{"id":7171,"date":"2009-05-22T13:30:47","date_gmt":"2009-05-22T20:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bradblog.com\/?p=7171"},"modified":"2009-05-28T19:16:41","modified_gmt":"2009-05-29T02:16:41","slug":"skeptical-rightwing-radio-host-waterboarded-lasts-six-seconds-calls-it-absolutely-torture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bradblog.com\/?p=7171","title":{"rendered":"Skeptical Rightwing Radio Host Waterboarded, Lasts Six Seconds, Calls it ‘Absolutely Torture’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Via RAW STORY…<\/a><\/p>\n

Chicago radio host Erich “Mancow” Muller decided he’d get himself waterboarded to prove the technique wasn’t torture.<\/p>\n

It didn’t turn out that way. “Mancow,” in fact, lasted just six or seven seconds before crying foul. Apparently, the experience went pretty badly — “Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop,” according to NBC Chicago<\/a>.
\n…
\n“I wanted to prove it wasn’t torture,” Mancow said. “They cut off our heads, we put water on their face…I got voted to do this but I really thought ‘I’m going to laugh this off.’ ”<\/p>\n

The upshot? “It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke,” Mancow told listeners. “It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back…It was instantaneous…and I don’t want to say this: absolutely torture.”<\/p><\/div>\n

So far, it’s been almost a full month since Fox “News”\/ABC Radio propagandist Sean Hannity volunteered to be waterboarded for charity, claiming it was not torture. Despite MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann offering $1000 for the troops, for every second<\/a> Hannity lasts, the cowardly wingnut torture apologists has failed to revisit the topic since his original act of phony bravado.<\/p>\n

See “Mancow” being waterboarded, and then commenting on it, in the two very short videos below. And remember, unlike the detainees that we tortured, he was not being waterboarded by hostile folks, and was able to call it off at any time, on his own…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n
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On a related topic…<\/i> I was on San Francisco’s usually very rightwing radio station KGO last night, with the progressive Christine Craft sitting in as late-night host. Lots of similarly cowardly wingnuts called in to inform us that waterboarding isn’t torture at all. Here’s the audio. Enjoy.<\/p>\n

MP3 Download<\/a>, or listen online (appx 35 mins)…<\/i>
\n[audio:http:\/\/bradblog.com\/audio\/ChristineCraft_KGO_Brad_051209.mp3]<\/blockquote>\n

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Update:<\/i> My VelvetRevolution.us<\/a> colleague Kevin Zeese writes in to note that his coverage of the same news item at Voters For Peace<\/a>, also includes a video of Vanity Fair’s<\/i> Christopher Hitchens being waterboard in February of 2008, to similar result as “Mancow’s.” He also lasts about 5 seconds under waterboarding by friendly<\/i> torturers.<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object>UPDATE 5\/23\/09:<\/b><\/i> And this just in via ThinkProgress…<\/a><\/p>\n
Last night on Countdown, Olbermann announced that he was rescinding the offer to Hannity, and instead giving $10,000 to charity following radio host Erich “Mancow”\u009d Muller’s waterboarding attempt<\/a>. Olbermann promised to donate to the charity Veterans of Valor<\/a>, founded by Sgt. Klay South<\/a>, who administered the waterboarding to Muller. Olbermann revealed that Mancow’s publicist had contacted Olbermann’s show yesterday to see whether Olbermann would make a similar offer to Mancow as he did for Hannity:<\/p>\n

OLBERMANN: Mancow Muller had the guts to put his mouth where his mouth was, and the guts to admit he was dead wrong.<\/strong> As you saw, he not only said it is torture, but that he had nearly drowned as a boy, and it is drowning, and that he would have admitted to anything to make it stop.<\/p>\n

So the offer to the coward Hannity “\u201d a thousand dollars a second he lasted on the waterboard “\u201d is withdrawn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And to Mr. Muller, whose station’s publicity person contacted us yesterday saying she’d heard I’d offered ten thousand dollars to anybody who would do what he did “\u201c<\/p>\n

You got it. Ten thousand dollars to the military-families charity of the man who did the waterboarding, Veterans Of Valor. […]\n

As to Hannity, you are now unnecessary.<\/strong><\/div>\n

UPDATE 5\/29\/09:<\/em><\/strong> Olbermann interviews Mancow after his waterboarding. Video follows below. Here’s a bit of the transcript…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

MANCOW: Sean Hannity called and said it’s not torture. I said Sean — he’s a friend of mine — it is torture…<\/p>\n

OLBERMANN: Can you, having gone through this, trust you get the right answer?<\/p>\n

MANCOW: Keith, the honest answer is, I don’t know. If I had information, I’m sure I would have given it up”\u00a6I would have said anything to make it stop…
\n…
\nLook, you’ve said something incorrectly, and I think everyone has. They compare it to drowning. Now, I drowned as a kid and I had to be revived”\u00a6This is worse. Okay, this isn’t gulping for air. This is, your brain is shut off. This is water at the back of your skull; a gallon of water poured down my nose. I had a marine do it, and I mean, it was good night Irene; game over”\u00a6I thought I could go 30 seconds. I’d hold my breath. Big deal. They sprinkle water. It is a big deal, and it’s torture.<\/p><\/div>\n