Lawrence O'Donnell described the arm chair warrior to Keith Olbermann thusly:

OLBERMANN: This pretty much proves it, doesn‘t it, Hannity and his fellow travelers do not take this topic seriously?

O‘DONNELL: No, they don‘t and I know why. There‘s no question about it. The reason Sean Hannity thinks torture is a good idea, the reason Sean Hannity thinks it works is because it would worked on him. There are two different kinds of people out there in the world, the warriors, which are a very, very tiny minority. Less than one percent of our population is ever going to face combat. Then there‘s the rest of us.

I am like Sean Hannity, one of those cowards, just like Dick Cheney, who has refused throughout my life to enter the military and ever subject myself to anything dangerous occupationally, where I might lose a tooth. That is exactly Sean Hannity‘s approach to life. And he has exactly the same cowardly fear that I do, of combat or submitting myself to anything of the kind of risk that the American military does.

And so people who live where Sean Hannity lives, in those safe places, in the safe Cheney home, where no one in the Cheney family would ever submit themselves to military service, ever submit themselves to the risk of torture, they think torture works because it would work on them, because they are soft, they are weak people compared to our military service people, and they would crack under torture.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30387127/

or if you'd rather watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__8O7IDgcIc

But then the women are impressed and that's all that counts. Who swings best at the barbecue's. Andrew Klavan's channeling David Deida who's made a living selling "How to mis-treat her and be the Real Man a woman wants", and if he strays she'll show him the door faster than he can say "Jenny Sanford."

Massing: Greenwald is: "harsh""provocative""negative""controversial""troubling" -

It's clear to me that you're hurting Beltway Establishment feelings because you lose sight of David Broder's arguments. You, you, DFH blogger.

That was then, now our Nation is 235 years old. We are the world's only SuperPower and it's our Empire that needs saving from radicals and revolutionaries by any means necessary, so what was then as is now the greatest military of its time ever and Blackwater mercenary's. At FDL Peterr posted this: Holder Overturns Justice Jackson and Nuremberg..."They carried out orders which on the admission of many of them bit deep into the remnants of their consciences. They knew that they were doing what was wrong, but they now say "Befehl ist Befehl"--an order is an order.

All decent men find it difficult to blame others for absence of moral courage--they are only too conscious of their own failings in that direction. But there comes a point when, faced with crimes which are obvious murder or barbarity, there is a higher duty. . . . Great captains are not automata to be weighed against a rubber stamp. I need not traverse the history of our military figures--the philosophy of Montrose, the brooding thoughts of Marshal Ney, the troubled heart of Robert E. Lee in 1861--to find examples. Two of the greatest names in German military history spring to one's mind: Von Clausewitz leaving the Prussian Army to serve in that of Russia; Yorck von Wartenburg making his decision of neutrality--both put what they deemed the needs of Europe and humanity above the orders of the moment. How much more clear and obvious was the duty when the work of drafting, issuing, and carrying out [various specific orders] meant the defiling of every idea which every soldier cherishes and holds dear; when--as all of them who ever served upon the Eastern Front could see with their own eyes--they were asked to support and co-operate in a calculated system of mass-extermination and utter brutality."

(Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, British Deputy Chief Prosecutor, and de facto day-to-day head of British legal team at Nuremberg, describ(ing) the actions of those at the upper levels of the chain of command like this (August 29, 1945, vol. 22, pp. 235-236) http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/25/holder-throws-justice-jackson-and-nuremberg-under-the-bus/

The United States is not the Axis who lost that war. Peter King and many like him, IMO, today they see it that we're still winning (7 years on in a stone cluttered god forsaken land fighting with jets and drones against donkeys and carbines), and winners write the rules. And trumping all investigations (foreign and domestic) we have nuclear weapons and frighteningly we'll use them.

When the DNC and the WH talk about the public option being negotiable and liberal disappointment I would like to see a follow up that asks what happen to this:

- Covering All Americans and Providing Real Choices of Affordable Health Insurance Options. Families and individuals should have the option of keeping the coverage they have or choosing from a wide array of health insurance plans, including many private health insurance options and a public plan. Coverage should be made affordable for all Americans with subsidies provided through tax credits and other means.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/apache.3cdn.net/8a738445026d1d5f0f_bcm6b5l7a.pdf

That's in the 2008 Democratic National Platform. What happened in 9 months (from August '08 to when Pharma and others met at the WH in May) to make Obama and Democrats drop the promise of a public plan. IMO there was never an intention to keep the promises they ran on. Unless I've missed something Democrats in many ways are backing away from their platform. That's real progress at Renewing the American Dream.

With some of the opinion that Cass Sunstein is next in line to an Obama Supreme Court appointment I wouldn't be a disappointed liberal if he has to take his name out of the hat.