ON MONDAY, it was argued here that Senator Richard Durbin ought to be censured for his remarks last week, and not just those in which he made the outrageous comparison between interrogation tactics at Guantanamo and the practices of the Nazi, Soviet, and Khmer Rouge regime. On Tuesday, Durbin took to the Senate floor again, and tried to sound like he was apologizing, though of course he did nothing of the sort, as even a casual consideration of his words will demonstrate. Though the high priest of the media, John McCain, pronounced absolution on the teary Durbin, the reaction among servicemen and women, their families and supporters was not of the forgiving kind. Students of Lincoln also recognized just how carefully Durbin had shopped for his Lincoln quote.

Durbin’s still digging, and some other leadership Democrats have decided to join him, including Nancy Pelosi, who on Tuesday made an amazing statement about the military’s detention practices, which said in part: