some quotes for today

Several quotes caught my eye in today's news. First, President Bush said "The report from the field is that while it's tough, more and more Iraqis are becoming battle-hardened and trained to defend themselves."

True. Unfortunately, those are the insurgents.

Then I read that Indiana Congressman John Hostettler, upset that Democrats want an investigation into the hyper-Christian, anti-everybody-else atmosphere at the Air Force Academy, accused Democrats of waging a war against Christianity. "Like a moth to a flame, Democrats can't help themselves when it comes to denigrating and demonizing Christians," Hostetler helpfully explained.

Naturally, Democrats like David Obey were unhappy, and after some discussion, Hostettler withdrew his words -- apparently grudgingly, since he wouldn't do so until presented with a short script that instructed him to do so. Good thing for the Dems that things didn't get more heated, since Hostettler is known to pack a gun in his briefcase while attempting to board aircraft.

Bill Frist, who shows no signs of being a better Majority Leader than long-distance diagnostic expert, did a fine imitation of a beached dolphin today, flip-flopping on the John Bolton nomination. In the morning, Frist said there was nothing he could do to break the deadlock on the Bolton nomination. But, after a friendly lunch at the White House, he came out energized, and said "The president made it very clear that he expects an up-or-down vote." Wonder what they served at the White House? Obviously, part of the price of running for president like Frist is having to keep on the good side of your party's president. Wonder when Karl Rove will give Frist his spine back?

Finally, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin apologized for his recent remarks about torture at Guantanamo: "If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags or some mad regime -- Pol Pot or others -- that had no concern for human beings."

Durbin made the mistake of being honest, and of mentioning our brave boys and girls in uniform in the same sentence as Nazis and Soviets. Bill "I don't need to apologize to Michael Schiavo or anybody else" Frist and other GOP lackeys have been in Durbin's face ever since he made those comments last week, insisting he apologize. Well, Durbin has and it's unfortunate because he was right. He did not compare all of our armed forces to Nazis or Soviets -- just the ones torturing people in the name of the American people. Not all soldiers are torturers, and criticizing those (and their superiors in the military and intelligence services who order this treatment) who ARE torturing doesn't mean you're criticizing all soldiers any more than condemning a sargent for fragging two officers means that all soldiers are guilty of wanting to kill their superiors.

But Frist got his abject apology, and the wing-nuts are sated again.