Conservative Radio Host Erich Mancow Waterboarded: Video!Follow

Shock jocks shock.

And so it went Friday morning when WLS radio host Erich "Mancow" Muller decided to subject himself to the controversial practice of waterboarding live on his show.

Mancow decided to tackle the divisive issue head on -- actually it was head down while restrained and reclining.

"I want to find out if it's torture," Mancow told his listeners Friday morning, adding that he hoped his on-air test would help prove that waterboarding did not, in fact, constitute torture.

The debate over whether waterboarding constitutes torture reached a fever pitch this week as re-ignited claims that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) knew as early as 2002 about waterboarding techniques being used, and former Vice President **** Cheney and President Barack Obama gave "dueling speeches" Thursday.

Listeners had the chance to decide whether Mancow himself or his co-host, Chicago radio personality Pat Cassidy, would undergo the interrogation method during the broadcast. The voters ultimately decided Mancow would be the one donning the soaked towel and shackles, and at about 8:40 a.m., he entered a small storage room next to his studio that was compared to a "dungeon" by Cassidy.

"The average person can take this for 14 seconds," Marine Sergeant Clay South answered, adding, "He's going to wiggle, he's going to scream, he's going to wish he never did this."

With a Chicago Fire Department paramedic on hand, Mancow was placed on a 7-foot long table, his legs were elevated, and his feet were tied up.

Turns out the stunt wasn't so funny. Witnesses said Muller thrashed on the table, and even instantly threw the toy cow he was holding as his emergency tool to signify when he wanted the experiment to stop. He only lasted 6 or 7 seconds.

"It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that's no joke,"Mancow said, likening it to a time when he nearly drowned as a child. "It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back...It was instantaneous...and I don't want to say this: absolutely torture."

"I wanted to prove it wasn't torture," Mancow said. "They cut off our heads, we put water on their face...I got voted to do this but I really thought 'I'm going to laugh this off.'"

Ehhh... I don't know. Haven't a couple conservative voices already done this? I mean, it's "great" that Muller admits that it's torture but it's becoming more of a gimmick than anything that proves a point.

in the real world, people are hurt & killed for much less reason everyday, even in First world countries.

What's the fun in capturing spies, traitors, etc, if you can't torture them for intel?

I also question the label "conservative" for this guy. He's a shock jock, and pretty much just goes for the lowest common denominator.

On the libertarian side, Mancow has displayed a distinct distrust of government. In his 2003 autobiographical book, Dad, Dames, Demons, and A Dwarf, he wrote: "I can feel the clock running out on the American experiment of freedom. Has it already happened? Every cop in Amerika today...can throw the Constitution out the window. Any cop can break down my door at any time without a warrant as long as they say the word 'terrorism.' Or 'drugs.' Against the Bill of Rights? You bet it is." He told CNSNews.com, "I'm very worried about the loss of freedoms, especially after September 11. It seems to me that some of that cost [to fight terrorism] may be the loss of freedoms." Mancow is also a supporter of the Second Amendment and an opponent of censorship.

On the conservative side, Mancow supports prayer in government schools. "The prayer in our schools should be the individual prayer of each child, prepared by that child's parent or clergy or spiritual adviser," he told CNSNews.com (November 1, 2001). "But there should be prayer." He has suggested that he opposes free trade. "How can an American worker compete [with] India where there's no union, no health care, and they pay a dollar a month?" he asked on his show (October 22, 2004). And Mancow has been so fervently in favor of President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq that critics have called him "a mouthpiece of the Republican shill machine." He even suggested that critics of the war such as DNC Chairman Howard Dean "ought to be tried for treason." (Fox News' Fox & Friends, December 6, 2005.)

Regardless, Nancy Pelosi condoned it back when the CIA extensively briefed her. Now it just happens to be politically expedient to jump on the Oh-my-goodness-it's-torture bandwagon. Too bad her story doesn't add up. Good job kicking yourself in the babymaker, Lib.