Mancow is a conservative radio host who has been critical of waterboarding. This guy is a bit too much of a publicity hound for me to consider him to have any serious convictions, but this is huge in a symbolic way. Nobody makes windbags like conservative hosts, from Limpbaugh toCoulter, to Hannity (who actually volunteered to be waterboarded when challenged by Olbermann, and then chickened out, even after an offer of two thousand dollars a second donated to a charity for the troops(video below)). I’ve been waiting for one of them to finally have the balls to do it. Mancow made it six seconds. The bar has been set. This video should circulate until the big names either try it or change their tune. It is one thing to think of torture as ok. As much as I disagree with the position, it is valid. To claim we are just splashing some water on their faces, and that it isn’t torture, while being so obviously terrified of it is hypocrisy of the worst kind.
Update: Olberman came through! He donated ten grand because Mancow manned up were Hannity couldn’t.
I don’t think it’s as deep as O’Donnell theorizes. Hannity’s a party hack, nothing more nothing less. If either Clinton or President Al Gore had waterboarded, Hannity would be fighting off others to lead the charge on calling it torture and starting a war crimes trial against them. When Clinton was bombing Kosovo in the late 90s, Hannity called it an unjust and illegal war. Then Bush does something on a more massive scale and it becomes heroic. He represents everything that is wrong with what passes for conservative today.
Very true, but it isn’t about them, it is about the armies of morons who listen to them. This is a great chance to embarrass them out of popularity.