It’s finally happened. One week after Senator Dick Durbin on the Senate floor compared treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay to “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others,” he has apologized.
Northstar at intellectualize.org, for one, isn’t happy about this, writing, “So much for having the cojones to speak the truth to power, eh?”
Sen. Durbin was essentially left to hang alone by his fellow Democrats. Apparently, having the courage to speak truth to power was just more than these Cowardly Lions could stomach. Durbin was exactly right to draw attention to the black mark against American ideals that Guantanamo has become. … It would also have been nice if Senate Democrats had displayed at least the minimum amount of courage required to back him up.
The Astute Blogger doesn’t quite see it this way, and smells blood in the water. The Astute one writes (in caps, just like when your mom sends an email and wants to really make her point), “Now [Durbin] must RESIGN FROM LEADERSHIP. After all, Trent Lott APOLOGIZED FOUR TIMES, AND THEN STILL HAD TO RESIGN AS LEADER. If Durbin fails to resign, it tarnishes the entire Democrat Party.”
In funnier news, Jesus’ General has come across a nice little piece of advertising that didn’t quite make the cut, as far as the publication it was offered to is concerned. It seems that the Crooks and Liars Web site “attempted to assist our nation’s military recruiting efforts by placing a full page ad in the official program of the Young Republican National Convention. Unfortunately, the Young Republican leadership felt that such an appeal would, as the kids say, ‘put a harsh on their buzz.'”
It seems the ad’s call for its readers to join the military was “too negative” for the Young Republicans, according to their rejection letter — despite the ad’s use of administration rhetoric to try and convince the potential young recruits.
Back to slightly more serious — if not as entertaining — matters. And that means (you’ve guessed it) Social Security. There’s been what may be a big development in the psychodrama that is the battle over privatization; as the Washington Post reports today, “House Republicans are drafting Social Security legislation stripped of President Bush’s proposed personal accounts financed with payroll taxes and lacking provisions aimed at assuring long-term solvency.”
Jeff at Log and Line doesn’t seem to have a problem with this, although he does take issue with the Democratic response, writing that “instead of welcoming this move and affirming their desire to work for meaningful reform, [the Democrats] began to bash the as-yet unintroduced legislation and increase the rhetorical pressure on the administration.” (Other unnamed Democrats sourced by CNN this morning darkly suggested that the new legislation is a Trojan Horse, and personal accounts might well be added on later on.) But Jeff has a point, and one which sensible Democrats might take to heart: Critiquing faulty policy ideas is an essential part of the democratic process, but, once it appears that you’re winning, it’s time to dial down the shrillness.
–Paul McLeary
Paul McLeary is a former CJR staff writer. Since 2008, he has covered the Pentagon for Foreign Policy, Defense News, Breaking Defense, and other outlets. He is currently a defense reporter for Politico.