Add milquetoast Ruth Marcus to the list of torture enablers.

From yesterday's WaPo chat (h/tDougJ):

pursuing criminal prosecutions: But many of us do not want criminal prosecutions which would be almost impossible to achieve since most of the evidence (e-mails, et al) has been “lost.” We simply want the facts about torture, illegal spying, habeas, etc. made public so the next time a President seeks to break the law, he will think twice.

Ruth Marcus: That’s a different question. I’m more agnostic on investigation in a non criminal sense. What I’d like to know is, What needs investigating that has not already been investigated? What information that could reasonably be made public has not already emerged? But do you really think the prospect of investigation would have deterred Bush? Didn’t seem so.

Pretty prolific stuff by Jeff. I can see why he is taken so seriously by the intellects in DC.

At least he didn't call you a Libotard, Loser, Pinhead or Traitor.

sniff, sniff. I smell a fulltime gig as a WaPo columnist in the near future for Jeff.

On the topic of media criticism, I thought this was an interesting exchange from a Washington Post chat today:

Tuckerton, N.J.: In the past month, there have been numerous media retrospectives as to who deserves the most blame for the state of the economy. However, one of the institutions left out of practically any of the analysis is the culpability of the American mass media. How much blame do you think the media deserves specifically for it's lack of real-time critical analysis during the Greenspan era of the Fed?

Ed O'Keefe: Let me get around to analyzing this question after I answer questions about how much the media is to blame for the following:

1.) The plight of the Chicago Cubs.

2.) The rise of Tom Brady.

3.) The decline of the American family.

4.) The declining use of snap bracelets.

5.) The rapid rise and fall of Ruben Studdard.

It's difficult for anyone to take the opposing or critical side of something in "real time" when things are going well or when public opinion has been driven so far to one side. (Ask Walter Pincus about his critical reporting of the Iraq war buildup.)

Again, why don't these sleuths just drop off their tape recorders at these press conferences; write a question for the interviewee to answer; go to lunch and then return to pick up the recorder with the answers when the spokesperson has ended the session.

Until recently I didn't realize the power the minority party possessed in Congress during terms 3-through-4 of the Clinton Presidency (2001-09).

Thanks to Chris Dodd ramming through the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 - over the adamant objections of upstanding folks like Phil Gramm - we now have useless mortgage-backed securities chewing up all the assets from poor, innocent financial institutions.

And why was Barney Frank so persistent in pushing for massive tax cuts and deregulation of the banking industry during the past 20 years?

Why didn't he listen to the reasonable arguments of economic scholars and Keynsian scolds such as DeLay/Gingrich/Armey/Boehner/Cox and Greenspan, who relentlessly pushed for more oversight of Wall Street?

Thank God some in the media have a firm grasp on history. I applaud the efforts of the John Kings, Gregorys, Scarboroughs and Dowds of the world for "keepin' it real."

...who wrote that column or Christopher Walken because it's friggin' hilarious?

Hilarious, in a Cohen Brothers kind of way.

Kroft's Interview: We wound up watching 60 Minutes after the relentless promos during basketball, and three things surprised me:

1) 60 Minutes may still be a watchable show. 2) Given CBS "News"'s overt corporate bias, Kroft was surprisingly forceful and non-fluffy with Obama. 3) It's possible, and this is the most surprising of all, that Hillary Clinton might have made a better president.

Howard Kurtz: The last point is enitrely subjective and remains hypothetical. And whatever your views on CBS's corporate culture, I feel safe in saying that it doesn't affect the journalism of "60 Minutes."

Howie, please ask Jeffrey Wigand what he thinks about CBS "60 Minutes".

I would disagree with the implication that the press crossed the line at that soiree at the McCain "cabin".

I believe at the time Holly Tireswinger was doing a western-style food critique for Newsweek.

As for the "guys from Politico" they did bring Cindee some flowers - but they stopped short of tossing in a box of chocolates as well. So credit where it is due.

For some reason, I don't think Mr. Barstow will be an "MSNBC contributor" in the near future.

Ironic, by writing his award winning story, he actually lost out on some mega $$$$.

REVISED QUESTION: Based on this single source - a mid-level CIA operative - who gives a second, or maybe even a third-hand account of an interrogation scene, do you believe his story is accurate.

ROSS: I do believe that.

Mr. Ross deserves a promotion.

Good to see these two OLC cronies are getting ridiculed in the comments section of their column. Not usually a big fan of comment sections of newspapers, but it looks like a lot of NJ lawyers are taking offense to their sophostry.

Ed Morrissey says it would be wrong to politicize yesterday's political shooting (update! Ed Morrissey gleefully reverses himself because “von Brunn was hardly conservative or even right wing”)

Get ready for media "critic" Howie Kurtz' discovery that von Brunn is a vegetarian (citing Michelle Malkin as source). And he also once voted for Zell Miller so naturally this is as a non-partisan, apolitical issue.

Just a crazy, lone gunman with no obvious political agenda.