Speaking on his radio show on Tuesday, the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer came to the defense of Sarah Palin, arguing that her recent controversial joke about waterboarding-as-terrorist-baptism was not barbaric and offensive but rather "clever and funny" and good.

"I just love her spunk and lover her spirit," Fischer said in Palin's defense. Besides, Fischer said, "waterboarding is not torture."

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"I mean, it may not be pleasant, it may not be fun, but it's not torture," Fischer continued. "The guy's not going to die, the guy's not going to drown, and you know it, otherwise you wouldn't do it."

Fischer went on to explain what "real torture" was. "If it was real torture, where you get pliers and pull a guy's fingernails out, or you take ... battery chargers and a battery and stick them on exposed flesh — that's torture," Fischer said, "that's genuine torture; waterboarding is not."

"Now, I think she's just being cute, there," Fischer explained. "And she's been accused of being, I don't know, a heretic or flippant or whatever; I think she's being clever and funny, myself, and people ought to just kind of lighten up, just a little bit."

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You can watch über-Christian Bryan Fischer live according to the tenets of his faith (as he understands them) below, via Right Wing Watch: