If ever you needed proof that no excuse is too far-fetched for Sean Hannity to attack President Obama, take a gander at tonight’s segment in which he used Ted Cruz’ release of his birth certificate as an excuse to go birther all over again on President Obama – while once again pretending it was “never a big issue for me.” Hannity was assisted in that regard by his pal, failed Republican Senate candidate, Connie Mack of Florida.
Hannity happily read a quote from the Dallas Morning News which was also slapped up on the screen to make sure nobody missed it: “Born to an American mother, Ted Cruz became an instant U.S. citizen.”
Hannity tried to use the situation to argue that left-wing doubters of Cruz’ eligibility must be racists because right-wingers were accused of being racists for doubting Obama’s. But Mack took it a step further. He said with a malicious smile:
First of all, I think it’s important to point out that there is one Democrat who will not be talking about this issue and that is Barack Obama.
Hannity was so excited at the thought of painting the left as racist birthers, that he couldn’t stop harping on it: “The insinuation was... that anyone that said, ‘Alright, why doesn’t the President just produce his birth certificate?’ It was never a big issue for me but it was odd that they never did."
Except that yes, Obama had already produced his birth certificate, in 2008, about three years before Donald Trump decided to make it a big issue with a whole lot of help from Fox News. Despite his denials that it wasn’t his issue, Hannity tirelessly promoted it. He has also falsely claimed that President Obama grew up in Kenya.
Hannity added, “And then he produced it, issue kind of went away.”
Except that Hannity kept trying to exploit the issue anyway.
Mack blew it up even further by blaming President Obama for the bogus birther attacks in the first place:
Let me say this. You know, I think what you see here is, when Ted Cruz was asked about it, he produced his birth certificate. No big deal, right? The president dragged his feet for years. And so the issue became more of the president’s doing than anybody else. I think Ted Cruz handled this the right way. He produced a birth certificate. Everybody knows that he’s a U.S citizen, that he was born an American and the issue’s over. The problem is, there’s those on the left who just can’t stand it. They’ve gotta come up with some sort of issue that keeps them going … I guess maybe to raise money or to try to fill a void in their own policy issues.
Somehow, Mack conveniently “forgot” that Cruz, not Obama, is the one who was born outside of the U.S.A. There was never any legitimate reason for anyone to demand to see Obama's birth certificate in the first place, much less doubt that his official “Certification of Live Birth,” produced in 2008, wasn’t good enough proof, as Trump and his Fox News cronies did until Obama produced his long-form birth certificate - which Trump still pretended wasn't enough.
Sadly, “Democratic strategist” Steve Murphy seemed to miss that point and allowed the “why didn’t Obama just produce his birth certificate” baloney, along with Hannity’s “not my issue” baloney to go unrefuted.
Video available at Mediaite.
1. Connie Mack isn’t a reputable source for comment in any case – he’s a hard-right former GOP congressman who lost his last attempt to stay in Washington. Maybe he’ll do better in his next local election – say for another congressional term rather than the Senate seat he now knows he can’t win.
2. Ted Cruz will not be running for President any time soon, if ever. The far right may like him and throw some money to his campaigns, but it’s more likely that he’ll be fighting to retain his seat in 2018 after what has already been a fairly disastrous track record.
3. This is yet another exhibit of Sean Hannity’s on-air meltdown following what’s been a fairly public humiliation for him. What he does upon Kelly’s return should be quite interesting. Will he completely go rogue on the air and denounce Fox News for demoting him? Should be interesting viewing.
4. The fact that these guys want to suddenly bring up the birther nonsense only illustrates further how ridiculous that allegation was in the first place. And there’s the obvious point about the double standard. But don’t expect the right wing to understand either part of the argument. The reality is that there were plenty of right wingers who simply hated Obama on sight and were happy to have that kind of issue with which to challenge him. Many of them still don’t accept him as a legitimate President. It’s extremely interesting that they would embrace Ted Cruz and defend him with the same breath they used to attack Obama’s legitimacy.
We all recognize the spin and hypocrisy that happening here but what I find amusing is that Sean felt it was necessary to do this segment as if Cruz has any chance of ever becoming President. I would love to see the R’s nominate Cruz or Rand Paul in ’16, and then perhaps we can do away with this nonsense that moderates are unelectable and America wants a right wing extremist. We can then sit back and enjoy the slaughter that will take place, if either goes against Hillary.
Hannocchio may have to call up The Trumpster or his buddy, Jerome.
Grab a bucket of popcorn. This gem will grow legs.
