Hannity & Colmes Presents Rove's Side Only
Reported by Ellen - July 14, 2005
Was Sean Hannity so traumatized by his whupping Tuesday night from Bill Press that he couldn't take the risk last night of discussing Karl Rove with anyone but a conservative? How else to explain that this hot topic, which merited the first two segments of the show, included conservatives only? I smell right wing fear in the air, specifically Hannity's.
The first guest was Byron York of the National Review. Hannity opened the interview by describing the top story as "the assault on Deputy White House Chief of Staff, Karl Rove." Actually, Hannity got Rove's title wrong; he should have said Rove is White House Deputy Chief of Staff, but getting the facts wrong is sometimes the least of Hannity's offenses.
York was there to discuss his exclusive interview with Rove's attorney published in National Review Online, an article that provided Rove's side of the story only. Like the article, York's perspective was very one-sided. There were the now-familiar GOP talking points that Time reporter Matt Cooper called Rove about welfare reform and that Rove, out of the goodness of his heart tried to save Cooper from the embarrassment of trusting Joe Wilson too much. It's surprising that such altruism would have remained covered-up and lied about for nearly two years but I digress.
Hannity, through some twisted logic I can't understand, declared "Karl" the victim "inasmuch as all he did was gave (sic) an interview, tried to help a reporter out and just said, 'Hey wait a minute. Let me just tell you that that part of the story's not true and this has blown into something much bigger than anyboy could have imagined,' right?"
York didn't overtly concur but added that Rove also "felt mystified" about having signed a waiver releasing everyone to testify before the grand jury. (As if that's proof of his innocence? How about the fact that he also lied and said he never leaked the name? I guess that doesn't count in the face of Rove's other acts of benevolence.
Comment: Despite all the talk, neither Hannity nor York denied the fact that Rove leaked classified information.
Next it was Alan Colmes' turn. Saying that "this is an attempt to smear Joe Wilson." Colmes said, "It doesn't matter who called whom in the Karl Rove conversation or what the initial call was about. It's what Karl Rove said and what his intent was."
York ignored that point (probably because it's irrefutable) and went back to trying to discredit Wilson until the segment ended and it was time for Ann Coulter to weigh in.
