Bill Frist, apologize to Durbin

Evidently, the Durbin hatchet job has got the big green light from the string-pullers on the right, and all the loyal soldiers are running full steam. It's truly pathetic and, despite seeing this time and time and time again from these liars, it's almost shocking.

Here's but one new wrinkle however.
The good Dr. Frist has taken to the floor of the senate, and in his droning, weird voice, just made sh*t up about Durbin. Pulled it right out of thin air. Lied his ass off.

Of course, these orchestrated right wing attacks have a form and a method to them, and they all rely on the "echo chamber" effect. They need only push a button to set it all in motion. It goes something like this.
The RNC finds a tidbit like Durbin's that lends itself to distortion and which they can pervert it into something which they know will push emotional buttons among morons and party faithful, as well as portraying the opposition as somehow traitorous and hating their own country which they serve. Sure it's bat-shit loony, and disgustingly dishonest, but it works.

The RNC then sets their fax machines humming, blasting the story line out to their tens of thousands of faithful minions who can be relied upon to pass it along and embellish it as they see fit.

Limbaugh gets the story line and runs with it. Within hours, the right wing screamers filling the AM dial who literally depend on the RNC to give them programming ideas. (without the RNC and other right wing groups feeding these creeps on a daily basis, they wouldn't have a clue what to rant about.) They all follow Limbaugh's lead as guidance and run with it.

So now it's broadcast to every nook and crany in the country 24 hours a day.

Fox news gets the memos and sends out the directives to all their programs. The story gets prominent play and throughout the day they trot out dozens of right wing pundits to further flog it and be outraged and to call for Durbin's head and rage about such an un-American act.

The wing-nut columnists pick it up and work it into a story. They've done these fake outrage stories so often they can write them in their sleep.

Then it hits the cable shows, Scarborough, etc. Then Chris the screamer Matthews picks it up, obsessed as he is with beltway cocktail party chatter and gossip.

Dems get put on shows and confronted with it as if they're responsible for Durbin. They all predictably and cowardly distance themselves and back down under the accusing pressure of right wing hosts, who they know will simply browbeat them until they agree that Durbin was bad, bad, bad. "I wouldn't have used those words ....." is the standard line. They all are only too willing to throw whatever Dem is under attack under the bus in hopes to score some points for themselves at the victim's expense. (The Republicans on the other hand, with perhaps the exception of McCain, never do this.)

Then with all this chatter bouncing around from media to media and back again, broadcast from literally thousands of outlets 24 hours a day in an unbroken stream, the White House is pressed for a reaction and issues a condemnation, entire days are spent (wasted) by Republican legislators droning on and on in floor speeches about how outrageous this is and calling for the offender's head on a platter. Of course, the Dems are silent, thus appearing to be in league with whatever traitorous, sick, abhorrent Democrat is being smeared and attacked. No one has the character to speak in the victim's defense or to attempt to at least keep the right honest in their attacks.

Then the final step, which used to take a while, but which now is almost simultaneous, is that the mainstream TV networks and all major papers jump on the story.

And of course, all the chickenhawk right wing bloggers of the 101st Fighting Keyboard Division sit in their basements with Cheeto debris all over their sunken chests and rant and rave about how Durbin is aiding Al Queda and dissing our brave fighting men.

This can last anywhere from one day to a month. Durbin's is having a longer life than I would have imagined, and this is perhaps because it happens to be a pretty slow news cycle, as well as the fact that Durbin, through his very effectiveness, has become a premptive target. Smear the Dem leadership and take them down. (Remember when they did almost this exact thing to Dem leader Harry Reid over his referring to Bush as a "loser"? Target and take down the leadership and any Dem that dares to stick his head up. Keep 'em cowed and shivering.

At any rate, Frist, doing his bit to add to the echo chamber, droned on in a long floor speech, and taking his cue directly from the lying headline in the Moonie owned conservative organ, The Washington Times, stated that Durbin had called the detention center in Guantanamo "a death camp". He then went on to proudly point out that there's been no deaths reported at Gitmo, therefore suggesting Durbin was wildly out of line and a liar.

But only one little problem with all of that. DURBIN NEVER SAID ANYTHING REMOTELY LIKE THAT AT ANY TIME. The Moonie Times and Frist simply made it up!

In their lust to inflate and inflame the issue, the right simply took it one step further. First they took the statements and made the leap to maintaining that Durbin had directly compared our troops to Nazis, genocidal maniacs in Cambodia, and guards at Russian Gulags.

Then they just said to hell with reality altogether and just plain came out and said that Durbin had compared Gitmo to "a death camp."

Frist's reprehensible lies are found here, in the first of two pdf files that contain his loathsome remarks as reported in the Congressional Record.

To spare you from reading through Frist's blather, you can find the blatant, brazen lie in the 7th paragraph down in the right column.

If you're a real glutton for punishment, the second part of Frist's remarks can be found here.

We should demand Frist apologize for LYING about a fellow senator's words.

Office of Senator Bill Frist
509 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3344
202-228-1264 (fax)

Thanks to Jeralyn Merritt's excellent "Talk Left: The Politics of Crime" blog for the links. Merritt is a lawyer and posts interesting stuff about the intersection of law and politics.