Sean Hannity hosted a friend of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl last night, obviously with the intent of making him look like an anti-American sissy. When the friend didn’t go along with the program, Hannity got pushier and more obnoxious. He all but attacked her for not calling Bergdahl a deserter and traitor.
The guest, Sherry Horton, was introduced as Bergdahl’s “former ballet instructor.” After Hannity got the “Bergdahl was a ballet dancer” trope out of the way (complete with photo),
he zeroed in on trying to get Horton to discuss the supposedly radical, anti-American, pro-Muslim views of the family. As it turned out, that – or suggesting Horton had been somehow deceived by her friend or was in some kind of denial – was all Hannity cared about.
Hannity made it plain he was not interested in hearing about any possibility that Bergdahl might be innocent until proven guilty.
“Did (Bergdahl) ever express any opinions about America that you found troubling?” Hannity asked.
No, she didn’t.
“What about the decision… to serve in the military?” Hannity asked.
Horton replied, “I wasn’t surprised by his decision to do this.”
Rather than find out why and, possibly, uncover something patriotic about the pre-judged Bergdahl, Hannity moved on to smear the family. “How well did you know his family, his father?” Hannity asked. Later, he pushed further and more explicitly:
What is your reaction when you hear the father praising Allah in the Rose Garden and wanting more Gitmo detainees – terrorists who killed Americans - freed? What is your reaction when you hear that the person that you were so close to, said he’s ashamed to be an American and that America’s disgusting. What is your reaction to that?
Horton said, “I don’t know what to think. I don’t know his state of mind at that point.” She suggested Bergdahl may have been dissatisfied with his job, having a bad day, etc. “We all have those days on our job,” she added.
So “Great American” Hannity started a new round of attacks:
When you hear that your friend was a deserter, as we just heard from one of his platoon mates and you hear that other men died searching for him, and you hear these comments that he made, does that change your opinion of him?
Horton replied that she is “reserving judgment… until we know what actually happened.”
But judge and jury Hannity didn’t need no further information. “Even though almost everybody he served with said he was a deserter, you’re not believing them?” he "asked."
“We don’t know any of the circumstances,” Horton protested.
Again, Hannity didn’t need any more facts – or even a formal investigation to pronounce his verdict. “But (Bergdahl) did write his father that he’s ashamed to be an American, that America’s disgusting,” Hannity said.
Of course, people go on Hannity’s show every day and reveal their disgust with America. And Hannity loves them for it. For example, he enthusiastically embraced (though pretended otherwise) Donald Trump’s phony-baloney birther conspiracy theory. He also found nothing not to like about the Swift Boaters who smeared decorated war veteran John Kerry. When pal Ann Coulter joked about killing Meghan McCain, Hannity gave her a dose of Republican Rehab.
In other words, if Bergdahl had written he was ashamed to be an American because of President Obama or Democrats, he would probably have been a Fox News hero.
Both of you hit the bullseye. What I find TOTALLY REVOLTING AND STOMACH-TURNING is the fact that the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of these rightwingers you speak of are actually DYED-IN-THE-WOOL LOUDMOUTHED CHICKENHAWKS! As Steve St John pointed out earlier, they LOVE WAR and they DO love their country — they just want OTHER people not as fortunate as them to do the fighting and the dying. I got this fact hammered into my brain at an antiwar demonstration outside the USMA at West Point in late May 2007 — it was graduation day and then-VP “Five Deferment Dick” Cheney was delivering the keynote address. Here’s the mother of all ironies: the prowar group at this antiwar demonstration that was naturally supporting Cheney called themselves the “Gathering of Eagles” — and its leader was a VERY MORBIDLY OBESE loudmouthed man wearing a tight-fitting yellow T-shirt and tight-fitting shorts. He had a megaphone that was set at top volume and he was RUNNING HIS MOUTH NONSTOP in an effort to drown out the antiwar speakers. If it wasn’t for the local police officers that were monitoring this demonstration, there’s a good possibility a VIOLENT RIOT might have erupted.
That young man returned home safely but he could just as easily have been abducted and nobody would have been the wiser on his motives for being off-base at the wrong time. I think of him every time I hear the crazies talk about Bergdahl as though they had been at his side when he disappeared.
The Stop Hannity Express says, Who is Hannocchio? We can begin with his teen years to early adulthood. Those troubling years, and those “incidents” that he tries to hide from the public. Something bad happened in his youth that made him homophobic. Maybe Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl should ask him about it.
If the masses really knew the real Hannocchio, his broadcasting career would end, and all of his so-called conservative friends would abandoned him like a sinking ship.
Coming down the pipeline:
1. Another scandal hits Hannocchio
2. A conservative blogger takes on Hannocchio
3. His past comes back to haunt him
4. Trouble in the mansion
NOTE TO FOX “NEWS” EXECS
He’s too old to bring in 25-54 demos. He’s already in his 50s, and looks like someone’s grandpa. Get someone younger.
When I’m asked by flabbergasted non-Americans to clarify this sort of lemming-ness (mindless obedience to a mystery meme), my main argument is the level of ignorance produced by a school system where critical thinking is actively discouraged. There’s nothing left in the barrel of sleaziness that is Hannity and FNC.
