Yes, and XH, the only way to answer such questions, when talking with Hillary supporters or opponents is, she is Obama's Secretary of State. If she thought he was deeply wrong about issues like TARP and state secrets, she wouldn't have taken the job. Or, if she thought he'd be wrong about such things, and she took the job: She wasn't any better politically or morally than he is.

I love fights, but that one doesn't interest me.

Not to sound paranoid, but I assume the control of our government by CIA and Wall Street plutocrats is much more alarming than most of us think it is. Obama and Hillary Clinton must tread carefully. Look what happened to Bill Clinton, who was in many ways our best Republican president since Reagan...

Calif Mike, I totally agree, and the headline on the cover is "Torture debate: G. Gordon Liddy and me." Not quite sure what happened there, but thanks for catching it, I appreciate your keeping an eye on my ego. I wouldn't want to get all puffed up over debating a crackpot has-been. I really do think I appreciated exactly what kind of situation I was placed in, and I'm certainly not proud of it, I know I can do better!

On the other hand, my sister called me today and said our (late) father would be proud of me, which, of course, made my day. My Irish Catholic working class father despised GOP lawbreakers from Joe McCarthy through Nixon and Liddy through Ollie North. We watched the Iran Contra hearings together as a family while he was dying in the summer of 1987. He raised me to fight what Liddy represents, Calif Mike, but...I definitely think the grammar on the internal headline was messed up, so thank you for catching it.

Thanks for your work on a Sunday, paulpsd7. Going back to your first post, I've been thinking about this all day: No, I don't believe in the Obamabot fantasy of his 11th dimensional chess games, either, but I still do think it's possible this is a genuine example of Obama saying, Make me do it. To release the criminal torture memos, in all their sadistic and incompetent glory, over the objections of even Leon Panetta (remember when he was anti-torture?), was in fact brave, and of course makes it hard for him to do nothing.

Part of me thinks it's merely Obama's political 11th dimensional chess, in which he gets away with cynical politics but his worshippers let him, as occurred occasionally during the primary (see Donnie McClurkin, or Bill Burton sending out inflammatory memos implying that HRC was really hinting at the chance someone might assassinate Obama when she stupidly referred to RFK's late primary bid last May.)

But part of me thinks it's a genuine strategy with integrity that could, in fact, be designed to make us and make Congress make him do something about it, or to let Congress play the role they abdicated under Bush. I'm also sympathetic to the notion that Democrats in Congress won't really push because so many of them were briefed on what was going on.

Anyway, thanks for your genuinely smart grappling with this issue and everything that's at stake.

It sounds like Obama is ignoring Rahm, thank goodness. I think there could be life in this movement to prosecute some of the wrongdoers. Visualize Dick Cheney in jail!

Readerreader, I don't know why, of all the things that I could reply to, I'm jumping in to say this, but: That photo of Obama? It's photoshopped. I'm sure he's as bugged by it as you are. He's protested the paparazzi who hang out trying to get shirtless photos; this isn't his idea of a good time. So, cut him some slack on that one.

Some people's reading comprehension skills are slipping. Bill Kristol never won a Pulitzer, and I'd put $250K down that he never will. Terrible writer. Too many (literal) factual errors that the Times had to correct. Ain't gonna happen. I talked about the unlucky Pulitzer winner in the context of Kristol b/c when he lost his gig at the Times, he got one at the WashPost. Then he got a $250K prize. That's all, kids.

And I love the people who attribute my loathing of Kristol to envy. Project much, folks? Envy does seem to be a character trait for people who hang out in other people's blogs all day sniping, but...it's not one of my problems, actually. I didn't expect to be as lucky as I've been. Also, I was raised well: Money can't buy happiness. Though, yeah, I do sometimes use language my parents might not be proud of.

And we haven't won a Pulitzer because we didn't enter this year, the first time it was open to online-only applicants. Wait 'til next year.

Actually, virt, NPR did a segment talking about why we didn't enter, they found it interesting. So did the Pulitzer administrators. We were widely expected to enter, because we're one of the few online-only sites with a reputation for strong reporting and culture criticism, as well as commentary. You have a cramped and singular view of Salon from your little perch on my blog, virt. You should get out more.

Yeah, virt, I'm a ditz. Absolutely.

Thanks, Alpha Female! Next time I'm tempted, I'll think of you and stop myself.

Yes, RichEmery, you're right. Fixed now!

Thanks, everyone. I just updated the post to reflect that Olbermann criticized Sykes on Countdown -- I was giving him too much credit! -- and also to reflect Hitchens' Sykes putdown: "The black dyke got it wrong." Stay classy, Christopher!

Goodbye to all that was Robin Morgan, Faulkner Jr., not Gloria Steinem. Also, I deleted the idiotic post that referred to Kate Tex as Kotex; keep it up, misogynists! Sadly, nobody flagged that.