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Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Mon Jun 20, 2005 at 04:54:46 PM EST
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The Administration and the right wing will not succeed in its attempt to smear Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. Durbin’s comments have had the positive effect of stimulating more discussion about the fact that the Bush Administration’s policies have put our troops at risk and hurt our efforts to win the war on terrorism.

Durbin’s constituents, who know him best, seem to recognize that was his intent. Durbin’s hometown paper, the State Journal Register writes,

The real message of Durbin's statement - that we must investigate and stop inhumane treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo and other military prisons - is one we can't afford to ignore.

Greg Hinz writes in Crain’s Chicago Business,

Mistreating people, some possibly innocent, in a harsh prison forever is not an Illinois value. Nor is it an Illinois value to take a person who might possess some intelligence of possible value, stake them out naked on the ground, turn up an air-conditioner until they’re shaking with cold, play ear-splitting music, and watch them defecate and urinate on themselves. That, in fact, was the conduct Mr. Durbin was protesting.

And the Daily Southtown editorializes,

Durbin doesn't owe anyone an apology. Our view is that he's calling on the Bush administration to act by the high standards that are the American tradition. That's what we all should be demanding from our president and his administration, and we should not be so naive as to be deceived by the propaganda machine.

Even conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan weighed in on Durbin’s behalf, saying,

I’m just amazed that some can view what has happened and their first instinct is to attack those who have criticized it, rather than those who have perpetrated it. It is this administration that has brought indelible shame on America, and it's people like Dick Durbin who prove that some can actually stand up against this stain on American honor and call it what it is. Good for him. Thank God for him.

Finally, The Raw Story pointed out the hypocrisy of Republicans who have criticized Durbin for referring to Nazi interrogation tactics.

Republicans will try to divert attention to Durbin from the real issue - the deplorable tactics used on Guantanamo detainees. It's up to us not to let them.

Update: The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial is strongest of all: Durbin shouldn't apologize for telling the truth and he shouldn't let the right wing make the story about him instead of the "hellhole" at Guantanamo.

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    • Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin | 14 comments (14 topical)
    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#1)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:17 PM EST
    Hey, you forgot Andrew Sullivan!

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:17 PM EST
    Sailor, I did not - read below the fold.

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#3)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:17 PM EST
    Ooops, sorry, my bad. When the page reloads in Safari some links are invisible until the whole page is loaded, I missed the "more".

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#4)
    by Andreas on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:17 PM EST
    Responding Friday to the criticisms of his statement, Durbin did his best to retract and repent, saying, “I have learned from my statement that historical parallels can be misused and misunderstood.” He followed with the obligatory praise for American troops: “Our soldiers around the world, and their families at home deserve our respect, admiration and total support.”
    Bush administration defends Guantánamo prison camp By Kate Randall, 20 June 2005

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#5)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:17 PM EST
    et al - I was just watching Fox & Friends as I boosted my blood sugar and they are bringing the Durbin issue directly into the MSM media. Actually have call-in numbers and people talking. Good for them. The other MSM outlets have tried to ignore it, and mostly have. On the other hand, CBS and Dan Rathergate had the Trent Lott untoward comment story on night after night. Now, come on, tell me the MSM and Dan aren't biased. BTW - Do you really consider Andrew Sullivan conservative?

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:17 PM EST
    why do they want to change the subject from his actual words? why aren't his actual words in the "mainstream" press? the comparisons he employed have meaning and saying afterwards "I respect the troops" is just empty rhetoric to deflect from the words.

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#7)
    by jimcee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:17 PM EST
    As I said before if the Left wants to devalue the word Nazi on something rather trivial as they have so often in the past that's fine by me. Language is a funny thing in that as you use a certain perjoritive too often it loses it's impact. There was a time when the word f**k was considered nasty language (not to mention bad usage) but is used today as punctuation in all media forms and it has lost its effect. There are many others including Nazi that are going that way. Too bad because in 1945 Nazi meant something to the world, you know death camps, slave labor, the detruction of Europe, etc, but today it is just an epithet that the Left casually tosses around at the drop of a hat. Too bad because Nazi was a perfectly servicable word until the Left over-reached with its usage. Perhaps they could use the word Communist instead because the Nazis were pikers compared to Mao and Stalin. Oh wait that might upset the Fidelistas on the Left.

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#8)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:18 PM EST
    I say again...if we institute universal health coverage, we can compare ourselves to Canada. While we detain people indefinitely, torturing and abusing them, there is no other comparison than totalitarian regimes. Sorry if the apt comparison hurts.

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:20 PM EST
    apparently, we aren't past the historical ignorance of the left yet. we have already argued that out and the left has yet to acknowledge that Durbin peed on the mass graves of the victims of those regimes. the topic seems different here-Durbin wants to get away from his actual words. you can't, on one hand, say our troops are Nazis and, on the other hand, offer them full support. the words cannot be reconciled. Despite the words, don't we all suspect that he(and most posters here) consider them closer to the Nazis.

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:20 PM EST
    Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin No not everyone...... Only about 1/2 the population of the U.S.! And he's pissed (Dem) Mayor Daley off too. It's all over now DICK!

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#11)
    by Slado on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:20 PM EST
    What is completely forgotten in this whole Durbin bruh ha ha is that the memo he is quoting is 2 years old. The fact that this incident happened two years ago and has probalby (I don't know) already been investigated by the pentagon is never mentioned or even been researched. Once again the MSM provides no context to a story and only repeats the political rangling by both sides over what is obviously a terrible choice of words by Mr. Durbin. Jimcee is right on the mark when he points out the lefts ability to make a word no longer shocking by overuse. I thought Bush was a Nazi? How can he be a Nazi but our troops are Nazi's but we support them. Oh yeah that's right I'm mistaken. Bush is Hitler and the troops are indeed Nazi's but we can still love them because they are simply following orders.

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#12)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:21 PM EST
    et al - After weeks of pounding by the Left, here is the results from a USA Today poll:
    30. As you may know, since 2001, the United States has held people from other countries who are suspected of being terrorists at a detention facility in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Based on what you have heard or read, do you think the US should continue to operate this facility or do you think the US should close this facility and transfer the prisoners to other facilities? Continue to operate, Close facility, No opinion 2005 Jun 16-19 58, 36, 6,
    31. In general, do you approve or disapprove of the way the US is treating the prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba? Approve, Disapprove, No opinion 2005 Jun 16-19 52, 37, 11,
    32. Do you approve/disapprove strongly, or not strongly? COMBINED RESPONSES (Q.31-32) Approve, strongly Approve, not strongly Disapprove, not strongly Disapprove, strongly No opinion 2005 Jun 16-19 33, 19, 14, 23 , 11
    Note that 52% approve, 37% disapprove Now if the "no opionon was split 50-50, you would have a 58.5% approval, versus a 42.5% disapproval. The Demos sure know how to pick a winner!

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#13)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:21 PM EST
    Durbin has apologized, in tears.

    Re: Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin (none / 0) (#15)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:21 PM EST
    roy - If he is crying it most likely is over the end of his political career. He may win another term as Senator, and he may not. But he'll never get that shot at the girl, the gold watch and everything. The next question is, will the Demos remove him from his leadership position? After all, Lott's apology didn't save him. We'll see what the Demos think of the troops when they try and let this just slide on by. wg - If numbers mean nothing, why does the left chortle everytime someone posts a poll showing some negative point about Bush, or the war? We have investigated Afghanistan. We have investigated Iraq. We have charged, tried and convicted. We have investigated Cuba. And found what? Of thousands os situations:
    The probe found five confirmed incidents of military guards and interrogators "mishandling" the Koran, a fact cited by military officials before but never described in detail...
    The findings show that al Qaeda and Taliban detainees at the detention center themselves mishandled Korans on 15 occasions, three times more than the military prison's guards and interrogators. "These included using a Koran as a pillow, ripping pages out of the Koran, attempting to flush a Koran down the toilet, and urinating on the Koran."
    Link But what do you try and sell us?
    What remains is the FACT that the our interrogations rooms can be as brutal or more as those in Nazi Germany or Stalin Russia.
    My BS filter went off the scale. What is that? Of course almost anything "can be." So why bring it up? Isn't it a sly way of making the same old charges, but without facts, and with a built in alibi?

    Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin | 14 comments (14 topical)