Lieberman Makes a Funny Joke About Waterboarding

by Damozel | That's it.  That's the story.  And here's the joke.  Are you ready?

‘We had hoped Vice President Cheney would be here tonight. I hope it’s not his back injury that’s keeping him away. Apparently, he hurt it moving some things out of his office. Personally, I had no idea that waterboards were so heavy.  (Think Progress, via Memeorandum)

Comedy is so relative.  If Jon Stewart had made the joke instead of Lieberman, I'd have laughed wryly.  Here's why I'm not laughing now:

Last year, Lieberman, who has voted against banning waterboarding, “reluctantly acknowledged” that he doesn’t believe that waterboarding is torture. “It is not like putting burning coals on people’s bodies. The person is in no real danger. The impact is psychological,” he said.(Think Progress)

People aren't in "real danger" if you pull out their nails either or administer a very few selective burns to their hands or arms either.  But most people would call that "torture," if -- say -- it were done to them.  I wish Lieberman had Hitchens' courage to see for himself what the "psychological" impact of waterboarding really is.  Though on second thought, no; Lieberman's comparatively stricken in years, and who knows if it might not be 'real danger' for him?

Which is my point here.  But some people -- no matter the evidence -- won't let evidence in if it disagrees with their preconceived excuses.

The Torture Administration

Former Interrogator Still Tormented by Recollections of Practices Used in Iraq

Iraq Detainees Held in Small Crates

Hitchens: 'If Waterboarding Isn't Torture, There's No Such Thing as Torture'

Another Expert Explains Waterboarding to Congress (Updated)

Military Interrogator: Torture isn't Operationally Effective

US Military & Intelligence Officials Weigh in on Torture Issue (Deaf Ears Dept) (12-6-07)

Is Waterboarding Torture? Part 5: Schooling the Senate

Or are so morally depraved that they sincerely believe that torturing enemies is all right in a pinch.

As I said, waterboarding humor is relative.  For funny jokes about waterboarding, this one's hard to beat:

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Comments

[ron russell]

Why don't you people get over this water-boarding issue. The vast majority of American support doing what it takes to get information from these rats even if you actually have to drown them in the process. Wait until the next attack comes and then dare to open your mouths--the public will pour water down your throats then. Am I guessing on this---not a chance and you all know I'm right. We live in a right of center country and thats the way it is. Keynesian policies will in the end, drive us more right, when people see the results. The Democrates are doomed to chase Keynesianism until they catch it just as Captain Ahab caught Moby Dick--sad isn't it!

[Charles]

Um, ron?

Waterboarding has been declared torture ever since the Spanish Inquisition. We hanged Japanese for using it on American soldiers:

"Republican presidential candidate John McCain reminded people Thursday that some Japanese were tried and hanged for torturing American prisoners during World War II with techniques that included waterboarding.

"There should be little doubt from American history that we consider that as torture otherwise we wouldn't have tried and convicted Japanese for doing that same thing to Americans," McCain said during a news conference." (www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/29/politics/main3554687.shtml)

Maybe the people you hang out with aren't quite as centrist as you think.