Last night, Jon Stewart paid a sober tribute to the Charlie Hebdo attacks and followed it with a brilliant (and hilarious) report on Nazi cows that - trust me - perfectly fit. But on Fox News, where the goal seems to be to leverage the Paris terrorism for maximum hatred – well, that was just more fodder for the hate machine.
For this particular nine minutes of exploiting the terror attack to smear Fox’s political opponents, Sean Hannity hosted Rush Limbaugh sub Mark Steyn.
Just to give you a taste of Steyn’s perspicacity, here’s how The Guardian summed up high school dropout and chickenhawk Steyn in 2006:
Apart from predicting that George Bush would win the 2000 presidential election in a landslide, Steyn said at regular intervals that Osama bin Laden “will remain dead”. Weeks after the invasion of Iraq he assured his readers that there would be “no widespread resentment at or resistance of the western military presence”; in December 2003 he wrote that “another six weeks of insurgency sounds about right, after which it will peter out”; and the following March he insisted that: “I don’t think it’s possible for anyone who looks at Iraq honestly to see it as anything other than a success story.”
Instead of just celebrating and promoting Fox’s version of reporting the news, it always seems to be carrying out a jihad against the rest of the media. In this case, ironically, it was in the name of free speech.
Hannity complained about “the editorial decision” that AP, CNN and other news networks made not to display the anti-Islamic cartoons that made Charlie Hebdo so hated by Muslims. He suggested that everybody in the media “unite as a sign of solidarity, as people are holding up pens in France, and say we’re all gonna publish it.”
I noticed that Hannity did not offer to get things going. Nor did I find the cartoons on Hannity’s twitter feed nor his Facebook page.
Steyn called the pen gestures “pathetic, really.” Steyn added, “I would be more impressed if people were to hold up copies of the Charlie Hebdo covers that those cartoonists died for.”
But of course he didn’t do that. I did find them on Steyn’s Facebook page and website, however.
Steyn thought that “The best thing that could have happened” would have been for all the media to put the cartoons on their front pages on the same day." And frankly, I would have agreed with Steyn if he hadn’t been so scornful in calling them “these journalists, the big shot editors who all know each other” and then accused them of “let(ting) these guys be murdered” (the cartoonists) and “accept(ing) the rules set by the murderers.”
However, it was now time to move on to smearing the left in general and Stewart and Stephen Colbert in particular!
STEYN: The American left is not there for (Charlie Hebdo cartoonists). It was to me pitiful to listen to the sort of antiseptic eunuch statement that Jon Stewart issued last night. If Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are at the height of political satire in the United States, then I’ll take these guys in France any day of the week. They’re doing what real satirists do which is offending you and challenging you over the serious questions of the day. They’re not just doing lame-o, tired, anti-Bush jokes a quarter century after he’s left office.
Uh, Mark? Bush has been out of office only six years, not a quarter century. And if you think that Stewart and Colbert don’t challenge over the serious questions of the day, then you either haven’t watched them or you just don’t get it.
Watch it below, from the January 8 Hannity show. You can also see Stewart's clips from the previous night.
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It’s probably both, Ellen, (as I’m always running into conservatives who clearly do not watch their shows despite their bogus attempts to complain about them). But, for sure, they just don’t get it. Having seen the way Hannity despises Stewart and what he does so brilliantly (and the very lame way Hannity counters back), I’m not surprised that he presented the viewers with a misguided, clueless pundit to go after Stewart. For crying out loud, Mr. Steyn, Stewart and Colbert DO offend and challenge (just ask your little, thin-skinned buddy, Hannity). Does it feel good to have someone else go help you with your dirty work, Hannity? LOL! Stewarts’s “Nazi Cows” was quite relevant and Stewart’s statement set just the right tone. People like Hannity and Steyn don’t get it and never will.
Because of Stewart’s own satirical work, he can relate to those who were murdered at Charlie Hebdo. I have no doubt that the families and the people of France appreciate Stewart’s words (especially when there’s those of the FOX “news” ilk that seek to use the Charlie Hebdo deaths as a means to attack Obama, Hillary, etc.).
And to Hannity, how about you air the "anti-Islamic cartoons” on your FOX “news” show tonight. And let’s see you post them on your Hannity website/Hannity Facebook page immediately. Better yet, make one of the "anti-Islamic cartoons” your public Facebook cover photo so it’s big and bold for all to see without having to wade through your newsfeed. Put up or shut up. Or are you one of those “eunuchs” that Steyn was referring to, Hannity?
The Stop Hannity Express encourages the masses to call out publicly Hannocchio’s refusal to post the cartoons on his own pages. Post the question on all conservative websites. “Why is he afraid to post the cartoons?” Ask the same questions to his listeners in the streets, on local and nation radio, and television.
If you see an older woman or man on the streets, and they are fans of Hannocchio’s, question them on why he refuses to post the cartoons on his social media pages. They will think about it, and say, “You are right. I haven’t seen those cartoons on his pages.” You add, “He complains about other media not posting the cartoons, but he doesn’t post them either.” They will say, “You do have a point. I’m totally disappointed in him. He’s a hypocrite. I am not going to watch him anymore.”
Tell as many people as possible.
NOTE TO MEDIA PARTNERS
He is afraid to post the cartoons himself, yet he criticizes other media. Expose him as a hypocrite.
I’m betting the answer to all three questions is a resounding “No.”