My letter to Sen. Dick Durbin

This is my first diary.....it's the letter I sent to Sen. Durbin this morning.  I have posted it in the comments section of a thread but I figured I could make it a diary if anyone wants to read it.

I live in Illinois, in the Chicago Metro area.  When I saw the coverage of Durbin apologizing it made me sick to my stomach.  Two days ago I had written a letter of support for his comments.  Sadly I now had to retract it.  I had also written a letter to the Sun-Times editors in  support of Durbin that pointed out examples of GOP hypocracy on the issue, and I think they were going to print it (they called me to confirm I had written it and mentioned that they wanted to print it) but it never ran.  I suspect his apology made them think twice about the relevance of someone supporting something that someone has aplogized for(although I can not be sure)

Below the fold is the text of the letter for anyone interested

Dear Sen. Durbin,

The other day I sent a letter praising your courage in speaking out about the atrocities that are occurring at Guantanamo Bay and the shameful stance of this administration and the GOP-controlled congress who site idly by while the United States of America's reputation as a free society who respects human rights and liberties continues to sink to new lows.  I would like to formally retract any praise that I offered previously.  You are not courageous in any way.  In fact, you turned out to be nothing more than a coward.  A typical politician who buckles under pressure.  As much as I object to what the GOP stands for and the policies they pursue, I have a grudging respect for the fact that they stand on principle most of the time.  They do not back down when they firmly believe in something and the do not apologize when they feel they are correct.  Sadly, on the Democratic side of the aisle, we are saddled with spineless wimps more concerned with not ruffling feathers and being well liked by Washington Insiders, K-Street, and Corporate press outlets.

There are many Democrats, Liberals, Progressives, Libertarians, and even Republicans who were actively standing up for you and defending your spot on assessment.  Instead of taking to the senate floor, with your tail between your legs, and cowering in front of your republican colleagues, you could have stood up and denounced the abuses that are taking place.  You could have used to opportunity to clarify that the issue isn't whether or not we are better than the Nazis, or the people running the Gulags, the issue is whether or not we are different enough.  It is impossible for the United States to take the moral high ground when we are embracing the techniques of totalitarian regimes and despots.  Do the actions of our country in Guantanamo Bay, Abu Gharib et al. represent the actions of a free society, or do they represent the actions of a fascist state?  Secret detentions?  Indefinite detentions without trial or evidence.  Mass roundups by paid Afghan warlords?  No due process or habeus corpus??  When trying to show the world how a free society deals with terrorism, are these really the examples we want to show the world?  A man of principle would have stood up loudly, and proudly and said something to the effect of "Although the worst thing I may be guilty of is hyperbole, I stand by the general sentiment:  The actions described in the FBIs official report are a blight on our country as a whole.  We are supposed to be the leaders of the free world.  We are supposed to be against torture and human rights abuses.  Why aren't we?  Is America a country who embraces torture or not?  Has our standard deteriorated to merely being "better than the Nazis"? That is the real issue"  Now that would be leadership!  That would be integrity.  That would demand a grudging respect from your opposition.  What you should have done, as the 2nd highest ranking Democrat in the Senate is stood your ground because you were right.  You were right on principal and you were right on substance.  

Where were the public apologies from Sen. Sessions when he compared stem cell research to Nazi Germany's abuse of science?  Where were the public apologies from Congressman Steve King when he compared following the current law on reproductive rights to a Nazi prison guard "just following orders".  Where was the outrage when Sen. Santorum made a rambling comparison of the democrats defense of the filibuster to Hitler wondering why he is being invaded while occupying a foreign country?  Why weren't the democrats demanding an apology from Sen. Tom Cole when he equated voting against Bush as tantamount to voting for Hitler during WWII.  Where was the outrage on the part of the Democrats?  Where were the demands for apologies and resignations?  Over 10 GOP senators to this day have still not signed on and co-sponsored the anti-lynching bill that recently passed the Senate, but I don't hear too many Democrats questioning if those GOP Senators are pro-lynching.

Senator Durbin, as your constituent and someone who has voted for you in the past let me remind you that the job of an opposition party is to oppose.  Not to capitulate, and not to sell out your principles because you are too politically cowardly to weather a storm.  Have you seen our President?   He won re-election despite never having to say I'm sorry.  He won re-election without ever having to admit fault.  America loves integrity.  America loves people who stand on principle.  America embraces courage.  Tell me which one of those three characteristics today's Democratic party has?  Instead of courage, I see a bunch of Democrats who rush to criticize their own chairman (Howard Dean) for giving an honest assessment of the demographics of elected GOP officials.  I see a Mayor (Daley) who is taking such a beating because of his scandalous lack of accountability and oversight in City Hall, that he needs to pile on to his own colleagues to deflect focus away from the cronyism and the pay for play that keeps coming more and more to the surface.  And most disheartening, I see the Senior Senator from Illinois throwing his integrity out the window, and being nothing more than a typical politician.

Thank you Sen. Durbin.  Thank you for reminding me that in the end, politics trumps integrity.  Thank you for reminding me, when I start to get that glimmer of hope that Democrats are ready to stand up to an increasingly fascist GOP, that its a false hope.  Thank you for bringing me back to reality and reminding me that in today's America, our politicians aren't concerned with what's best for our country or citizens, but are concerned for what's best for their own careers.  Thank you for reminding me that come primary season, I need to seek out and support real progressives and real Democrats willing to fight for what's right.  Thank you...for nothing.