# Dick Durbin says sorry - will those who supported his comments say sorry too? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 21, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275 "2005-06-21T23:57:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/261 "2005-06-23T23:28:36Z")
Problem is, a talk in person conveys body language. You want to show humor? Put in **a lotta’** smilies. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/262 "2005-06-23T23:29:38Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Some of us have a sense of humor that can be sustained for longer than one phrase. I can think of plenty of times I’ve carried on crazy conversations for 30 minutes or more, especially in a flirting type of manner, that would make me look like the world’s biggest perv. . Sense of humor more than a phrase, sure, I got that. conversation w/an employee that can be misconstrued to be sexual advances for more than a phrase - ain’t no way in fucking hell ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/263 "2005-06-23T23:32:29Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > Speaking of which, there’s a rumor[sup]\*[/sup] that Bill O’Reilly is a coprophage. break out the brillo pads!! (where’s that pucking smiley?) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/264 "2005-06-23T23:52:10Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > People, people! We are losing sight of the most essential question. > > Did Bill O’Reilly try to fuck senator Durbin? The NY Post headline writes itself. Did O’Reilly Dick Durbin? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/265 "2005-06-24T01:02:27Z")
If only vibrators could talk… ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/266 "2005-06-24T01:08:59Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > If only vibrators could talk… I people would stop doing that. this is the 6th time _this thread alone_ that I’ve had to scrub out my brain. Bleach ain’t cheap ya know. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/267 "2005-06-24T01:17:48Z")
> [@wring](#): > > I people would stop doing that. There really _are_ such things as talking vibrators. Google tells me that I can get one with my favorite celebrity voice. I wonder if Bill O’Reilly had a Bill O’Reilly vibrator? ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/268 "2005-06-24T01:22:42Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > There really _are_ such things as talking vibrators. Google tells me that I can get one with my favorite celebrity voice. I wonder if Bill O’Reilly had a Bill O’Reilly vibrator? again. _::scrub scrub scrub_ fuckin’ evil images _::scrub scrub scrub::_ (and please, if you would, I really had typed “I wish people” instead of “I people” really. I did. I have witnesses and everything.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/269 "2005-06-24T03:19:08Z")
Getting back to the original post, since I commented in the original thread I think I’d better respond to **newcrasher**. Here’s what I said at post #10 in the original thread: > [@Northern Piper](#): > > > [@Mr. Moto](#): > > > > Now, I realize Gitmo isn’t a well liked place among most people on this board, and I’m certain detention there isn’t especially pleasant. Neverless, comparisons to a **concentration camp,** or a gulag, or Pol Pot’s prisons are certainly overblown. > > > [@Senator Durbin](#): > > > > During a speech Tuesday, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat quoted from an FBI agent’s report describing **detainees** at the Naval base in Guantanamo Bay as being **chained to the floor without food or water in extreme temperatures.** > > From the American Heritage Dictionary > > > [@](#): > > > > **concentration camp** > > > > NOUN: 1. A camp where civilians, **enemy aliens,** political prisoners, and sometimes **prisoners of war** are **detained and confined, typically under harsh conditions.** 2. A place or situation characterized by extremely harsh conditions. > > On the contrary, **Mr. Moto,** if the report from the FBI, a federal agency, is accurate, I would suggest that referring to Gitmo as a concentration camp is well within the dictionary definition. Or don’t you believe your own federal law enforcement agency? To use the time-honoured newspaper response: “I stand by my story.” Nothing in the Senator’s recantation changes my opinion that if the FBI report is accurate, Gitmo is properly characterised as a concentration camp. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/270 "2005-06-24T03:30:57Z")
> [@Northern Piper](#): > > Nothing in the Senator’s recantation changes my opinion that if the FBI report is accurate, Gitmo is properly characterised as a concentration camp. Today’s news that the [US has been stalling the UN on Guantanamo](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4123200.stm) inspection reinforces that opinion: > [@](#): > > The UN says it has evidence that torture has taken at the prison amid reports that 520 inmates have had mental breakdowns. > The UN said for over a year there had been no response to its requests to check on the condition of detainees. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/271 "2005-06-24T03:38:57Z")
Yeah, “if”! But everybody knows the FBI is chock full of your radical-liberal types, Amnesty International woosies, lefties everywhere! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/272 "2005-06-24T05:57:34Z")
That’s why I’m hedging my bets, **luci**. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/273 "2005-06-24T11:20:41Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Why bother, this will do. Besides, pitting lies from Rove is like picking out individual grains of sand on the beach. > > (PS: previous post aimed at **Elvis** , if it’s not obvioius…) Okay, if it doesn’t get its own thread, I have to do it here: Karl Rove is a fat little chickenhawk cunt. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/274 "2005-06-24T12:49:14Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > I don’t know how the freakin’ falafal came into it. He meant to say “loofah”, in the context of what he’d like to do to that woman in the shower, but oddly couldn’t come up with the word. > [@](#): > > The point is that until you hear the actual conversation, in context, drawing conclusions about it is a fools errand. But don’t let me stop you from that errand, if you are so inclined. Transcripts and audio clips alone don’t do it for ya, hoss? Clue time: The suit charged sexual harassment. He paid off without a public word. It wasn’t “joking around”. To repeat, you’re normally better than this. **Finn** , the “trap” is letting yourself get drawn off the topic. You’re normally better than that, too. > [@wring](#): > > Elvis should admit that he shouldn’t have said “O’Reilly said” In case you missed it, I do. He didn’t \*say \* it. He acted it out. Happy now? **Dio** , if you have any other plausible possibilities to offer, please do so, or the orifice he used can be considered stipulated. Happy now? Here’s a nice, big :o for both of you, and a pat on the head to young **Debaser**. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/275 "2005-06-24T13:23:34Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > **Finn** , the “trap” is letting yourself get drawn off the topic. You’re normally better than that, too. Thanks for the compliment, but I can’t agree with your sentiments. Had you simply pointed out that O’Reilly was an abusive schmuck who sexually harassed his employee, I’d have agreed. The point was that the specific claim you made (eg that you could hear him saying he liked a vibe up his ass) was simply false. You may view this as being pulled away from the main issue, I see it as maintaining intellectual honesty. If you don’t want people to get drawn off topic, hyperbole and untruth should be avoided. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/276 "2005-06-24T13:58:29Z")
> [@Yeticus Rex](#): > > Yeah, you’re winning alright, The War of the Pots and Kettles. Look, I’m sorry that your comment earlier triggered a rant more appropriately aimed at **Debaser** and his ilk. I am especially sorry that, because I did not name him in specific he apparently doesn’t think I was talking about him. But I thought my over the top reply loaded as it was with smiles made it obvious I was suitably chastened without a need for me to weep on the Senate floor. Get the fuck over it. > [@](#): > > Man, after the rant you laid down on me earlier, should I even take you seriously at all? :rolleyes: There you go again with those weird semi-compliments. “Authority figure?” “(S)hould I…take you seriously…?” Since when has _anybody_ taken me seriously? > [@Scott Plaid](#): > > Problem is, a talk in person conveys body language. You want to show humor? Put in a lotta’ smilies. That doesn’t work on **Yeticus Rex**. ☹ > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > He meant to say “loofah”, in the context of what he’d like to do to that woman in the shower, but oddly couldn’t come up with the word. Oh. I was wondering because a falafel would fall apart in the shower. > [@](#): > > **Dio** , if you have any other plausible possibilities to offer, please do so, or the orifice he used can be considered stipulated. Does he need to have used an orifice? He could’ve been using it to relax his cheek muscles, like the ladies in the Sunday Supplements used to. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/277 "2005-06-24T14:08:05Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Transcripts and audio clips alone don’t do it for ya, hoss? There were audio clips? Did someone link to them earlier? The “transcripts”, as was pointed out earlier, are from her, not some objective third party. > [@](#): > > Clue time: The suit charged sexual harassment. He paid off without a public word. It wasn’t “joking around”. Clue time: Large corporations do this all the time regardless of guilt or innocence just to avoid bad publicity. And I don’t know how you define “public word” but he certainly discussed it on his show a few times. I heard it myself. Look, I’m not saying the guy is innocent. But since there was no trial, we don’t know all the details. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/278 "2005-06-24T14:25:59Z")
> [@FinnAgain](#): > > You may view this as being pulled away from the main issue, I see it as maintaining intellectual honesty. > > If you don’t want people to get drawn off topic, hyperbole and untruth should be avoided. And what do you have to say to **Debaser** , whose loyal, vociferous, and repeated assertion that the stories about O’Reilly are “baseless”? Is that little bit of dishonesty much less significant than what you think mine is? No, you let yourself be drawn away from that, didn’t you? **John** , now you’re just being petulant. Maybe I’ve been wrong about both of you. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/279 "2005-06-24T14:48:55Z")
It’s odd that while we managed to avoid having this hijacked into a thread about **Liberal** (things looked to be going in that direction on page 1), we’ve nevertheless diverted course into a conversation about Bill O’Reilly. Hey, **newcrasher** , I supported Senator Durbin in making the comments he did. I found them to be entirely on point. And now that he has said “Sorry,” I’m going to say “sorry,” as well. I’m sorry that Senator Durbin caved in to the political pressure the way he did. He has the right and responsibility to pick his battles, I suppose, and he evidently decided that this was not a hill he was prepared to die on.\* I like to think about myself that I would have decided differently. In any event, I hope that one day he finds the hill he is prepared to die on, and that it is not too late to do any good. \*If anyone thnks that my use of this metaphor is a disrespectful comparison to the sacrifices made by the brave men who have given their lives defending literal hills in America’s armed conflicts, I have my response already prepared for any demands for an apology: Bite me… ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275/280 "2005-06-24T14:54:10Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > And what do you have to say to **Debaser** , whose loyal, vociferous, and repeated assertion that the stories about O’Reilly are “baseless”? “Cut it out!” > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Is that little bit of dishonesty much less significant than what you think mine is? Yes. I think that we should hold the truth to much higher standards. I think that we should make sure that when relating the truth, we do not embelish or alter it in the least bit. I think that when the guy with the truth distorts it, it does great harm to the discourse and to the position he’s supporting. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > No, you let yourself be drawn away from that, didn’t you? I did indeed, I was focusing on the claims you made. It’s hard to focus on everybody in a debate, and sometimes its best to ‘police’ ‘our own side’. You serve nobody by making false claims, especially yourself. It’s far too easy to dismiss an entire argument just because someone starts making shit up somewhere in it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-durbin-says-sorry-will-those-who-supported-his-comments-say-sorry-too/309275.md?page=15)