AIG CEO Edward Liddy has made quite the show of fearing for his employees safety at today's hearing, and congressmen have played right along, tut-tutting over how horrible hate mail is. The exception is Barney Frank, who sees it for the red herring it is:

Let's be clear: AIG is not the victim here. Any suggestion that Congress or the media have incited the usual whackos who send hate mail is offensive, but more to the point, is intended to distract from the real issue here: AIG's own reckless and probably criminal conduct.

Late Update: Another example of how "protecting" the employees of AIG really means not cooperating with investigators: