Sean Hannity must have developed a severe case of amnesia because he insisted to Democrat Lanny Davis two nights ago, “I don’t remember anybody on the right calling President Obama a murderer, a criminal, a tax cheat, a felon or a racist.” Later, Hannity decried the race card, saying, it “doesn’t really get lower than that, does it, Lanny?” Not only have people on the right done exactly that, many of those accusations and tactics have been used right on Hannity and elsewhere on Fox News. Sadly, Davis seemed more interested in sucking up to conservatives than he was in advocating for his own side.
The excuse this time for Hannity to play the GOP Special Victim was the anti-Romney ad by Priorities USA featuring a steelworker tying the death of his wife to the loss of his job - and family health insurance - at a plant closed by Bain Capital. Hannity seems to have put aside, at least temporarily, his desire to make the ad into another Watergate. But then again, who needed that when he had Davis on hand to provide all the moral condemnation he could want?
Davis called the ad “disgusting,” said he thought it “badly” hurt Obama, and added, “He needs to repudiate it because the ad is false, it’s misleading and Mr. Burton, who is behind it, should himself recognize that he’s hurt Mr. Obama by this ad.” If it hadn’t occurred to Davis that he was maybe hurting Obama by going along with Hannity’s meme, it should have when Hannity said, “I do appreciate this.”
Apparently, Davis’ idea of “helping” Obama (beyond criticizing him on Hannity for his own good) was to say that Romney is “not exactly in a great position to complain” about negative ads.
Hannity, once again over-blowing the actual ad said, “I don’t remember anybody on the right calling President Obama a murderer, a criminal, a tax cheat, a felon or a racist.”
Really? How about Fox News host Heather Childers who tweeted the “question,” Did Obama Campaign Threaten Chelsea Clinton’s Life 2 Keep Parents Silent?
She also tweeted:
Hannity, himself, repeatedly promoted birtherism – which he also forgot. But wait, there’s more. Besides the suggestion that Obama had broken the law (just three nights before) over the Priorities USA ad, I can’t forget, even if he can, Hannity’s ludicrous accusations that President Obama had broken the law over Sestak-gate. Hannity also suggested that Obama broke campaign laws for allegedly offering hush money to Rev. Wright. “Why does this sound to me a lot like why John Edwards is on trial right now?” Hannity had “asked.”
But even if Davis, a Fox News contributor, didn’t know about any of those events, he certainly has enough experience on Fox to recognize the astounding hypocrisy in Hannity complaining that Obama “never speaks out about the negativity that I think is really taking politics to an all-time low.”
The other guest, Liz Cheney agreed. She called the ad “outrageous” and said the president should “stand up” and denounce it. “The American people want to see a real debate about issues… That’s how we’d all love to engage this president and this White House… The country is clearly better off if we’re debating our different views of the future and our different views of where this country can go to get back on track again.”
Oh, you mean debating our different views like suggesting Obama’s a traitor? That he doesn’t defend American interests abroad?
In fact, Hannity can hardly host a single show without attacking Democrats any way he can – something Davis must know. But again, Davis let the hypocrisy go by. To be clear, it’s not that it’s so important to point out that Hannity’s a hypocrite but to allow his disingenuousness to stand unchallenged is to help validate his "concern."
But the Hannity hypocrisy got even worse. He turned back to Davis and asked, “Bill Clinton said about Barack Obama that they played the race card on him… Is this just typical Obama, Axelrod, Gibbs, Chicago politics? Because you know what? Playing the race card on somebody doesn’t really get lower than that, does it, Lanny?”
Well, you tell us, Hannity. You’re the one who hosted Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson when he accused “most blacks” in Tennessee of being “so racist” during a racially-charged Democratic primary. And when Peterson was invited back on your show, he said, “I think we all agree that Barack Obama was elected by, mostly by black racists and white guilty people.” You offered only the mildest pushback that time and none the time before. If that’s so low, why are you still on the advisory board of Peterson’s charity? In fact, some people say yours is the go-to show for race baiting. Especially against President Obama.
But instead of calling Hannity out, Davis said the Clintons are supporting Obama. Then he launched another criticism of Obama. “The ad is misleading at best… It’s a distorted ad and it hurts Barack Obama.”
As the segment ended, Davis jumped in to suck up more, attack Obama more and ignore the hypocrisy more. “Could I just get a quick agreement in with Liz Cheney because I always love to end up on agreement?” he asked. “This campaign ought to be a battle of ideas. The Paul Ryan pick, he’s a very smart man. I think that finally, finally Mitt Romney is talking about aspirations and the future. Liz is exactly right. It’s about time he started to talk that way and it’s about time Barack Obama stopped the negativity and debated ideas and the American people both left and right want that to happen.”
Now Cheney was the one who seemed very appreciative.
Does Davis really think that there will be any upcoming segments on Hannity that will be a "battle of ideas" instead of smears any time soon?
Don’t forget the Willie Horton ad that cost another election, accusing Dukakis of rape and murder…
Remind the masses that Hannocchio’s close friends are “a criminal, a tax cheat, a felon or a racist.” Robert Allen Stanford, Hal Turner, and ex-New York City Police Comissioner Bernard Kerik. All spent time, or currently spending time in prison. Repeat this over and over again.
Coming down the pipe. A big surprise awaits the Fox “News” frauds.
NOTE TO HANNITY
Our definition of a tax cheat is a person who funnels money to a company, and that company distributes a portion of the money back to the tax cheat.