Democrat senator Dick Durbin’s outrageous remarks about US troops behaving like Nazi’s, the KGB and PolPot will unite the left and right, just as folks on both sides were outraged by Edward Klein’s reckless charge that Bill raped Hillary and conceived Chelsea, right? Uh, maybe not. It seems that the left is entirely comfortable with the comparison. Some in fact, think Durbin didn’t go far enough.
The largest most widely read blog on the Internet is The Daily Kos. Here is his take,
To the pea brains on the Right, incapable of reading the English language in its most basic, unuanced form, they claim Durbin is calling our troops Nazis. The Wingnutosphere is making that claim. Rush is making that claim. Hannity is making that claim. Drudge is making that claim. Look to Fox News to jump on the bandwagon tomorrow. Of course, what Durbin is saying is that such torture — undisputed, by the way, and read from an FBI report — is more at home in a place like Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany than in a modern Democracy. And that’s the truth. Plain and simple.
The torture that was so bad under Saddam, is equally bad under U.S.
command. And Dick Durbin had the balls to say it so on the Senate floor.
Well, that’s just one guy. That can’t be representative of all lefty bloggers, can it?
But the larger point is this: America is supposed to have higher standards than the Nazis or Stalin, not embrace them or use them as a defense. There is no reason that we should have a gulag in the sun or be accused of torture. We should have jailed and tried these people legally. Not acted like the people we’re supposed to be fighting.
Apparently, the Republicans who dominate the party today, on the radio, online, and in the halls of Congress, think that the only good American is a Stalinist, a Nazi, a fascist, or any other brand of totalitarian thug who beats the crap out of innocents because he can, because we’re Amurrikans, God damn it, and if we want to throw you in jail for an eternity, with no lawyer and no charges, and torture you until your head explodes and you go absolutely insane, that’s our right because, well, because FUCK YOU.
If you consider torture legal and acceptable (even if innocent people are tortured), then Dear Leader’s main post-hoc justification of the Iraq invasion it itself illegal, because Saddam Hussein would have been doing something that was legal (in your eyes – for he was only torturing “his enemies”). So, if you have a problem with torture being highlighted and publicized, then maybe it’s time for you to become Saddam Hussein’s lawyer. That is a more appropriate role for those who seek to condone, ignore, minimize or support torture.
Is there a single lefty blogger out there repudiating Dick Durbin’s remarks?? If you find one, let me know please.
UPDATE: We’ve found one. Dan Kennedy of the Boston Phoenix and the MediaLog blog. Ironically, Dan is our guest this weekend on Pundit Rveiew Radio on WRKO. Dan will be on at 9:20pm EST and you can stream the show live here or give us a call toll free at 877-469-4322.