I'm just incredulous. It's not like the Washington Post hasn't been going downhill a long time, with Fred Hiatt's bizarre fits of supporting Bush through his editorial page, from war to lying to the people to undermining the Consitution. And once upon a time, WaPo had to suck up to the Bush White House by changing Dan's column from "White House Briefing" to "White House Watch". Unfortunately, Hiatt didn't request a reciprocal change of "White House Press Conference" to "Insulting Session where Administration Feeds Pack of Lies Down Reporters Throats Like Pâté de Foie Gras". But I digress.

It appears that Dan got in a pissing match with Charles Krauthammer, and being a vaunted bastion of liberalism, the WaPo fired the liberal. Makes sense? Krauthammer called Froomkin "sometimes stupid" for disagreeing with Krauthammer's sterling example of when to torture: "The Palestinians kidnapped an Israeli soldier and the Israelis had to get him back", or something like that. I mean, wow. In Krauthammer's world, every kidnapping justifies torture? And excuse me if Krauthammer makes me want to ask, "Is this the United States of Israel?" I know people regularly excuse Israel for turning Gaza into rubble, wiping out Palestinian settlements and massively bombing Beirut - but now we use Israel's over-the-top treatment of prisoners as our judicial foundation, rather than say a combination of the Consitution and the Geneva Conventions?

But maybe it's not just that Froomkin got in a pissing match with Charles. Froomkin's been all over the torture debate and the lack of transparency coming from the new White House. And all the Village People fawn over torture, it seems - those stern voices that say "we're all for respect for the law, but [whispering tone] sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do". Well, what the Washington Post had to do was fire the one commentator who acted not specifically as a liberal, but as a tenacious, inquisitive observer. Dangerous to Obama, dangerous to Bush, dangerous to the Village Society that hates any finger-pointing in their midst.

Just how silly is this latest move? Well, Fred Hiatt defended the pardon of Scooter Libby (you know all the Villagers' kids go to camp together, probably needed a quorum for softball). Fred Hiatt defended retroactive immunity for telecom companies helping eavesdrop illegally (even when reported that they'd been planning this well before 9/11). Maybe Fred Hiatt is showing the one true piece of courage he's exhibited in many a year - the courage to finally, readily admit that the Washington Post is indeed no "liberal newspaper". Unfortunately for him, by getting rid of the "liberal" he's probably admitting it's no longer much of a "newspaper" either. R.I.P., de mortuis nil nisi bonum.

PS - And I love the keyword sensing that brings up ads at TPM. I mention "Muslims" and I get an ad for Brides of Islam. I mention Israel, I get "come2Israel.com". How come no ads for Guantanamo? "Lots of sun, free health care!!!"

Update: EmptyWheel lists the recent output of Froomkin.