For Democrats in Congress, however, that does not appear likely to happen anytime soon:
I really want to know: when our nation’s stalwart right-wing warriors (along with Harry “Fighting the Good Fight” Reid) become petrified at the thought of keeping Muslim Terrorists in our prisons, what exactly do they fantasize will happen? What bad things specifically do they fear are going to occur? I asked that question last night on Twitter and these were some of the responses I received:
Atrios: crawl up through our toilets and steal our vital essence
GeorgiePorger: Abu Ghraib in their backyard?
akaBruno: They’ll join up with T-Bag, Lincoln Burrows and Michael Scofield and break out of Fox River
JonahKeri: That they’ll turn this into a lawless, chaotic state and make people live in a constant state of riled-up fear. Oh wait…
One right-wing warrior-blogger tried to answer the question earnestly by pointing out that in November, 200o, a Muslim Terrorist violently attacked a prison guard. A report from the Dallas Morning News regarding prisoner-on-guard attacks found that in 2007 alone — just in Texas — there were “more than three dozen staff assaults with weapons.” But that’s a perfect distillation of the fear-wallowing right-wing mindset: hey, one time, 9 years ago, a Muslim Terrorist attacked a prison guard, so now we have to keep all Muslim Terrorist-prisoners in cages on a Cuban island with no trial because I’m too scared to keep them in an American prison.
And via GG, Dan Froomkin on what it takes to transform Democrats into “mewling babies” — not much:
Here’s one thing that hasn’t changed in the Obama era: Republicans are still able to come up with scare tactics that turn Senate Democrats into a terrified and incoherent bunch of mewling babies.
It’s hard to imagine anything more ridiculous than the suggestion that bringing some of the terror suspects currently incarcerated in Guantanamo to high-security prisons in America will pose a threat to local communities.
It is nothing more than a bogeyman argument, easily refuted with a little common sense. (Isn’t that what prisons are for?) But that’s assuming you don’t spend your every moment living in fear of Republican attack ads questioning your devotion to the security of the country. Or that you have a modicum of respect for the intelligence of the American public.
Ah well. Old habits die hard, I guess. And Senate Democrats apparently remain an easily frightened bunch, after eight years of faint-hearted submission.
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