The Black Republican

Perhaps it was my Catholic faith and its devotion to penance to overcome the guilt of sin. Whatever the reason, my scant few days of having any sympathy for the butchers and madmen that were abused in the Abu Ghraib prison is over. And the Left can thank Evan Thomas for my final conversion.

As I'd indicated yesterday, my opinion was that the crimes committed against the prisoners were atrocious, and (though I thought there were too many of us saying so already) I thought America could only get past it by showing due remorse emblematic of our principles. But Newsweek has decided they won't be satisfied until they fulfill the embodiment of Hillary Clinton's "politics of personal destruction" with a full-on hit piece on Donald Rumsfeld.

No non-partisan, objective journalism here - Newsweek and MSNBC have apparently decided they can't sit back and let Fox News do all the yellow journalism. "Donald Rumsfeld likes to be in total control," it begins. The cover proclaims: "Is He To Blame?" A picture highlighting a video feed shows a snarling Rumsfeld frozen with a face only Saddam could love. One of the most awful pictures of the abuse - the one with the prisoner wired up and with a black cape and hood, looking for all the world like the negative image of a young Robert Byrd. The lead-ins to the following pages are "Rumsfeld's Strengths Are His Weaknesses" and "Is Anyone Really in Charge?"

To be honest, I've only skimmed page one. But I'm so ready to retch, there's no point in really giving it more than my passing phlegm.