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  •  there was no organized campaign (none / 1)

    to help him.

    I am sure if you called his office to ask the nasty communications vastly outnumbered the positive ones.

    You did the right thing, but there weren't enough of you.

    We can't just bash politicians who are fundamentally in the same place we are; we have to help them too.

    Dick Durbin has been a courageous, progressive Senator for a long time.  After all he made a very out there statement in the first place on torture and Gitmo.  Believe me he's no Joementum.

    Debra

    by debcoop on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 11:44:12 PM PDT

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    •  I agree that we need to back politicians up... (none / 0)

      ...when they stick their neck up. Completely agree with that. But I still think Durbin's apology was a mistake. (1) He was fundamentally on the mark with his initial comments, so there was no need to apologize. (2) The party as a whole has been greatly suffering because our leaders don't stand firm like the leaders of the Republican party, and this has been turning off voters that form our base. Why is it that Dean has such strong support? Because he's been doing what no one else has been willing to do--tell it like it is, then stand firm. (3) Finally, just watch, this will not deter the attack dogs, anyway. Despite the apology, the attacks coming from the right will continue. If anything, they may get worse, because some will smell blood in the water. Durbin's role as a leader just took a major hit, I'm afraid.

      Just calling it like I see it.

      by pointsoflight on Wed Jun 22, 2005 at 12:07:05 AM PDT

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      •  And #4... (none / 1)

        ...he just helped the republicans in switching the attention away from the actual abuses to his comments.

        Dean has it right, IMO. If you draw attention by making a comment some don't like, don't waste the opportunity by hedging and retracting the comment. Use that attention to discuss the underlying issues that motivated the comment to begin with.

        by pointsoflight on Wed Jun 22, 2005 at 12:16:55 AM PDT

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      •  once they get blood they attack more (none / 0)

        you are right

        but believe me the Republican right enforce discipline by flooding their own office holders with email/letters pushing them in the desired direction.

        The base has to do its job too

        Debra

        by debcoop on Wed Jun 22, 2005 at 12:17:41 AM PDT

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        •  Yes, I agree. (none / 0)

          There were a couple of diaries calling for action to back up Durbin, but nothing as organized as we saw with Dean. They never made the recommended list and quickly disappeared. I was pretty surprised at that after seeing the groundswell of support for Dean's comments, the nonstop diaries and petitions, etc.

          by pointsoflight on Wed Jun 22, 2005 at 12:28:38 AM PDT

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