Breaking the Durbin Code

Hugh Hewitt wrote in Weekly Standard What Dick Durbin said, what he really meant, and why the Senate should vote to censure him. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter should move this week to initiate a censure resolution of Illinois Senator Dick Durbin for his remarks on the Senate's floor on June 14, 2005. Not only did Durbin's remarks injure America's position in the world, provide an enormous propaganda victory to the enemy, and slander the United States military, they also represent an escalation in the political rhetoric of the left, which is designed to undermine the public's confidence in the military, the administration, and the war. The censure resolution will oblige every senator to go on the record about how they view the American military as we enter the long phase of the war. The outrage over Dick Durbin's comparison of interrogation practices at Gitmo to the Nazi, Soviet, and Pol Pot regimes has deeply injured Durbin's reputation and the reputation of the Democratic party that keeps him in the number two leadership position in the United States Senate.

Hugh Hewitt blogged "Breaking the Durbin Code" in the WeeklyStandard.com this morning is an effort to make the case for a Senate resolution of censure for Dick Durbin, as well as a single source for all of the relevant Durbin statements from last week. When all of Durbin's statements on Gitmo, the Nazis/Soviets/Pol Pot and Abu Ghraib are laid end to end, they reveal Durbin's argument very clearly, and very clearly the Senate ought to censure him for making it. Bill Kristol agrees that censure is appropriate, but in "A Better Idea than Censure" suggests that Durbin's removal from the leadership post he holds for the Democrats would be more likely. I agree that the Democrats would be wise to dismiss Durbin, but it isn't my party and if they wish to be led by fools brimming with anti-American rhetoric, that is their right. A resolution of censure, though, sets a standard for the Senate which represents all Americans --a standard that says slanders on the United States military and America's conduct in the war on terror, especially those slanders that provide our enemies a huge propaganda victory, will not be tolerated by the body of senators, not just one party.

Scott @PowerLine blogged Hugh performs a herculean task visiting the Augean stables of Durbin's mind. The column valiantly performs a public service that none of the doyens of the mainstream media have even attempted. Hugh observes that Durbin's comments last week represent "an escalation in the political rhetoric of the left, which is designed to undermine the public's confidence in the military, the administration, and the war."

I agree that all Senators should be forced to vote on centure. Whether the Dems want Durbin to remain in the leadership is their decision