The T Word

by Todd Beeton, Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 10:40:39 AM EDT

Yesterday Sean Hannity committed on live TV to being waterboarded for charity. The exchange was an odd one and I give Charles Grodin credit for taking the conversation there but more notable I think than Hannity's tough guy acceptance of a challenge he'll never go through with is Hannity's rhetorical gymnastics:

GRODIN: You're for torture.
HANNITY: I am for enhanced interrogation.
GRODIN: You don't believe it's torture. Have you ever been waterboarded?
HANNITY: No, but Ollie North has.
GRODIN: Would you consent to be waterboarded? We can waterboard you?
HANNITY: Sure.
GRODIN: Are you busy on Sunday?
HANNITY: I'll do it for charity. I'll let you do it. I'll do it for the troops' families.

You see, it's not "torture," it's "enhanced interrogation." That's the right's party line. Don't use the "T" word! Which is why it was so surprising that the minority leader in the House, John Boehner, went off script at a press conference earlier today.

"Last week, they released these memos outlining torture techniques. That was clearly a political decision and ignored the advice of their Director of National Intelligence and their CIA director," Boehner said at a press conference in the Capitol.
The techniques discussed include waterboarding, slamming detainees into walls, and depriving them of sleep for up to 11 days.

D'oh! When asked about this unintentional slip of truth, a Boehner spokesman replaced the "T"-word with the "L"-word:

...Boehner spokesman Michael Steel writes, "It is clear from the context that Boehner was simply using liberals' verbiage to describe these interrogation techniques. The United States does not torture."

Well, no, not anymore we don't.

The fact that Boehner is on the defensive about torture is the latest sign that the right is losing the message war on torture. Another: even self-described Democratic moderate Claire McCaskill has put the impeachment of Jay Bybee on the table and today signaled an openness in congress to investigations into the use of torture.

Update [2009-4-23 15:8:59 by Todd Beeton]:Oh yeah, and still another sign: Shepherd Smith went off on torture as being un-American right there on FoxNews. How long you give him?

Tags: John Boehner, torture (all tags)

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It will never happen..

Everyone watched that video of Chris Hitchens being waterboarded, right?

Maybe Ollie North can be there to help Sean after he panics and begs for it to stop?

Sean would not let himself be humiliated on TV, so the chances are zilch this happens ever.

by WashStateBlue 2009-04-23 10:48AM | 0 recs

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Re: The T Word

$5 bucks says Klannity will pussy out and not get waterboarded

but I will give him a little credit if he does it for the troops ....... only a little

just as much credit he gave Pres Obama on the pirate rescue

by wellinformed 2009-04-23 11:38AM | 0 recs

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Two Schools of Thought

"Torture is immoral and wrong" vs. "Who cares if torture is immoral and wrong?"

I think too many of us like to think the second school of thought just doesn't exist or is so small, it's hardly noticable.

It's not.

by DTOzone 2009-04-23 11:43AM | 0 recs

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Re: Two Schools of Thought

It's not that, it's that the size of the second school of thought pretty much depends on what the population at large thinks everyone ELSE thinks. Like people dying in the third world from malnutrition is largely an 'eh' thing because that's what people think eveyone else thinks, but government profligacy, which is kind of a esoteric issue gets people at the water-cooler talking even though it doesn't affect them.

If the natural state of things was that a lot of people simply didn't care about this, you wouldn't have Sean Hannity and Boehner working their asses off to make sure that "it's not big deal" becomes standard.

by Jess81 2009-04-23 12:14PM | 0 recs

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Re: The T Word

...Boehner spokesman Michael Steel writes, "It is clear from the context that Boehner was simply using liberals' verbiage to describe these interrogation techniques. The United States does not torture."

I say this a lot. I say this a lot because it's true: when people say something is clear or obvious, 95% of the time what follows is the opposite of clear.

That's it, even John Boehner says it's torture! That should be on the lips of everyone these apologists try to drag into a debate on this.

by Jess81 2009-04-23 12:18PM | 0 recs