Leave it to Sarah Palin to find a way to glom some attention over the Duck Dynasty controversy. You may recall that Palin’s love of free speech was nowhere to be seen when Martin Bashir came under fire for comments he made about her. But free-speech lovers, have no fear. Palin has re-discovered and newly embraced her dedication to free speech again. Just in time to get her face on prime time Fox News.
In case you missed it, Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson has been suspended from the show by A&E in the wake of homophobic and racist remarks in a GQ interview. The right wing is foaming at the mouth on his behalf. How could Sarah Palin not throw herself into the mix? So what if it's only been two weeks since the Bashir incident?
To refresh your memory, on December 5th, Palin visited both Fox & Friends and The O’Reilly Factor to discuss Bashir’s (admittedly) offensive comments about her and his subsequent resignation from MSNBC. Was she championing Bashir’s free speech and regretting that he had been pressured to resign? Heck no!
On Fox & Friends, Palin said that if Bashir or “anybody else comes out against somebody who cannot defend themselves...I’ll go ballistic, if he picks on that person, gloves are off...I’ll really say what I want to say.”
On The O’Reilly Factor, Palin dodged the question of whether Bashir should have been fired. Instead, she insisted, “I would never have allowed a corporate culture to have such low standards that that kind of vile talk was accepted.”
But tonight, on Hannity, Palin had her old free-speech mojo back. Just like when she came under fire for her inflammatory and insensitive rhetoric over the Gabby Giffords shooting. Even though this event had nothing to do with her. I’m sure the fact that she has a new book out, published by Fox News' sister company Harper Collins, has nothing to do with it.
“This is all about freedom, free speech,” Palin said with her malicious grin. “You know, so many American families have spilled blood and treasure to guarantee Phil Robertson and everybody else’s right to voice their personal opinions. And once that freedom is lost, Sean, everything is lost in our country.”
Of course, the First Amendment applies to the government and has nothing to do with Duck Dynasty’s network, A&E, deciding what it wants to do with its show.
Meanwhile, nobody said anything about Robertson's racist remarks.
But knowing Hannity, they wouldn’t bother him a bit.
Hannity did make a point of holding Palin up as some kind of champion of freedom of expression, saying that she had never advocated for Bashir to be fired or boycotted. (Just pay no attention to how she had advocated against him in other ways, played the victim and never said one word about his right to speak).
Nor did Palin own up to her hypocrisy. “Because I am a freedom of speech kind of gal,” Palin said, with proud enthusiasm. Then she talked up a friend who had decided to boycott A&E. Palin added suggestively, “She’s not the only one. I’ve received many, many emails from people saying, ‘You know, why give ‘em our money, our eyes, our ears, our resources? There are other channels out there to be watching.'”
Later, Palin said, “Americans – we’re smart enough to understand what’s going on here. We’re also smart enough to understand that we do not have to promote and give business to a network like that if we, you know, don’t believe in the action that they just took (suspending Phil Robertson). “ With vicious glee, she added, “And A&E’s gonna feel it."
Nah, she doesn’t believe in boycotts.
I trust you’re aware that there are people around the world who actually PAY to have people shit and piss in their mouths. (And I’ve got little reason to believe that Sarah Palin, if offered enough money upfront, wouldn’t hesitate to ingest shit since she spends so much time spewing it out for free.)
If Robertson’s little racist comments had been made public first, his sorry redneck cracker ass wouldn’t have been suspended. He would’ve been fired. And if the rest of the “Dynasty” objected, the show would’ve been cancelled flat out.
Oh. And Sarah Palin wouldn’t have put her pea-brained two cents into the matter, much less defend his “free speech” rights.
If you don’t want to engage in tit-for-tat name-calling, fine. But don’t fucking expect me to have your back when someone goes a step too far because they’ve found a little masochist that they can play with.
You call your black co-workers the N-Word, you’re probably gonna get fired.
You slander/libel someone, you’re probably going to court.
You go after someone verbally until the people who listen to you go after them physically, you’re going to prison- Unless you’re Bill O’Reilly.
Seriously, has anyone else ever gotten a slap on the wrist as light as he has? Even Glenn Beck got suspended.
I don’t feel the first ounce of pity for Robertson because there’s no way he hasn’t pissed off enough people to be Glenn Beck II, should A&E keep him. And it came out yesterday that he constantly spews this garbage speaking at his church, so this isn’t a one time thing- This is supporting Robertson being tantamount to sanctioning hate speech against Gays, Blacks, and multiple religions. Roger Ailes is the only network CEO dumb enough to want to take that on.
But like you said- Fox News has a lot riding on human stupidity for this one.
This isn’t a matter of his 1st Amendment rights. Nor was it when any other television or radio personality has been similarly suspended.
It’s simply that Fox News is trying to thread a very fine needle here. They’re trying to get away with supporting some obviously offensive comments by hiding behind the Constitution. It’s not because they support his right to speech – it’s because they support what he said. They’re clearly hoping viewers won’t be able to tell the difference.
The same goes with just about everyone else who’s ever made a comment she doesn’t like- They could be fired, fined, and blacklisted from ever having a job in the industry again, and beaten in the street… She’d still be demanding more. That’s why people just began telling her to shut up and grow thicker skin with Letterman.
Palin, the hypocrite, is just the bell-weather for how they think, act, and cry.
They are not concerned with defending his freedom of speech. This is simply where the right knows it’s white Bible belt base, and the magic words they need to say to please them. No one is denying his right to speak the question is what are your thoughts on what he said? They know that and must direct the attention to another direction. Using the Bible is just an excuse to hate to justify hate speech. We’ve seen this act repeat itself many times.
In the end since this guy makes gobs of money for many all will be forgiven and those that are won’t care unless it affects their personal bottom line. If this causes anyone to lose a penny of income, then that’s where the line is drawn on freedom of speech.
But on the radio yesterday, Hannity, alone for at least the first hour, was in true from — slimy, hypocritical and sanctimonious as usual.
He was very careful not to admit that he agrees with Robertson’s vile statements; “I won’t announce my religious views in public,” said Slanthead. “I know that there are a whole bunch of loosers out there who are PAID to listen to three hours of radio and an hour of teevee, five days a week, just to catch me in a slip up and complain to my advertisers.” [Anyone we know, Ellen?]
But just to make sure everyone knew where he really stood, Hannity declared, at least three times, “I love this show, Duck Dynasty!” Three times he shouted this, “I love this show, Duck Dynasty!”. Why does Slanthead love Duck Dynasty? Well… if not for the white trashy ultra-right content, maybe he gets off on seeing the poor doomed ducks die? Remember, just the other week, Slanthead was itching to shoot owls out of the sky at NYC airports.
Anyone who’s paid attention to this radio Cretan for any length of time knows that Hannity is an avowed homophobe! Way back, when his radio show was only local here in NYC, he took great satisfaction in “fag baiting.” At least twice a week, he’d invite a gay male to debate him on the air, and then when he saw he was loosing the argument, Slanthead would explode with rage, accusing his opponent of “trying to teach kids about the homosexual lifestyle.” Mind you, the other person may have been an accountant, a designer… but to Hannity, they were all teachers trying to spread a gay agenda into every classroom.
Getting back to today. Of course Slanthead had nothing good to say about A&E. He blamed that network for the whole issue, for allowing Robertson to be interviewed in GQ in the first place.
And as a public service, Hannity urged his listeners to call A&E and complain about the suspension. He gave out direct phone numbers for two of A&E’s execs at least FIVE TIMES during that first hour. Slanthead’s obnoxious behavior earned the attention of many other news sites (just search “Hannity” on Google News).
Here’s a thought:
Hannity’s syndicator is Premiere Radio Networks. The CEO/Chairman is Steve Lehman; programming execs include a Jennifer Leimgruber. Carl Anderson and Tom Poleman. I can’t find individual numbers for them, but they all seem to be at Premiere’s main office in Sherman Oaks, CA.
The main number there is 818-377-5300. Why not give them all a call and ask why don’t they suspend Hannity for his homophobia, racism, and over-the-top lying… just for starters.
I don’t know how much he carried on about Duck Dynasty in the second and third hours as I had far too much of Slanthead for any one day!
We want all the masses to bring up this gem by posting it all over social media. Shame this foolish broad.
We don’t waste our viewing time watching this reality crap.
