GO FEINGOLD: Sen. Russ Feingold has studied Howard Dean's 2004 campaign for president (Tack left, stay left, keep tacking left, tack further left) and apparently Feingold wants to emulate Dean's success in winning the hearts and minds of the most extreme leftist elements of the Democratic Party. That's the conclusion I reach from Feingold's decision to press his fellow Senate caucus members for a censure of President Bush.

Feingold. He and his allies, such as MoveOn, believe Democrats should present clear, confrontational alternatives to Bush (like censure) that will inspire a large turnout from the party's base. "Our biggest problem is Democrats, all over America, saying: 'Why don't you guys ever stand up?' " Feingold insists. Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn's political action committee, seconds Feingold. Promoting censure, Pariser says, will convince voters that "Democrats are strong and will take principled positions."

Go, Russ! Keep listening to MoveOn.org and assorted wing-nuts of the left's ongoing Angry at America Tour. May you achieve great success in getting your colleagues to throw their limited political capital behind a campaign to damage the president's standing at a time of war. Because doing so will only serve to frame the debate in terms that further erode the left's credibility on national defense and security issues. Here's the turf this battle will be fought on:

...The President eloquently and very respectfully stated, “I think your premise -- in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist -- is that -- I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect…” Before the President could finish, the uninhibited journalist broke into the President’s statement. This would be a trend in this segment of the press conference. In fact, President Bush said “excuse me” four times to Ms. Thomas when she broke into his answers. The President continued, “No President wants war. Everything you may have heard is that, but it's just simply not true. My attitude about the defense of this country changed on September the 11th. We -- when we got attacked, I vowed then and there to use every asset at my disposal to protect the American people. Our foreign policy changed on that day, Helen. You know, we used to think we were secure because of oceans and previous diplomacy. But we realized on September the 11th, 2001, that killers could destroy innocent life. And I'm never going to forget it. And I'm never going to forget the vow I made to the American people that we will do everything in our power to protect our people.” This is one of the Reagan moments that the President has demonstrated throughout his two terms in office. His determination to spread freedom and protect our country has to make every American proud they live in the United States of America.

If Feingold is jazzed about fighting the war of ideas on that ground, maybe he and John Kerry ought get together for a chat at Davos sometime.