Rush Limbaugh: It isn’t Torture if You Can Survive It

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Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:44 pm

On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh continued to make the claim that water boarding is not torture. Rush said that if somebody can survive water torture six times a day, then it is not torture. He asked why the detainees didn’t complain to the lawyers if it was so bad. Um, Rush they weren’t allowed to have lawyers.

Here is the audio courtesy of Media Matters:

Limbaugh claimed that it isn’t torture if a person can survive it, but the definition of torture is that it is pain delivered for the purposes of coercion or punishment. The purpose of torture is to get information, and since dead people tell no tales, Rush’s definition makes absolutely no sense. By Rush’s definition, if he was detained and someone burned the bottom of his foot every day, he would survive so this is not torture.

Limbaugh said that detainees should have complained to their lawyers and human rights groups. Rush doesn’t even get his facts correct here. The Bush administration did not allow the detainees to have attorneys, until they lost a Supreme Court decision. Human Rights groups were never given full access to GITMO. Rush, they aren’t prisoners in jail. They were labeled detainees so that the Bush administration could avoid giving them rights.

If Rush thinks water boarding is not torture, then let’s water board him six times a day. I am certain that he will survive, so by his definition, we will be doing nothing wrong. Let’s give it a try, and see how he feels about us afterwords. Limbaugh also mocked John McCain for going on television and speaking out against torture. I think Limbaugh has watched too many 24 episodes. In essence, Rush is saying that John McCain, a man who spent years being tortured, doesn’t know what he is talking about. This is why Rush is leading the GOP to certain defeat.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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