The Impeachable Sen. Durbin

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin is either a liar, a coward, or an idiot. Now, I know there are many who feel he easily qualifies for all three, but bear with me a minute here.

Durbin recently said in the Senate:

At the time of this debate [on whether to go to war with Iraq], I was a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. And I would read the headlines in the paper in the morning and watch the television newscasts and shake my head. ...

The information we had in the Intelligence Committee was not the same information being given to the American people. I couldn't believe it. ... So in my frustration, I sat on the floor of the Senate and listened to this heated debate about invading Iraq thinking the American people are being misled, they are not being told the truth.

Liar: Given that none of the other members of the Senate Intelligence Committee have made such a claim, and given that the confidentiality oath he took is still in effect today, he very well could have been shooting off his mouth (yet again) and trying to cover up later.

Writing in ChiTrib, Windy City blogger Dennis Byrne points out:

As many in his home state know, the idea that Durbin could keep his mouth shut about anything is a stunner in itself. He has been known to shoot it off frequently and disastrously.

Coward: If Durbin isn't lying and did know but sat quietly, he is a coward because he put the possible damage breaking a security oath would do to his career ahead of the lives of the troops that have been killed, and the well-being of the troops that have been injured. (And remember, at the time of the war vote, the estimates of casualties in the first few weeks were higher than the total casualties to date.)

Besides, he didn't even have to get himself in trouble. He could have said, "As a member of the Intelligence Committee I know things you don't know, and I can tell you unequivocally that the reasons you are being told for going to war are false, and other foreign intelligence agencies know this too." But he didn't, so again, he's a coward or a liar.

Idiot: Most villages only have one idiot, and on this one it appears Durbin is the only one. No other Senator has stood beside him to say, "Like Dick, I'm either a liar or a coward or an idiot, too." Not even Ted Kennedy.

Byrne concludes:

An oath isn't to be taken lightly; President Bill Clinton found that out when he was impeached, accused of lying under oath. But if the Bush administration's lies were as apparent and real as Durbin now says they were, and so much death and suffering were the knowable outcome of the bad intelligence, doing nothing is not something I'd want on my conscience.

Yes, Dennis, that's true. But you're assuming Durbin has a conscience.

hat-tip: Real Clear Politics