Cheney Sanctioned Torture is not a Movie

Does Jonah Goldberg get it? For some strange reason, he wants to accuse Hollywood types (whatever than means) of having a double standard on torture. His evidence?

After all, tactics which qualify as torture for the anti-crowd shows up in film and television every day. On NYPD Blue, Andy Sipowicz, played by Dennis Franz, smacked around criminals all the time. In Guarding Tess, Nicolas Cage shot the toe off a man who wouldn’t tell him what he wanted to know, and told him he’d keep shooting piggies until he heard what he wanted. In Patriot Games, Harrison Ford shot a man in the kneecap to get the information he needed in a timely manner. In Rules of Engagement, Samuel L. Jackson shot a POW in the head to get another man to talk. In the TV series 24, the heroes regularly use torture and cruelty to get results. They even mistakenly tortured an innocent woman.

If Mr. Goldberg ever had the pleasure of meeting Dennis Franz – he’d know the actor in real life is a very decent person. And portraying what might happen in real life in a television show or in a movie does not mean one condones the activity.