Durbin had NOTHING to Apologize for ! Here's WHY!

[KoKo]

Senator Durbin Had Nothing to Apologize For

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

Although Senator Dick Durbin’s floor speech on June 14th to raise the issue of torture and abuse at Guantanamo Bay was completely taken out of context and distorted by the right-wing echo chamber, Durbin nonetheless apologized hoping to quell the political fury. Making matters difficult for the Illinois Senator was when Chicago Mayor Richard Daley chimed in with his own harsh criticism. "I'm going to get you a book on the Holocaust and have you read the Holocaust, and if you really believe those men and women in Guantanamo Bay are Nazis, then you'd better rethink what America's all about," Daley said.

Note that Senator Durbin never uttered the word “Holocaust” in his floor speech but did refer to oppressive regimes that engaged in torture such as the Nazis, Soviets, and Pol Pot.

Daley’s criticism of Senator Durbin demonstrates the pervasive decline of standards in America where politicians can lob comments – or in Daley’s case what amounted to a molotov cocktail – without reading what Durbin actually said or understanding the context of his poignant remarks that the torture and indefinite detention of prisoners at Gitmo is amounting to a ticking time bomb for the United States and the safety of American soldiers.

There are numerous possibilities why Mayor Daley put Senator Durbin in the crosshairs. Either Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has a serious reading comprehension problem; gets his information from the FOX propaganda network; or seized the opportunity to gain some kind of leverage even if Daley calls Durbin a friend and ally. We’ll give Mayor Daley the benefit of the doubt – unlike what Daley did for Durbin — and assume that Mayor Daley was just plain lazy and didn’t do the right and honorable thing to first understand Durbin’s objective in raising the issue of torture and abuse at Guantanamo Bay.

Much more...here:

http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/05/06/edi05054.html

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. Ah, young Richard Daley

I went to law school in Chicago during the final years of his father's tenure as Mayor.

The story goes - and it may be just another story - that law students taking the Illinois Bar exam were allowed three tries, and if they failed all three tries, I think they had to go back to school for a year, or something (I forget - I'm Old).

But then, suddenly, the Illinois Legislature changed the law, and it was now possible to take the Bar exam five times without sanctions - the most number of tries in the country, I was told.

Richie Daley passed it on the fifth try.

[xray s]

3. The CPD can teach the Gitmo guards a thing or two about torture

Wonder if Jon Burge is on Blackwater's payroll these days...

[Enquiringkitty]

2. When it comes to Repugs: I could say that I am allergic to oranges

and they will say that I am dying of scurvy and pleading for my life just to make them look bad. The way they can stretch things, it would seem like they could stretch a buck better.