Durbin Tries to Weasel Out of His Slander
On Tuesday night Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin smeared American soldiers at Guantanamo Bay as Nazis, gulagists, and Pol Pot wannabes. Yesterday a Durbin spokesman tried out this gem:
Uh-huh.
This afternoon, in the midst of a blogswarm he never saw coming and still doesn't understand, he's trying to make excuses while backpedaling and trying to avert falling on his can:
So now you're admitting your ignorance? Didn't stop you from making your execrable parallel, though, did it?
Other than that they're American, in the armed forces, and use Nazi torture techniques like testing jihadis' deodorant and inflicting M-TV II on them. Gotcha.
As well as our own, Senator. That would be the Bush Administration, wouldn't it? You know, the man who won re-election last fall by nearly four million popular votes?
Oh, geez, get off of your knees, Dick.
"If indeed this occurred?" So now you say you don't know who did something that might not have been done? But that didn't slow your big, fat mouth down on Tuesday night, did it?
It represents extracting intelligence that can save American lives and values and perhaps even prevent another 9/11 or worse. That is what you people were claiming the President failed to do before 9/11, isn't it? Or was that just another tactic to be discarded if it didn't work?
I would condone a whole lot worse if it meant defeating this enemy and keeping him from harming or killing me and my family. Maybe what you stand for and what our country stands for are two very different things, Senator, as your Tuesday soliloquoy spectacularly illustrates.
Apparently not, judging by what he said to you.
The ones at Gitmo, absolutely you did.
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'"
You wanna hear what "the men and women serving in the uniform" think of you, Senator? Here's a sample:
If this is any indication - and I really do believe it is - then "the men and women serving in the uniform" aren't buying your transparently phony assurances. How stupid you must think them, and how stupid you must be to sell them so short. Theirs is an occupation in which stupidity is rewarded with disability or death; yours is an occupation where the dispensing of stupidity gets you to your party's #2 leadership post in the U.S. Senate, apparently.
Problem is, your stupidity is putting them - and by extention, us - in greater jeopardy. That's why a large portion of the public is so royally pissed at you, Senator.
I've been wondering for the longest time when the Democrats were going to finally stumble into their Joseph Welch moment - the act, the utterance, the provocation that would finally cause an elected Republican to decide s/he'd finally had enough and exclaim in righteous indignation, "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
Maybe Durbin's slander will be the tipper. Certainly his genuflecting for the enemy merits him official censure by the Senate, as was done to Senator Joe McCarthy half a century ago when he went too far. The wording of that resolution - "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute" - would apply to most of the Senate Dem caucus by this time, but Durbin would be as good and fitting a sacrificial goat as any of them. And since the GOP is in the majority, they should, at least in theory, be able to ram such a measure through, and pick up a few Dem "yeas" in the process.
As to the business of a Durbin apology or resignation, let's get real. He will do neither, because he is without honor and as power-lusting as any other Donk. What he said on Tuesday evening wasn't a gaffe, it was a moment of frank candor. That's what he and his fellow bottom-feeders honestly think of the military and their own country when they're not in charge of it. You might as well demand that a Catholic renounce the catechism.
The Dems are going to continue to say things like this. They've been saying things like this ever since Florida 2K, and there's no reason to suppose that their collective plunge into insanity is going to abate itself. What we - and that includes elected Republicans - have to do is fight back and blow the doors off of each and every Dem each and every time they pull something like this.
Senator Durbin has helped dig his party's long-term political grave; but it's the GOP that has to bury him.
UPDATE: Double H has another post with several anguished, livid emails from military families. It's one thing for the rest of us to righteously indignate on Dick Durbin's worthless ass, but these people have a familial stake in what he has willfully and knowingly compromised. Their words should take precedence over any that we who owe them permanently for the sacrifices they are making can offer.
The best one, IMHO, was also the briefest:
Upper-deck, grand-slam, bottom-of-the-ninth, tie-game, two-out, full-count, Game 7 of the World Series-winning home run.
UPDATE II/6-17: Cap'n Ed delivers up two more delicious Durbin morsels this morning.
First, Kerry echo syndrome:
Which brings us to one of Durbin's Illinois cronies, Cook County Democrat Sheriff, Michael F. Sheahan:
Mr. Morrissey echoes my comments from yesterday (see above) when he concludes:
Seen in their proper context, Durbin's despicable attacks are an extension of the "Deep Throat" nostalgia-fest of a week or two back, a clumsy, hamfisted attempt to recreate the "Perfect Storm" of Watergate and Vietnam that indellibly memed the political careers of the contemporary American left. But they're also a reflection of the Democrats' squealing frustration at their powerlessness, and perhaps a dawning realization after more than a decade in the minority of just how long-term their political exile is going to be.
UPDATE III: Here's another devastating contrast struck by George Neumeyer at TAS today:
Dick Durbin and any who can publicly defend him and the murder of Terri Schiavo in the same worthless lifetime are truly the epitome of moral depravity.
"I wouldn't say we were inundated, but we knew Rush mentioned it because that's when the calls started coming in." He later added that Durbin's comments were meant to compare torture at Guantanamo Bay to torture during the Nazi regime, not equate Americans at the base to Nazis and similar groups.
Uh-huh.
This afternoon, in the midst of a blogswarm he never saw coming and still doesn't understand, he's trying to make excuses while backpedaling and trying to avert falling on his can:
"I have heard my colleagues and others in the press suggest that I have said our soldiers could be compared to Nazis. I'd say to the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, I do not even know if the interrogator involved here was an American soldier."
So now you're admitting your ignorance? Didn't stop you from making your execrable parallel, though, did it?
I didn't say that at any point. To suggest that I am criticizing American servicemen, I am not. I don't know who is responsible for this.
Other than that they're American, in the armed forces, and use Nazi torture techniques like testing jihadis' deodorant and inflicting M-TV II on them. Gotcha.
But the FBI agent made this report, and to suggest that I was attributing all the sins and all the horror and barbarism of Nazi Germany or Soviet Republic or Pol Pot to Americans is totally unfair.No, Senator, it is entirely fair, because that is to what you compared U.S. interrogations at Gitmo.
I was attributing this form of interrogation to repressive regimes, such as those that I noted.
As well as our own, Senator. That would be the Bush Administration, wouldn't it? You know, the man who won re-election last fall by nearly four million popular votes?
And I honestly believe the Senator from Virginia, who I respect very, very much...
Oh, geez, get off of your knees, Dick.
....would have to say that, if indeed this occurred....
"If indeed this occurred?" So now you say you don't know who did something that might not have been done? But that didn't slow your big, fat mouth down on Tuesday night, did it?
....it does not represent American values.
It represents extracting intelligence that can save American lives and values and perhaps even prevent another 9/11 or worse. That is what you people were claiming the President failed to do before 9/11, isn't it? Or was that just another tactic to be discarded if it didn't work?
It doesn't represent what our country stands for. It is not the sort of conduct we would ever condone.
I would condone a whole lot worse if it meant defeating this enemy and keeping him from harming or killing me and my family. Maybe what you stand for and what our country stands for are two very different things, Senator, as your Tuesday soliloquoy spectacularly illustrates.
I would hope that the senator from Virginia would agree with that.
Apparently not, judging by what he said to you.
Now sadly, we have a situation here, where some in the right wing media have said that I have been insulting men and women in uniform.
The ones at Gitmo, absolutely you did.
Nothing could be further from truth. I respect our men and women in uniform.Bullshit.
I have spent many hours, as I am sure the senator from Virginia has, at funerals of the servicemen who have been returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, writing notes to their families and calling them personally. It breaks my heart every day to pick up the newspaper and hear of another death. Now the total this morning, 1710.
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'"
To suggest that this is somehow an insult to the men and women serving in the uniform, nothing could be further from the truth. But it is no credit to them or our nation for this sort of conduct to occur."
You wanna hear what "the men and women serving in the uniform" think of you, Senator? Here's a sample:
I want Durbin’s job, and I want it now. I’ll be damned if a US Senator is going to get away with comparing my comrades to the Gestapo, or Stalin’s thugs. To the people of the Great State of Illinois, none of you have a hair on your ass if you do not demand a recall of this piece of trash. This guy isn’t some benchwarmer nutjob either, he is in the Democratic leadership and as such he speaks for the rest of the 44 Senators in his caucus. If you are a Democrat US Senator and you do not have a statement of categorical disavowal of Durbin’s remarks and a plea for him to recant and apologize for them released to the press by close of business today, you are wrong. Barack Obama should be burning Durbin in effigy in the streets of Chicago this weekend. It’s time to step up Senator and give your “colleague” his medicine.
If this is any indication - and I really do believe it is - then "the men and women serving in the uniform" aren't buying your transparently phony assurances. How stupid you must think them, and how stupid you must be to sell them so short. Theirs is an occupation in which stupidity is rewarded with disability or death; yours is an occupation where the dispensing of stupidity gets you to your party's #2 leadership post in the U.S. Senate, apparently.
Problem is, your stupidity is putting them - and by extention, us - in greater jeopardy. That's why a large portion of the public is so royally pissed at you, Senator.
I've been wondering for the longest time when the Democrats were going to finally stumble into their Joseph Welch moment - the act, the utterance, the provocation that would finally cause an elected Republican to decide s/he'd finally had enough and exclaim in righteous indignation, "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
Maybe Durbin's slander will be the tipper. Certainly his genuflecting for the enemy merits him official censure by the Senate, as was done to Senator Joe McCarthy half a century ago when he went too far. The wording of that resolution - "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute" - would apply to most of the Senate Dem caucus by this time, but Durbin would be as good and fitting a sacrificial goat as any of them. And since the GOP is in the majority, they should, at least in theory, be able to ram such a measure through, and pick up a few Dem "yeas" in the process.
As to the business of a Durbin apology or resignation, let's get real. He will do neither, because he is without honor and as power-lusting as any other Donk. What he said on Tuesday evening wasn't a gaffe, it was a moment of frank candor. That's what he and his fellow bottom-feeders honestly think of the military and their own country when they're not in charge of it. You might as well demand that a Catholic renounce the catechism.
The Dems are going to continue to say things like this. They've been saying things like this ever since Florida 2K, and there's no reason to suppose that their collective plunge into insanity is going to abate itself. What we - and that includes elected Republicans - have to do is fight back and blow the doors off of each and every Dem each and every time they pull something like this.
Senator Durbin has helped dig his party's long-term political grave; but it's the GOP that has to bury him.
UPDATE: Double H has another post with several anguished, livid emails from military families. It's one thing for the rest of us to righteously indignate on Dick Durbin's worthless ass, but these people have a familial stake in what he has willfully and knowingly compromised. Their words should take precedence over any that we who owe them permanently for the sacrifices they are making can offer.
The best one, IMHO, was also the briefest:
"Senator Durbin should be commended for voicing more concern about the horrors of Pol Pot than the average senator or representative of his party did during the time those horrors were actually occurring."
Upper-deck, grand-slam, bottom-of-the-ninth, tie-game, two-out, full-count, Game 7 of the World Series-winning home run.
UPDATE II/6-17: Cap'n Ed delivers up two more delicious Durbin morsels this morning.
First, Kerry echo syndrome:
This kind of obstinacy sounded familiar to me, as it did to long-time CQ reader and friend River Rat. Both he and I thought back to an earlier time and decided that Durbin's allegations echoed a bit of American history, another time when the forces of the Left gathered to undermine the American will to fight....Both of us found the logical antecedent to Durbin's historically ignorant analogies - in the history of the US Senate, ironically enough. Doesn't this sound just like an echo of Dick Durbin this week?It does, indeed. The notable difference, of course, being that when Kerry vomited his anti-military slanders, he was a 27-year-old beatnik agitator, not the #2 Democrat in the United States Senate.
"They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, tape wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country."
Which brings us to one of Durbin's Illinois cronies, Cook County Democrat Sheriff, Michael F. Sheahan:
During the 15 years Sheahan’s run Cook County Jail, there have been numerous reports by rights groups, attorneys, and a grand jury documenting systematic prisoner abuse there, including rapes and beatings by guards. [emphasis added]My goodness, nobody has reported any such thing taking place at Gitmo. And even if it had, Durbin would be a roaring hypocrite to criticize it while saying nary a word about his "pal and political ally."
Mr. Morrissey echoes my comments from yesterday (see above) when he concludes:
It seems that the Democrats have, for the past four decades, ever been ready to smear the American military during a time of war - particularly with analogies to Nazis -- to bolster their political fortunes at the nation's expense. This hysterical and self-righteous namecalling turned out to be almost completely false in Viet Nam, but we learned that well after we ran out on our erstwhile allies in the South. They are even more ludicrous today, when the Durbins, Kerrys, and others have gotten so desperate for political attention that they now feel the need to toss out genocidal equivalences three at a time for what amounts to nothing more than humiliation techniques, invoking Nazis, Stalinists, and most egregiously the Khmer Rouge that their propaganda allowed to take power in the 1970s.
Durbin doesn't appear to be deranged; he's just following a shameful tradition by radical Democrats of sapping American will to fight and win a war.
Seen in their proper context, Durbin's despicable attacks are an extension of the "Deep Throat" nostalgia-fest of a week or two back, a clumsy, hamfisted attempt to recreate the "Perfect Storm" of Watergate and Vietnam that indellibly memed the political careers of the contemporary American left. But they're also a reflection of the Democrats' squealing frustration at their powerlessness, and perhaps a dawning realization after more than a decade in the minority of just how long-term their political exile is going to be.
UPDATE III: Here's another devastating contrast struck by George Neumeyer at TAS today:
If Terri Schiavo had been dehydrated to death at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Dick Durbin would be reading her autopsy report from the Senate floor. It would be an occasion for great moral anguish. How did the U.S. sink so low as to adopt such Nazi-like callousness toward disabled prisoners of war? one could imagine him saying. Instead, Democrats - even as they spent part of the week crassly celebrating, with news of Schiavo's autopsy report in hand, the human rights abuse of euthanasia against the disabled - are in a moral lather over the paucity of proper air conditioning terrorists receive at Guantanamo Bay.
Dick Durbin and any who can publicly defend him and the murder of Terri Schiavo in the same worthless lifetime are truly the epitome of moral depravity.
posted by JASmius at 3:22 PM
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