Hannity Pandering To The Boss
Reported by Deborah - October 25, 2004 -
Looking out at a sun drenched Florida vista, Sean Hannity conducted the much touted exclusive interview with George W Bush. Hannity's predictable set of questions were merely a rehashing of the material he has used every night since the campaign started turning the exchange into just one more opportunity to attack John Kerry and the Democrats. 10/25/04 9PM ET
George Bush did not look relaxed and his broad smile was clearly forced as Hannity recited the questions that required no clear answer, allowing Bush to ramble without direction. The first two non questions bolstered Bush's confidence sending the message that although the race is close, you're an "athlete" and a "competitor" going to four five cities a day. Bush responded,
"I know I'm goin to win."
Then Hannity, clearly uncomfortable broached the issue of the first debate hinting that some called his performance "flat' but quickly added that it wasn't fair and maybe too much importance is given to debates. Bush could not even admit that he was off that night and simply rambled some more, eventually getting himself all riled up about Kerry's comments.
At this point Hannity started the bash fest using all the overused lines from his routine making sure to bring up Mary Cheney and Teresa Heinz Kerry's comment about Laura. Then as expected Hannity pulled out the litany used so often that viewers can recite it verbatim.
"Al Gore screaming that you betrayed this country. You tried to reach out to Ted Kennedy and he called you a liar. Terry Macaulliffe AWOL. Howard Dean advancing the theory that you knew about 9/11. Joe Biden calling you brain dead. Leaders of the opposition party..."
The last question of the evening was of course the piece de resistance.
"If John Kerry were President would he make this country more vulnerable?"
Of course, there is no need to wonder about Bush's response to that one.
Naturally, this most exclusive interview will continue tomorrow night and viewers even got a preview of the next installment. Alan Colmes informed us, "In the name of fairness I did interview John Kerry last spring for a half an hour. He has not responded to our requests for an interview."
Comment: Hannity's performance was astounding on many levels. Yes, he pandered to his boss which I expected but his lack of professionalism went way beyond expectation. Obviously, Hannity didn't even bother to do any homework for this major campaign event. Instead he just asked Bush the same questions he has asked every guest on his show.
Making references to the attacks from Democrats in this interview was both tasteless and inappropriate for this type of venue. Of course the purpose of this tactic was to make Bush look like the perfect gentleman , a victim of those evil liberals.It had the added effect of making Sean Hannity look like an inadequate lightweight.
It was also clear that Hannity knew that Bush could not handle substance and therefore limited the interview to Bush commenting on the attacks from others. The only thing that I got tonight was that neither man is up to their job. What a waste of time!
