Olbermann presses Hannity over waterboarding offer

[UnrepentantUnitarian]

NEW YORK – The debate over torture is getting personal for two of cable TV's prime-time hosts.

After Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity made a seemingly impromptu offer last week to undergo waterboarding as a benefit for charity, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann leapt at it. He offered $1,000 to the families of U.S. troops for every second Hannity withstood the technique.

Olbermann repeated the offer on Monday's show and said in an interview Tuesday that he's heard no response. He said he'll continue to pursue it.

"I don't think he has the courage to even respond to this — let alone do it," Olbermann said....

More here...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090429/ap_on_en_tv/us_tv_hannity_s_torture


-- Don't you just love it when hypocrisy is exposed so blatantly?

[izzie]

1. Many loves the Grand Inquisitor I guess.

Gee I thought he was a black mark on history. How did we ever drag those type guys in to our age any how? What is with this stuff? I think there should be not question that it is off the books.

[DrDan]

2. it is great - about time they are called on their faux-testosterone

all bluster - no bite

[life_long_dem]

3. It proves hannity is a coward and a liar. He doesn't support the troops.

[Canuckistanian]

4. It's just a little water splashed on his face

What's the big deal?

[DCKit]

21. At least, for once in his life, he'd have an honest reason to cry.

Seriously though, I think he's afraid of doing it and going into traumatic shock (on live TV).

[Bucky]

35. It's little more than fraternity-style hijinx, when you get right down to it.

[SpiralHawk]

5. "Oh shit. Whimper." - Sean 'Gucci Loafers Deferment' Hannity

[Vickers]

6. Why does Sean hate America?

:shrug:

[Catshrink]

7. Has Rush every visited a war zone?

We know he weaseled out of serving, but has he ever put his sorry butt on the line either? And they wonder why we call them chickenhawks.

[Bucky]

36. Three divorces and counting

Ironically, when Rush divorces, it really does reinforce strong family values.

[mrbarber]

8. A question for all DUer's-

Is there anything you would be willing to undergo 5 minutes worth of waterboarding?

Personally, I would do it to be able to have the funds to open my own comic shop.

[bvar22]

10. Then you don't understand waterboarding.

It has nothing to do with will power, or the ability to tolerate pain.

[Vickers]

15. You wouldn't make it 20 seconds.

Seriously.

[rvablue]

27. What makes you think that you would last for even a fraction of that time?

Christopher Hitchens thought exactly like you did.

He didn't think it was torture and voluntarily went through it. He thought it was no big deal and since he had the knowledge that it wouldn't kill him that he would be able to withstand it.

Well, you know what?

He lasted 3, count 'em 3, seconds. T-H-R-E-E seconds. And now he says unequivocally that it is indeed torture.

[Duer 157099]

37. I don't understand why he didn't just hold his breath

Certainly he should be able to hold his breath for longer than 3 seconds? If you don't breathe, you don't inhale any water, right?

Honestly, for the right price, I'd do it.

[Raskolnik]

39. That's not really how it works.

The water is poured into the breathing cavities. My understanding is that holding your breath doesn't really accomplish anything.

[KharmaTrain]

9. I'm Still In For $100 A Second...

I think the netroots should jump in and let's make this something very special and good. I'm sure there are others that would donate for the pleasure of seeing Shawn put his mouth where his torture is.

If anything, I suggest Keith pull a BillO...send a reporter to sit outside Shawn's home and studio and ask him personally about fulfilling his challenge. I'm sure he'd understand the public's "need to know".

The closest Shawn ever gets to the water is driving over the East River from his ritzy suburban digs...from all that grease and oil in his hair, sure doen't look like he sees a shower too often.

[bvar22]

11. Olbermann had a "SERE" trainer on his show....

...who has volunteered to administer the torture.
The trainer said that within 30 seconds, Hannity will be screaming that Countdown is the best show on television.

[Karenina]

14. I was HORRIFIED with the whole exchange

UNTIL I SAW THIS CLIP. :rofl:

[Qutzupalotl]

12. Be sure to join the facebook group "Waterboard Sean Hannity for Charity." nt

[Critters2]

20. Email him from his own website.

Talk it up on conservative sites. Call his bluff!

[Marr]

13. Almost all of Hannity's ilk are moral cowards by definition.

You cannot claim that a war is essential to your nation's survival and then refuse to join it. If you're sitting in safety and praising a war, you're either a liar or a moral coward. No third option.

[Obamanaut]

16. Just so I understand what's happening here. We say we hate torture,

including waterboarding, but we want to see Hannity waterboarded (tortured) just because he said he can stand it?

[backscatter712]

17. That or have Hannity eat his own words.

He's too chickenshit to go through with it, so I guess that means he thinks it's a little rougher than a carnival dunk tank...

[frylock]

18. it's known as calling his bluff..

anyone with half a brain knows he doesn't have the stones to follow throgh.

[Critters2]

19. We want Hannity to admit that being waterboarded is a terrifying prospect.

To stop claiming it isn't torture. I don't want him waterboarded. But I do want him to say he doesn't want to be, and why.

[Raskolnik]

22. Context matters.

Waterboarding is torture when it is done to someone against his will.

If a loudmouth dickhead like Hannity volunteers for it to prove either how tough he is or how mild waterboarding really is, however, it isn't torture.

[Fla Dem]

23. He volunteered to do it because he says IT IS NOT TORTURE!!!

If you step into a minefield, expect to be blown up. I see no contradiction in our stand against torture, and encouraging a big mouth, phony, coward to eat his own words.

[Fla Dem]

24. Erased...dupe...n/t

[tabasco]

25. I don't want the government torturing people against their will.

But reich-wingers who support torture and volunteer to undergo it to show that it's not so bad - I'm all for it.

Is it that difficult to understand? Do you have difficulty understanding simple comcepts?

[Obamanaut]

29. So "torture" is ok under circumstances that you approve of. That's

a simple concept that I can understand.

[Raskolnik]

33. Yes, all kinds of things are horrible if done to a person who does not consent, but perfectly

acceptable if the person consents to participate. Waterboarding is one of those things. That's why it isn't "torture" to do it to Hannity (if he volunteers) but is absolutely torture if its done to a prisoner.

There are plenty of other examples to demonstrate this point: if you run up to someone on the street and punch them as hard as you can in the face, you're going to do some jail time, but if if you punch the guy with whom you're in a boxing match, that is just fine. Similarly, if you and your spouse like to tie each other up and have sex, no problem. If, however, you tie someone up and have sex with them against their will, you're engaging in an entirely different activity.

Context matters.

[Marr]

40. You can't be that obtuse.

I think people around here are against the government torturing prisoners, not just "anti-waterboarding" as some abstract cause. If they were clambering for Hannity to be arrested, shipped to Gitmo, and tortured, *that* would be hypocritical.

[Mr. Ected]

26. But If He Follows Through and Lives To Tell the Tale

He will become the poster boy for torture defense.

[Raskolnik]

28. The point is not that it will *kill* him, the point is that there will be footage

of Hannity being unable to stand more than a few seconds of something he dismisses out of hand as not being all that bad. He can act tough all he wants, but he will be begging them to stop within moments.

[Mr. Ected]

30. No Matter How Much He Struggles and Begs For It To End

He will spin it to his favor, and FOX and fiends will portray him as the man who proved torture is not torture.

[Raskolnik]

31. Trying and succeeding are two very different things.

If you've seen the footage of people being waterboarded, it lacks a quiet dignity to say the least.

[Mr. Ected]

32. I Read Christopher Hitchin's Account of His Waterboarding

He, like Hannity, scoffed at it. Said it was not torture.

Afterwards, he wrote an eloquent essay in which he made a stark 180 in his assessment.

Hannity is a liar. If he assents to this publicity stunt, he would never in a thousand years change his tune about the policy. To do so, he would step on his corporate master's toes and Darth Cheney's as well. It simply will not happen. The act itself may be incontrovertable, but his spin will deceive his legions of hoodwinked listeners.

[Raskolnik]

34. Again, trying and succeeding are two different things.

No one expects honesty from Sean Hannity. The footage of the reality of waterboarding, however, speaks for itself.

[Duer 157099]

38. Disagree, and here's why

(and if the sere trainer who was on with Keith is the one to do it, he will do it this way)

The whole point of the exercise will be to get Hannity to confess to something, ANYTHING, in order for it to stop. And HE WILL, this we know for certain.

That will be a strong point that he will not, ever, be able to refute, no matter what he says about how "I just said it to make it stop" (whoops! you did what?)

It's a lose-lose for Hannity.

That's why I'm for it now.

If it were just to do it and then ask him if he enjoyed it, or thought it was torture, then I agree with you that it not only defeats the purpose but makes it worse.

No, it MUST accompany a false confession from him, in order for a point to be made. imho.