Video: Mancow gets waterboarded
posted at 4:00 pm on May 22, 2009 by Allahpundit
I’m too lazy on an afternoon before a holiday weekend to check our archives for how many clips I’ve posted of private citizens voluntarily waterboarding themselves to prove how awful it is. Suffice it to say the number’s greater than three, which of course is the total number of terrorists waterboarded by the CIA. Like Hitchens, Mancow readily calls it torture, which must make this the first torture technique in history that can double as a shock-jock radio bit. Needless to say, the ethical question isn’t whether waterboarding is harrowing; every account of it that I’ve ever read says it is. The ethical question is whether it’s necessary and effective, harrowing or not, in drawing out life-saving info in an emergency situation. I’d have been interested in hearing Mancow’s opinion, post-boarding, on whether he’d still use the procedure if he thought it might avert a terrorist attack. I know which way I’d bet.
Blowback
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I can’t help thinking that at least to some degree, it’s relative. It may feel like torture to a typical American male, but is it torture to someone who is trained to decapitate innocents?
They have to be laughing their asses off, watching America argue about this.
capitalist piglet on May 22, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Brilliant!
blink on May 22, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Of course not. The post I responded to was asking where we draw the line between procedures that constitute torture and those that don’t. I’m simply echoing the point made by many here that if people volunteer to undergo a procedure, that procedure can’t rationally be considered torture. Make sense?
DarkCurrent on May 22, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Exactly! Every jackass who volunteered for this did it because they knew that no harm would come to them, which really undermines the waterboarding-is-torture argument.
If you want to argue that KSM et al didn’t know that no harm would come to them, and therefore it was torture, then I would point out that your definition of torture is entirely dependent on the subject’s knowledge and state of mind, rather than the procedure itself. In which case, it would logically follow that waterboarding could be employed in a very specific way so as not to be defined as “torture” and the CIA would be well advised to stick to those methods.
Oh wait – nevermind.
landshark on May 22, 2009 at 5:00 PM
What are you talking about?
I asked how exactly you know how legit he was about this topic?
blink on May 22, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Gosh lorien, what’s your excuse? Do you have short term memory loss. I can’t believe you can’t remember to put something back where you found it. Geez, you must really be busy at work or something because I ALWAYS put things back where I found them. If you can’t find where it goes, don’t take it in the first place. I swear, men are so forgetful. You actually hurt my feelings because I work day and night, my fingers to the bone to make sure that your home is clean and comfortable for you. And what do you do? You turn it into a mancave, complete with dirt and your dirty socks. Why can’t you pick up your dirty clothes? Is it so hard to find the hamper? Why do you insist on getting undressed in the dining room and leaving your dirty clothes there? I can’t believe you, lorien. Were you raised by wolves?
Torture. It’s what’s for dinner.
HornetSting on May 22, 2009 at 5:00 PM
I’ve been tortured since January 20, 2009.
txag92 on May 22, 2009 at 5:01 PM
He just demonstrated why it’s such an effective interrogation technique. We should have used it and still should be using it.
jonezee on May 22, 2009 at 5:01 PM
Well, it sure wasn’t Obama who was in office when the housing boom burst and the markets subsequently tanked after binging on same.
starfleet_dude on May 22, 2009 at 5:01 PM
Sorry. I understand.
If volunteer, then not torture.
But the converse isn’t true.
blink on May 22, 2009 at 5:03 PM
starfleet_dude is really acting the Starfleet part …
He’s hidden behind his “cloak of morality”, portraying a righteousness that is superior to all others here.
The only problem with his “superior morality” is that to maintain it, to not do what must be done to protect the lives of innocents means hundreds, maybe thousands must die.
His true cloak is one of cowardice. Only cowards sacrifice the innocent for their selfish purposes.
darwin on May 22, 2009 at 5:03 PM
I think it has something to do with being subject to it as part of Ventura’s past military training.
starfleet_dude on May 22, 2009 at 5:03 PM
You are a master of cause and effect.
lorien1973 on May 22, 2009 at 5:04 PM
Do you think the housing bubble shouldn’t have burst? Should it have inflated forever?
blink on May 22, 2009 at 5:05 PM
Uncomfortable, stressful, and unpleasant? You bet.
Would I want it done to me? Hell no.
Do I still get my prostate checked every year? Torture for sure.
TexAz on May 22, 2009 at 5:05 PM
But it was Bush (and McCain) who asked Congress to put the brakes on the boom and Freddie and Fannie buying up any loan so it could be securitized. But I guess they hate poor people because they don’t want them to have a roof over their heads and take part in the American dream.
gwelf on May 22, 2009 at 5:05 PM
Maybe its because you are the only person that finds missing things that are NOT in the last place you look for them.
WashJeff on May 22, 2009 at 5:06 PM
Oh no? Then why, when Bush , and others called for, repeatedly, some oversight with Frannie, and Freddie, every dem, including Obama, voted no? That my dear, makes him as guilty as anyone. Not for all of it, but the complicity, is there. Oh wait. Was he hiding in the cloak room?
capejasmine on May 22, 2009 at 5:06 PM
I’m seriously considering starting a professional waterboarding league.
USWBL
Vincenzo on May 22, 2009 at 5:06 PM
Do not forget Obama and his gang controlled both houses of congress since 2006. Not to mention Bawny Frank, Chris Dodd and others.
infidel on May 22, 2009 at 5:06 PM
*sobbing*
lorien1973 on May 22, 2009 at 5:07 PM
Hate it when I do this….
Prosecute my doctor!
TexAz on May 22, 2009 at 5:07 PM
Are you joking?
Just because he was waterboarded he’s suddenly an expert at the employment of waterboarding?
I bet we have commenters on this thread that were waterboarded more times than that idiot.
In fact, I bet the total number of EIT’s used on people commenting right now is in the hundreds.
blink on May 22, 2009 at 5:07 PM
I think it shouldn’t have started in the first place. By 2005 it was clear that housing prices were in fact only affordable if you took out a teaser ARM. That should have set off alarms, but it didn’t and we’re now paying the price.
starfleet_dude on May 22, 2009 at 5:07 PM
that ain’t torture, mancow.
DrW on May 22, 2009 at 5:08 PM
And prosecute his lawyer that told him it was ok to do. And prosecute the politicians that allow it to be legal!
blink on May 22, 2009 at 5:08 PM
Are you sure? Obama probably voted ‘present’. =)
gwelf on May 22, 2009 at 5:09 PM
And people shouldn’t have bought internet stocks in the 90s, or oil stocks last year, or tulip bulbs in the 1600s, or….
blink on May 22, 2009 at 5:09 PM
Correct. And there is plenty of blame to go around.
gwelf on May 22, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Where does the fact that Mancow has always been a huge wuss factor into all this?
Kataklysmic on May 22, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Obama held the office of US Senator. Aren’t you surprised he did nothing to prevent the looming crisis that his incredible genius must surely have foreseen?
DarkCurrent on May 22, 2009 at 5:11 PM
You bet your sweet ass he would! Mancow would be all over this if his family or probably even his best friend were threatened with death!
And anyhow, if this is “torture,” then the US military tortures its own in SpecOps training. How many effing times does it have to be said?!
gryphon202 on May 22, 2009 at 5:12 PM
In the words of Joseph P. Kennedy back in 1929:
“I knew it was time to sell when my ‘shoeshine boy’ gave me a stock tip.”
starfleet_dude on May 22, 2009 at 5:12 PM
Is Mancow still alive? Is he physically damaged? Has he now endured long term mental damage?
If the anwers are yes, no, no, then, under the law, he was not tortured. If he expected the answers to be anything else, he was a brave man. If those were the answers he expected, then he’s lying.
unclesmrgol on May 22, 2009 at 5:15 PM
Gee..he’s up talking about it moments later with what looks to be no permanent damage.
Extreme unpleasantness or fear is not “torture”.
I guess I forgot the left’s new m.o. that maybe we can extract the terrorist info by using love and extra-cuddly snuggles on them or something.
BakerAllie on May 22, 2009 at 5:15 PM
“You want to impress me. Take the wheel Stevie”
You want to impress me. Electrodes to the genitals…
Caper29 on May 22, 2009 at 5:15 PM
Very well stated. I agree, it’s all about context and motive and while I don’t always agree with my government and I at times question their motives in this instance I’m giving them the benefit of my doubt that their motives for using EIT’S were to gain intelligence in order to prevent another 9-11 (or worse) and thus protect our republic and its people.
IMHO this whole “torture” argument/meme is a lefty pacifist red-herring argument to draw some sort of moral equivalence between the US and our enemies, par for the course for America hating lefties. So again IMHO the lefties have two goals with furthering and muddying this argument, first is to besmirch the US and second to ban anything that would be remotely considered torture, including tickling a prisoner with a feather!
Regardless if waterboarding can be defined as torture or not (just as in art it’s definition is in the eyes of the beholder) the bottom line is if using waterboarding or any other EIT provides any actionable intelligence that can be used to prevent another 9-11 or worse I’m all for it, after all, our laws, constitution, etc. are not suicide pacts, SURVIVAL NEEDS COME FIRST and anyone that cannot recognize that rational logic is a FOOL!
Liberty or Death on May 22, 2009 at 5:16 PM
We all remember the bratty little kid at school who’d hold their breath until they passed out, temper tantrum style.
Going without oxygen until you pass out hurts until you pass out, but even crazy little brats do it for attention.
Now that these same little brats have grown up, THEY call it torture because they no longer have the stomach to endure the pain, a quality they’ve lost with age, having become completely self indulgent, lesson learned in childhood. The tactic they use now, instead of silently holding their breath, is the incessant screaming and whining. Still brats. Brats und Beer a la Berlin.
maverick muse on May 22, 2009 at 5:17 PM
Come on! By Mancow’s admission “[he] drowned when his was a child” … well younger.
Isn’t that what christians refer to a baptism?
My wife irrigates her sinuses with a neti pot, after she heard Oprah gassing about it. She must be readying herself for jihad.
kregg on May 22, 2009 at 5:18 PM
It ain’t torture since it can be completely avoided by spilling the beans. Brats, Beer und Beans, bitte.
maverick muse on May 22, 2009 at 5:19 PM
kregg on May 22, 2009 at 5:18 PM
Flushing works wonders.
maverick muse on May 22, 2009 at 5:20 PM
If this is torture, shouldn’t someone go to jail for doing this?
faraway on May 22, 2009 at 5:21 PM
“That hurt!” vs. “You meant to kill me!”
maverick muse on May 22, 2009 at 5:21 PM
I saw a kid get hurt worse than this in a T-ball game last night. Baseball is torture!
faraway on May 22, 2009 at 5:22 PM
Mancow lasted about three seconds, and was able to sit up and get out when he wanted to. Might have been a wee bit unpleasant, like the babies who cry when they’re baptized.
Probably KSM and the other two water-boarded terrorists were held down and not allowed to sit up or tear off their blindfolds, and it would be worse for them.
But, given what they planned for innocent Americans, a little blub-blub to make them sing was well worthwhile. How many thousands of innocent Americans avoided incineration (a la 9/11 in the World Trade Center) because three guys (who are still alive) were water-boarded?
Definitely a trade worth making!
Steve Z on May 22, 2009 at 5:22 PM
You do that WAY too well.
thomasaur on May 22, 2009 at 5:22 PM
Libs might prefer it with bottled water.
JiangxiDad on May 22, 2009 at 5:23 PM
I’m still suffering PSD from that rant!
lorien1973 on May 22, 2009 at 5:24 PM
Were you shorting REITs into and at the top of the bubble?
If you were, then I know you’re too smart to believe your statements that Bush sank the economy.
blink on May 22, 2009 at 5:25 PM
That’s it?
And the GOP is running scared of defending this?
We poured a few cups of water on the guy that made hundreds of people jump out of burning buildings? Are you kidding me?
faraway on May 22, 2009 at 5:25 PM
going down a waterslide with your legs flying open is worse than waterboarding! Don’t ask how I know!
lorien1973 on May 22, 2009 at 5:25 PM
Exactly. I have the feeling that if his arm was broken or an eye removed someone would be in jail.
gwelf on May 22, 2009 at 5:26 PM
starfleet_moron wouldn’t pass his own supposed rules for lending credit to people that he suggested the other day. and he doesn’t understand what unsecured credit is, either. So I wouldn’t be expecting much out of him.
lorien1973 on May 22, 2009 at 5:26 PM
Star fleet, you entitled to believe as you wish, and I respect that right, but it amazes me this moral outrage at waterboarding, when those you support, advocated it’s use, but only disparaged it, when it became politically expedient.
It amazes me, that you voice outrage at the use of water boarding, on known terrorists, that were complicit, in the deaths of 3,000, on 9/11, but show little if any outrage, or shame, over the moral outrage of abortion.
As I said, you are entitled to your opinion, and beliefs, and I respect that, but the credibility of your opinion, is what I have a hard time accepting.
You have voiced your outrage to waterboarding those that would kill us, but seem to have no outrage, or objection, to the killing, of the unborn.
capejasmine on May 22, 2009 at 5:27 PM
Having not read all the comments (speaking of torture) I just want to know one thing?
When will Mancow be released from the hospital and when will his physical rehab assignment begin?
jjshaka on May 22, 2009 at 5:30 PM
It’s all an illusion. It makes them think they’re morally superior when in fact they’re the opposite … they never think about the consequences of their positions, in fact they ignore them, as long as it makes them feel good. It’s an entirely selfish, self centered viewpoint … as all liberalism is.
darwin on May 22, 2009 at 5:30 PM
ROFLMAO!!!! That visual is to funny!!!
capejasmine on May 22, 2009 at 5:31 PM
I wonder if Mancow would have volunteered for some al Qaeda style “torture” … you know, holes drilled in your back, acid dripped on your flesh and balls, bones broken with a hammer. That kinda stuff.
darwin on May 22, 2009 at 5:32 PM
My final word on this. If you have to try it to determine whether it’s torture or not, then it’s not.
DFCtomm on May 22, 2009 at 5:34 PM
I declare on this day that paying excessive taxes, knowing that if by chance my accountant or I file incorrectly I could go to jail, is torture. Therefor, we must ban our current tax code.
kregg on May 22, 2009 at 5:35 PM
Really, that’s it? That’s all?
He said it’s torture, but he was still talking and standing. Ask him again tomorrow.
But the technique used by the CIA is more tame than this.
It’s also worth pointing out that Mancow is uniquely sensitive to being frightened by this technique, as he has had a near-drowning experience before.
hawksruleva on May 22, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Listening to Oliver North on radio yesterday, he said he has been waterboarded and has administered waterboarding as part of military training. In his opinion, the difference between torture and waterboarding is that when you are tortured, you pray to die. When you are waterboarded, it is bad, but you know you are not going to be killed.
sandspur on May 22, 2009 at 5:38 PM
there should be a law against waterboarding or something… lock ‘em up /sarc
funny, I always thought torture would by definition not allow someone to speak coherantly and move around without skipping a beat just a few mere seconds after the inflicting of such terrible ‘torture’
dissapointing in that he didn’t even have the courage to submit to a real waterboarding situation but instead used this as a publicity stunt
how much longer before kids get together on the weekends to waterboard each other… oh wait, never mind…
gatorboy on May 22, 2009 at 5:39 PM
Yet one more idiot proves it isn’t toture.
Thune on May 22, 2009 at 5:40 PM
I would be willing to try it, even after watching this.
WisCon on May 22, 2009 at 5:42 PM
I wonder how many of these putzes (what’s the plural of putz?) would be using enhanced interogation tactics on themselves if the CIA was doing good old fashioned Thailand style canings?
NONE.
Thune on May 22, 2009 at 5:43 PM
Well, that just illustrates the whole point, doesn’t it? It feels like torture, but it doesn’t do actual physical damage and never puts the subject in real danger. It’s the exploitation of a reflex, not the creation of physical pain or a source of injury.
Blacklake on May 22, 2009 at 5:46 PM
If Mancow coughed up vital national-security information, then it’s not torture. Otherwise, he can call it whatever he wants.
Bush and Cheney did the right thing.
BuckeyeSam on May 22, 2009 at 5:47 PM
Torture is defined by the Convention Against Torture as severephysical or severe mental pain.
Waterboarding is neither.
nickj116 on May 22, 2009 at 5:48 PM
Learning how to water ski on a slalom ski is waterboarding.
thomasaur on May 22, 2009 at 5:48 PM
There’s a huge difference between torture and an interrogation technique, regardless of what the lefties say.
People simply do not volunteer for torture.
Where’s the line for folks all set for the rack, or being broken on the wheel, or having their feet roasted or just some simple eye-jabbing with a hot poker?
Oh, yeah, there is no line. That’s cuz those are torture.
So that should solve the debate real quick. If you’re a media personality and you volunteer to have it done to you, it ain’t torture.
12thMonkey on May 22, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Incidentally, what does this raise the ratio of journalists/celebrities/pundits that have been waterboarded to actual terrorists that have been waterboarded? 18:1 or so? Higher?
Blacklake on May 22, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Damn!.. He survived!
justice4ddd on May 22, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Washington.
12thMonkey on May 22, 2009 at 5:50 PM
why do you think my husband carries a gun, even when he’s not at work. nothing says shut up like a .40! ;)
HornetSting on May 22, 2009 at 5:51 PM
I’m a firm believer that waterboarding is not torture. The only question I would have is: would you consider it to be a mock execution? As I understand it, that can be considered torture.
To me, it’s not, as subjects are told that they’re not going to be killed. It’s just exploitation of human physiology,specifically the creation of a heightened sense of drowning by placing the subject in a particular position.
hawksruleva on May 22, 2009 at 5:51 PM
Let’s have Mancow try the Japanese water torture, known as the water cure. Fill his stomach with water until it distends, then jump on it.
When we’re done, and when he can stand/talk, ask him which one is torture.
hawksruleva on May 22, 2009 at 5:52 PM
What a pussy. Why do these tools allow them selves to be “tortured”? Because they know for a fact that there will be no long term effects.
I wonder if he’d let me shove bamboo shoots under his fingernails to determine if that is torture?
csdeven on May 22, 2009 at 5:53 PM
When a woman who has undergone natural childbirth and waterboarding tells me it’s torture, then I will consider the possibility. I like Col. North’s definition: if you pray to die, it’s probably torture. If you can talk about how bad it is less than a minute later, and not have nightmares for months about it, it’s probably not.
spudmom on May 22, 2009 at 5:56 PM
I admire you steadfast convictions, starfleet_dude.
I hear that you’d rather see your family die by suffocation than pour water on the face of the creep who kidnapped and buried them in some unknown backwoods location.
That’s absolutely awesome!
And after the funeral, you’d be able to sleep nights and everyday tell your friends, “At least I didn’t waterboard him because it wouldn’t have worked anyway.”
I’m am totally blown away!
Really.
I wish I were more like you. I just don’t think I would be able to stop myself from doing anything and everything to save my family – including, and I am so ashamed of this, “waterboarding”.
I am just so not worthy.
Your family must be so proud of you knowing that you have “convictions” so strong that you’d rather see them dead than violate them. Those are to-die-for cool convictions.
You are one wicked dude.
Live Long and Prosper, starfleet_dude.
Rod on May 22, 2009 at 6:02 PM
How about getting circumcised Mancow. Nah…he needs ratings but not that bad.
RobCon on May 22, 2009 at 6:06 PM
I am waiting for someone to say “Cool…can we do it again”?
RobCon on May 22, 2009 at 6:07 PM
These people are idiots.
It’s not supposed to be pleasant.
Just because it’s unpleasant doesn’t make it torture.
misterpeasea on May 22, 2009 at 6:12 PM
Is he still alive? Can he still talk? Does he have use of his limbs? If Mancow can say affirmative to those…it wasn’t torture.
StevefromMKE on May 22, 2009 at 6:15 PM
Better the water board than the butcher knife.
Let’s retain some perspective in sillyville.
profitsbeard on May 22, 2009 at 6:16 PM
This is so tiring. I wish the adults were back in charge.
I don’t care what they do to terrorist scum to get information, good or bad, out of them.
I don’t care if the “suffer” while being interogated.
I don’t care if it hurts some fookin pansie’s sensibilities in the Beltway.
I DO care if the children in charge now end up getting us attacked again because they were too busy navel gazing and tyring to make nice with the fookin islamist wackos.
Idiots. All of them.
exsanguine on May 22, 2009 at 6:19 PM
This may be all rumor, but I understand that there are still times when we are still rude and very curt with the prisoners at Gitmo.
Star20 on May 22, 2009 at 6:20 PM
For me it comes down to this…
Did it save lives and did the terrorist survive?
If yes and yes, of course it was worth it. Shut up liberals already.
Spiritk9 on May 22, 2009 at 6:20 PM
Did you support our taking out serial torturer Saddam Hussein?
Del Dolemonte on May 22, 2009 at 6:20 PM
I hear the stinging insects of Guantanamo Bay are on strike. They were union stinging insects and if obama shuts down the prison, they will no longer have a job, paying $40 an hour and benefits, and retirement after four days of work! Union of Stinging Insects say- Keep us employed!
HornetSting on May 22, 2009 at 6:21 PM
This country is a bunch of juveniles, from our pathetic “leaders” right down to a wimpified populace.
Torture?
Why is everyone who waterboards themselves able to coherantly and immediately explain what they just went through, then walk away unharmed?
Has anyone volunteered to have their arms bent back like what happened to McCain? Or anything with intense pain? No. ‘Course not.
Because these people really KNOW this isn’t torture.
Skidd on May 22, 2009 at 6:22 PM
WTF??? Is that what you think “ethics” means? Doing what’s “necessary and effective”?
Whether something is “effective” has absolutely nothing to do with whether it’s ethical. Things can be effective and unethical, and they can be ineffective and ethical. Does this really need to be explained?
orange on May 22, 2009 at 6:22 PM
Tortuer is an innocent civilian going to work one morning, and less than 2 hours later being forced to choose between burning to death or jumping a thousand feet to the street below. Without knowing who forced him to make that decision, and why.
Never forget. Unless you’re a Leftist.
Del Dolemonte on May 22, 2009 at 6:23 PM
Oops, that should be torture
Del Dolemonte on May 22, 2009 at 6:24 PM
ROFL!!!!
capejasmine on May 22, 2009 at 6:37 PM
Dude are you really that stupid? Prove causation
—
BTW torture is having your tongue cut out or ears cut off. It is having wood shoved under your nails.
Torture is jumping out a building a hundred floors up because you cannot breath or it is too hot.
Water boarding is not torture any more than an Obama news conference. Mancow has lived a soft life so of course he thought it was uncomfortable.
Jamson64 on May 22, 2009 at 6:44 PM
Torture is being THIS GUY’S girlfriend.
HornetSting on May 22, 2009 at 6:52 PM
i never understood the argument “but torture gives you false information!
Um well, so does “interrogating” or just politely asking questing, so lets not do that either ! You say “you can not do anything but ask questions, no roughing them up or anything, no sleep deprevation, no loud music just asking questions with full stomachs.?
The fact is, if somebody knows something he doesn’t want to tell you, yes he will lie. Even if you torture him , he may not tell you; on the other hand if torture wouldnt get the information out of him… then nothing will. not being nice. maybe the only other way is bribery to get the info… which is alot worse than torture.
As for the word torture and waterboarding… it may be torture but it is the most gentle and easy and far left of the spectrum of torture…
Its like like the difference in slapping a woman on the ass, and full blown raping. I mean, their both Sexual assault… and im sure most women would rather not get their ass slapped, but given the choice between butt pat or raped 99% will choose slap… besides Megan McCain cause fat chicks hat but slaps(okay i was just being an ass there)
Donut on May 22, 2009 at 6:55 PM
Anything we do to our own special forces I believe is fair game for terrorists.
scrubbiedude on May 22, 2009 at 6:55 PM
Perfect post in many ways…it sums up the illogical thinking of the left in a NUT-shell…well done!
Liberty or Death on May 22, 2009 at 6:59 PM
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