Sean Hannity ridiculously pretended birtherism "never was my issue." We've got proof otherwise!
Sean Hannity’s Great American Panel unanimously and emphatically broke ranks with Hannity last night (6/29/11) as each panelist agreed that Donald Trump’s birtherism was offensive and racist. Predictably, white-rights enthusiast Hannity argued otherwise. But as the panel continued to denounce birtherism, he said, “It never was my issue.” Hannity didn’t care to enlighten us as to the definition of “his issue,” but if repeatedly giving airtime and legitimacy to suggestions that there was something fishy about President Obama’s birth certificate – even after he had produced it – counts, then it certainly was Hannity’s issue. Of course, it’s also quite possible Hannity knew all along it was a bogus controversy but he was willing to cast aside truth, accuracy and evidence in order to hit at Obama. The fact that there was a racial angle to the whole thing probably made it all the more tantalizing.
The second video below shows just how much it was never Hannity’s issue – and that was made after Obama had already released his long-form birth certificate. As I previously noted, Hannity also promoted birtherism on March 23, 2011, March 24, 2011, two segments on March 25, 2011 and on March 29, 2011, Hannity repeatedly tried – but failed – to push GOP presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty into playing the birther card along with him. Plus, Media Matters posted about Hannity promoting birtherism on April 15, 2011, April 25, 2011 and April 26, 2011. That’s not counting the warm reception he gave to birther Jerome Corsi in a 2009 interview.
The context of this particular birther chat - which was instigated by one of the guests, not Hannity - was the supposedly unfair attacks on Michele Bachmann, especially with regard to her gaffes. Hannity responded as he usually does to nearly every political issue – by launching a series of attacks on President Obama.
With birtherism almost certainly a lost cause forever now, Hannity ended the segment by whining that the media didn’t scrutinize President Obama enough over Bill Ayers. Hannity said, “I will never give up on that. Don’t ever ask me. Don’t write me. I’m stayin’ on it. ‘Cause it was one of the great injustices to all the American people in the last campaign.”
So in the name of fairness and scrutinizing former associates, let’s remind Hannity of his relationship with white supremacist Hal Turner (currently in jail for threatening three federal judges).
You can tweet Hannity @SeanHannity.
(This post was originally published on June 30, 2011 and republished on May 23, 2018)