Posted on 11/12/2006 4:19:37 AM PST by KeyLargo
Durbin Asks Bush To Put Partisanship Behind Him
Bob Roberts Reporting
CHICAGO (WBBM) -- The Democrats are talking co-operation with President Bush, but already there is evidence that controversial legislation backed by the Bush administration won't move forward.
WBBM's Bob Roberts reports.
President Bush has asked the lame-duck Congress to give him legislation that would specifically authorize the wiretapping of foreign phone calls and computer traffic of suspected terrorists.
The issue came up Friday during a meeting hosted by the President with Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
Instead, Durbin told WBBM Saturday, he is asking Mr. Bush to try something less controversial.
"We need to find more partnership and put behind the partisanship of the past," Durbin said. "I think we can do it. I suggested yesterday in the meeting, let's have some confidence-builders. Take some issues out that we agree on first and let's get them passed to prove to the American people that we can come together."
Durbin said agreement could come in areas where they has been confrontation in the past, such as judicial nominees.
"We encouraged him to send us moderate, centrist people and we would gladly approve them -- and do it quickly," he said.
Durbin made it clear he would rather wait until next year to look at more controversial issues.
"We just don't want to break down into a fight," he said. "There are so many things we need to do for this country and this economy."
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Mr. Bush ordered the National Security Agency to monitor communications potentially related to al-Qaida between people in the U.S. and those overseas. He bypassed normal requirements for court approval of such eavesdropping, and the program came under harsh criticism after it was disclosed last December by The New York Times.
Democrats and Republicans on the intelligence and judiciary committees spent much of the year trying to find out details from the administration, to little avail. Much of the information is classified, and the White House has insisted that revealing it would mean compromising the war on terrorism.
The House passed a bill in September to allow warrantless wiretaps under certain restrictions. House and Senate intelligence committees and congressional leaders would have to be notified, the president would have to believe that a terrorist attack is imminent, and certification would have to be renewed every 90 days.
A Republican measure in the Senate favored by the administration would require the Justice Department to report twice a year to the House and Senate intelligence committees the number and kind of any such operations. It would permit the surveillance to continue for up to one year without a warrant. --- The House bill is H.R. 5825; the Senate bill is S. 3931.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Durbin the Dick managed to maintain a straight face the whole time, did he?
Durbin said what????
If this is what the Dems are putting up for leadership, it may not be such a bad couple of years ahead of us after all.
What a knucklehead. It would have been nice if he had that same attitude over the last 6 years.
When will George capitulate?
"RESOLVED
Resolved, That the Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, participated in acts of sedition. In that the Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, holding a leadership role in the United States Senate, did support the enemies of our Nation in a time of War, and did Read Confidential documents in open Senate session on numerous occasions, and that this conduct of the Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, is contrary to senatorial traditions and is hereby condemned.
Sec 2. The Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, in addressing the Senate in his Official capacity as the Minority Whip of the Senate, on June 15, 2005, compared the United States Military at Guantanamo Bay to those of Nazis, Soviet Gulags, or a "mad regime" like Pol Pot's acted contrary to senatorial ethics and tended to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute, to impair its dignity; and such conduct is hereby condemned.
Sec 3. The Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, has revealed sensitive details about Confidential National Security Operations to members of the press, thereby passing this confidential information to the Nations enemies in a time of war. The Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, did divulge top secret details about a new generation of spy satellites to the Washington Post resulting in a story published December 11, 2004. This story compromised United States Military strategy and cost United States Tax Payers hundreds of millions of dollars, acted contrary to senatorial ethics and tended to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute, to impair its dignity; and such conduct is hereby condemned."
CENSURE DURBIN.COM
"When American Leaders Refuse to Act
The American People Must Act as Leaders"
http://censuredurbin.org/
June 21, 2005
Letter From Soldier Says It All… Censure Durbin.
Posted by Taste of Liberty at 9:05 am. Filed under: General
You must read this letter from a soldier, an open letter to all U.S. Senators, concerning Durbin…
This letter was first posted by BlackFive as a comment and reproduced by the Weekly Standard’s Hugh Hewitt.
Senators,
I am currently deployed to Kosovo as a member of Task Force Falcon, Multi-National Brigade-East, NATO KFOR. At home I am a teacher in the Kerman Unified School District, providing quality instruction in U.S. History and English/Language Arts to wonderful eighth graders whom I love dearly. I have served in the U.S. Army, Army Reserve, and California Army National Guard for 24 years.
I am currently on orders for 545 days on this contingency operation (Operation Enduring Freedom/Joint Guardian), which means that I will miss everything that my family does for the next nine months (at least), possibly longer if I am redeployed to another contingency operation, or extended here.
I share the preceding information as a preamble to the subject of this email, so there will be no mistake as to my position, or credibility.
The recent comments of Senator Durbin in reference to the conditions for inmates at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility are as detestable as anything I have ever heard or read concerning members of the of the United States military. By now these comments have been quoted or aired enough that I need not repeat them here.
The senator’s remarks, while apparently intended to apply to only a small number of us, actually hit ALL of us squarely in the heart. To compare any member of the U.S. armed forces with the murderous thugs who ran Hitler’s camp system, the Soviet Gulag, or who gleefully slaughtered entire populations in Cambodia, is an affront to all men and women of our military.
Does Senator Durbin really mean to imply that WE are thugs and murderers? Does he really mean to imply that WE treat our prisoners in the same manner, as say, the totenkopfverbande treated prisoners at Sobibor, Belzec, Treblinka, or Auschwitz? Does he really mean that?
If the good senator really does intend to convey this message, then I suggest that he read Eugen Kogon’s excellent and heartbreaking study of the Nazi camp system, titled “The Theory and Practice of Hell.” I think he should read it, and then decide whether or not his comparisons are entirely accurate. I would also like to suggest that Senator Durbin read Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago,” or “Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields” by Kim DePaul and the late Dith Pran.
We men and women who serve in the armed forces are NOT the jackbooted tyrants that some people seem hell-bent to depict us as. We are many things, but we are not evil. Implications to the opposite effect serve only to undermine and demoralize us as we try with all our hearts to carry out our missions to make the world a better place. If Senator Durbin or any other lawmaker would like to see evidence of, or hear testimony about what we really do, then I suggest a trip to Kosovo. Ask the people here what they think of America and our soldiers. You might be surprised.
In conclusion I would like to remind you that many of the men and women currently running the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay come from the California Army National Guard. They are upstanding and honorable citizens of the state of California, and the United States of America. They are members of the greatest force for peace, or war, that the world has ever seen. I personally know many of them, and they are absolutely not as Senator Durbin portrays them. Senators, I beg of you, stand up for them. Do not allow these reprehensible statements by one of your colleagues to go by the board without censure. He must be called to task on this.
SSG Stephen Pointer
S-6/IMO
432nd Civil Affairs Battalion (-)
Camp Bondsteel
APO AE 09340
“War is evil, but it is often the lesser evil.”
George Orwell
http://myopiczeal.blogsome.com/2005/06/21/letter-from-soldier-says-it-all-censure-durbin/
So you smile and nod and shake hands....
and veto.
Reid should have been told,"your welcome, but Turbin the douschebag isn't getting IN THE DOOR.
"It actually appears that Durban is asking Bush to take a more even handed approach to Islamo-nazis"
That's exactly what he's doing. Durbin has always been an obstacle to our security. Just take a look at his voting record on immigration. Illinois voters suck.
Bwahahahahahahaha!
This guy is one of the pukes who hates America to the degree he would rather kill us than look at us.
Why did "W" let this guy walk the streets?
A couple of years ago someone paid for a big billbord on one of the Illinois expressways:
"Dick - Dick before he dicks you."
"Illinois voters suck"
Forgive me. I mean only those who voted for the worm
"Al Qaeda Scores 1st Win From Upcoming Congress – Warrantless Wiretaps Likely To Be Shelved"
http://www.webloggin.com/al-qaeda-scores-1st-win-at-the-polls-%e2%80%93-warrantless-wiretaps-likely-to-be-shelved/
Put partisanship behind = bend over
He began Wednesday, November 8, 2006 at 1:00 P.M. EST ---
The election has changed many things in Washington, but it has not changed my fundamental responsibility, and that is to protect the American people from attack. As the Commander-in-Chief, I take these responsibilities seriously. And so does the man who served this nation honorably for almost six years as our Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. Now, after a series of thoughtful conversations, Secretary Rumsfeld and I agreed that the timing is right for new leadership at the Pentagon.
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