So close

Here's the latest Democrat's attempt to, in the vernacular, "grow a pair." Senator Russ Feingold made a statement on the Senate floor yesterday "on the President’s Warrantless Wiretapping Program."

He began:

The President was blunt. He said that he had authorized the NSA’s domestic spying program, and he made a number of misleading arguments to defend himself. His words got rousing applause from Republicans, and even some Democrats.

The President was blunt, so I will be blunt: This program is breaking the law, and this President is breaking the law. Not only that, he is misleading the American people in his efforts to justify this program.

(Emphasis mine)

And so on. He went on to mention "misleading" or "mislead" at least three more times in this or other contexts. So close. The word you're looking for, Senator Feingold, is lying. Or lie. That's right, I'm back on this hobby horse again.

I don't know much about Senator Feingold. I gather that he is a liberal Democrat, and I do know he's an advocate of campaign finance reform. He's also expected to run for President in 2008. Bob Geiger says he's

a man who, as much as I deplore talking about 2008 with bigger fish to fry in 2006, is sounding very much like my idea of a presidential candidate.

And there's at least a couple of other Democratic bloggers who agree with him. Me, I say I'll have found someone who sounds like a candidate when I see him or her point at George W. Bush (literally or figuratively) and say, liar.

Till then, "misled" is just my favorite Kool And The Gang song.