This Week's Winner of the Leo Bloom "I'm Hysterical!" Award...

I'm hysterical.  I'm having hysterics.  I'm hysterical.  I can't stop.  When I get like this, I can't stop.  I'm hysterical.

Leo Bloom, The Producers

As you can probably imagine, Glenn Greenwald isn't thrilled with the Washington Post's article on the effectiveness of "harsh interrogation techniques". And as one might expect, rather than do the hard work of analyzing and attempting to debunk the article, Greenwald throws a hissy fit worthy of Andrew Sullivan.

Evidently, it's time to play shoot the messenger:

If anyone ever tells you that they don't understand what is meant by "stenography journalism" -- or ever insists that America is plagued by a Liberal Media -- you can show them this article from today's Washington Post and, by itself, it should clear up everything.  The article's headline is "How a Detainee Became An Asset -- Sept. 11 Plotter Cooperated After Waterboarding" -- though an equally appropriate headline would be:   "The Joys and Virtues of Torture -- how Dick Cheney Kept Us Safe."  I defy anyone to identify a single way the article would be different if The Post had let Dick Cheney write it himself.  The next time someone laments the economic collapse of the modern American newspaper, one might point out that an industry which pays three separate reporters (Peter Finn, Joby Warrick and Julie Tate) and numerous editors to churn out mindless, inane tripe like this has brought about its own demise.

My, aren't we put out...

What makes it even funnier is that Greenwald cites Politico as proof the Post has it all wrong. That's kind of like declaring the New York Times is the moral arbiter of the United States (which is what Andrew Sullivan claimed last week).

You don't want to say that sort of thing in front of anyone drinking liquids unless you're wearing drip-'n-dry clothing.

Not that there's anything wrong with Politico. It's just that the last time I checked, they were not considered journalism's leading authority on the IG's report or Bush-era torturey stuff. In any event, expect more selective outrage from the left over the Post's betrayal of The Cause. Let's hope it's all as funny as Greenwald's.

Comments

[Uncle Fester]

I'm so confused. It's getting so you need a playbook to tell who is getting screwed by whom and when.

Or how.

[richard mcenroe]

Hey, Janeane Garofalo told the BBC the Democratic party had no mass media outlet in America, bucko, so that's all you need to know!

[Uncle Fester]

Well.

I stand corrected.

[Uncle Fester]

So, what is she saying, CNN and MSNBC are really false-flag operations?

Who knew?