The attack upon Senator Durbin is an assault upon free speech...

[kentuck]

First of all, because the comments were taken out of context, the Repubs intentionally attempted to mislead the American people for partisan gain. Senator Durbin is outspoken but nothing he said is as bad as the actions themselves. Rather than investigate a sentence that begins with an "if", they should be investigating the lies that continue to lead to more deaths, day after day.

This morning, after a few days of talk radio assassination of Senator Durbin, callers to C-SPAN are now calling for "censure" of Senator Durbin. They want to stifle free speech. Just don't talk about it. Let them torture people in our war on terror. Yes, they are torturing people. It is much worse than anyone knows. They are doing it in our names. We cannot let them succeed in silencing our voices.

[Mythsaje]

1. Same tactic

they've been using for years now. Attack the messenger...silence the messenger...

"Traitor!"

"Terrorist Sympathizer!"

It's getting old. They don't realize that this sort of behavior breaks down eventually because people stop buying it.

[NewJeffCT]

2. They love to take things out of context

Didn't they do that with the guy at CNN, too?

Why don't we ask them if it was okay for Republican Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum to invoke the Nazis only a few weeks ago? Or, if it was okay for then Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas to compare a tax law to the Nazis? A friggin' tax law!!!! Or, when Tom DeLay compared the EPA to the Gestapo?

[MaineDem]

3. Key points to consider

Definitely "kill the messenger" techniques. They don't take into consideration:

Senator Durbin did not, and would not ever, accuse American soldiers of committing atrocities.

He has worked tirelessly on behalf of our men and women in uniform and their families. (Reservist Pay Security Act; Increased Death Benefits for Soldiers; Troop Protective Equipment; Assured Funding for Veterans Health Care Act; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Enhancement Bill; Welcome Home G.I. Bill; Disabled Veterans Exemption to the Bankruptcy Bill.) He has also voted for every single dollar the Administration has requested to fund our troops and the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Durbin's criticism was directed at the brutal torture techniques that were authorized and encouraged by the Bush administration.

As former Secretary of State Colin Powell and others have said, what's happening at Guantanamo Bay and other American detention centers places American troops at risk and makes us less safe.

[Mass]

4. Well known tactic, unfortunately.

but why should we care. More funny to attack other democrats than to attack republicans.

[Cats Against Frist]

5. It doesn't even matter

They're fucking sensationalists. They'd yell if Durbin took a shit, and stunk up the office building that he's "betraying the United States."

I just read a quote by Dr. Menglefrist that said the Democrats were doing "grave damage," to our nation, simply because they were participating in the Democratic process. (Bolton)

The Republicans are NUTS, they're fucking out of hand, and anything that the Dems do that's not lying down, so they can totalitarian steamroll them and the 49 percent of this country that rejected the Rambo Jesus Circus is "ripping the U.S. apart."

Anybody who buys into that is an A-1 fucking ignoramus.

[ArkDem]

6. Intelligent, thoughtful and well written post.

[demokatgurrl]

7. And not a bad sig line - yours and CatsagainstFrist's-

which is also, by the way, a wonderful screen name.

[truebrit71]

8. Comments were taken out of context....

..and then re-hashed until they morphed into the right-wing talking points of the day...

Anyone with half a brain (this of course automatically excludes 98% of republicans) knows this by simply listening to, or reading what he ACTUALLY said...

What he said was spot on, and I can't wait to hear the right-wing spin when the remaining pictures and tapes from Abu Ghraib come out...Especially the ones with the children and women being raped...

Family Values my arse.... :grr: