Katrina, the Dubai-Ports controversy, outrage over ineptness (or disinterest) in enforcing immigration laws, scandals involving Claude Allen and Scooter Libby, and the vice president shooting a man are among the explanations for plummeting poll numbers. But right when George W. Bush looks primed for lame duck status, along come his enemies to the rescue.

Senator Feingold's censure resolution (PDF) is as sure to please the Michael Moore-wing of the Democratic Party as it is to alienate the normal-person wing of both parties. Feingold calls to "censure" President Bush and "condemn" the president's failure to get judges to approve post-9/11 domestic spying by the government. A censure resolution would have had a chance had President Bush lackadaisically pursued domestic surveillance after 9/11, but one condemning him for aggressively keeping tabs on terrorist suspects and their contacts is a political loser. Unfortunately for Republicans, most Democrats--at least most Democrats not running in a multi-candidate presidential primary--understand this. As a result, Senator Feingold's party colleagues have fled from his grandstanding resolution. Nice try Russ, but this is pretty transparent. You are running for president, after all.

That Napoleon quote is, uh, dynamite. It's going to enjoy a spot on my dry-erase board for a while. I liked Gates of Vienna's take on this, a "lame shot across McCain's bow."

Most of Bush's political successes can be traced directly to Democratic Party stupidity and irrevelance. If it weren't for those demos we might actually pay attention to the Constitution and shrink our out of control government.

Feingold is also the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act, so I think this may be more than just posturing.

Bush deserves at least a censure, and regardless of his motives, Feingold should be commended for this act.