To those criticizing Dick Durbin

You probably aren't going to find a more liberal Senator, and he has been a fighter all along. The truth of the matter is that he commited the cardinal sin of debating - comparing anyone to Nazi's. His analogy to Nazi guards was flawed, because of the imediate association with the death camps. As bad as Gitmo is, it is not Auschwitz.

Now before someone tries to tell me that the quote was taken out of context, lets try and avoid a double standard. We here fault Bush for every time he implied a connection between Iraq and 9/11. Durbin, perhaps unintentionally, did the same thing. Dick Durbin made a mistake, and I don't fault him for apologizing.

to continue to destroy his credibility when he speaks out on important issues.

apologizing for comments that were based upon truth.

Amnesty International called Gitmo a gulag and held their ground when they went on Faux News, the belly of the Repuke Beast. Amnesty refused to apologize or criticise their analogy of Gitmo to gulags. Instead they went on the attack and challenged Bush to open Gitmo and the detention process to them so that they could verify whether Gitmo was a gulag or not.

Then I would agree with you. Durbin's mistake was mentioning Nazis.

when Amnesty International used that term?

Yes, there was.

him for doing so.

Bush made no comparisons, Bush made direct links between Iraq and 9/11.

Durbin was wrong to apologize.

to almost apologize. Can't show weakness in war and the brouhaha would have blown over in a couple of days.

He was also injudicious in using the Nazi reference. We really need to put a moratorium on those sorts of comparisons. Why? For tactical reasons -- they become the issue and the original issue gets muddied. Stick to the facts and hang them around BushCo's necks at every opportunity. Fight with the truth -- we don't really need to exaggerate and keep them on the defensive.

Durbin's point was that it is unacceptable for American troops to behave as the FBI report he had in his hands stated they did.

He was right about that. I am disappointed that he backed down.

But once you apologize or backtrack in the vitriolic environment that America has become, you open the door to the frenzy that we are now seeing. He said it. His words may have been ill-chosen, in the same way that Amnesty International might have been advised to avoid the use of the word gulag. But they didn't back down. And nor should Senator Durbin have backed down. Granted, Gitmo is not Auscwitz, and Camp X-Ray is not the final solution. But in the right arena the kind of characterization that Senator Durbin used has its place and can be used to make a point. In fact, the point was made, the bloggers and the media moved on. But now, with this apology, he, along with the entire party, are seen as thin-skinned, spineless toadies.

In another world, at another time, perhaps an apology would have been appropriate. You don't see the Republicans apologizing for their wrongs -- wrongs that have caused tens of thousands of needless deaths and have humiliated our once-great nation. And nor should we applogize for speaking the truth.

That doesn't mean he was wrong, just that he isn't dead. But he's obviously not going to be our next candidate for Preznint.

Believe us- we Kerry supporters feel your pain. And these bashers should go get their jollies at some amusement arcade somewhere, I frankly don't think they are very good Democrats the way they turn on their own. It's like giving the Repukes a triple win when they do it.

Bush and the Republican Neo-Nazi Christan Party for fucking up our Nation.

The Nazis were like that, too.:P