Way back in October of 2007, I joined Redstate in an attempt to engage in some type of debate with Republicans.
Well, after waiting the 24 hour period before I could post (seriously?), I was banned within 1 day. The posts I made were respectful (I refuse to insult anyone in a blog post - feels cheap) and were based on facts (which I specifically recall linking to). Regardless - I was banned.
But apparently, being banned from the site doesn't mean you still don't get mass emails from RedState. Most of the time, I read them for fun - wondering what the far right is upset about now. But every now and then I respond. Here, I share the email from Erick Erickson, and my response.
First the email:
From: Erick Erickson <Erick.Erickson@RedState.com>
To: ME!
Sent: Fri, November 13, 2009 8:48:55 AM
Subject: Stop Obama From Importing Terrorists Stateside
Today Barack Obama is going to announce that the terrorist mastermind of September 11th, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be sent to New York City for a criminal trial in a civilian court.
In that trial, the terrorist will get all the rights afforded an American citizen in a criminal trial, including the right to a fair trial, the right to a taxpayer funded attorney, the right to review all the evidence against him, potentially including classified intelligence matters, the right to exclude evidence against him including, potentially, any confession obtained through enhanced interrogation techniques, etc.
At best, this will be a show trial fit not for the American Republic, but a third world kleptocratic totalitarian regime. At worse, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will gain access to classified material he can then leak to other terrorists while New York yet again becomes a target for terrorists. We have already had occasions in this country where terrorists' sympathetic lawyers have conveyed information, orders, and plans to other terrorists.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH! SCARY!
My response:
What's your solution? Kill him outright?
I say give him a trial. Does he deserve all the rights afforded a US citizen? No, but he deserves basic human rights. And I consider a trial by your peers to be one of those.
Everyone thinks he's guilty, right? So let him have his trial and it'll be proven he's guilty. We need to take the high road here, otherwise we're no better than the terrorists who exact what they feel is justified murder.
And honestly - with the state of our economy and health care system, this is what you want to get people to focus on? Fear, fear, fear. That's the only card Republicans seem able to play.
Fine. You worry about this, and let the adults work on the more pressing issues.
-Ryan
PS - Don't you think your overstating your beliefs a little with 'keptocratic totalitarian regime?' You might want to read what real kleptocracies are like: http://en.wikipedia.org/...
That's all I got. If anyone else would like to send Erick the Red an email, the return address on that email I got was Erick.Erickson@RedState.com. Who knows if it's a real account he reads or just the 'reply-to' address for mass emails.
UPDATE:
jsfox posted a diary on the same subject, but made a good point.
Erick Erickson encouraged people to call their senators and let them know what they think of this:
Call your Congressman and Senator right now. Tell them they should use every tool at their disposal to block this. The number to call is 202-224-3121.
Replace his word 'block' with 'support' and that seems about right.
I think we should take him up on his wonderful advice. Please call them and tell them you'd like to see civility and justice done.