Just one month after he took to the floor of the House to appropriate the memory of the late Tim Russert to push for offshore drilling, California Rep. Darrell Issa is at again. Rushing to defend former Attorney General John Ashcroft over charges that the Bush administration's practice of waterboarding detainees was tantamount to torture, Issa told the House Judiciary Committee that "we treated our hospital patients at times worse than al Qaeda."

Coming from the man who reduced the 9/11 attacks in New York to a plane crash, Issa's exchange with Ashcroft should come as no surprise:

ISSA: It is sort of amazing that as a member of the permanent Select Intelligence Committee, I've never heard any allegation of any detainee being denied food or water for a week. It's clear that we treated our hospital patients at times worse than al Qaeda.

ASCHROFT: What's more, they were poking needles into me all the time time.

Of course, Issa had guaranteed himself a particularly hot seat in Dante's inner circle long before Thursday's monstrosity about enhanced interrogation techniques. From attacking the families of dead Blackwater contractors and accusing Valerie Plame of perjury to playing a vital role in purging a U.S. attorney and committing myriad other outrages, the Darrell Issa Hall of Shame was already quite full.