Hannity’s Focus Group Thinks Obama’s A Muslim
Reported by Ellen - February 8, 2011 -
Frank Luntz was back on Hannity last night (2/7/11) with another suspect focus group. This time, Luntz made no pretense of balance. He told us up front that the sea of white faces was a group of Republican Iowa caucus voters. But even he seemed taken aback when a majority of the group agreed that President Obama is a Muslim. Sean Hannity made sure to correct the record – by noting that he believes Obama is a “very leftist, socialist, redistributive… radical (Christian).”
The segment purported to be a two-part discussion about the 2012 election and “Road to 2012” displayed on the screen as Hannity introduced the segment. But they should have put the word “Victory” after “2012” because that’s what was really on the agenda.
“Before we get to 2012, let’s focus on what we’re doing right now, Luntz said at the beginning of the discussion.
What he meant, of course, was let’s attack Obama. Luntz began with one of Hannity’s favorite obsessions of late, the Muslim Brotherhood. Luntz noted his group’s extremely negative reaction when, in his interview with Bill O’Reilly, Obama did not say he didn’t want the Muslim Brotherhood as part of a new government in Egypt. Then, feigning non-partisan curiosity, Luntz deliberately elicited a slew of condemnation by asking his group, "The reaction was so negative, so overwhelming, what’s the problem?”
But I wonder if Luntz knew what he was in for when one member of his group piped up with, “I believe that Barack Obama’s religious beliefs do govern his foreign policy.” When Luntz pressed her to explain what those “religious beliefs” were, the woman replied, “I believe that he is a Muslim.”
“You do,” Luntz said. How many of you believe that here?” The majority of the group’s hands went in the air.
Up until that point, I was suspicious that Luntz knew his group's beliefs in advance and had begun the Muslim Brotherhood discussion with an eye toward steering the discussion that way. But then Luntz sounded a bit dismayed as he said, “Now, do you understand the implications of what you’re saying here, what the media’s gonna say about this group and about Iowa caucus voters in the future? You realize what you’re opening up here?”
The group talked it over a bit more. One man thought Obama was sympathetic to Muslims, not necessarily a Muslim himself, while another thought Obama’s true religion was liberalism, “the most intolerant religion of all.”
Luntz moved the discussion along to attacking Obama over his foreign policy (someone called Obama “Neville Chamberlain”) until Luntz paused to ask Hannity to weigh in.
Hannity quickly said he wanted to point out that Obama “was in Rev. Wright’s church, which believes in black liberation theology predicated on a very leftist, socialist, redistributive model - and I don’t question that aspect of President Obama, in terms of he believes in Christian faith, although I believe a radical one, hanging out with Wright.”
So glad he cleared that up!
