The Democratic Leadership Vs. The American People On Gitmo

Here’s an interesting juxtaposition: Dick Durbin’s comments on Gitmo and the Rasmussen polling data on how the American people view what’s going on at Gitmo.

First, let’s look at Durbin’s infamous comments — which, by the way, were just the cherry on top of a Sundae of hysterical Democratic Party & MSM complaints about Gitmo:

“On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold. ….. On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.

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. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.”

Now let’s look at the results of a Rasmussen Reports survey of likely voters (which — if you’re concerned about winning elections — is far more significant than a poll of adults) about Gitmo:

” Rasmussen Reports survey found that 20% of Americans believe prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have been treated unfairly. Seven-out-of-ten adults believe the prisoners are being treated “better than they deserve” (36%) or “about right” (34%).

The survey also found that just 14% agree with people who say that prisoner treatment at Guantanamo Bay is similar to Nazi tactics.”

So we have the left comparing Gitmo to the gulags and calling it to be shut down. Meanwhile, 70% of Americans don’t have a problem with how prisoners are being treated there and 34% in essence say the terrorists are getting off easy (which is where I fall, by the way).

Given that, is it any wonder that Americans view Democrats as soft on defense? Is it a surprise that many Americans have grave doubts about whether today’s Democratic Party is tough enough to lead the country in a time of war? Today’s Democratic Party can’t even deal with captured terrorists, so why should anyone believe they could handle the war on terrorism if they were in charge?

The truth is that the Democrats are too pacifistic, too tentative, and too obsessed with our image in the world to deal with the war on terror…and that’s too bad. Republicans would still have a lot of disagreements with Democrats like John Kennedy and Harry Truman, but whatever you might think of them, they were at least hard nosed and tough enough to deal with threats to this country, unlike the leaders of today’s Democratic Party.

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