Ah, geez, Senator Durbin. . .

Don't you realize that you were right?

Don't you realize that there were a LOT of us who recognized you were right and defended you?  You hung us out to dry.

Haven't you noticed what happens when Dems apologize for saying what's right?  Namely, it DOESN'T MATTER AT ALL to the rightwing media machine.  It simply gives them yet another news cycle of stories.  Only this one is not only how awful you are, it's now got the added bonus of how you cried and were forced to apologize and, as an added bonus, the "is he sincere" crap.  Did you seriously think they're going to say, "Gee, what a great fellow, he apologized. Let's move on.")

Are you so insulated in Washington that what other Senators (who've also been in D.C. for a bahgillion years) are actually credible in their advice to you?   Like Biden?   Like the consultants that the DNC has been paying for years to help us lose?    

Here's a few hints.  Read some blogs.  Read your email.  Look at what happened to Howard Dean after he refused to back down.  Namely - nuthin'.  One cycle. Period - despite the very, very best efforts of the Republicans (and some Dems) AND the MSM.   He ultimately killed the story himself by refusing to apologize, explain or even respond.   Yeah, he's the right's current whipping boy. and he doesn't have to worry 'bout being elected to anything.

But at least he has his dignity, integrity - and balls - intact.  Wish I could say the same for you.  I am sorely, sorely disappointed in you.

eileen from OH

•  Yep

  Here we have a man who apologised for comparing people who torture other people to Nazis.

  There's something utterly wrong about that.

  by Dunciad on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 08:26:46 PM PDT

•  I agree

  Durbin has  done the Right Wing Kool Aid Stand a huge favor, and the kindest thanks he can expect from them is a big fat ''I told you so''. They'll still hate your guts   Since when does the Right apologize for outing CIA operatives or comparing a class of citizens to beastility practitioners or telling a long sitting US Senator to go fuck himself on the Senate floor?  They don't and NEITHER SHOULD DEMS.

  by SeanGA on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 08:36:54 PM PDT

•  Hostetler

  Wonder if I spelled his intolerant asses name right.

  Durbin, you were right and people like Hostetler are wrong.  Don't stop yourself from saying the right thing in the future.  Torture is wrong.  It's wrong and it makes us look bad.  So bad, that it puts our troops in even more danger.

  by Bendygirl on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 08:39:18 PM PDT

•  Can someone tell me...

  why he did it?

  by maxschell on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 08:41:01 PM PDT

  •  Gawd, who knows. . .

    I'm GUESSING - based on the Dems who distanced themselves from Dean, that he had a lot of Senate friends who told him "ooooh, Dick, this isn't going to play well with your constituents. . .doesn't sound, y'know, "moderate."

    Which goes back to my point. . .anyone who gives him that advice has been in D.C. waaaaaay too long and is completely out of touch.  (See Biden, Joe.)

    We had his back and, unlike Dean, he didn't even have other Dems coming out and distancing themselves.  

    Hasn't he - and the Dems, in general - learned ANYTHING?  APOLOGIES DON'T WORK.  Actually, that's true for either side.  (Fat lot of good it did Trent Lott).   But ESPECIALLY if you don't have anything to apologize for.  The story is now, and forever more will be, not about the abuses at Gitmo, but about Dick Durbin saying something and then apologizing and crying.   For that alone he earns my scorn.   I was a huge Durbin supporter, even before this, but this sucks.   Big Time.

    eileen from OH

    by eileen from OH on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 09:00:15 PM PDT

•  Check out his apology.

  It's not a capitulation. I have cross-posted this comment in all the Durbin diaries I have come across.

  I was furious at Durbin until I read that. Cut the man some slack, and realize that yes, even in context, the Nazi/Pol Pot analogy was too much.  He has taken way too much grief for this, but this was a shitty choice of comparison.  You say Nazi and Pol Pot, and there better be some killing fields and gas chambers to back your statement up. Pinochet's Chile, Russia under the Tsars-comparisons like that would have been powerful and resonant.  

  Possible silver lining: the GOP still calls for his scalp, pushes too hard, and he gets a revisionist news cycle exposing his statement in context.

  Anyway, read the statement and afterward, ask yourself how you feel about Durbin. The tears don't help, but he is our man, and by far one of our best.  He will weather this- at this point, the danger comes from the base, who has seen way too much capitulation and isn't feeling very judicious right about now.  But remember all the good he has done, and shout back. I'm pretty optimistic about overreach.

  by Paul Douglas Fan on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 09:03:37 PM PDT

  •  what's wrong with the tears.

    ...but what's wrong with the tears.

    There isn't anything wrong with emotion.
    We don't need anymore cowboys...Bush is enough.

    by v2aggie2 on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 09:13:11 PM PDT

    •  Right on. I was thinking tactically.

      Those tears can be used in his favor when the GOP hacks still call for his scalp.  "He was so emotional about the pain he had cause our soldiers..."  

      by Paul Douglas Fan on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 09:18:38 PM PDT

      •  I understand ...

        The GOP will always gripe about something

        by v2aggie2 on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 09:21:03 PM PDT

  •  I read what he said

    and still think he had absolutely zero to apologize/clarify/whatever for.   There was NOTHING in his statement that required any kind of an explanation to Holocaust survivors, for example.  There is no silver lining - they aren't gonna call for his scalp anymore, that's true.  But that's an exceedingly small comfort.  Because he's apologized it will get used, WITH the apology, over and over and over again.  He COULD have been vindicated if and when more abuses became public.  Now he'll just be a tool of the rightwing if that happens and cannot, credibly, go after the abuse angle again.  

    I'm not turning on him - I agree (and always have) that he's one of the best.  I'm just very, very, very disappointed in him.   Not just that he couldn't hang tough but because he has aided the rightwing blatherers by giving them even more reason to make the story about him, and not about the abuse.

    eileen from OH

    by eileen from OH on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 09:22:19 PM PDT

    •  I can picture how military families might

      react to the media portrayal, and started calling trees to his offices demanding an apology. His carefully worded apology was directed at them.  

      Yes, they will use this again and again.  That's where us blogheads come in. Keep the focus on why he was making the comparison. The harder they beat a comment that he has already apologized for, the more chance there is of focus on the underlying issue. Talk about the torture. Usually politicians get these gaffes tossed in their face the rest of their careers whether they deserve it or not. This could be different.

      by Paul Douglas Fan on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 09:37:23 PM PDT

•  Eileen from OH

  Thanks, you hit the nail on the head.

  This was nauseating to watch.

  by chumley on Tue Jun 21, 2005 at 10:10:35 PM PDT

•  I feel let down

  As an Illinois resident, I am a Senator Dick Durbin fan, and I will remain his fan even after this latest misstep (Not the Guantanamo comment, this latest apology.), but I feel let down by him.
  Apologizing will never satisfy the warmongers like Bushies and McCains (Manwhore), and will only embolden Limbaughs of the world.
  It also only reenforces the notion that Democrats are weak and don't stand on anything.
  In that regard, Dr. Dean is great.
  He simply ignored all the criticism aimed at him regarding the "a white, Christian party" comment, and didn't pay a price for it.
  I think if Senator Durbin waited for a few more days, this manufactured controversy would have gone away.
  I am very disappointed with Senator Durbin.

  by DuPageCountyLiberal on Wed Jun 22, 2005 at 02:25:21 AM PDT