Sean Hannity is so obsessed with a New York Times article that noted Marco Rubio’s purchase of a boat that Robin Leach, the former host of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, was enlisted to do a dramatic reading on the Hannity show. Really.

Jon Stewart’s mockery of the article notwithstanding, The Times actually made some substantive and important points:

Among the serious contenders for the presidency, Mr. Rubio stands out for his youth, for his meteoric political rise — and for the persistent doubts about his financial management, to the point that Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign flagged the issue when vetting Mr. Rubio as a possible running mate in 2012, interviews show.

Many of those troubles have played out in an unusually public way, leading even some of his supporters to worry. As he rose in politics, he sometimes intermingled personal and political money — using a state Republican Party credit card years ago to pay for a paving project at his home and for travel to a family reunion, and putting his relatives on campaign payrolls.

Other moves seemed simply unwise: A few weeks ago, he disclosed that he had liquidated a $68,000 retirement account, a move that is widely discouraged by financial experts and that probably cost him about $24,000 in taxes and penalties.

In the past week, he sustained a new loss when he sold his second home in Florida’s capital, Tallahassee, for $18,000 less than he and a friend paid for it a decade ago. The house had previously faced foreclosure after Mr. Rubio and his friend failed to make mortgage payments for five months. (my emphases)

There’s plenty more where that came from including – yes, the $80,000 boat that he purchased at the same time that he was hyping his own financial prudence in paying off bills.

The point, as The Times noted, is that Rubio’s actual financial habits belie his “well-crafted political persona” as “a champion of financial austerity, railing against excessive government spending and runaway debt.”

Hannity again ignored the overall revelations of the article. Instead, he brought in Leach to lampoon it.

HANNITY: Now to highlight just how bad this smear job really was, well, we decided to have a little fun with this and we have brought in the one and only Robin Leach… to perform a dramatic reading of some of the most ridiculous parts of this article.

Of course, Hannity used the whole thing as a departure to “do a little comparing and contrasting” with the Clintons whom Hannity portrayed as out-of touch-wealthy. Via another dramatic reading by Leach.

Watch what passes for news below, from the June 11 Hannity show.