Eight days of silence since Hannity volunteered to be waterboarded: Is he chickening out?

[Joanne98]

Over a week ago -- on Thurs., April 22 -- Fox News' torture enthusiast Sean Hannity agreed to be waterboarded for charity to prove that it is not torture. Though he dismissed waterboarding as simply taking someone's head and "dunk it in water," he has remained notably silent on his promise ever since, perhaps regretting that he volunteered to subject himself to the intensely terrifying suffocation experience. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann offered last week to donate $1,000 to military families for every second Hannity is waterboarded. In the face of Hannity's silence, Olbermann repeated the offer this week:

OLBERMANN: Sean, my offer still stands, 1,000 dollars a second. This is not a stunt nor game. Prove to those families you are a man of your word. In fact, prove you are a man.

Hannity, we await your reply.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/01/hannity-chicken/

[Teaser]

1. who cares. fuck hannity.

note that I am not actually advocating fucking hannity, as I am against torture.

[FiveGoodMen]

5. I care because I want to see him waterboarded.

Or, failing that, made a fool in the public eye.

[Teaser]

6. "made a fool in the public eye"

I have his show times, TV and radio, available if you want them :)

[Tempest]

12. I care because he said the money would go towards the soldier's families

Apparently Insanity doesn't give a damn about the soldiers.

[Teaser]

14. That's why you shouldn't care

because we know from the start that he is a liar. Don't waste time with liars. Because they will lie, and you will have, well, wasted your time.

[Tempest]

18. Liars need to be exposed

Silence enables boneheads like Insanity.

[sharp_stick]

2. Hannity will now deny

he ever said any such thing. When the video is shown, he will deny the existence of the video as it's being shown. He will then call anybody that thinks the video exists an anti-American commie muslim homicide bomber.

Just my guess but I'd put money on it in case anyone is interested in a little wager.

[LaurenG]

3. he's probably trying to figure out how to get a tracheotomy done

before he does it so he can say it wasn't torture. :(

[AngryOldDem]

4. Sean, if Christopher Hitchens can do it...so can you.

Put up or shut up.

[tridim]

7. Obviously he's terrorized just thinking about the possibility

Which is exactly the point.

The people BushCo tortured had no time to think about what was about to happen, hundreds of times, while sleep deprived, malnourished and weak.

[Cronus Protagonist]

10. I capsized once in a kayak

While I was upside down, the water rushed up my nose. Let me tell you there is an automatic flailing of arms and legs, every muscle in your body pushes anything nearby to try to get out of the situation. It's a last-ditch effort to stay alive. The panic is beyond your worst imagination. Not only do you know you're going to die in seconds, but you also have to deal with the horror that there's nothing you can do about it. And you're going to die. There's no time for even a single thought.

Prior to this incident, I could do Eskimo rolls, would capsize routinely to demonstrate the escape method (with spray deck attached). However, after that incident, I could no longer capsize voluntarily and no more Eskimo rolls. To this day, it was one of the most frightening things I have ever witnessed or felt. And I will do everything in my power to ensure it does not happen to me again. And I was not restrained other than having a spray deck holding me into the boat. The first time that happened was the only time I would ever allow it to happen. If there is any danger of it happening again to me, I will not let myself get in that position. Ever.

I'm thinking water boarding must be WORSE, and then it happens again, and again, and again. Each time the fear rises exponentially.

[tridim]

11. That fear is why I've never kayaked

Something about being sealed in the boat while rolled over just doesn't seem right to me.

Good analogy.

[Cronus Protagonist]

16. Yeah, when water gets up your nose, it's the end of the world

Literally.

[TechBear_Seattle]

8. You aren't actually surprised, are you?

Hannity is an archetype of the cowardly, ignorant right-wing blow-hard.

[Eric J in MN]

9. I would be unimpressed if Hannity did it.

It's very different to know you'll be spending minutes being hurt by people who have nothing against you for the sake of your experiment, and that you can stop at any time, and being held as a prisoner indefinitely and being waterboarded against your will.

Many police officers voluntarily get tased for training. That doesn't mean it isn't torture to electro-shock a prisoner.

[FiveGoodMen]

15. "you'll be spending minutes being hurt by people"

I think Hitchens made it 11 seconds and some reporter for Playboy who tried it made it 5 or 6 seconds.

If Hannity did this and had to option to stop whenever, he'd never make it one minute.

[konnichi wa]

13. He's been busy reading everything he can find on Houdini

...

[muffin1]

17. Reading?

I think you give him too much credit!
Welcome to DU!:hi:

[Mr. Ected]

19. It's Better That He Offered And Then Chickened Out

We can mock him for this forever.

And by extension, the chickenhawks who parrot him.

[SpiralHawk]

20. Republicons are masters of the chickenhawk thingy

Big mouths, no service, no cred, no honor

Hannity is just the latest example

[gratuitous]

21. Chickening out? More like cutting and running

Actually, I think it may have come as something of a revelation to Mr. Hannity that anyone actually listens to one fool thing he says. You can bet a dollar he never does.