Sean Hannity
Part pundit, part schoolyard bully, Sean Hannity stands as the heir apparent to Rush Limbaugh’s extreme right wing media throne.
After dropping out of New York University, Hannity got his big break after buying an ad in the trade journal Radio & Records humbly advertising himself as "the most talked about college radio host in America." He eventually rose to the top of the radio ratings charts. But Hannity is now more well-known as one half of the Fox News program Hannity & Colmes. If you’re not entirely familiar with the show, Hannity is the one doing the talking. Colmes, there allegedly to provide some liberal balance to Hannity’s right wing ranting, generally fades into the set.
Sean Hannity is a vigorous debater who relies on tactics like offering out of context quotations, stifling alternate viewpoints, attacking the messenger of opposing views, dismissing facts, and presenting straight-up factual errors as truth. Perhaps that is why he was such a fan of another paragon of journalistic excellence, Jeff Gannon, a.k.a. James Guckert, the phony reporter and Internet porn impresario. Prior to Gannon’s outing as a partisan non-journalist Bush cheerleader, Hannity, on his radio show, exclaimed that Gannon was "a terrific Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent for Talon News."
Hannity’s success lies in his uncanny ability to discover that "the left" is to blame for practically everything wrong in the world. In fact, his two books are rather explicit about this: Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism, which equates liberals with opposition to freedom, and Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty Against Liberalism, which… has a slightly different cover.
For example, as the Abu Ghraib prison story broke, instead of taking the accusations of shameful mistreatment seriously, he questioned the veracity of the evidence, asking "Was that a DNC plot too?"
According to Hannity, the Left is also out to destroy religion. In addition to his repeated claims that liberals want to remove Jesus from Christmas, Hannity, a proclaimed devout Irish Catholic, has blamed liberals for actions taken by some shopping malls to refer to the Easter Bunny as "Peter Rabbit" or the "Garden Bunny." We share Sean’s concern — – when you take a grown man in a bunny suit away from Easter, what other religious significance can the holiday possibly have?
One of the Hannity’s most persistent themes is his depiction of the left as "elites." However, the common-man character Hannity plays on TV is far from the refined tastes of the real life Sean Hannity, whose simple necessities include charging college students $20,000 for private jets to allow them the honor of his presence on campus.
Yet Hannity’s pitch-perfect impression of a good, American working stiff is likely the root of his success. It allows him to chastise everyone who disagrees with him as hateful of America or freedom- and his fans eat it up, as shown in the film This Divided State, where Hannity approvingly watches his audience berate a student who challenges his views during a campus speaking event. (And yes, Hannity was flown to this event in a private jet paid for by the school.) Through this act, Hannity gets away with multitudes of distortions on subjects ranging from weapons of mass destruction to the recession to White House vandalism to James Madison. When challenged on any of his factually inaccurate and inflammatory statements, he just wraps them up with an ideological bow of "loving freedom," and then questions his opponent’s patriotism.
Lately, for Hannity being a "Great American" (an oft-repeated term on Hannity’s show, essentially his equivalent of Limbaugh’s "megadittoes") has apparently meant blindly following the Bush Administration’s path to war in Iraq. On his show, Hannity routinely slams anyone critical of the war, particularly protestors. After Tom Daschle raised questions about the effectiveness of our nation’s war on terror, he came under intense conservative media fire – all attempting to stifle any true discussion with accusations that he was helping our enemies. Hannity fanned the flames on his show, saying that by raising questions about the War on Terror, Daschle "is communicating to our enemies that our nation is divided, that we lack resolve and that we have forgotten September 11th."
In stark contrast, in 1999, Hannity bemoaned the effort by the United States and its allies to halt Serbian aggression in Kosovo. The difference – duh! – a Democrat (Bill Clinton) was in the White House. Hannity suggested that the potential loss of American lives wasn’t worth it and that war shouldn’t be waged without an exit strategy. As he put it, "Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life." Of course, the Kosovo war found U.S. allies united for the common purpose of stopping the ongoing slaughter of an ethnic minority, and it brought no U.S. combat casualties. The challenge in winning the peace was also much less daunting — for starters because the territory was far smaller. But for Hannity, the Kosovo war could be criticized, while criticizing the Iraq war weakens America. It seems dissent and "disloyalty" are only okay when it isn’t one of his guys in the White House. Talk about a double standard!
When not challenging the patriotism of his liberal guests, Hannity frequently relies on reminding his audience that he is a devout Christian as a way to steamroll opponents and deflect criticism. But on a recent episode of his television program, Hannity proved that in his moral universe, ill-advised but consensual sex between two (Democratic) adults is less moral than torturing another human being till near death. When Bob Beckel went on his show to talk about Attorney General candidate Alberto Gonzales’ torture connections, Hannity lamented the treatment Gonzales was receiving in the media. When Beckel contended that Bill Clinton endured far worse attacks for far longer, Hannity cut him off, shouting angrily, "But he had sex with an intern!"
Sean Hannity describes himself as "the hottest commodity in talk radio." We think he is that kid who gave smaller kids wedgies and hung them over their locker for fun – now fully grown, but no more mature and no less nasty. Hannity is one of the most arrogant and overpaid bullies on America’s media stage. Don’t be cowed – come to his next speaking event prepared to call him on his misstatements and absurd tactics.
Hannity has been keeping busy. Fox News has given him a new show, “Hannity’s America.” (The show premiered on December 7) Apparently unconcerned by the widespread perception that it has a conservative bias, Fox decided against bringing Hannity’s weeknight liberal co-host, Alan Colmes, to the new hour-long “news” show. (Although the mild Colmes is scarcely present even when he’s technically on-air.)
Hannity also recently made news when his dating web site for conservatives, Hannidate, experienced a substantial up-tick in traffic after it began to allow same-sex match-ups.
But returning to his new show, what does Hannity’s America offer viewers?
Besides a slanted attempt at straight talk on the “Hannity Hot Seat,” “Hannity’s America” opened with offering a weekly “Enemy of the State Award.” (Actor Sean Penn took home the first acrimonious accolade for his outspoken opposition to the Iraq War.)
But fear not, Hannity’s gimmicks are all in the pursuit of truth finding. Here’s his explanation for giving Penn the award.
Besides calling little old me [Hannity] a “whore” at a recent speech, Penn has called for the impeachment of just about everybody in the Bush administration and [has] called them “bastards”…
But the real question is, ‘Who does this guy speak for, who does he represent? Other than other bad actors.
So Sean Penn, you are this week’s enemy of the state.
It’s good to see that Hannity is keeping America safe from its enemies, abroad and in Hollywood.
But the ridiculousness of the award forced Hannity to back off a little. Eric Kleefeld reported on TPM Café,
In the wake of the negative public reaction that greeted the segment’s Orwellian title, Hannity has now backed off and given the feature a new name: "Enemy Of The Week." We’re not sure what Hannity means by "Enemy Of The Week." Is it (a) that Hannity is planning to spotlight people who he sees as literally being threats to the seven-day week and the Space-Time Continuum, or is it (b) that he’s caved to public pressure and changed the name to something he imagines is a bit more palatable?
Hmm, probably the latter.
A few choice quotes from Sean Hannity:
"[Liberals] teach our children multiculturalism rather than American culture, revisionist history rather than American history, the thinly disguised religion of secular humanism and extreme environmentalism rather than capitalism. They train our young to criticize America, not celebrate it. They welcome condoms into the classroom but ban God and the Ten Commandments. They encourage tolerance for the teachings of the Koran but not for the teachings of Jesus Christ. They oppose the Pledge of Allegiance, tell us that ‘God is dead,’ that ‘Christianity is for losers,’ and that evangelical and Catholic conservatives are more dangerous than radical Islamic militants. They tell us that fuel-burning SUVs are bad for America, but flag-burning SOBs aren’t. But they are wrong. And it is time to ask: Why, particularly in time of war, should we entrust the education of our children to people who loathe and ravage so many of out core values and traditions?" (Let Freedom Ring, pgs. 8-9)
"It doesn’t say anywhere in the Constitution this idea of the separation of church and state." (8/25/03)
"[T]hey can have the Gay Scouts if they want, if they don’t like the values of the Boy Scouts." (Hannity & Colmes, 3/16/05)
"Iraqis are not going to be bombed by the United States. The United States will use pinpoint accuracy, like we always do." (January 2003)
"[W]hy wouldn’t anyone want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, unless they detested their own country or were ignorant of its greatness?" (6/12/03)
Illustration: August J. Pollak
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Comments
Hannity is that school-yard ‘bully’ we are came to know. Max Blumenthal in “The Nation” has a fine piece on Hannity’s background. It’s worth a look.
— Marshall McQuade-Wentz - Jan 18, 06:40 PM - #hmm. you sure gave hannity some publicity. seems to me it would serve to dig up history on him, what happened to him as a little boy and as a teenager to make him so hateful? what kind of physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse did he suffer? what mental health issues has he been faced with, for reals? what drug abuse history does he have? i’m going to guess that he was not raised by nazis. but something happened to develop the personality disorder he has. i don’t think people w/ “normal” backgrounds turn into the lying hate-mongers he and limbaugh are. i am NOT excusing any of his behavior. au contraire, i think outing his sick background will help people understand the manipulation behind his hatefulness and his pathology of lying. go for it!! i’d love to see that journalism!!!
— toni - Jan 19, 01:14 AM - #It is obvious that you have a following, that like most liberal, listen to lies and accept them as truth. They are the ones with the developmental problems. They are the ones who are not only filled with hate, but hypocrisy as well. When we see a liberal who practices tolerance? Liberals are bigoted toward anyone who does not agree with them. White liberals are racist against their own race, and traitors to common sense. They embrace “pathetically stupid” ideas, for proven methods. They give up morals for “core values,” as if they are the same thing. Their heads are so far up their politically correct asses that they can not see the difference in daylight and bullshit. Keep drinking your liberal kool-aid, and the next generation, will not have to worry about liberalism, because the “peaceful tolerant” muslims in this country and around the world, will not allow it to exist, after liberals help them gain establish their death grip in the American political system. Liberals are stupid. They choose to assist a religion that will completely ban liberalism once they have control. A religion that abused women as a common practice. Liberals are blind fools stumbling in the dark!!! WAKE UP AND SHAKE YOURSELVES BEFORE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS PAY THE PRICE OF RIDICULOUS IGNORANCE!!!
— Richard Bowman - Jan 20, 06:18 PM - #My Richard, you are certainly full of hate to be pointing out hate. I guess it takes one to know one ehh? news flash. All politicians are crooks in the modern era. DUH ! Any half alert person is aware of that. Hannity is liar and a corrupt showman. He is not a journalist.
— Theo Kraynick - Jan 21, 10:12 PM - #Let’s address just one of your points:
Hannity doesn’t “charge college students $20,000…the article you cited said students raised $20,000, but weren’t able to solve a transportation issue, so they’re returning the funds to corporate donors.
In contrast, Bill Clinton charged a minimum $100,000/speaking engagement in 2001, (Click here)
Danny Glover, Jesse Jackson, Spike Lee, Tavis Smiley (another radio personality) all charge $20,000+ in addition to travel expenses (Click here)
Even Alan Colmes charges $10,001 – $20,000…and who knows if he even has anything to say, since as you point out he mostly sits there while Hannity does the talking. (Click here)
Accuracy is important, all right. And half the story is definitely not “fair and balanced.”
— Diane Carter - Jan 29, 05:31 PM - #hey sean i hear you say hillary clinton voted for the war but you never follow it with she voted for the war because george bush lied about wmds. even a deaf dumb and blind man knows the bush cheney people lied. bush sent our young men and women into battle without the proper bullet proof vests and the proper steel plates we needed in our hummers and jeeps and trucks. and that new rehabilitation hospital that was recently dedicated in texas i did not see you there. you are always gung ho about our soldiers and yet you were a no show.and i hear if we pull out of iraq the terrorists will follow us here. thats bullcrap. we pulled out of vietnam and no one followed us here. we came back from japan and europe during world war two and no one followed us. i am a registered republican and i am fed up with the lies from bush cheney and you. i heard you say the democrats will not take the house and senate and of course you were wrong. bush said in the beginning of the war it will be expensive but we will get it back in oil. so far not one drop. i just read the bush goverment has lost nine billion dollars in iraq. poof it vanished like smoke. if i lost that much money i would be in jail. the bush presidency will go down in u.s.a. history as the worst ever. he makes nixon look like a boyscout. you also allow that despicable dick morris on your show to spew out his venom. he is the one while in a hotel with a hooker let her listen in while he talked with clinton. and your buddy bill oreilly talks like he is so righteous but yet he settled a sex discrimination case. you guys need to come down off your high horse and get in the real world. i am sick of fox news and all its lies
— mr. blooze - Feb 16, 09:54 PM - #you guys need to check your facts and lose the left wing spin.
— rob whitehead - Feb 26, 01:32 PM - #Since when is critical thinking a crime? I’m of the same generation as THE ALMIGHTY SEAN and he is a fool. we grew up watching the dead and dying soldiers in Vietnam on the evening news watching at the dinner table every night for years. And this one thing led to the questioning of Gov’t policies. the release of the pentagon’s “White Papers” and the un truths of the johnson Administration Why do you think we have embedded journalists now? Six years of hostilities two different regions of the world no clear results more threats than ever before are we accomplishing anything? look at these things and ask yourselves what don’t I know about this war? We found out in the post Vietnam Era that HO Chi Min asked the U.S. not once but twice to come in to south east asia and help to set up free elections. But the Johnson Admin. ignored his requests. History tells the rest 50,000 dead american soldiers 250,000 maimed or injured and permanently displaced veterans, and un told millions of dead and maimed Vietnamese laotian and Cambodian people. And by the way we were never in Laos or Cambodia And Billions of dollars went missing in that police action as well. Your legislative branch of your Gov’t is eroding your civil rights in the name of freedom and protection from terrorism. The reason Saddam Was ever in power at all is due to the fact that he was at one time more moderate towards the U.S. than any other power head in that country Hell prior to him it was’nt a country at all. We have destabilized the region with this war and it will require long term occupation to restabilize. The BILLIONS of UN-ACCOUNTED dollars missing are probably being spent on BLACK or Covert operations in Iran And Lebanon. Wake up Sean Hannity is A PUPPET of the money behind (and I use the term LOOSELY) news media. AKA Rupert Murdoch and his Cronies this war will cost you the young american an incredible inflation in the monetary system. The overall inflationary costs of WWII was 2000% And if anyone can take Hannity seriously all you have to do is watch who he brings on his TV show As “ expert commentators” G Gordon Liddy EX convict and nixon admin. henchman of watergate Fame or Mark “ I planted the blood evidence” Furman of the OJ debacle. come on you cant be serious. you the youth of my beloved country I Task you with this most difficult yet important endeavor, learn all you can from all points of view decide for yourselves and take all visual media with a grain of salt. learn the soldiers point of view learn the heart ache of a greiving parent or loved one to question this war is the most patriotic thing you can do. To blindly follow the suits is what is commonly called NATIONALISM. Soviet Russia was Nationalist Nazi Germany was a nationalist phenomena. the list goes on ad nausiom Know This I am an un-educated man I only have the benefit of a sharp memory. Please Don’t Go For The Okie Doke. Everyone on TV or radio is earning a paycheck how else do we pay for $3.50 a gallon gas? Liberals or Conservatives , Neo-Cons or Secular progressives it’s all BS Free your minds!!! At the risk of pissing off the religous types I’ll leave you with this point the worst crimes commited are perpetrated by religeous fundamentalists, and no one group is any better than the other , be they Jewish, Muslim. Christian. or Politico. be they radical fundamentalist be they hate monger. is’nt it peculiar that out of 300 plus cosmological belief systems on the face of the earth that these four groups cause untold loss of life and damage to the planet and it’s socio-economic systems. and by the way take a look at the banking systems while you are at it the federal reserve system the international monetary fund and the world bank follow the money all war is for profit FLATTOP DEVIL
— Brian Mcgeever - Mar 10, 04:26 AM - #Your a IDIOT!
— eman pric - Mar 23, 04:04 PM - #You all are hypocrites if you support the intervention in Kosovo, but not the intervention in Iraq. Serbia was not a threat to the United States, first of all. Second of all, there was no genocide; it was a war between the Serbian government and the Kosovar rebels. Third of all, the 100,000 number commonly cited in reference to this war was in fact the number of Kosovar refugees, most of whom left AFTER the war.
— Will Jolly - Mar 26, 09:16 PM - #And what makes your stance even more hypocritical is the fact that Saddam Hussein actually did commit genocide.
— Will Jolly - Mar 26, 09:17 PM - #Its downright scary to see how many ultra right-wing extremists like Richard Bowman exist in our increasingly moral and ethically bankrupt society! He’s even further gone than Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter COMBINED and checks in at about one second past 12 on the political rating scale (6 o’clock being a moderate). Are you for real, sir, and from whence did you acquire your warped political education? This is a MODERATE telling you this! Boy, are we a nation divided in thought, or what! But thats why democracy works so well, because of our system of checks and balances. Much as we hate to admit it, liberals and conservatives NEED each other to make our system work, or we would slowly evolve into a Socialist or Totalitarian police state.
— Robert Heintze - Mar 28, 03:46 PM - #You need a reality check. Of course, your political opinions is what guides your view point, not reality. Sean Hannity expresses his viewpoint, and challenges guests to explain there viewpoint with honesty, not made up inaccuracies. And to the idiot who thinks Bush and Cheney lied to poor Hillary. YOU need to take a look at the archives, and see the actual footage of Mrs. Clinton on TV explaining why she voted for the war, and how her own great resources, NOT THE PRESIDENTS, confirmed the intelligence. It is also very convient for all you people with your head stuck in the sand to forget how many leaders, from all the other countries, also had the same intelligence information. However, you still want to call just Bush a liar. Maybe you should also take a look at the extreme left, and their crazy rantings. Its scary, and if you want to see what is really wrong with society, look at the left. Then talk about taxes, the democrats arent even in congress for 6 whole months, and they are all ready trying to raise are taxes, and if you really believe this is just for the rich, you need to take a really hard look at what we will be paying. I am a single mother of two children, and make less then $50,000 a year. They will be raising my taxes. You need to dig a little deeper, and get the real scope. Everyone sees the world thru different eyes, its time the name calling stopped, and the respect for each others different viewpoints was put back into politics. But the lies and name calling on either side is conterprodutive. You do not have to agree with someones viewpoint to respect their right to have it. I think Alan Colmes, Hillary Clinton, and other extreme liberals are not good for this country, but I respect the fact that others believe in what they are doing. Maybe you all should try to understand that not everyone see the world or this country as you do, and they have a right to that opinion, without the insults.
— Beth - Apr 7, 03:19 PM - #And in case you “progressives” forgot, Clinton conducted a proxy war of his own against Iraq, via sanctions, bombings, and cruise missile strikes. He also set the blueprint for OIF with the Iraq Liberation Act. It would behoove you to do a little more research instead of regurgitating tired leftist platitudes.
— Will Jolly - Apr 15, 09:56 PM - #Besides, you also fail to mention that the U.S. and NATO supported the purging of non-Albanians from Kosovo which was conducted by the Kosovo Liberation Army.
— Will Jolly - Apr 16, 08:09 PM - #Why not bring Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwa) to develop New Orleans into a “chocolot city”?
— Edward A. White - Apr 18, 02:12 PM - #“..regurgitating tired leftist platitudes …”
What are we Americans getting for $2billion/month + 50 US casualties/month + destabilized region that place Iran and Syria in relative positions of strength?
You are the last of a fading group of cheerleaders defending an administration that has demontrated significant incompetence in all its endeavors.
Even if I agreed with current policy, I wouldn’t be foolish enough to overlook the utter lack of skill in execution.
These chicken hawks talk big but can’t deliver … just like you little man.
— TheLiberal - Apr 24, 12:06 AM - #Hannity is just another psychotic like ‘Peter The Hermit’ and doing his part to establish a new Inquisition. What troubles me is why generation after generation these psychotics are able to gain so many millions of followers. Is the psychosis catching?
— Tex - May 30, 09:30 PM - #Have any of you Hannity attackers actually watch his shows? I watch often and your description of the goings on do not resemble reality.
— James D. - Jul 18, 12:36 PM - #I watched a YouTube clip of Hannity ripping into a Catholic priest because the priest had the audacity to call Sean a hypocrite for his support for birth control, bit of a no-no in the Church. He then changed the subject by criticizing the Catholic leadership for the sex scandal issue, and kept repeating “do not judge, lest you be judged”. Finally, Hannity was visibly taken aback when the priest told him that he would not receive communion in his church.
This is not to say Hannity is wrong about birth control. Here he had an execellent chance to discuss the Church’s position on birth control, which he did for a little bit, claiming that birth control would help reduce abortions (the priest replied with a comment that over half of the abortions performed are due to failed birth control). But it seems that what really got under Hannity’s skin was that the priest had, in his mind, publiclly called Hannity a hypocrite, and therefore spent most of the time trying to belittle and bully this poor guy.
After some Googling, I found out that the priest had contacted Hannity privately as far back as 2004 to discuss Sean’s public view on birth control, to which the priest received no reply.
So can Catholics pick and choose whatever they want when it comes to Church dogma? Or should all Catholics be expected to follow dogma without question? Maybe this is the topic that Hannity should have also discussed, instead of launching his silly little tirade against a man of the cloth.
— Rick - Jul 29, 01:32 AM - #Any chance the conservative “watchdog” groups will ever notice that ABC Radio’s Rush
Limbaugh/Sean Hannity/Mark Levin block is an illegal contribution to the
Republican party? Let’s see $20,000 a minute x 8 hours/day x 260 days/year
is …..
$2,496,000,000.00
— Frank Provasek - Sep 29, 04:49 PM - #I think we all shoud boycott all fox cable stations, the are all biased
— dee - Mar 30, 10:37 PM - #To the last person and others talking down to Sean Hannity, Fox News, Rush, and other conservatives. Don’t you wonder why these shows are rated at the top of their markets? The people are sick of being lied to and sick of listening to the propaganda from the left. It’s amazing, it’s just amazing how people hear what they want to hear. Look what the Left is doing to the country right now. Everyone blaims the Bush administration for everything. Who is in control of congress? Bush can’t do anything without a passing vote from congress. This is not a dictatorship. I do not agree with everything Bush stands for or every decision he has made, but come on. What has the Democratic controlled congress done for us? Minimum wage, yippie? If you support a Democrate congressman (yes I did say congressman, and not congress person), call them and say thanks for passing the higher minimum wage and also say thanks for getting someone fired, because of minimum wage being raised.
— Dain A. Patterson - Aug 5, 05:20 PM - #This is in response to #5 by the lady who sides with the right that would love to see women’s rights go down the tubes – way to go lady.
As for $20,000 speaking fee, it was for a jet and in fact, one of the students who was in talks with Hannity speaks in an interview.
link below
www.newshounds.us/20…
So there is your good ol’ Christian boy, who claims the left is elitist.
www.newshounds.us/20…
Do a search for Sean Hannity and “bunny ranch” in google.
Ya, that’s such a good Christian. Hanging out at legalized whore houses.
Typical of the right, preaches about the Bible, then hangs out at a whore house…another sex scandal to the “good Christian right”.
www.bunnyranch.com/p…
— Jason Smith - Aug 21, 06:10 PM - #I find it ironic that some educated persons would comment on the antics of a non-degreed Simpleton. Get a life people.
Also enam pric:
— Richard - Oct 12, 08:58 PM - #Your a IDIOT!
should be
You are an idiot!
Improper grammer will suggest the same about you. Be careful!
Richard, you don’t have any evidence or proof of your claims. You use red herrings because you can’t win a debate. You psychologically project onto liberals the things about YOUR OWN PERSONALITY that you can’t consciously deal with. You can’t give any evidence that liberals are stupid and adhere to stupid values, that’s you. Your claims are empty and substanceless. I’ve delt with conservatives long enough to know they are evil or stupid people, and very often suffering from psychopathic personality disorder. You behavoir is very common. A liberal can present facts and proof and you’ll just lie your way out of it, go around in circles, or make up red herrings. I could defeat every idiology you have very easily, I have done it countless times to conservatives. I have really just given up on conservatives, and very sure that I am right and you are wrong, because I outdebate conservatives, but I’m tired of the fact that they can’t learn…and conservatives have bigger problems than incorrect idiologies, mental health issues are present too.
— Esoteric Knowledge - Feb 8, 03:34 PM - #