Any good television show has a main plot and a side show, usually many side shows. Its not unusual that the side show is the more compelling aspect. You know that Dr. House is going to cure the patient by the end of the show, but you don't know if his team will quit, whether romance will develop with the fetching Dr. Cuddy, or whether his Vicodin addiction is going to destroy his life.

Similarly, the torture debate is no debate at all. Democrats have been outsourcing torture for generations, except for what they inflict directly on the American people. Torture works, which is why everyone uses it.

The big yawn notwithstanding, the side shows are mildly amusing. The harridan Speaker of the House is emphatically denying that she slept with the torturers, and no one with half a brain believes her. She's clammed up, while her critics pile on. Will Nancy resign? Will her colleagues throw her under the bus, ripping the covers off her raft of ethics problems? You can almost envision her on the steps of the Capitol, sun setting behind her, her brow-lifted, botox face illuminated by the funeral pyre of her career, vowing to never be poor again!

Oh right...she's provided well for her family at the Congressional trough. OK then, Raybans and a German-accented promise that "I'll be back..."

Second act...

Maureen Dowd get caught red-handed ripping off a blogger. Allahpundit describes the irony best.

In fact, the beauty of MoDo’s snafu is that not only does it show a major player in the media being led around by nutroots talking points, it involves her lifting stuff from a blog that’s actually called “Talking Points.” Glorious.

Out here in low-information voter land, what's getting through is that Pelosi is in trouble. Torture is left to the prejudices of the listener. Nobody with a job reads Dowd anyways...