Russ Feingold Gets to the Bottom of That ‘Czar’ Thing

Could you pass this list along to Russ and Tom, please? It's a list of GW Bush' 34 constitutionally OK Czars....

1•Cybersecurity Czar – Rod Beckstrom
2•Regulatory Czar – John Graham
3•AIDS Czar – Scott Evertz
4•Global AIDS Czar – Randall Tobias
5•Bioethics Czar – Leon Kass
6•Tarp Czar – Neel Kashkari
7•Democracy Czar – Elliot Abrams
8•Communications Czar – Dan Bartlett
9•Gulf Coast Reconstruction Czar – David Powell
10•Homeland Security Czar – Michael Chertoff
11•Homeland Security Czar – Tom Ridge
12•Homelessness Czar – Philip Mangango
13•Reading Czar - G Reid Lyon
14•Mine Safety Czar – Richard Stickler
15•Public Diplomacy Czar – Karen Hughes
16•Science Czar - John Marburger
17•Health IT Czar – David Brailer
18•Counterterrorism Czar – Richard Clarke
19•Counterterrorism Czar - Gen Wayne Downing
20•Birth Control Czar – Eric Kerouac
21•Bird Flu Czar – Stewart Simonson
22•Food Safety Czar – David Acheson
23•Intelligence Czar – John Negroponte
24•Manufacturing Czar – Albert Frink
25•Drug Czar – John Walters
26•Domestic Policy Czar – Karl Rove
27•War Czar – Gen Douglas Lute
28•Abstinence Czar – Claude Allen
29•Cleanup Czar - Jessie Roberson
30•Budget Czar – Mitchell Daniels
31•Faith Czar – John Dilulio
32•World Trade Center Health Czar – John Howard
33•Policy Czar – Michael Gerson
34•Cybersecurity Czar – Richard Clarke

Russ Feingold was the single strongest (and loneliest) voice in the US Senate warning about the abuses and excesses of executive power in the Bush administration. When the USA PATRIOT Act passed the Senate 98-1, it was Sen. Feingold who opposed it.

Now, I don't think this is a particularly legitimate issue with which to address the Constitutionally-dubious expansion of executive power that occurred under Bush/Cheney and remains largely unchanged under Obama, but Sen. Feingold is a principled and consistent champion of civil liberties and the Bill of Rights.