William Kristol makes an excellent point in The Daily Standard. It is not the responsibility of the Republicans to act against Dick Durbin for his reprehensible statements against the US military. Rather, it is the responsibility of the Democrats.

Why not put the burden on the Democrats? When Sen. Trent Lott made a far less damaging, but still deplorable, statement two and a half years ago, his fellow Republicans insisted he step down as their leader. Shouldn't Democrats insist that Sen. Durbin step down as their whip, the number two man in their leadership? Shouldn't conservatives (and liberals) legitimately ask Democrats to hold their leader to account, especially given the precedent of Lott?

Yes, what is the Democrat Party's response to Durbin's outrageous words and his clear lack of repentance over them -- as evidenced by his non-apology which indicates he believes the comparison to the Nazis was appropriate but misunderstood? Do the Democrats penalize such Holocaust denial (for that is what his comments constitute)? We know that the Democrats still refuse to come to grips with the true nature of Communism and the murderous barbarism of that system. Yet one would have hopes that the genocide of six-million innocent Jews and the liquidation of six-million other innocents would still be seen as quantitatively and qualitatively different from the use of extreme interrogation techniques against a few hundred terrorists who took up arms against the US in a manner that violates international law and places them outside its protection. Will the Democrats in the Senate (and elsewhere) act to repudiate Durbin's minimization of industrialized murder?

Senator Durbin is scheduled to join Democratic chairman Howard Dean at a big fundraiser at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., this Tuesday. I assume he will withdraw from that appearance. But if he cannot appear with his party chairman, one can ask how he can lead his party in the Senate? And if he does appear with Dean Tuesday night, and stays in his party's Senate leadership, doesn't that tell us everything we need to know about today's Democratic party?

The GOP sacrificed Trent Lott for the crime of saying kind but stupid words to an old man on the occasion of his reaching 100-years of age. Should we not expect the Democrats to do at least as much against a senior member of leadership whose words clearly defame our troops, implicitly deny the magnitude of the Holocaust, and arguably give aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States during time of war?

Posted by: Greg at 11:51 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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