When the Washington Post hired the habitually-wrong Bill Kristol to write misinformation-laden columns, Post opinion boss Fred Hiatt explained “I think he's a very smart, plugged-in guy,” adding “I thought he wrote a good column” at the New York Times, which tired of Kristol after only a year. Hiatt even suggested that the Times dumped Kristol merely because its readers disagreed with his opinions:

“It seems to me there were a lot of Times readers who felt the Times shouldn't hire someone who supported the Iraq war,” said Hiatt, adding that he wants “a diverse range of opinions” on his page.

But the real problem with Kristol is that, unlike a broken clock, he's rarely right twice in one day. And that he often seems enthusiastically dishonest. And that he loves war and torture the way chocolate loves peanut butter. And... well, you get the point.

Anyway: Salon's Glenn Greenwald points out that the Washington Post editorial board -- which Fred Hiatt runs -- has now denounced a video attacking the Obama administration as a “smear” that plays on “ignorance and fear” at the expense of reason. Oh, and Bill Kristol is among those responsible for the video. Here's Greenwald:

So according to the Post Editors, this “Department of Jihad” ad is a “smear” campaign based in “hysteria, ignorance and fear” that is designed to “cloud reason.” Yet those very same Post Editors continue to employ as a Columnist one of the primary parties responsible for this “smear” campaign. That's a strange thing to do. Once a newspaper's editors decide that someone is responsible for what they themselves denounce as a repugnant “smear” that traffics in fear, hysteria and ignorance and is designed to “cloud reason,” one would think they'd no longer want to provide a forum to the person responsible. Why would a newspaper want to amplify and elevate a person who they know smears others using fear, hysteria and ignorance?

It's hardly news that Bill Kristol is a rank propagandist responsible for some of the most destructive falsehoods in our political culture, but now that the Post Editors explicitly recognize this, doesn't it speak volumes about them if they continue (as they will) to employ such a person as a regular Columnist?

Why does the Washington Post employ a columnist who is responsible for what it believes are nasty smears on honorable public servants? Simple: Because the Washington Post's opinion pages under Fred Hiatt are a cesspool of lies and propaganda and fear-mongering; a safe haven for those who endorse (or turn a blind eye) to torture, political thuggery, and everything in between.