Power Line has a post today on the appearance of Senator Richard Durbin on Meet The Press yesterday explaining the differences between President Obama’s approach to military commissions and President Bush’s approach.  The article is based on a National Review Online article by Andy McCarthy explaining that there really are no differences between the two policies.

The Power Line article points out:

“Moreover, McCarthy reminds us that a major reason why there have not more convictions by military commissions is the delay caused by the legion of volunteer American defense attorneys who ground the system to a halt by various court challenges.” Another reason is the fact that Obama himself stopped the pending commissions against 21 terrorists (trial was imminent in several cases) so he could first “study” them and, now, propose these illusory “changes.

Sen. Durbin is not known for being constrained by facts. However, the liberties he has been forced to take on this issue demonstrate the utter lack of merit in his underlying position that Obama’s commissions are legitimate where Bush’s weren’t.”

One of the most frustrating things about being an American right now is that you can’t depend on anything you see on a network news show to be the truth.  Now, more than ever, voters have to take the responsibility to inform themselves as to what is actually going on in our country and our government.  Most media outlets are making that more of a challenge that it should be.  The key to a healthy democracy (yes, I realize that we are a representative republic) is a well-informed citizen and voter.  If our media outlets continue to misinform us, we cannot successfully do our duty as citizens.