Ken Starr Slams Liz Cheney Hit Job on Lawyers

In a move that looked a lot like pigs flying, Ken Starr went on MSNBC's Countdown last night to decry Liz Cheney’s attack on Justice Department lawyers who had defended Guantanamo Bay detainees. Starr spoke to fill-in host Lawrence O’Donnell rather than frequent detractor Keith Olbermann, but Olbermann gave O’Donnell a message to read to viewers: “That’s how seriously we both take this, that even we agree on it.”

Starr explained that defending unpopular causes and defendants was a “very fine tradition,” respected in legal circles. “This was very unwise, and really an out-of-bounds characterization and challenge to good, honorable lawyers,” he said. Asked why he’d jumped back into the political fray on a controversial issue, he replied, “I don’t think it’s controversial at all. The principle is clear, the principle is long established, and I believe in that principle fully.” (More Kenneth Starr stories.)