Text 13849, 64 rader
Skriven 2005-06-30 14:59:30 av Alan Hess
     Kommentar till en text av Ed Connell
Ärende: Re: Durbin
==================
Whilst masticating on <Jun 28 05>, Ed Connell (1:379/1.6)
wrote to Alan Hess:

AH>> He's a politician.  We saw over the top rhetoric by conservative
AH>> politicians during the Schiavo issue.  It's what politicians do 
AH>> when they're trying to get their diatribe on the news and in the 
AH>> paper - overreach for emphasis.

EC> But as the number two Democrat in the Senate, Durbin was still 
EC> obligated to consider the effect of his words on our nation and 
EC> the men and women who protect us.  This he clearly did not do.  
EC> The support he got from other Democrats, after the fact, was 
EC> particularly shameful as well as Durbin's (non-)appology.

You're right on that count.  He also should have considered how his words could
be spun, and should have known that using the examples that he did were
guaranteed to be grabbed by the spinmeisters.  I can defend the point he was
trying to make, but not the rhetoric he used to try and make it.  Plain stupid,
he was.

AH>> off by saying our actions aren't as bad as so-and-so's, so 
AH>> they're okay.  Sure, the tortures in our prisons haven't been as 
AH>> bad as tortures in Saddam's prisons, but they're still tortures, 
AH>> and we simply aren't supposed to be torturing people (or sending 
AH>> them out to be tortured elsewhere), however bad they may be.  
AH>> America is supposed to have standards, and torture of any kind 
AH>> doesn't fit them.

EC> I've been thinking about this.  In the end, torture has become a 
EC> dumbed-down word.  It is now torture to subject someone to loud 
EC> rap music.  We clearly had a different standard when Clinton's 
EC> people were facing the Branch Davidians in Waco.  Even little 
EC> children were so tortured.  I just can't remember what the 
EC> liberal Democrats were saying about that.

I'm not talking about the rap music (though it is torture listening to that
garbage for any length of time <grin>.)  I'm talking about the types of things
that happened in Abu Ghraib, and things like the report in the e-mail to Durbin
about handcuffing someone in a fetal position for 18-24 hours.  Those things go
beyond regular interrogation.

EC> When the Gonzalez kid was "captured" in Florida, the NBC 
EC> cameraman who was acting as pool coverage for the other media too 
EC> was incapacitated by being struck in the stomach with the butt of 
EC> a weapon by one of the goons.  This despite many comments by the 
EC> grandparents that the INS could have the kid if they were to drop 
EC> by some time.  Head goon, Janet Reno, had the gall to crow that 
EC> it was much better to have TV coverage of the whole incident.  I 
EC> thought we were better than that.  (sorry, my fingers just got 
EC> away from me <g>)

You're right that we should be better than that.

AH>> BTW, where's Vern been?  Haven't seen any posts from him lately. 
AH>>  Is he alright, do you know?  *adh*

EC> I too have been wondering.  He's prone to long hunting trips and 
EC> other excursions, so who knows.  I assume he is okay, and 
EC> certainly hope so too.

Maybe he's bagging some game for a July Fourth dinner.  :-)  *adh*

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