Are we to take from Meacham's screed the principle that the only "lesson" to be learned from the disclosure of President Nixon's involvement in the Watergate [criminal] cover-up, his resignation pending impeachment and the pardon granted him regarding criminal prosecution is that none of that ever happened?

Or is, instead, the lesson that as far as Meacham is concerned it never should have happened and things like holding the President subject to the law are verboten now?

It is, as noted, not true that a lawyer can advise illegality without potential consequence, thankfully enough. Or at least it used to be true, we'll see.

And if you don't believe me or stevedew, Mikeyfil, don't forget that the Batman TV villain, Egghead, had a villainous sidekick who was a lawyer -- and when Batman/Adam West was in a fistfight with that dude and said "You're evil", the sidekick replied "I'm a criminal lawyer; it says so on my letterhead."

I figure that will be Yoo's best line of defense.

The viral video of the "edited-out" outburst on a Fox panel discussion is not interesting because it reflects a run of the mill reactionary making another amusingly off-message comment.

It is significant because it reflects the awakening of an example of the type of person who has made their living by being in denial -- the type of person who has heard George W. Bush say on TV "we don't torture" and treated it as gospel, and who has developed an entire world view around unquestioning loyalty to that blindered vision of America's government under Bush.

And now it's clear that this premise was false. What's an ideologue to do when the fundamental premise -- the President's assurance that "America does not torture" turns out to have been a lie? Well, at one level, it's Anger: "this is America, we don't fucking torture!" Next step and all that.

So how do those who live by enabling Power deal with that? Apparently, by trying to change the subject. Well, if we did torture, maybe it worked. Well, even if we did torture and even if it didn't work, we wouldn't want to be interrupting anyone's career over that....

The focus needs to be on the fundamental gestalt, the rest is window dressing. This IS America, we DON'T fucking torture. Our President told us so. Don't go telling us that has all been a lie and expect America to say "ok, then never mind."

The significance of the Fox talking head is not that he was forgetting to be hypocritical. The significance was he was realizing we have -- HE has -- been lied to. The fact that a lot of people figured that out sooner should not be allowed to diminish the significance of others catching up, especially when the "others" are the ones whose slavish acceptance has been one of the biggest things allowing this torture regime to exist.

Meacham is just trying to put the genie back in the bottle.

On the off chance that somebody in the "real" media(not these shrill leftist bloggers) undertakes to, god forbid, ask Brian Ross any questions about why he reported what he reported the way he reported it back then, COULD SOMEBODY ASK HIM WHO WERE THE "FOUR CONFIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT SOURCES" WHO TOLD HIM IN 2001, FALSELY, THAT THERE WAS BENTONITE IN THE ANTHRAX THAT SUGGESTED IRAQI ORIGIN????

Really. He's the story. Somebody please get the story.

Your role in America, beloved Mr. Keillor, has been carefully crafted and nurtured over the years. Dispenser of homespun anecdotes and recognizer of ingrained truths, a potential Will Rogers for our age. And this persona drives you to try to identify, distill, crystallize and then present nuggets of Great American Truths for the rest of us to nod at knowingly.

If "we just need some truth, and then we need good train service" was intended to fit into that mold, you have failed yourself and America. Unless this post is wryly sarcastic at a level imperceptible to a lot of people, this distillation of America's perceived needs is not a distillation of any America you have grown up observing and championing, is it?

If you are looking for an uniquely homespun talisman, why not premise your soul-searching with "We need some truth, justice and the American way?" A black and white Superman TV into. Should be right up your alley -- and it is in fact what we all need to be reminded this "torture" fiasco is about. Having the "trains run on time" is instead the classical metaphor for the necessary failure of true communism, right? That's what we're angling for in America?

I am sorry that you appear not to be more troubled by this. It certainly is not a joke, and it certainly is disappointing to see America's favorite uncle offering up white bread, bologna and warm milk instead of reminding us who we have always said we wanted to be and some kind of allegory about the consequences of sweeping dirt under the rug.

Frankly, I was kind of hoping you might have written this week's post keying off the Fox News reporter blurting out "this is America, we don't fucking torture." No such luck, I see. Very disappointing, at least to me. I urge you to reconsider the consequences of the rationalizations you have written this week, even as I'll defend to the death your right to write them....

You mean the Patron Saint of the Neocons sort of, kind of was somehow involved in allowing the US to be cajoled into accidentally signing an international treaty that decisively and unambiguously bans torture and in fact squarely rejects the very premise of Krauthammer's arguments?

Whoa, somebody should mention that to Krauthammer. Apparently he has made a mistake. Apparently he should be advocating that the US formally withdraw from this Reagan-induced US involvement in this international treaty. Yeah, that's the ticket. Then he and Scalia can lobby for a new Crusade together.