One of the by-products of living in an age under Islamo-fascist threat: nothing stands for anything anymore; you open your mouth and the reality of who and what you are comes tumbling out.

Pre-9/11 you might have heard the word "congressman" (or "head anchorman" or "leadng expert") and offered a sliver of respect - but not now. There are no experts, there is no wisdom. All the cards are on the table.

Durbin's card is stupidity. He doesn't know how to manage similie - the ancient rhetorical device that compares like to like in creative ways. I'll be generous and say that within the limits of his stupidity Durbin is trying to say that the American soldier should not brutalize the innocent or unarmed - but Durbin doesn't know how to say this. Durbin dimly imagines his words should wear some kind of rhetorical raiment but he can only reveal his mental rags and lack of education.

Like the brutally stupid he can't apologize. He'll continue to thrash and pummel and publicize his low-ceilinged, narrow walled mind.

Just a few hours ago my wife and I were chatting at the dinner table, and we jokingly concluded that current events provide wide-open opportunities for some creative philosoper to expound on an epistemology of stupidity. And now I see Doug writing the first chapter of his dissertation...

It seems like the military, with their torture of detainees, have done quite a good job of denigrating themselves. But I guess holding that thought would smash your worldview a little.

Ah, yet another blighted mind with no sense of history, no sense of proportion, no idea of honor, and, really, nothing at all to offer but nothingness.

You, sir, not only have no idea of the meaning of "torture," you have, in fact, no idea at all.

D. Anderson, above: "within the limits of his stupidity Durbin is trying to say that the American soldier should not brutalize the innocent or unarmed - but Durbin doesn't know how to say this."

That take on Durbin's intent, and on his words, is only very slightly less weasely than Durbin's words themselves and his followup explanations today. Anyone who thinks that Durbin's comparisons of what goes on at Gitmo to the acts and policies of Hitler, Stalin, etc., are simply rhetorical inadequacies is either himself stupid as an interpreter of rhetoric, or he hopes his readers will be.

Durbin is, indeed, stupid, in the same way as his apologist, D. Anderson. They are morally stupid, and doubly so for trying to rhetorically disguise their moral stupidity.

Please note: they are not morally ignorant, as the attempt to cover shows, but morally stupid.

Levans, slow down partner. Here's another way of saying what I said:

All the politicians, journalists and human rights workers who compare the American military to Hitler or Gulags are stupid in every way - morally, rhetorically, etc. They are using the words "Hitler" or "nazis" or "Gulag" as stand-in code words for "really really evil." And so Durbin's comparisons ARE rhetorical inadequacies; I didn't say "nothing but," however.

Again: people who compare the American military to nazis, etc, are stupid and have no literary or moral imagination. There is no comparison - the comparison does not hold - it is a bad comparison and only a weak, disfigured mind could make such a comparison.

p.s. Mike, I like your site.

Durbin and the other DemonRAT slime are purely traitors, nothing more, nothing less. They are working for the death of our soldiers, and the defeat of our cause.
Traitors!!

Doug A., I note that your reply to my comment included distinctions and clarifications not in your original comment, explicitly or implicitly. In the absence of those additional statements, your original comment had the rhetorical effect of ignoring or downplaying the moral degeneracy of Durbin's statements. If that wasn't the intent of your comment, I'm glad, but I think it certainly was the effect.

Durbin demonstrated his moral stupidity with the original statements and with his response to the ensuing criticisms. His response not only reinforces his moral stupidity, it also undercuts any suggestion of rhetorical mismanagement on his part. He said precisely what he meant to say. He just wants now to deny that his words meant what they clearly did mean (and were intended to mean) in the current political climate. Rhetorical mismanagement or ineptness, I think, played no part in his comments.

If it wasn't your intent to distract from the (im)moral aspects of his statements, then I apologize for calling you morally stupid. But I must then conclude that your original comment wasn’t so rhetorically “ept” either – it missed, and masked, the overriding issue.

I'm not too thrilled with your nomenclature in charging Durbin et al with a lack of "moral imagination," either. At best the phrase seems strangely (again) misdirecting or understated. Durbin wasn't at all morally unimaginative in his comparisons. Quite the contrary, he was morally imaginative in the extreme -- immorally imaginative.

There is no word strong enough to describe the visceral, intense dislike I have for Dick Durbin, who is one of my senators. He'll say or do anything for political advantage, is quite obviously in love with himself, and apparently assumes that everybody else is as ignorant of the world around us as he is.

Yet the people of Illinois re-elected the simp -- I'm so proud.

I started an email to him yesterday that I will finish today. Have to edit out some of the anger, but not all of it. His email contact page is http://durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm

Like several posters above, I was at first struck by the profound stupidity of Durbin's comments. Brief reflection, though, convinced me that he couldn't possibly be that stupid and still manage to breathe. Don't get me wrong. He's clearly a very stupid man, but I think he's probably more lazy than dumb. Moreover, I think he's probably a nasty little bastard, too. What else should we expect from a stupid, mean spirited schmuck? He needs his ass kicked.

Yes, and words matter.

Is there any doubt that the detainees at Gitmo are our enemies?

Is a spade ever a spade?

I'm not suggesting prosecution on formal charges of treason for anyone here. No prospect for 72 virgins in the hereafter for the martyrdom that these traitors would proudly claim were they to be called to that account.

Young men and women are fighting, and suffering grievous wounds, and dying, for the freedom of these politicians to say what they say.

And so, if words have meaning, traitors are what these snide, unprincipled people, dealing in ill-disguised treason, are.

Our utter disgust and disdain for them - maybe even shunning - are surely in order.

Richly deserved.

Starting here.

Starting now.

It's a shame people confuse MP's and Brig Guards with soldiers and sailors and marines.

Those who haven't been in the military don't know what actual soldiers and marines think of Brig Guards... that they are not real soldiers or marines, not real combat personnel who risk their lives for a cause or a foolishness or patriotism or defense of the country -- most military personnel consider Ernest Borgnine's sadistic brig guard in "From Here to Eternity" to be close to the mark.

To blame the people who put their asses on the line -- to fail to distinguish them from the few, the craven, the professional turnkeys -- is a disservice to those who are willing to risk all.

But then when did ANY congressman value the TRUTH or even THE FACTS over a political opportunity?

Oh -- addendum -- I don't think "traitor" is the correct word -- I think perhaps "self-serving unconscionable asshole" might be a bit more precise.

I expressed my outrage to Sen. Durbin's office a couple of days ago. But it's time to move to the next level. Write your senators a letter like this one calling for the Senate to formally censure Sen. Durbin and repudiate his remarks.

"You, sir, not only have no idea of the meaning of "torture," you have, in fact, no idea at all."

In US detention camps worldwide: 100 deaths in custody, 27 of which have been ruled "homocide."

Does murder count as torture? Sorry, that's a rhetorical question, no need to answer.

Your concept of "the rhetorical question" is as thin as your understanding of the word "idea," and your understanding of what the Pentagon report you allude to actually says. Headlines regurgitated as facts do not, in the end, act as a substitute for ideas, arguments, or reflections. I repeat that you sir "have, in fact, no idea at all."

And I shall be kind and pass over your citation of that strange hate crime "homocide."

Get a grip, Gerard.

"Ah, yet another blighted mind with no sense of history, no sense of proportion, no idea of honor, and, really, nothing at all to offer but nothingness.

You, sir, not only have no idea of the meaning of "torture," you have, in fact, no idea at all."

Hehe.. you are descriping yourself there. Look in the mirror once (without sunglasses). Might do good for you.

I used to get upset over stupid stunts that Democrats have been pulling off, like this Durbin dude.
I now only laugh. Just think of it - Demos have lost all power and credibility. They are Party of Surrender. Try this - wrap yourself in bedsheets, place used diaper on your head and kick open the door to Democratic Caucus on Capitol Hill. All hand would go up!

So, what is there for Demos to do? Only trying to outdo each other in outrages statements. The biggest Democrat will be the one who can come up with the most stupid statements. It's like a contest among them. I say this should be encouraged. Durbin should be drafted to run for the Prez.