DURBIN BACKS DOWN FROM GITMO NAZI COMPARISON

Damn it!

From the Copely News Service via the San Diego Union-Tribune courtesy of BuzzFlash:

Attempting to stem growing criticism, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said yesterday that he regretted any misunderstandings caused by his comments that compared some U.S. actions at Guantanamo Bay to those committed by the Nazis or Cambodia's Pol Pot.

"I have learned from my statement that historical parallels can be misused and misunderstood. I sincerely regret if what I said caused anyone to misunderstand my true feelings: Our soldiers around the world and their families at home deserve our respect, admiration and total support," Durbin said in a statement issued by his office yesterday.

Click here for the rest.

Durbin's apology really bothers me because it so completely plays into the Republican noise machine's hands. That is, we've seen this pattern again and again: somebody makes a true but slightly flawed statement about Bush's policies, the right-wing seizes on the slight flaw and comes howling down on it relentlessly from every direction possible; under the onslaught, the person originally making the statement feels forced to retract it.

The only lesson to be learned here is to NEVER EVER APOLOGIZE TO THE RIGHT WING. Ever. Sure, clarify the statment. Admit any technical inaccuracies. But only do so in passing, without enough words to make a soundbite, and always, always, always, stress the veracity of the statement as a whole. Durbin, a politician, probably feels that he doesn't have the luxury of proclaiming the harsh truths about this war that, say, Amnesty International, a non-governmental organization, has. Republicans, however, brilliantly seize upon this weakness, and like the bullies that they are, push Democrats into the mud and steal their lunch money.

Take a lesson from Howard Dean, Mr. Durbin, and never apologize. Those old rules of gentility no longer apply; the conservatives have shredded them. Never apologize to those bastards.

Look, Guantanamo is like something out of a WWII movie. Sure, there are differences, but there are also startling similarities--murdering innocent captives is but one of many. It's the similarities that the right wing is trying to drown out by railing away on the differences. Apologizing for not being clear enough simply aids that effort. Comparing the atrocities at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and elsewhere, to the Nazis and Soviets is exactly the right thing to do, because if such comparisons are not made now and often, there is a very real chance that a few years from now there won't be any differences at all: Bush's policies really will be indistinguishable from those of Hitler.


USA Uber Alles--another little Paintshop self-indulgence

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