What we've come to

The pro-torture fans of the Christian Republican White People's Party see a (they don't call it "Jewish" in public) media conspiracy to minimize torture by "Al Qaida". Why, some of them are demanding in outrage, do the Liberal Media not more prominently report the "torture manuals" that the US recently discovered in Iraq? Glenn Greenwald has more details in Al-Qaida does it, too Salon 06/01/07.

Leaving aside the question of whether the manuals found were directly connected to the Al Qaida run by Osama bin Laden, John Cole has an appropriate response, to which Greenwald links, Dear Newsbusters and the MRC Balloon Juice blog 05/31/07:

It isn't news because they are terrorists, you [Cheney]ing simpletons. Yesterday, my cat scratched himself then s*** in a box. The media didn’t report that, either.

After the Abu Ghuraib perversion-and-torture scandal broke, defenders of torture defended it on the grounds that at least it wasn't as bad as what Saddam did. Now it's down to, Hey, we're no worse than Al Qaida!

I think that qualifies as "lowering the bar". Lowering it so far that it's buried.

Tags: torture