Liz Cheney, Feigning Ignorance

Crooksandliars.com, with attribution, printed a transcript of the argument between Liz Cheney of the famous Dick Cheney family and Lawrence O'Donnell on the May 22, 2009 episode of ABC's Good Morning America. The most telling remark from the former vice-president's daughter came halfway through when she actually said

Lawrence, are you going to let me answer here? Waterboarding is not torture. And you ought- I would refer to you Attorney General Holder's testimony-

Miss Cheney, meet conservative radio talk show host Eric "Mancow" Muller :



Muller, to his credit, had the courage to test his belief that waterboarding is not torture, and now acknowledges that it is. Not so Sean Hannity, who (to my surprise) never did take up Keith Olbermann's challenge (video below) on Countdown to undergo this "enhanced interrogation technique," even though Olbermann offered to give to charity $1,000-$2,000 for each second Hannity would last. (Olbermann announced last Thursday that he had rescinded the offer and instead would donate $10,000 to charity in recognition of Muller's act.)

O'Donnell is wrong, I think, when he tells the MSNBC host that Dick Cheney and Hannity "think torture works because it works on them." Hannity chose not to accept Olbermann's offer in part because he knows it is torture and that he could not withstand more than a few seconds of it. Cheney & Cheney, similarly, know that waterboarding is torture and usually does not work. It doesn't matter. Truth is irrelevant to some people.