Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 12:32pm

Is Dick Durbin the Dumbest US Senator not Named Barbara Boxer?

 

 

 

 

John Hinderacker of Powerline asks the crucial question:  is Dick Durbin (D. Ill) the dumbest Democrat?:

 

The competition is intense, but Durbin is definitely a contender. Here is the latest evidence:

In preparation for a previously announced hearing on controversial “stand your ground” laws announced after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., sent letters to more than 300 possible corporate backers of the American Legislative Exchange Council, requesting their position on such policies in states across the country.

This is Durbin’s press release announcing the “stand your ground” hearing in his Senate Judiciary subcommittee:

Around 30 states currently have some form of “stand your ground” laws on the books. September’s hearing will examine the gun lobby’s and the American Legislative Exchange Council’s influence in creating and promoting these laws; the way in which the laws have changed the legal definition of self-defense; the extent to which the laws have encouraged unnecessary shooting confrontations; and the civil rights implications when racial profiling and “stand your ground” laws mix, along with other issues.

There are multiple layers of stupidity here, so let’s try to itemize at least some of them:

1) Self-defense is a matter of state, not federal, law. Why is Durbin’s Judiciary Subcommittee holding a hearing on a topic that cannot, and will not, result in federal legislation?

2) “Stand your ground” had nothing to do with the Trayvon Martin case, as both prosecutors and defense lawyers said, and as we and many others have explained countless times. Is Dick Durbin really one of the few who don’t get this?

3) As Durbin’s own press release states, around 30 states have some some sort of stand your ground legislation. That is a clear majority. There is a reason for this. Most people think such laws are a good idea, as shown by, for example, a strong 45%-32% plurality in this Rasmussen survey. It is not necessary to investigate the influence of some nefarious “lobby” to explain why popular legislation is enacted in 30 states.

4) Durbin’s attack on the American Legislative Exchange Council is a sad page in the current left-wing playbook. A previously little-known good government group (albeit one with broad support and participation among both corporations and legislators), ALEC found itself in the left-wing crosshairs a year or so ago, and has remained there. Why? Roll Call’s blog offers a clue:

 

Go here to read the rest.  Originally elected to Congress from the congressional district including Springfield, Illinois, Durbin ran as a pro-lifer, defeating pro-abort Republican Congressman Paul Findley.  Realizing that a pro-life Democrat was going nowhere in Congress, he switched to being a pro-abort and now has a 100% rating from NARAL and a 0% rating from National Right to Life.  That he is a Catholic is of course of no consequence to him in regard to his politically expedient choice of embracing abortion uber alles.

Since Biden left the Senate I think Barbara “Call me Senator!” Boxer is  definitely the dumbest member of that August body.  However, Durbin has given her stiff competition.  From comparing our troops to Nazis, to  inadvertently jacking up fees for debit cards, to not understanding that the first amendment freedom of the press applies to all of us, as the Supreme Court has long held, and just not to paid journalists, to not knowing that it takes only 51 votes to pass a budget in the Senate since a budget bill can’t be filibustered,  Durbin has been a great glistening tower of ignorance in the Senate and a true sight to behold.  The people of the aptly named Sucker State should be proud.

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Pinky
Pinky
Friday, August 9, AD 2013 1:06pm

Interesting headline, but Donald, aren’t you from Maryland?

Dale Price
Dale Price
Friday, August 9, AD 2013 1:07pm

Durbin’s not stupid, he’s simply an unimaginative legislative hack. For my money, Al Franken’s a much bigger dumbass, largely because he thinks he’s a member of the smart set.

Brian English
Brian English
Friday, August 9, AD 2013 1:20pm

“Durbin’s not stupid, he’s simply an unimaginative legislative hack.”

There is no reason why he can’t be both.

Dante alighieri
Admin
Friday, August 9, AD 2013 2:02pm

Pinky,

You’re thinking of the wrong blogger. Donald’s from Illinois.

Pinky
Pinky
Friday, August 9, AD 2013 2:43pm

Paul – I stand corrected.
Donald – Have you heard of Maryland? Although yeah, I guess I can’t argue with an Illinoisan about this. This is a tough category to judge. I’m not even sure that the average Californian would rank Boxer as the second-smartest Senator from the state.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, August 9, AD 2013 3:07pm

My Senator for many years was Charles Schumer. I think I might prefer dumbass.

What is disconcerting is the extension of the unpleasantness of the nutroots into the world of working politicians. Alinsky said: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” You have masses of people with obsessions about Sarah Palin, the Koch brothers, and now the American Legislative Exchange Council, as if any one of these were doing anything out of the ordinary in a political system which has deliberative processes.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Friday, August 9, AD 2013 3:10pm

Maryland has the distinction of having had for 36 years a superannuated jail matron in its congressional delegation.

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Pinky
Pinky
Friday, August 9, AD 2013 7:56pm

The best you can say about Dick Durbin is…umm…huh, I see your point, Donald.

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Friday, August 9, AD 2013 11:46pm

I don’t think he’s dumb at all. He just knows what side his bread is buttered on (the left side, of course). Also, he and his staff seem to have a good reputation for direct service to constituents who call his offices with questions or requests for help. That may be one reason he keeps getting reelected by large margins, even in Downstate counties (though I wouldn’t vote for him if he were the last politician on earth).

KJ Muth
KJ Muth
Saturday, August 10, AD 2013 2:20am

Durbin may well be the dumbest Senator as it is hard to refute your logic. However most certainly by claiming to be Catholic and being pro abortion he is a heretic. I would call him a knave and a fool.

Doug Lawrence
Saturday, August 10, AD 2013 4:08am

Let’s not forget that Mr. Durbin also managed to discover soot inside Chicago’s Union Train Station. He even called a press conference to announce it. Unfortunately for the senator, no one was willing to take his concern seriously. The man is an embarrassment to the human race!

Art Deco
Art Deco
Saturday, August 10, AD 2013 7:14am

This insipid character, who is eligible for a handsome pension after 30-odd years on the federal payroll, is of the view that we all are in need of his septuagenarian wit and wisdom.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/dick-durbin-reelection-se_n_2854787.html

Not as egregious as the 94 year old Strom Thurmond standing for re-election in 1996 (and who was so dotty in his last years that he ended up making a pass at the columnist Mark Steyn while attempting to cop a feel of a woman they were sharing an elevator with), or Robert Byrd being parked in Congress for 56 years until expiring at the age of 92, or the 84 year old Ted Stevens offering that 40 years of him was not enough for the voters of Alaska, or the 80 year old Richard Lugar insisting that 36 years of him (of which 35 years had him using a house he had sold in 1977 as his voting address) was insufficient. Mandatory retirement, please.

Paul W Primavera
Paul W Primavera
Saturday, August 10, AD 2013 10:49am

“…is Dick Durbin (D. Ill) the dumbest Democrat?”

Most – if not all – Democrats think the way in which Dick Durbin thinks when it comes to conservative, right-wing, Christian and especially orthodox Catholic bloggers. They believe that only they are freedom-loving and anyone who disagrees with them on any issue – especially those related to sexual morality and the right to life – are fascists who need to be squashed. I deal with one such person who is a super-knowledgeable pro-nuclear blogger. As I have commented here before, his ability in nuclear engineering and science far outweighs my own 33 years of training and experience. But he is an adamant leftist in 100% agreement with Dick Durbin. Why? Because he is a leftist and by definition all such leftists are willingly blind, beholden only to the religion of their left-wing ideology in which they equivocate license to sexual immorality and murder of the unborn with freedom and choice, but deny freedom of conscience – even freedom of speech – to all others.

This is not going to end well at all. Not at all. 🙁

Micha Elyi
Micha Elyi
Saturday, August 10, AD 2013 6:08pm

Sen. Durbin is Catholic? Who knew? And who’s Durbin’s bishop?

Well-publicized public faithlessness of Catholics who seek a public stage or public authority should be publicly called out and a demand made publicly for a well-publicized public recantation.

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