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This isn’t exactly California politics, but there is a California hook, and it’s too good to pass up.

Crooks & Liars has video of KGO’s late-night talk show host Bernie Ward destroying Texas Republican radio host Chris Baker on MSNBC.  The two were there to discuss the New York Times’ reporting of the Bush Administrations’ recent financial dragnetting.

Ward gets Baker to completely lose his cool and storm off the set.  This is instructive not because Baker lost his cool, but because of the way that Bernie Ward refused to play his game:

Baker:  Time of War!  New York Times Treasonous! Bush Haters!
Ward:  Should the government control what a newspaper prints?
Baker:  Time of War!  New York Times Treasonous! Bush Haters!
Ward:  Answer the question.  Should the government control what a newspaper prints?

[Repeat until Baker loses his mind, calls Ward names, and storms off because his Rove-approved talking points aren’t working.]

Ward changed the basic assumptions of the conversation, and then refused to be baited by Baker’s Republican-party talking points or the host’s attempts to drag him into a diversion about “the courts” (where you’ve already conceded that government censorship of the press is a legitimate question).  See how effective that was?

If only our politicians could be that relentless.