Gingrich: "Senator Durbin must be censured now"

This is something we all need to support. Read this and then call, write or email your Senator and find out where they stand. I sure will.

Update: While you are reading this, just keep in mind that Durbin has now undermined his own half-assed apology. In todays St. Louis Dispatch, Durbin says:

"I'm certainly not going to be intimidated by the right-wing message machine," he said. "If I'm going to back off every time they decide their unhappy with my statements, then I really won't be doing my job. We're going to continue to follow this (and) demand that the administration be held accountable."

Censure is a nice start for our lawmakers to take, but this anti-American-enemy propagandist-jackass traitor needs to be tried for treason.

For Immediate Release:

June 18, 2005

Contact:

Rick Tyler Communications Director & Spokesperson for Speaker Newt Gingrich

FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER NEWT GINGRICH CALLS ON US SENATE TO CENSURE SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN

In a letter sent to United States Senators on Saturday, June 18, 2005, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called on the Senate to censure Senator Richard Durbin for his speech comparing U.S. servicemen serving in Guantanamo Bay to those of the Nazi Gestapo, Soviet KGB, and Pol Pot’s killers in Cambodia.

“Senator Richard Durbin has dishonored the United States and the entire U.S. Senate. Only by a vote to censure Senator Durbin for his conduct can the U.S. Senate restore its dignity and defend American honor,” Gingrich wrote.

He added, “It’s one thing for one Senator to endanger young Americans and defame America; it would be the shame of the Senate if the other 99 Senators did not stand up to defend America and to defend the reputation of our young men and women in uniform.”

Gingrich called Senator Durbin’s comparison “despicable.”

“Nine million innocent human beings were murdered in Hitler’s death camps, nearly three million perished in the gulags under Stalin, and more than one and a half million were slaughtered in the killing fields of Cambodia at the hand of Pol Pot. And while not a single terrorist has died in detention at Guantanamo, Durbin sees fit to liken our American service men and women to the terrifying murderers of three despotic regimes.”

Gingrich continued, “This moral equivalence isn’t just utterly false; it endangers the lives of our young men and women in the military because it arms every radical Islamist with the official-record words of a Senate leader to justify their war of terror against civilized people everywhere.”

Gingrich added that a censure would help “reaffirm a standard for healthy, rational debate.”

“By voting for or against the censure, the rest of the members of the U.S. Senate can go on record and make clear how they judge Durbin’s characterization of American soldiers.” Gingrich continued, “It will also send a clear message to terrorists who will use the words of a Senate leader against us that the Senate stands in support of America and our military and against those who seek to destroy the free people of the United States.”

Gingrich also wrote that a censure would be “justified” and that there is “historic precedent for censuring Senators whose words bring dishonor and disrepute on the Senate and impair its dignity; Senator Durbin’s words fit that precedent.”

Gingrich concludes the letter by calling on the Senate to act. “In this case, expressing outrage is not enough. It is time for the Senate to act. Senator Durbin must be censured now.”

The full text of the letter to the members of the U.S. Senate is included below.

Office of Speaker Newt Gingrich

June 18, 2005

U.S. Senate

Capitol Hill

Washington, DC

Dear Senator _______________:

By his statements equating American treatment of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay with the behavior of the evil regimes of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Senator Richard Durbin has dishonored the United States and the entire U.S. Senate. Only by a vote to censure Senator Durbin for his conduct can the U.S. Senate restore its dignity and defend American honor.

Senator Durbin’s comparison, sadly, is despicable.

U.S. Senators should be clear about the gravity of Senator Durbin’s comparison. Nine million innocent human beings were murdered in Hitler’s death camps, nearly three million perished in the gulags under Stalin, and more than one and a half million were slaughtered in the killing fields of Cambodia at the hand of Pol Pot. And while not a single terrorist has died in detention at Guantanamo, Senator Durbin sees fit to liken our American service men and women to the terrifying murderers of three evil despotic regimes.

Moreover, Senator Durbin equates the terrorist detainees at Guantanamo with the millions of innocent men, women, and children exterminated by the order of evil dictators. The fact that he did so as a high ranking member of the Senate on the Senate floor makes his comparison all the more shocking.

This moral equivalence isn’t just utterly false; it endangers the lives of our young men and women in the military because it arms every radical Islamist with the official-record words of a Senate leader to justify their war of terror against civilized people everywhere.

Senator Durbin’s statement of “regret” on Friday has only compounded the need for the Senate to act. In it, Senator Durbin said that “I have learned from my statement that historical parallels can be misused and misunderstood. I sincerely regret if what I said caused anyone to misunderstand my true feelings…” Incredibly, Senator Durbin is sticking to his original assertion that there is indeed, in his own words, an “historic parallel” between U.S. soldiers at Guantanamo Bay and the killers under Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot. In other words, his only regret is that Americans don’t understand his misreading of history and that he has caused us to misunderstand him. Offering no apology for the original slanderous statement itself, Senator Durbin has chosen instead to actually defend his comparisons. This defense makes his original speech all the more revolting.

It’s one thing for one Senator to endanger young Americans and defame America; it would be the shame of the Senate if the other 99 senators did not stand up to defend America and to defend the reputation of our young men and women in uniform.

A Senate censure of Senator Durbin is justified and would reaffirm a standard for healthy, rational debate. By voting for or against the censure, the rest of the members of the U.S. Senate can go on record and make clear how they judge Senator Durbin’s characterization of American soldiers. It will also send a clear message to terrorists who will use the words of a Senate leader against us that the Senate stands in support of America and our military and against those who seek to destroy the free people of the United States.

There is historic precedent for censuring Senators whose words bring dishonor and disrepute on the Senate and impair its dignity; Senator Durbin’s words fit that precedent.

In this case, expressing outrage is not enough. It is time for the Senate to act. Senator Durbin must be censured now.

Sincerely,

Newt Gingrich

Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

# # #

Comments

[Jeff Harrell]

Counterpoint: I don't agree with you. I think Dick Durbin's distracting and counterproductive remarks have held the news cycle for too long already. There are too many important matters before us now for our nation to be distracted by meaningless hyperbole. The prosecution of the war on terror, the creation of a secure and stable Iraq, Social Security reform, the energy bill … the list of weighty matters facing us is too long for us to waste time and energy on matters of no significance.

I'd strongly urge our Senators to drop the Durbin matter entirely, to get the Senator from Illinois off the front pages of our country's papers, and to resume debate on H.R.6, the President's energy bill.

[Flap]

Jeff,

You are wrong.

If you do not answer these assinine comments vehemently then people may actually believe some of them.

Censure Dick Durbin NOW!

[Jack Marino]

Censure and resignation is just a slap on the wrist. Lets tar and feather Dickieboy Durbin like they did in the Colonial Days and run him out of town on a rail.

[trey]

Flap & Jack-

I agree. There has to be consequences for these types of actions. Like Newt said "expressing outrage is not enough".

Jeff- I have to say i disagree with your take on this one. You cannot properly prosecute the War on Terror when you have Senators giving aid and comfort to the enemy. This must be addressed.

Censure Dick Durbin NOW!

[Jeff Harrell]

Flap, please go back and re-read what you wrote. It can't POSSIBLY reflect what you actually meant. You said that if we don't "answer" misleading statements that they might be believed, but then you call for Durbin to be PUNISHED. Answering somebody and punishing somebody aren't the same thing.

The solution to bad speech isn't less speech. It's more speech. I agree that incorrect characterizations need to be corrected. But the right way to correct them isn't to call for the speaker to be punished, and ESPECIALLY not to be tried for treason, for chrissakes. That's just spite and foolishness, and it's not worthy of us. We're better than that.

[Trey]

Jeff-

Do you have any idea what comparing American interrogators and Gitmo military staff to Nazis, Soviet gulag operators and genocidal maniac Pol Pot says to our troops and our enemies?

Hint: contains the words "aid" and "comfort" and "enemy".

I recognize that you feel the Senate needs to get back to work- but- what is our government's primary responsibility?

Hint: contains the word "defend".

FYI- we don't split hairs over minced words around here - sometimes properly answering involves punishment.

In closing- I want to recommend that anyone who's reading through this click on Jeff's name and visit his site. He is a very intelligent person and has a great blog. This is just one of those moments where we don't agree. Which is, OK.

[Jeff Harrell]

Trey, I’m sorry, but we’re just not going to see eye to eye on this one. I think reckless accusations of treason fired at duly elected United States Senators — even ones we can all agree we don’t like — are far more harmful than any statement like Durbin’s could ever have been. That’s thing #1.

Thing #2 is this: Has there ever been a legal precedent in which saying something bad about Americans or US troops has been considered treasonous? Ever? Seditious, yes, both under the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 and the Sedition Act of 1918. But both of those acts of Congress are widely considered to have been gross abuses of legislative power, so I think they kinda serve to prove my point.

Thing #3 is this: What Sen. Durbin actually said wasn’t as bad as what he’s being accused of having said. His statements on Tuesday occupy THREE PAGES in the Congressional Record, yet he’s being blasted for one sentence. That one sentence said, in paraphrase, “If you heard what we’re doing at Gitmo and didn’t know it was us, you’d think it was the Nazis.” And that’s entirely true, if you take into the account that so many Americans are ignorant of just how horrifying the Nazi death camps really were. It’s not a case of relativism; it’s a case of collective ignorance.

What’s the best way to battle collective ignorance? Is it by punishing a Senator for speaking carelessly? Or is it by educating people about what we REALLY DO at Camp Delta, and why it’s okay, and beyond that why it’s necessary?

Thing #4 is the issue of harm. Lots of folks have accused Durbin of handing the Islamists free propaganda material. As if they needed it! The Islamist war machine is very comfortable with blood libel. They have no problem making up lies to smear Americans or America. Durbin’s words are a drop in the ocean. Just the other day there was an editorial in an Egyptian newspaper accusing Osama bin Laden and Wowie Zarqawi of being US agents. The Islamist propaganda machine doesn’t need fuel; it runs on hate, mass-produces lies, and loads them on trucks for delivery from Casablanca to Jakarta and all points in between. Durbin’s remarks were careless and insulting, but it’s an exaggeration to say they were actually harmful.

There’s a thing #5. I saved it for last because it’s something I wish we didn’t have to talk about, but we do. This past week has been a WINDFALL for Dick Durbin’s fundraising committee. If the Senate even chooses to open a censure debate, much less actually censure him, it’s just going to mean money in his pocket. All he has to do is send out a mailer with the words “Right-wing Senators seek to silence patriotic American!” on it, and it’ll be worth five or six thousand bucks a week, easy. And don’t think the issue cuts equally both ways. The Illinois GOP cannot send out a mailer with the message “Durbin thinks American soldiers are Nazis.” That would backfire in the most devastating way imaginable. So this whole mess has just been free money for the Illinois Democratic Party.

There are 19 Congressional seats in Illinois that come up for grabs in 2006. Right now nine of them are Republican and ten are Democratic. Wanna make sure Illinois stays majority-Democratic, or even tip the balance further? Then by all means, call for Durbin’s censure. Hell, accuse him of treason. The Illinois Democratic Party couldn’t hope for a better fundraising angle than that.