Support Dick Durbin

I’ve been waiting to write this all day. I intended to write that I'd called Senator Dick Durbin's office to register my support in the face of the Republican firestorm over his comments about conditions at Guantanamo (full comments or cut to the chase). I called his Chicago office several times throughout the afternoon but always got voice mail. (Toward the end of the day, I wondered if they'd been receiving so much flak that they'd simply given up answering the phones.) I never left a voice mail message in the hopes of reaching an actual person, but after the office closed at 5:00, I figured that would be better than nothing. Ooops, too late--the mailbox was full (although there's no telling how long it had been in that condition). So I wrote up my comments in a fax. After a few tries, it finally made it through. Here's what I wrote:

Thank you, Senator Durbin, for being unafraid to speak the truth about the torture conditions currently deemed acceptable at the American prison at Guantanamo. Such practices are un-American and have nothing to do with the freedom, liberty, and democracy we espouse.

I live in Chicago, and I tried to call your Chicago office throughout the afternoon but was unable to get through. When I tried to leave a message on voice mail after office hours, the mailbox was full, so I'm now faxing my support to you. In light of the onslaught of criticism you appear to be experiencing (with a mix of positive calls too, I trust), I don't require a call back from your office.

If you're in Illinois, contact Durbin's office with support (although, if you're not in Illinois, feel free to do so, as well; I'm sure he's getting plenty of out-of-state calls attacking him). He hasn't said what Republicans are claiming he said, and we have to show them they can't change the subject away from unpleasant truths by bullying tactics.