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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Now This Was Stupid

Now This Was Stupid

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I defended Dick Durbin, and I still, to this day, do not think he was guilty of anything more than rhetorical over-reach. If you did read those reports, you wouldn’t think those acts were committed by Americans, but a comparison to Hitler and Pol Pot was just silly. As such, I thought these caustic ads were over the top. This, however, is just plain stupid:

Move America Forward, a group that supports the U.S. military and wants to eject the United Nations from the United States, is currently running broadcast ads criticizing Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, for comparing U.S. troops at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or mad regimes like Pol Pot’s.

“But these aren’t the faces of torturers, the ad says: “They’re the heroic men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces. They’re our sons and daughters fighting for the cause of freedom around the world. Support our troops, at MoveAmericaForward.com.”

Durbin’s office is trying to silence Move America Forward, the group says, by hinting to an Illinois newspaper (the Northwest Herald of Crystal Lake) that the Internal Revenue Service should audit Move America Forward.

Someone from Durbin’s office was quoted as telling the newspaper – in connection with Move America Forward — “Have you ever seen that H&R Block commercial where the guy leans in and says, ‘I see an audit’?”

“For the office of a United States senator to threaten reprisals from the IRS against an organization that is supporting our troops in harm’s way is absolutely reprehensible,” said Mark Washburn, executive director of Move America Forward.

Now granted, it was just a flip remark, and the folks at Move America Forward are going to milk it for all it is worth, but was it really smart for the Durbin staffer to make the remark at all? And on record?

Reader Interactions

24Comments

  1. 1.

    Jeff

    Response that ________ or ___________ from the right once said something worse coming in 3…..2……1

  2. 2.

    J. Michael Neal

    I hate to be predictable, and I’m not going to say that someone on the right has said something worse. However, they have said exactly the same thing about groups like MoveOn and George Soros’ foundation. So, while I think that the staffer’s comment was stupid, it isn’t like it’s not a stupidity that spreads its wings wide.

  3. 3.

    jmaier

    There are a lot of stupid comments flying about these days from politicians, staffers, pundits, bloggers, commentors, et al. Pretty much par for the course.

  4. 4.

    JG

    Yes it was stupid. Just as stupid as wingnuts acting like what happened at Gitmo wasn’t so bad. Its like saying Vietanm POWs who spent days sitting in underwater cages with water rats didn’t have it so bad. after all they were in the south pacific, in a tropical jungle with access to fresh air and a place to swim. Idiots.

  5. 5.

    Rick

    It’s typical, like Durbin’s remark was stupid, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Barbara Boxer break new trails in obliviousness almost daily, Rep. Davis soils himself over the prospect of George Soros buying into DC baseball, Sen. Santorum analogizes some political matter with Hitler’s occupation of Paris, and so endlessly on.

    So typical, John, you might consider dropping such dog-bites-man stuff from the glittering Balloon-Juice future.

    Cordially…

  6. 6.

    BinkyBoy

    His comments were irresponsible and he should apologize.

    But compared with threatening “activist judges” from the floor of the Senate? This was small potatoes and barely deserves note other than the humor side of things.

  8. 8.

    Mr Furious

    Yeah, that’s crap. Durbin should fire whoever said it. I have zero tolerance for bullshit from either party.

    But, you rihties, it hasn’t even been a week since Sensenbrenner (Chair on the committee that oversees the Judiciary) threatened a court with bugetary reprisals if they didn’t re-examine a verdict he didn’t like.

    The likely unauthorized stupid comments of a staffer with a hard-on to impress the boss hardly compare.

  9. 9.

    Zifnab

    People are stupid. It was stupid of Karl Rove to tip off someone about the Plame. It was stupid of Bill Frist to say he didn’t think Shavio was in a vegetative state after watching an hour long video. It was stupid of Bill Clinton to say “it depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is”. But I genuinely believe Al Gore invented the internet and I stand by that.

    See. I just said something stupid too.

    However, smear and dirty politics are the name of the game on both sides of the aisle. Republicans just seem to be a bit better at it.

  10. 10.

    Rick

    However, smear and dirty politics are the name of the game on both sides of the aisle. Republicans just seem to be a bit better at it.

    Considering how most of the press is a Democratic organ–say, the spleen–I take our alleged superiority at “smear and dirty politics” be to a great compliment. We overcome much more for our victories than do Democrats.

    “Hooray for Our Side.” For what it’s worth.

    Cordially…

  13. 13.

    rilkefan

    “Considering how most of the press is a Democratic organ–say, the spleen”

    Yep, like the spleen the part of the press that’s a Democratic organ is small and hardly ever heard from. Its unheralded mission is to fight bacterial infections of the blood, but after a splenectomy it’s pretty much business as usual. Occasionally the body gets really sick and the spleen ruptures trying to fight the illness, but in this day of modern medicine and Fox, life goes on.

  15. 15.

    HH

    From May:

    A Senate rider inserted in an emergency appropriations bill in the dead of the night, which would close a rare window into political foul play at the Internal Revenue Service, was quietly removed Tuesday in Senate-House negotiations. That offers full disclosure of a major scandal that has been percolating for a decade.

    The rider would have de-funded the investigation begun in 1995 of then-Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros by Independent Counsel David Barrett. The amendment was sponsored by three highly influential Democrats, purportedly to stop leakage of federal money in a run-on program and end persecution of a no-longer-prominent Democratic politician. In fact, Barrett’s investigation is the first independent probe, with subpoena power, of the IRS.

    Passage of the amendment probably would have meant Barrett’s voluminous report on the Cisneros case never would see the light of day. The document has been inspected by attorneys for prominent Democrats mentioned in it. That inspection was followed by belated efforts from Senate Democratic leaders to terminate Barrett, raising suspicions.[…]

    Dorgan was the amendment’s principal sponsor. Co-sponsors were Sen. Richard Durbin, the minority whip, and Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 nominee for president. In the collegial Senate Appropriations Committee, the amendment was routinely added to the emergency bill to fund hostilities in Iraq. It passed the Senate without debate or comment late in the evening of April 21.

  16. 16.

    Stormy70

    Jeff – Zing! Ah, the old audit threat. Although, kudos to his office getting it published in the newspaper. Durbin must be so proud.

  17. 17.

    Rick

    Yep, like the spleen the part of the press that’s a Democratic organ is small and hardly ever heard from. Its unheralded mission is to fight bacterial infections of the blood, but after a splenectomy it’s pretty much business as usual. Occasionally the body gets really sick and the spleen ruptures trying to fight the illness, but in this day of modern medicine and Fox, life goes on.

    That torture of analogy exceeds even the worst claims in re: Abu Ghraib. Therefore, it’s unAmerican.

    Cordially…

  19. 19.

    sammy

    Now granted, it was just a flip remark, and the folks at Move America Forward are going to milk it for all it is worth, but was it really smart for the Durbin staffer to make the remark at all? And on record?

    No, and no. Next question?

  20. 20.

    Randolph Fritz

    There was a time when a now well-known politician was running for office in Texas. The election was lost, and the pol knew it. So he had his staff put about the rumor that his opponnent was into bestiality. When asked why, he replied that he knew it wouldn’t win the election, but he wanted to see his opponnent denying that he f—-d horses!

    Is there any reason to believe that Move America Forward is telling the truth? Honest about text and context?

  21. 21.

    JoshA

    No, it wasn’t smart. The staffer should know he’s a Democrat, and Democrats aren’t allowed to do that sort of thing. Its not like Republican Senators threatening Major League Baseball with changes in their status as an exempt monopoly if they sell to George Soros.

  22. 22.

    Don

    I think anyone who gets excited over hearing that a “staffer” said something hasn’t spent enough time in the Beltway to realize just what a worthless position that usually is. I meet them all the time and on average they lack the authority to order a ham sandwich, much less an audit. Unlike, say, the people making the Soros threats.

  24. 24.

    Sean P

    I have to admit it: I absolutely love Move America Forward’s name. It reminds me of the Kang/Kodos Presidential debate:

    “I believe we should go forward, not onward… and always twirling, twirling in place!”

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