Adam Corolla Takes on '60 Minutes' Interrogation Report: 'You Might Have to Get a Little Rough

During an interview on Fox’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” Adam Corolla criticized “60 Minutes” for its treatment of Jose Rodriguez, former head of the CIA's coerced interrogation unit, at the hands of CBS’ Lesley Stahl.

“I just think it's so easy to sit back in the cheap seats and snipe at these guys that are trying to get information that are going to save American lives and maybe European lives, as well,” Corolla said.

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“So my question to Lesley Stahl is, What would you use in place of enhanced interrogation to get information out of people who are trying to kill Americans?” Corolla asked.

Fox host Bill O’Reilly threw out the idea that Stahl was most likely playing devil’s advocate.  Corolla felt that the CBS reporter had more of an agenda and that she was genuinely opposed to the techniques detailed by Rodriguez.

“Yes. But I mean, he was saying, you know, I slapped him…She was, like, What? You did? You -- sleep deprivation, diet alteration. She was making it like it was a big deal,” Corolla said, "I just feel like, Look, you're trying to get information out of people...what better way to do it than to put a little pressure on them? And –”

“I agree with you,” O’Reilly interjected, “There's two tracks here. I agree with you, and from the jump, I've said that if you have a captured terrorist and you can't get through to the man, I think you try to do the conventional way.”

“If you can't get through to the man, then you might have to get a little rough with him, as long as you don't, you know, put an injury there that is permanent and you don't go over some guidelines that were established,” the Fox host added.

O’Reilly held to the line that Lesley Stahl was simply “bearbaiting” Rodriguez and that she was pushing him to defend the techniques he was describing.

“Yes. It's also gay technique, too,” Corolla joked, “I'm just saying we here sit in our safe homes and watch ‘60 Minutes’ on television, and then we act appalled when these guys go out and do the dirty work.”

Watch Corolla discuss the “60 Minutes” interview (via Fox Nation):

O'Reilly let Corolla have the last word:

I'm just saying you could take the most liberal person on the planet -- you know, Michael Moore could have a kid with Tim Robbins, and if that kid got abducted and you asked them both quietly, 'We found a guy, he knows some information, your kid is buried alive, he has 48 hours worth of oxygen, can we go ahead and torture him to get the information out of the guy, or waterboard him?' They would say, 'Hell, yes.'

“And again, show me all the bodies from waterboarding. They'll be right next to all the bodies from second-hand smoke. I just think it's much ado about nothing,” he added.

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This story had been updated.