I do have a fear of drowning that comes from a bad childhood moment on the Isle of Wight, when I got out of my depth. As a boy reading the climactic torture scene of 1984, where what is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world, I realize that somewhere in my version of that hideous chamber comes the moment when the wave washes over me.

Hitchens took two brave dunks into the tank before quickly succumbing to sheer panic.

As if detecting my misery and shame, one of my interrogators comfortingly said, “Any time is a long time when you’re breathing water.” I could have hugged him for saying so, and just then I was hit with a ghastly sense of the sadomasochistic dimension that underlies the relationship between the torturer and the tortured. I apply the Abraham Lincoln test for moral casuistry: “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” Well, then, if waterboarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.

The entire article is thoughtful and not at all a typical vitriolic Hitchens piece, and is worth reading in its entirety.

John Cole at the Balloon Juice blog asks, “Can the indictments start now?”

(via Teh Sadly)

Particularly inspiring is the gallery of Obama supporters - Scout would hand a small chalkboard to a supporter, ask them to write a few words describing their support, and then photograph the result.

The Washington press corps is collectively as incapable of honest self-reflection as the so-called “media critics” among them (see: Kurtz comma Howard), and no one takes them on quite as well as Glennzilla.  Here’s Glenn on LA Times media critic Tim Rutten’s assertion that ”contradicting the administration’s assessment of Saddam Hussein’s aims” in the prelude to the war was both impossible and mindlessly adversarial:

How did Woodward and Bernstein uncover what the Nixon criminals did since they kept it secret? It must have been impossible! How did Dana Priest uncover the CIA Black Sites in Eastern Europe without being able to go there and visit them? How did Jim Risen and Eric Lichtblau find out that the Bush administration was eavesdropping on Americans without the warrants required by law? It’s called “reporting”: the process of finding out, through investigation, that which the Government seeks to conceal. Why does that need to be explained to the “media critic” of The Los Angeles Times? If he doesn’t understand that, what does he understand?

Go read Glenn’s whole post.

(via Salon)

…and Barack Obama gave a speech. And I lost a jacket. And I ate Chinese food late at night with Eric Alterman and Garance Franke-Ruta and some other people. And my hotel was way outside of town. And Ezra Klein was 13 years old. And Jesse Taylor was still blogging. And I went to a Creative Coalition Event where Media Matters was handing out fliers because O’Reilly was there. And I met Alec Baldwin but not Natalie Portman. And I was riding in a cab with young Ezra and others of similar age when one of them looked at the next car and asked “who’s that old dude who’s trying to look like a rock star?” I responded that it was Kevin Bacon, and that his wife was driving. And Tom Tomorrow called me to whisk me into Jimmy Carter’s skybox, where I had a nice chat with Amy Carter and THE GREAT EVIL ONE MICHAEL MOORE was also there. No one had any idea who I was. And I met Jimmy. And I ran from Samantha Bee and the Daily Show when they showed up to the blogger area. And George Bush was re-elected and lord help us all.

Keep on doing what you’re doing, Atrios.  We are all DFH’s now.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you love America this much (extending fingers), this much (extending hands slightly), or thiiiiiis much (extending hands broadly)?

LINCOLN: I think we covered this…

GIBSON: If I may interrupt…

LINCOLN: Please.

GIBSON: I noticed, Mr. Lincoln, that your American flag pin was upside down…

LINCOLN: Yes, the wind caught it. Now, as I was saying…

Go read the whole thing. Worth the lulz.

(via C&L)

There’s an evil tableau for you: the callous torturer stands up with blood on his hands and a lie in his teeth, while the priest draped in gilt reassures him of his righteousness. How often has that scene played out in history, I wonder?

Also, see this screenshot from Gruber.

This has to stop.  This has to fucking stop.

And I can’t say enough how much I viscerally loathe every single one of you remaining war cheerleaders.  Every fucking one of you.