Think Progress

Lieberman jokes about waterboarding at black-tie dinner.

lieb.jpgAt last night’s black-tie dinner at Washington’s Alfalfa Club, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) couldn’t resist cracking a joke about torture. Politico’s Mike Allen reports:

More from Senator Lieberman: ‘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.

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.



69 Responses to “Lieberman jokes about waterboarding at black-tie dinner.”

  1. Bozo The Neoclown says:

    perhaps i should hold a fundraiser for joe’s opponent here in connecticut for the next election cycle. waterboard an effigy of LIEberman in the Connecticut river for five bucks a pop


  2. dbadass says:

    Hi John Kerry. Let’s talk…


  3. Jim Wolf359 says:

    2012 can’t come soon enough in Conneticut.


  4. Bozo The Neoclown says:

    jim, you live in connecticut?


  5. konchster says:

    Yeah you dumb sh*t it’s psychological if you know they are going to quit . In reality you don’t know so it’s being drowned


  6. MysteriousTraveller says:

    And he kept his committee chairmanship!!!

    Nice work Democratic Caucus.


  7. BobKincaid says:

    Ah, the banality of evil! What a delightful Little Eichmann is Holy Joe Lieberman!

    The idea that something isn’t torture if it’s “psychological” is truly nauseating. We have had people in our custody whose brains have been reduced to Schiavo-esque mush by nothing more than “psychological” means. One “detainee” was so damaged he couldn’t be tried even by the Guantanamo Concentration Camp kangaroo court.

    What do you suppose Holy Joe would do if someone moved in next door to him and played ThrashMetal non-stop for a few days? Would Holy Joe feel “tortured?”

    Ultimately, that’s the trouble with these monsters: because they de-humanize their perceived adversaries, torture becomes acceptable.


  8. ralph the wonder llama says:

    Some admittedly good lines reported from the dinner, but most of Lieberman’s jokes seem to follow in the tradition of his new bestest neocon friends…

    for instance:

    “I hear that President Obama will soon be visiting the Washington offices of the New York Times as part of his search for a new house of Worship … On the other hand, I appreciated your humility when you chose not to arrive at your Inaugural ceremony by walking across the reflecting pool..’

    Yeah, that’s great, Holy Joe. Buy into the right-wing fantasy that the NYT is some liberal rag, and that liberals think that Obama is “The Messiah”.

    That puts you right up there with intellectual equals like LTdan and Troll John Kerry.


  9. katy says:

    cheeeney hurt his back moving those boxes of the “missing”
    9 BILLION dollars from iraq… (h/t caller to randi)


  10. barkleyg says:

  11. Curlew says:

    I will be the first to volunteer to waterboard the Senator from Tel Aviv. Maybe after a few hours of purely “psychological” activites this Cheney-wipe will understand.


  12. lapdogs says:

    Wonder how GI JOE would feel if a Jewish Soldier was captured by Hamas and Hamas proceeded to warterboard the Jewish Soldier?

    Would he still make jokes about it.

    Better yet, would GI JOE still laugh if one our American Soldiers was captured and tortured with waterboarding by the Iraqis or Taliban in Afghanistan? Just wondering.


  13. winddancer says:

    Dr. Hussein Matt Says:

    Waterboarding Used to Be a Crime

    And it still is, no matter what these immoral jerks say.


  14. nickrhoward says:

    lapdogs Says:

    Wonder how GI JOE would feel if a Jewish Soldier was captured by Hamas and Hamas proceeded to warterboard the Jewish Soldier?

    Would he still make jokes about it.

    Better yet, would GI JOE still laugh if one our American Soldiers was captured and tortured with waterboarding by the Iraqis or Taliban in Afghanistan? Just wondering.

    I really don’t see how they will be able to say anything against Hamas if they torture one of our soldiers since the “conservatives” have already said it’s immoral to NOT torture…


  15. nickrhoward says:

    Oh, and if we get into a war with Iran like the “conservatives” want and Iran captures one of our soldiers…we’ll look bad if they DON’T torture our soldier. Then to the rest of the world Iran will look like a more decent country that the USA.


  16. jsimons says:

    I’m surprised: I would’ve thought Joe would know exactly how heavy waterboards are, seeing as how he helped Cheney carry them in.


  17. kasinca says:

    The United States punished Japanses sodiers for waterboarding our troops after WWII. It was torture then, therefore it is torture now and the officials who authorized it, W and Cheney,should be punished accordingly.


  18. krazeeinjun says:

    Why is this contemptible asshat still a member of my political party??

    Just saying . . .


  19. Helen Rainier says:

    What a disgusting, wimpy ass wipe Lieberman is. Since it’s so funny,Joe, we’ll just send you to Gitmo and waterboard you — you should want to join in the fun of being waterboarded just for the CHENEY of it.


  20. mary says:

    Not only is he joking about torture, but, it seems to me that he’s joking about Cheney himself having his very own torture device in his office! That he could, presumably, put into use right there in his office!

    His joke was in appalling taste from at least a few vantage points.

    His other jokes sucked too apparently (thanks Ralph, even though it was painful to read those two awful ‘jokes’). What a horse’s behind Lieberman is.

    OTOH, some of Obama’s jokes were pretty good I thought. Here’s one in case you haven’t seen it yet:

    Obama said that in his first weeks as president, he has had to “engage in some of the toughest diplomacy of my life.”

    “And that was just to keep my BlackBerry,” he said.


  21. sherifffruitfly says:

    What a complete monster.


  22. Technodaoist says:

    Terror = Psychological = So No Big Deal

    Way to go, Joe. You just justified the actions taken against us by Bin Laden and his ilk.


  23. JustJohn says:

    Agreed, this is not a matter of opinion, it’s law.
    I keep waking up every day hoping to see some legal action for crimes committed.
    None.
    I feel sick again today.


  24. ralph the wonder llama says:

    windsore reminds me of the GOP caucus.

    Nothing relevant to say, so he just spits out the same tired lines and pretends that they’re new insights.

    And since both windsore and the larger GOP are divorced from what we in the Reality-Based Community™ think of as “Reality”, we really shouldn’t expect that his comments make any kind of sense except in alternative-universe kind of way.


  25. Jane E. Schneider says:

    Joe, don’t you have dual citizenship? Why don’t you just go back to your other country?


  26. kasinca says:

    Liarmann is the greatest chickenhawk, coward in the country.


  27. JBaddo says:

    Joe “love israel, hate america” Lieberman is a traitorous a@@hole


  28. liliannattel says:

    The way that they used to check if a woman was a witch was tto tie something heavy around her waist and throw her in a pond. If she drowned, she wasn’t a witch. If she floated she was a witch and was slowly executed. I guess it’s only torture if you die?


  29. wiley says:

    Wow. He ought to find a way to crack a few jokes about the combat troops with PTSD (which most of the tortured certainly suffer) while he’s at it. It’s only “psychological”. What’s losing your mind if it doesn’t leave a scar on your flesh?


  30. Zooey says:

    windsor Says:

    Once an F’ing democrat, always an F’ing democrat. And Zero was right there laughing it up. Disgusting.
    February 1st, 2009 at 12:13 pm

    George W. Bush was there…?


  31. EugeneDebs says:

    windsor Says:

    Once a f’ing moron ALWAYS a f’ing moron and you will ALWAYS be nothing more than an ignorant pathetic F’ing MORON


  32. Marie says:

    He’s not funny. He’s not honest. He’s not a Democrat.
    He has no integrity. He is an opportunist. He is disgusting.


  33. Jackie says:

    Makes sence that Liberman thinks waterboarding is just fine as he was in favor of the Israel/US plan to use illegal Cluster bombs on Palestine citizen and then just to make sure if the bombs didn’t do the job, fire bombs were used to burn people to death. This is how Joe thinks of people he doesn’t think are human. It’s all laughs and fun. Joe did have hopes of running the White House himself and then VIVA LA VIDA


  34. Potfry says:

    decaf, folks. Try the decaf.



  35. kg says:

    Holy crap! How sick is this man? We have psychopaths in positions of power in this country! May you live to fully experience your karmic payback you unholy turd.


  36. freeman says:

    http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=84261&sectionid=351020104
    According to Israels ambassador to Australia, it’s looking like they want it to appear as if Gaza was a trial run to an attack on Iran in the next year.


  37. freeman says:

    http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/netanyahu-says-iran-will-not-get-nukes-20090201-7uj7.html
    Netanyahu says his first act as prime minister will be to stop Iran’s nuclear threat .
    Benny , you would be more credible if you hadn’t just killed 1300 palestinians , starving their society for 3 months before hand in a walled ghetto , ACCELERATED SETTLEMENTS IN THE PORTIONS THAT YOU DIDN’T MAKE UNIHABITABLE and violated basic civilized moral codes like the Nazi’s .


  38. freeman says:

    POLICING THE PALESTINAIANS buildING tunnels the outside world ?
    AND COMPARRISONS TO THE WARWSAW GHETTO ?
    tHERE’S A GOOD JOKE IN THERE TOO jOE , i’m SUrE


  39. kg says:

    “He was AlGores running mate and would have been your Presidential candidate if Al had been able to steal the 2000 election.”

    lol. he was a neocon foil from the get-go and was their insurance policy if Bush hadn’t been able to steal the election.


  40. telestai2 says:

    Dr. Hussein Matt–thank you so much for the information–much of this was new to me, and I NEEDED to know it. We all need to know it, in order that we can speak from an even greater position of strength when we demand that a goodly percentage of BushCo receive a free trip to The Hague. Without the solid basis of fact provided by progressive bloggers [for those of us who DO care but who may lack empirical data], we could come off sounding merely strident–like repugs. . .


  41. telestai2 says:

    Curlew Says:

    I will be the first to volunteer to waterboard the Senator from Tel Aviv. Maybe after a few hours of purely “psychological” activies, this Cheney-wipe will understand. Are you assembling a team? May I join?


  42. telestai2 says:

    mary –hadn’t heard the Blackberry joke–love it!


  43. telestai2 says:

    ralph the wonder llama Says:

    windsore reminds me of the GOP caucus.

    Nothing relevant to say, so he just spits out the same tired lines and pretends that they’re new insights.

    And since both windsore and the larger GOP are divorced from what we in the Reality-Based Community™ think of as “Reality”, we really shouldn’t expect that his comments make any kind of sense except in alternative-universe kind of way.

    Although I HEARTILY concur, I must defend MOST who deal with alternate universes: they are sci-fi/fantasy writers who often create alternative universes to explore the eternal “what if?” factor. Writers of speculative fiction who DO create hideous alternative universes are generally in the mold of George Orwell’s 1984: those universes are WARNINGS, dystopias.

    One of my graduate profs commented, “Dreamers build alternative universes. Psychotics inhabit them.”


  44. telestai2 says:

    liliannattel Says:

    The way that they used to check if a woman was a witch was tto tie something heavy around her waist and throw her in a pond. If she drowned, she wasn’t a witch. If she floated she was a witch and was slowly executed. I guess it’s only torture if you die?

    No, no, my friend: if you drowned, it meant that you were INNOCENT, and therefore your “Christian” torturers could congratulate themselves for allowing you to prove the purity of your soul, and you would get a really nice funeral. . .in fact, they might profess to “envy” you because you were now in Heaven. [Used to teach American lit; have read diaries of the torturers. Some of them sound a LOT like Repugs excusing their heinous actions.]


  45. marlow says:

    Joe, just STFU for awhile, ok? Actually, just STFU until 2012.


  46. telestai2 says:

    windsor Says:

    Marie Says:
    He’s not funny. He’s not honest. He’s not a Democrat.
    He has no integrity. He is an opportunist. He is disgusting.

    He was AlGores running mate and would have been your Presidential candidate if Al had been able to steal the 2000 election. Doesn’t that just pucker you up?

    No, bedsore, it’s YOU who pucker me up, you smug, self-righteous hypocrite. And, for the record, it was not the Democrats who stole the 2000 election.

    Anyone want to start a fund to send bedsore to Iraq?


  47. Doc Rock says:

    I wonder if he also tells holocaust jokes?


  48. EugeneDebs says:

    windsor Says: 42 YOu are a liar and a fool and an ignorant piece of garbage. STDs have eaten your brain and it was pretty sad to begin with. You are the worst part of the GOP incredibly stupid, shamelessly brainwashed and without a single shred of decency. What kind of ignorant punk thinks telling lies to annoy people is something worth doing? Time to do the world a favor and go deepsea diving with a snorkel


  49. winddancer says:

    His joke is almost as hilarious as Bush looking for WMD in the Oval Office at the National Press Club thing. It’s said that great minds think alike. In this case, it would appear to be demented and psychopathic minds think alike.


  50. ralph the wonder llama says:

    telestai2 Says:

    I must defend MOST who deal with alternate universes: they are sci-fi/fantasy writers who often create alternative universes to explore the eternal “what if?” factor.

    Point well taken.

    the difference between those you defend and those of whom we make sport is that the former know that their fantasies are just that. The latter think they’re reality.


  51. Max-1 says:

    .

    Thanks Connecticut!

    .


  52. EugeneDebs says:

    REALITY porfrey, you should try some REALITY. I know it will be a shock to your system after living so long on Planet Wingnut and letting Rush do your thinking for you but it really is worth the effort


  53. MoonElf says:

    It would have been great if nobody had laughed at Lieberman’s little joke. Just as it would have been great if nobody had laughed at George Bush’s usually tasteless attempts to be funny. What I want to see is the great state of CT laughing at Joe Lieberman when its citizens send him packing in 2012.


  54. the brown acid says:

    Jesus people, stop entertaining Windsor’s wingnuttery. Flag, ignore, have a glass of red wine, move on.


  55. dbearton says:

    Joe Lieberman is a joke! Like the RepubliCons, DINOS should be removed from office.


  56. katy says:

    from the politio article… crap like this:

    THE NATION’S ESTABLISHMENT [...] lined up last night to touch the garment of President Obama, or at least shake his hand, …

    and ‘messiah’, etc…

    when i see/hear it, i just want to say chuck you farley…
    how juvenile and petty can one get…


  57. AllenAllen says:

    If Lieberman were at a Third Reich dinner: “Hitler couldn’t be here tonight… funny story… he burned his hand on one of the oven doors.”


  58. Constant Weader says:

    Evidently Lieberman was one of the guys helping W. look for weapons of mass destruction. What a kidder! Even his jokes are torture.

    The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com


  59. continuum says:

    What???? He didn’t tell any Holocaust jokes, too?


  60. dixie blood says:

    Curlew Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    I will be the first to volunteer to waterboard the Senator from Tel Aviv. Maybe after a few hours of purely “psychological” activites this Cheney-wipe will understand.

    I’m second…he’s not an American!!!


  61. ralph the wonder llama says:

    the brown acid Says:
    Jesus people, stop entertaining Windsor’s wingnuttery. Flag, ignore, have a glass of red wine, move on.

    Damn, that’s an excellent idea. Think I’ll have a glass of wine.


  62. Uncle Fester Lurks says:

    Michael the magical negro lived near DC…


  63. ElBruce says:

    krazeeinjun Says:

    Why is this contemptible asshat still a member of my political party??

    He isn’t, he just caucuses with them. He is officially a member of the “Connecticut for Lieberman” party, population 1. Not kidding.

    .

    Zooey Says:

    windsor Says:

    Once an F’ing democrat, always an F’ing democrat. And Zero was right there laughing it up. Disgusting.

    George W. Bush was there…?

    Sarah Palin, actually.

    I’m a little confused – windsor is against waterboarding? And he thinks waterboarding is a Democratic issue?

    .

    Potfry Says:

    or get a t-shirt.

    I actually own this one.

    .

    windsor Says:

    He was AlGores running mate and would have been your Presidential candidate if Al had been able to steal the 2000 election.

    Doesn’t that just pucker you up?

    Yes, it’s a very upsetting thought.

    .

    Uncle Fester Lurks Says:

    Michael the magical negro lived near DC…

    If it’s not cool when they do it, it’s not cool when you do it.


  64. geez53 says:

    An open plea to the good people of Connecticut:

    Will you please find a more suitable job for your state-wide village idiot (Village suck-up, Village back-stabber, whatever). We, in Illinois, got rid of our national embarrassment whose real crimes did Not include pushing for an invasion of Iraq or codifying torture, not to mention working directly with the RNC to attempt the defeat of our New and improved POTUS. Isn’t there some Military/Industrial honcho billionaire in CT that could directly employ a well used, sycophantic, lap-dog, manservant? Oh wait….


  65. Zoe1 says:

    He needs to be waterboarded and then get back to us as to whether or not it was torture. What a loser he is.


  66. avchavis says:

    Lieberman is such a blockhead! I would love to see if Lieberman would change his mind if someone gave him a waterboarding experience! Better yet, it would give me much joy to see his head shoved into a dirty, shyte filled toilet bowl!


  67. ctcadguy says:

    Silly fascists and thier penchant for torture.


  68. ElBruce says:

    geez53 Says:

    An open plea to the good people of Connecticut:

    Will you please find a more suitable job for your state-wide village idiot (Village suck-up, Village back-stabber, whatever).

    Maybe they send him to Washington just to get him out of Connecticut.



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