Keep giving them enough rope

The ever-expanding US Attorneys commenting affair is an excellent case for news organizations maintaining free and open comment sections. Of course people say horrid things in there. What we've learned recently is that the people saying the most awful things happen to be some of the most powerful people in town.

As an aside, I’d point to this absolutely fascinating comment thread about investigations into the shootings on Danziger Bridge. Notice the interaction between “painman11” and “legacyusa,” where they talk about the NOPD.

I find that to be quite helpfully instructive.  It would be a shame if newspapers decided to bend to the mounting pressure to censor of eliminate this feature of their websites merely to maintain the illusion that the politically or socially ascendent are somehow better people that the rest of us.