Glenn, I know how pissed you get when people throw up their hands, but you've got to have the sinking feeling that no power on earth is going to round up this bunch of miscreants and march them before the bar of justice. Crimes have been committed, and crimes are and will continue to be committed to cover up those crimes. As an historian, I can bet that in future these past seven years will be a black hole of disappeared and shredded documents and computer files wiped clean. I will dutifully write my senators (as a New Yorker, it would be nice to know who the second one will be), but Cheney has put the ruling elites on notice that if he goes, they go, and the powers that be today are not going anywhere.

I could not agree more. Funding and developing Accountability Now is great, and I have helped with donations, but it is interviews like these which truly show the hapless situation we find ourselves in. We need a more radical reaction or way of making change happen. "Working the system" doesn't work when those in power continually use it to insulate themselves and give themselves more power, while spoiling all the "new blood" slowly but surely. A nationwide sitdown strike or something is needed. Something that will really get their attention.

How do we whip up enough of the populace to get something like that done? Surely there are smarter people than me who might be able to come up with an effective approach...The French and other European countries seem to be able to execute such events quite well.

You really hit a pot of gold here, Glenn. You have given the average reader a glimpse of the distortion process of the MSM and how they carefully shape the public opinion they're seeking. It isn't always about hitting you over the head with a sledgehammer, but a slight swerve here, an implication there, and a larger focus over there that changes the entire meaning and focus of a story to something entirely different. In a small way, you've pulled back the curtain to see "how news is made." And that's a very important distinction from "how news is reported."

Now, would you please stop bothering me with all this claptrap. I must get back to watching every single news program fawning endlessly over Obama's pecs, and I must watch it all day long over and over. I simply cannot be bothered with intelligent thought about criminal bailouts, torture, and officials admitting war crimes when I should be ogling my President.

However bad the MSM may be, blogs are even less responsible about equitable presentation and/or making any distinctions between fact and opinion.

It is imminently satisfying how the irony of you saying this completely misses you, your "contributions," and the manner in which your statements are destroyed one by one with the actual facts. The reason you are never taken seriously here is precisely because of stuff like this, yet you continue to post and read here nearly every day. If you were a movie title, you'd be "A Delusion Runs Through It." Or maybe you're more of a John Leguizano fan, in which case I'd point you to "The Pest."

Glenn, have you invited David Gregory onto Salon Radio yet? Surely someone like him would love to garner an expanded fan base for his new show by exposing his gritty, hard-hitting journalistic methods to a well-informed, curious audience. After all, what serious, professional media man wouldn't welcome such a wonderful platform on which to solidify his reputation as a Suspector of the Gov't and Fighter For the People?

Again, I really think a good tool to use is to make a loud, public invite to discuss the issues raised in your column, include his web blog address (if he's even man enough to even have one), and then publish his response, or else put up a "scorecard" listing all of your invites and the number of days it has been that you've received no response/no good reason for not coming onto the show. You might even play with it and include a "top 10" list of unacceptable excuses that will not let invited guests off the hook, such as "busy itinerary," or "Busy Asking The President Inane, Superficial Questions Given to Me By My Boss Who Got Them From His Boss Who Got Them From The Press Secretary's Intern Flunkie." Etc, etc.

Would certainly have the potential to be humorous when these sycophantic, slobbering boob jobs do (or don't) respond.

I would like to nominate Sysprog as UT's "MVC" (Most Valuable Commenter) for 2008. I cannot imagine how much time he must spend digging for the gold that he finds and passes on to Glenn.

I don't know what you do for a living, but if you do it half as well as you contribute to this blog, you've got to be a spectacular success.

Good work, sir or madam. I admire your sleuthing and research skills.

Happy New Year to all the fine folks here, even the trolls.

Is there any other significant issue in American political life, besides Israel, where (a) citizens split almost evenly in their views, yet (b) the leaders of both parties adopt identical lockstep positions which leave half of the citizenry with no real voice?

While I haven't read the other comments to see if it's already been mentioned, but I can think of a couple which Glenn has written about extensively:

1) Immunity for the lawbreaking telecoms,

2) Americans' general views on whether we should torture vs the fact we clearly do it, all with the approval of our maladministration and tacit approval of Congress and its "leaders."

Credit where due to Hewitt for having a substantive conversation with you that was unedited. I hope things like that continue.

I couldn't help but notice his "hate radio" mentality peeking through each and every time he went to and came back from break where he whipped out the "lefty" label to make sure his listeners knew you weren't to be trusted, no matter how much sense your arguments made. I also loved the multiple attempts to conflag his arguments using absurd and extreme examples. He wasn't used to his guest being able to dispel them so easily. Good on you.

In the end, though, a great interview.