Sean Hannity discussed the botched execution of murderer Joseph R. Wood – which reportedly took nearly two hours and, according to reporters who witnessed the execution, made Wood gasp and snort for air. But Hannity let not his heart be troubled one itsy bitsy by Christian concern for the least among us. Instead, he trotted out Wood’s victims, who seem to think Wood didn’t suffer enough, and implied agreement.
Hannity gave a clue to his stance when he described Wood’s death as “what some are calling a botched execution.”
I can’t blame Jeanne Brown, sister and daughter of Wood’s victims, for her anger and resentment. Nor her husband. But it is up to a news host like Hannity to add a broader context to such a deeply personal view. Instead, he did his best to enhance its validity.
Other news reports have noted the compassionless comments of Brown. The New York Daily News, e.g., reported that Brown, on hearing of Wood’s suffering said, “”This man deserved it. And I shouldn’t really call him a man.” Her husband reportedly said, “”People on death row deserve to suffer.” But Hannity skipped over those less-than-flattering details.
“So much time is put into talking about the guilty party, Hannity said to the Browns. “Let’s talk about the pain that your family went through. …Tell us about that pain.”
Jeanne Brown called it “horrific” and who could blame her? “There’s no words to explain what we’ve gone through,” she said. And her opinions are certainly worth airing. However, our magnificent system of justice is based on a different philosophy. So when Brown commented, “It seems like it’s all for the (perpetrator). …Why does it take this long for something like this to happen when they know he’s guilty?” any responsible news host would have offered some balance or an expert guest to explain why our system works the way it does and the good in that.
But not “great American” Hannity. He said, “Yeah well, that’s a good point. The wheels of justice move incredibly slowly, especially on these death penalty cases.” So much for American exceptionalism, eh? Again.
The Browns claimed there was no suffering nor gasping, just snoring. They could be right, for all I know, but Hannity instantly took their word over the other witnesses who thought otherwise. “So in other words, he was unconscious… he wasn’t aware or conscious,” Hannity said.
Hannity was not above asking a question that he answered before he gave his guest time to respond: “Do you think that the media spends enough time listening to victims’ stories? …It seems that we ignore their stories. It seems the media wants to focus in, ‘Oh, we’re not being humane to the murderer, to the rapist, to the pedophile.’ Tell us the brutality of the death that your sister and father endured.”
Jeanne Brown replied, “Everything revolves around the criminal or the inmate, it’s never for the other party. And everybody that’s against the death penalty and I say this: If you’ve never experienced what we have experienced, you’ll never know what we’re going through. …And all these anti people against the death penalty don’t realize that until it would happen to them and one of their closes relatives.”
Hannity gave his seal of approval. “I fully completely understand. …Thank you for telling us the truth,” he said.
Again, I do not begrudge the Browns their feelings. Nor do I dismiss them. But it’s the role of news networks – especially one that holds itself up as “fair and balanced” – to be, well, fair and balanced. This was nothing less than a cynical attempt to use a tragic situation and a suffering family to promote an agenda. Sadly, it’s Hannity’s and Fox’s stock in trade.
Watch the discussion from last night's Hannity below.
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BTW, where is the “little spread” Hannity is planning to buy, do you know? The Dallas area? If so, I hate to tell him it’s turning blue. http://www.texastribune.org/2010/12/22/texas-gets-increasingly-red-dallas-goes-blue/
Of course, Austin and Houston are already so. http://truth-out.org/news/item/16975-could-texas-be-turning-blue
“Victims… blah blah blah… what would Reagan do… blah blah blah…”
“And that judicial murder is only actually applied to less than 1% of convicted murderers, almost exclusively the other-coloured, the mentally handicapped, the poor and the disgracefully defended, is not to be considered unusual?”
“Um.. Marshall Dillon… blah blah blah… patriots… blah blah blah… great Americans”
“So that part of your sacred Constitution (as amended) that proscribes cruel and unusual punishment is bollocks and, dare I say it, un-frigging-American?”
“Hey, watch this football!”
You know, I actually had to look up Wood’s crime. Apparently, he was in a mutally abusive relationship that neither of them would back out of, and he went off when her father badmouthed him after what could have literally been their 100th break-up. So he shot her and her father.
This is so dime a dozen, Wal-Mart put it on sale. Explain to me how that even warrants a slightly harsher treatment, let alone an execution like this. Even if this was Ted Bundy, someone I actually would turn a blind eye on a little suffering for, explain to me how this wouldn’t still be, at the very least, an epic level of overkill.
Seriously.
On the other hand, if he’s even an ounce of compassion, he might want to look at a judge’s opinion that the firing squad is the quickest and most efficient way to kill a condemned person, noted here: http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/why-the-death-penalty-is-doomed/
Perhaps this will give Hannocchio some ideas on what to do for a living when he moves down to his “little spread” in Texas in a few years. He really won’t be able to raise cattle as the Southwest will be a dust bowl by then (thanks to Slanthead and his drill-and-frack-everywhere mantra).
We’re also assuming that his tanking broadcasting “career” will be kaput, but hey, that’s not a stretch at all.
So what will our boy Seanny do with himself?
How about a new business card: “Hannity and Family — Have Guns, Will Execute!”
If I’m not mistaken, Texas still leads the rest of the nation in executions, so he’ll be right in the thick of it. And he’ll have a great endorsement from Rick Perry who had “gunner” Hannity on board when they stopped thousands of little brown children from bringing their cooties across the Rio Grande!
http://thecount.com/wp-content/uploads/Sean-Hannity-and-Gov.-Rick-Perry-gunboat.jpg
Slanthead has already publicly admitted to owning at least three AR-15s, plus boxes and boxes of ammo.
All he has to do is train his kids to handle the weapons, and he’s in business. But, you may ask, suppose all their shots are wild and all they achieve is a swiss cheese effect on the target without hitting any vital organs?
No problem for Seanny, as he then pulls out one of the two Glocks he carries tucked into his belt 24/7, walks up to the prisoner and puts a slug right between the eyes!
The issue here is the terrible manner in which the state performed the execution. For this victim to suffer with his death is morbid; and it doesn’t surprise me that Vannity takes great comfort in having the man suffer needlessly. Vannity is such a coward, low-life chicken-hawk. A vermin or snake in the grass is too honorable an analogy for the disgusting host of fox-nonsense. I have a hard time accepting that so many of my fellow citizens can put their trust and confidence in such a despicable man.
I’m surprised that Slanthead KKKlannity didn’t blame it all (whatever it is) on President Obama.
Dear Ellen: Mark my words: It should be PAINFULLY OBVIOUS to us all that KKKlannity will NEVER, EVER SHOW ANY COMPASSION WHATSOEVER towards those not as fortunate as him — especially towards Palestinians that have been SUFFERING NOTHING BUT PURE HELL FOR ALMOST FIFTY YEARS due to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. Here’s the proof: I just came across a VERY DISTURBING article on http://www.huffingtonpost.com that details how KKKlannity went on a WILD SCREAMING FIT when a Palestinian went on his show recently. Here’s the link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/25/sean-hannity-yousef-munayyer-rant_n_5620231.html
I don’t agree with you but understand why you or anyone would feel this way on giving someone the same death they gave the victim but instead I want a humane way of putting someone to death. We all are going to die, but we don’t know when or how. To actually know the date and time and how you’ll die can’t be a very pleasant experience, no matter how it’s done. Recent technology advancements has proven the innocence of many and I have no problems with the time needed that there is no doubt that the person is truly guilty, for those who talk about the high cost in legal fees and to incarcerate a prisoner is meaningless to me since the money will just go and be wasted somewhere else.
I’m sure most of you remember the late Dr. Jack Kevorkian and the firestorm he had with his assisted suicide for the terminally ill. I wonder what method he used. I don’t recall hearing any stories of suffering for those who choose to do this from their love ones.
I do have a question that maybe one of you can answer for me and that is when we put an animal down once the shot is given death comes in a second. I’m sure many of you have dealt with this experience before, and if it took as long as it takes to putting a human being to death, most of us would not allow this amount of time of pain to our animals. I’m sure there is a simply answer, but why don’t we use whatever we use on animals? I’ve asked this question to two vets and they didn’t know the answer either.