Meet "Turban" Durbin, The Newest Member Of al-Qaeda
As the fallout continues, we bloggers made an interesting discovery this morning. Aside from the occasional letter in the op-ed sections of the dominant newspapers, the MSM refused to address this issue. The Chicago Tribune wrote a glowing piece about him, while the Washington Times ran re-caps, and included that many people within his own party are ducking him as an issue.
Dave Logan, of thirdwavedave blog, posted this yesterday. This just makes me want to scream.
http://thirdwavedave.blogspot.com/2005/06/i-have-position-on-sen-durbin.html
I was curious what other members of the Senate had to say about Durbin's comments against our troops. I called a few Senate offices to get the staff's response.
Ted Kennedy 202-224-4543...."Not quite sure, I'll have to check on that." Not quite sure?
Joe Lieberman 202-224-4041...."Mr. Lieberman has no comment at all." Really?John Kerry 202-224-2742...."Sen. Kerry doesn't have a position on Sen. Durbin's comments."
Why doesn't this surprise me?
I expect more out of sitting US senators. And let me add a bit more fuel to this fire. Yesterday, I posted my thoughts. Thomas did two outstanding follow-ups to mine, but when he was done, he simply stated one, simple word: Treason. This is not a word he throws around lightly, and I trusted him to explain himself.
"Sen. Durbin, on the floor of the Senate, equated our troops and their methods to those used by the worst people in history. It emboldens our enemy to hear a US citizen, especially one of such prominence as Senator Durbin, saying these things. It gives them an edge that they use in recruiting and furthering anti-American propaganda. Aid and comfort come in a variety of ways. It's not always physical. It can come as emotional aid, in terms of sympathy, or physical aid such as 'donations' or providing arms or intelligence. And with his statements on the floor of the Senate today [Thursday], he isn't backing away from the statements. He's not stating he misspoke. He believes it, and he will continue to spew it. Treason takes on many forms. The problem isn't the charge. The problem is finding someone with the guts to bring the charge, and follow through on the prosecution."
Lord, I love his cold, hard logic and reasoning. Yesterday, he tried to back-pedal from those statements.This backpeddling amounted to nothing other that to give him a chance to reiterate his foolish statements from just days before. (Below is his stements from yesterday, available at RadioBlogger, including the MP3 files)
http://www.radioblogger.com/#000763
To suggest that I'm criticizing American servicemen, I am not. I don't know who was responsible for this. 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.
I was attributing this form of interrogation to repressive regimes, such as those that I noted. And I honestly believe the Senator from Virginia, whom I respect very, very much, would have to say if this indeed occurred, it does not represent American values. It doesn't represent what our country stands for. It is not the sort of conduct we would ever condone. I would hope the Senator from Virginia would agree with that. That was the point I was making. Now sadly, we have a situation here, where some in the right-wing media have said that I've been insulting men and women in uniform. Nothing could be further from truth.
I respect our men and women in uniform. I have spent many hours, as I'm sure the Senator of Virginia has, at funerals of the servicemen who've 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, 1,710. To suggest that this is somehow an insult to the men and women serving in uniform, nothing could be further from the truth.
To quote Sen. Kennedy: "Lie, after lie, after lie, after lie..."
Senator Durbin did exactly what he is trying to say he did not do. He stood on the floor of the Senate, with an FBI memo—that is over a year old, and as yet unsubstantiated—and compared our troops to the Nazis. He equated our troops with those in Pol Pot’s murderous regimes. And he compared the Marine base at Guatananmo Bay to a Soviet gulag; echoing the allegations made by the very anti-America, pro-dictator Amnesty International. (As yet, I have not seen them condemn Zimbabwe, Sudan, North Korea, Iran, Syria, etc., as openly as the criticized the United States.)
What Senator Durbin does not seem to understand, that Thomas pointed out quite clearly was that when statements like this are made—openly and publicly—it gives credence to the enemy. It gives them an edge. It gives them propaganda to use in recruiting, and in the opposing propaganda war, Al-Jazeera is king in the Muslim world. Guess what? They ran with his comments yesterday.
I have to agree with both Dave and Thomas. Dave is quite correct: Yes he has the right to speak out like this, but it is to be done behind closed doors. You do not do it openly, you idiot! To do otherwise is to damage this nation during a time of war. Thomas is also correct. His actions gave aid and comfort to the enemy during a time of war by giving them the one thing that they yearn for more than anything. It is the same thing that the North Vietnamese longed for when pro-communist/anti-American Lt. John Kerry sat in front of Congress lying about war crimes that never occurred.
It is called "credibility". When Durbin made his statements, he gave our enemies that credibility. He did help our enemy, and for that he can never be forgiven. Thomas called for it yesterday, and the bloggers have been calling for it for three days now. I disagree with Hugh Hewitt. I do not want an apology. I want him removed from the Senate. I do not care what it takes, nor how long it takes, but I want this traitor marched out of the Senate, and sent home to his very angry constituents. Let them deal with the fool beyond that, but I will not have a Senate that allows such a man to stand on it’s floor and impugn the troops with reckless abandon.
No, no. He needs to go. Censure is not good enough. A reprimand other than censure is not good enough. I call upon the Democrat Caucus to have the gonads to remove him from his committees, and urge his resignation. Thomas brought this up last night. Where are the Democrats, and why are they not holding him accountable. The Trent Lott affair was covered by the GOP in a matter of days. They have had three days to react, and thus far they have not.
And where was John McCain while Durbin was making his statements. Just two weeks ago, A & E ran a biopic of his time as a POW in the hands of the North Vietnamese, and his time in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton". Where was McCain on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, to refute the Senator from Illinois. If anyone in the Senate would know about torture and abuse, McCain would be the man. McCain, to say the least, was eerily silent. On a day where McCain could have redeemed himself, in some part, he remained silent. Tsk, tsk. Nice to know McCain really cares about the troops and this nation.
So, it falls to us instead—the alternative media—to take this idiot to task. Fine by me. We can do it, and things are going to get very uncomfortable for Durbin. No apologies. No censure. At this point the only way our grievances will be "redressed" is for him to step down, out of the Senate, and go back home. The Democrats have enough "class-acts" within it’s ranks, and I doubt Howard Dean likes the competition for the Democrat’s annual "Nut of the Week".
The Bunny ;)
As the fallout continues, we bloggers made an interesting discovery this morning. Aside from the occasional letter in the op-ed sections of the dominant newspapers, the MSM refused to address this issue. The Chicago Tribune wrote a glowing piece about him, while the Washington Times ran re-caps, and included that many people within his own party are ducking him as an issue.
Dave Logan, of thirdwavedave blog, posted this yesterday. This just makes me want to scream.
http://thirdwavedave.blogspot.com/2005/06/i-have-position-on-sen-durbin.html
I was curious what other members of the Senate had to say about Durbin's comments against our troops. I called a few Senate offices to get the staff's response.
Ted Kennedy 202-224-4543...."Not quite sure, I'll have to check on that." Not quite sure?
Joe Lieberman 202-224-4041...."Mr. Lieberman has no comment at all." Really?John Kerry 202-224-2742...."Sen. Kerry doesn't have a position on Sen. Durbin's comments."
Why doesn't this surprise me?
I expect more out of sitting US senators. And let me add a bit more fuel to this fire. Yesterday, I posted my thoughts. Thomas did two outstanding follow-ups to mine, but when he was done, he simply stated one, simple word: Treason. This is not a word he throws around lightly, and I trusted him to explain himself.
"Sen. Durbin, on the floor of the Senate, equated our troops and their methods to those used by the worst people in history. It emboldens our enemy to hear a US citizen, especially one of such prominence as Senator Durbin, saying these things. It gives them an edge that they use in recruiting and furthering anti-American propaganda. Aid and comfort come in a variety of ways. It's not always physical. It can come as emotional aid, in terms of sympathy, or physical aid such as 'donations' or providing arms or intelligence. And with his statements on the floor of the Senate today [Thursday], he isn't backing away from the statements. He's not stating he misspoke. He believes it, and he will continue to spew it. Treason takes on many forms. The problem isn't the charge. The problem is finding someone with the guts to bring the charge, and follow through on the prosecution."
Lord, I love his cold, hard logic and reasoning. Yesterday, he tried to back-pedal from those statements.This backpeddling amounted to nothing other that to give him a chance to reiterate his foolish statements from just days before. (Below is his stements from yesterday, available at RadioBlogger, including the MP3 files)
http://www.radioblogger.com/#000763
To suggest that I'm criticizing American servicemen, I am not. I don't know who was responsible for this. 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.
I was attributing this form of interrogation to repressive regimes, such as those that I noted. And I honestly believe the Senator from Virginia, whom I respect very, very much, would have to say if this indeed occurred, it does not represent American values. It doesn't represent what our country stands for. It is not the sort of conduct we would ever condone. I would hope the Senator from Virginia would agree with that. That was the point I was making. Now sadly, we have a situation here, where some in the right-wing media have said that I've been insulting men and women in uniform. Nothing could be further from truth.
I respect our men and women in uniform. I have spent many hours, as I'm sure the Senator of Virginia has, at funerals of the servicemen who've 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, 1,710. To suggest that this is somehow an insult to the men and women serving in uniform, nothing could be further from the truth.
To quote Sen. Kennedy: "Lie, after lie, after lie, after lie..."
Senator Durbin did exactly what he is trying to say he did not do. He stood on the floor of the Senate, with an FBI memo—that is over a year old, and as yet unsubstantiated—and compared our troops to the Nazis. He equated our troops with those in Pol Pot’s murderous regimes. And he compared the Marine base at Guatananmo Bay to a Soviet gulag; echoing the allegations made by the very anti-America, pro-dictator Amnesty International. (As yet, I have not seen them condemn Zimbabwe, Sudan, North Korea, Iran, Syria, etc., as openly as the criticized the United States.)
What Senator Durbin does not seem to understand, that Thomas pointed out quite clearly was that when statements like this are made—openly and publicly—it gives credence to the enemy. It gives them an edge. It gives them propaganda to use in recruiting, and in the opposing propaganda war, Al-Jazeera is king in the Muslim world. Guess what? They ran with his comments yesterday.
I have to agree with both Dave and Thomas. Dave is quite correct: Yes he has the right to speak out like this, but it is to be done behind closed doors. You do not do it openly, you idiot! To do otherwise is to damage this nation during a time of war. Thomas is also correct. His actions gave aid and comfort to the enemy during a time of war by giving them the one thing that they yearn for more than anything. It is the same thing that the North Vietnamese longed for when pro-communist/anti-American Lt. John Kerry sat in front of Congress lying about war crimes that never occurred.
It is called "credibility". When Durbin made his statements, he gave our enemies that credibility. He did help our enemy, and for that he can never be forgiven. Thomas called for it yesterday, and the bloggers have been calling for it for three days now. I disagree with Hugh Hewitt. I do not want an apology. I want him removed from the Senate. I do not care what it takes, nor how long it takes, but I want this traitor marched out of the Senate, and sent home to his very angry constituents. Let them deal with the fool beyond that, but I will not have a Senate that allows such a man to stand on it’s floor and impugn the troops with reckless abandon.
No, no. He needs to go. Censure is not good enough. A reprimand other than censure is not good enough. I call upon the Democrat Caucus to have the gonads to remove him from his committees, and urge his resignation. Thomas brought this up last night. Where are the Democrats, and why are they not holding him accountable. The Trent Lott affair was covered by the GOP in a matter of days. They have had three days to react, and thus far they have not.
And where was John McCain while Durbin was making his statements. Just two weeks ago, A & E ran a biopic of his time as a POW in the hands of the North Vietnamese, and his time in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton". Where was McCain on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, to refute the Senator from Illinois. If anyone in the Senate would know about torture and abuse, McCain would be the man. McCain, to say the least, was eerily silent. On a day where McCain could have redeemed himself, in some part, he remained silent. Tsk, tsk. Nice to know McCain really cares about the troops and this nation.
So, it falls to us instead—the alternative media—to take this idiot to task. Fine by me. We can do it, and things are going to get very uncomfortable for Durbin. No apologies. No censure. At this point the only way our grievances will be "redressed" is for him to step down, out of the Senate, and go back home. The Democrats have enough "class-acts" within it’s ranks, and I doubt Howard Dean likes the competition for the Democrat’s annual "Nut of the Week".
The Bunny ;)
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 9:35 AM
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