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June 21, 2005
"I Recant!" Cries Senator Durbin
As in the glorious days of Josef Stalin, the public recantation is alive and well.
Today's victim is Illinois Senator Richard Durbin, whose truthful remarks about U.S. treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were beyond the pale as far as the War Party (made up of both Republicans and Democrats) was concerned. Thus he was forced to recant publicly, which he did with great aplomb, even throwing in some tears to show he's really, really sorry. To top it off, Durbin also made a point of how sorry he was that he had dared to refer to the Nazis and that most sacred of all historical evils, the Holocaust, to which no evil in history can ever measure up (despite the fact that "our old Uncle Joe" Stalin and other commies killed far more than Hitler).
Only one line is permitted in today's America: The war is wonderful, the president is a god, and the U.S. of A. can do no wrong. You can be sure Dick Durbin won't forget it. Red-state fascism, as Lew Rockwell has termed it, is alive and well.
(See Butler Shaffer's column on Durbin's sin, too.)
Posted by Mike Tennant at June 21, 2005 08:52 PM
Comments
How was Durbin forced to recant?
Is there some strange new meaning of the word "forced" I wasn't previously aware of?
Posted by: John T. Kennedy ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.strike-the-root.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif){kind=small}
at June 22, 2005 04:37 PM
Under Stalin, a person who criticized the regime was forced to recant under threat of physical death.
Under the current regime in the U.S. (and I speak in general terms of the political climate, not of specific actors), Durbin was forced to recant under threat of political death. The official right was flooding his office and every talk show and newspaper in the country with calls and letters about how evil a man Durbin must be to dare to compare to the actions of clearly evil regimes that which our righteous military was doing to obviously bad (because our morally pure Republican government says so) people in Gitmo and how Durbin ought to be forced to apologize and/or resign. Enough Democrats were uncomfortable with Durbin's comparison (because, again, it cast doubt on the War Party's project of building an American empire and because they were hearing from their constituents) to bring pressure to bear on him as well. The pressure became overwhelming once Chicago's political boss, Mayor Richard Daley, decided to announce that Durbin should apologize (message: grovel or find yourself out of a job after the next election).
So, yes, Durbin was forced to recant because he had the temerity to challenge the accepted view of the U.S. government in foreign affairs as the benevolent promoter of freedom and democracy that can do no wrong. The message to everyone in the public eye is to toe the line lest you be next on the chopping block.
Posted by: Mike Tennant at June 23, 2005 08:42 AM
Ah, so he was threatened with *maybe* losing his position as a collaborator in a corrupt protection racket. So what you really mean is that Durbin wasn't willing to give up being a crook to say what you think is the truth.
See, the great thing about "political death" is that you get to keep living and playing golf at great country clubs and partying every night if you want to....
Come to think of it, it's really not at all like being executed under Stalin.
Posted by: John T. Kennedy at June 23, 2005 11:33 AM
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