Colbert Hates Yoo: Takes on Philadelphia Inquirer for Hiring Torture Defender

Posted by Alex Leo, Huffington Post at 7:34 AM on May 21, 2009.

Yes, yes, I know, I did it again. In the grand tradition of using John Yoo's name to create dad-jokesque headlines, I too am to blame. But I never tortured anyone physically, so hopefully you'll let me off the hook.

When the news broke that torture memo author John Yoo was hired by the "Philadelphia Inquirer" to write a monthly column, readers were none too happy.

Harold Jackson, the paper's editorial page editor defended the decision saying, "There was a conscious effort on our part to counter some of the criticism of The Inquirer as being a knee-jerk liberal publication. We made a conscious effort to add some conservative voices to our mix." As Colbert explains the only two conservatives available were Yoo and a member of the Spanish Inquisition.

Jackson also pointed out that the paper had a spotless record on torture, but as our own Jason Linkins likes to say, "If you take a steaming dump on a perfectly made bed with clean sheets, no one in their right mind will want to sleep in it."

Colbert addressed this topic in detail last night, discussing the decision to hire Yoo and predicting the titles of his upcoming columns.

Tagged as: john yoo, colbert report, philadelphia inquirer