A few nights ago, Sean Hannity engaged in a hate-filled, name-calling debate about radical Islam with a radical British imam, Anjem Choudary. That same night, Hannity engaged in a hate-filled, name-calling discussion about President Obama with his like-minded pal, Mark Levin. Take away the substance and it’s hard to tell the difference.
Levin and Hannity like to style themselves as big patriots. But here’s the kind of “patriotism” they talk:
LEVIN: We’re living increasingly in a post-constitutional period. This president is destroying the United States congress with the help of his party, with the help of Harry Reid in the Senate… We’ve never seen anything like this in American history. …We do not have these ethical-leaning Democrats anymore who are standing up to this president. …He’s eviscerating what’s left of the Constitution. And let me be very clear about this: He is attacking American sovereignty with this U.N. deal that they’re talking about, with the open borders, the executive fiat that he’s talking about. These are all efforts to destroy American sovereignty by Barack Obama.
HANNITY: I agree with your – and you wrote this in one of your books. It’s a post-Constitutional America. Which is a pretty frightening thought. …I don’t think there’s any disagreement.
It’s not as if Levin loves Republicans. He said about them: “They have surrendered their powers, OK? Impeachment we can’t talk about. The power of the purse they’re not going to exercise. What the hell is left? If they’re not gonna act like Congress, then Congress is gonna be destroyed. And let me be clear, Mr. Boehner and Mr. McConnell and the Republicans… None of you guys have the guts to stand up and tell the American people over and over and over again who he (Obama) is and what he’s doing.”
“Well said,” Hannity said, closing the discussion.
A little later that same night Imam Choudary appeared. A frightening man, yes. But he’s obviously an influential cleric whose point of view we need to know and understand if we have any chance of overcoming it. But clearly, Hannity’s only goal in hosting Choudary was to use him for another round of bullyboy showboating.
The interview, which Fox Nation admiringly described as “must watch,” included dialogue like this:
HANNITY: Let me educate you because, obviously, you are pretty ignorant. …Are you deaf, dumb and ignorant?
...CHOUDARY: This is the heart of ignorance. You’re not interested in the answer. You’re interested in your own voice.
HANNITY: You don’t impress me. …I gotta make it simple so that it can get through your thick head.
CHOUDARY: Shut up for a minute and listen to the answer. …Shut up for a minute and listen.
On the other hand, it was chilling that the imam didn’t want to answer Hannity’s question as to what the punishment should be for a woman who chooses not to wear a burka. Also, when asked if gay people should be stoned to death, Choudary said, “Under the Islamic state… there will be punishment, of course.”
Hannity may feel as though he has stood up against Islamic terrorism and on behalf of the U.S. but it’s hard to see how these kinds of theatrics helped the American cause. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I think anyone should suck up to guys like Choudary. But after watching this display, I can only conclude that Choudary’s anti-American, anti-western stance just hardened a bit further.
Apparently, Hannity thinks that promoting hate and dealing in hate makes him look tough (just pay no attention to how he still hasn’t undergone waterboarding for charity, despite calling it “dunking”). It probably does earn him props in his right-wing, Obama-hating, Islamic-hating circle. And Fox News ratings, of course.
The sad thing is, it’s pretty destructive for everyone else.
Watch the August 27 segments with Levin and Choudary below. See if you don't notice a similarity in the seething hatred for our country's president and radical Islam.
“If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator”.
And furthermore, Der Fuehrer II (i.e. G.W. Bush) once called the Constitution “a g**damned piece of paper”.
’Nuff said.
He was a hateful and angry young man who grew up to be a hateful and angry middle-aged man. He probably didn’t get much love and attention from his parents, which would explain his anger, resentment and hate issues.
Hannocchio needs anger management classes for his short fuse. It does not take much for him to fly off the handle. Ask anyone who has worked with him.
Merri Jill should take the high road and leave this foolish clown. She probably won’t get a dime from him if he gets full custody of the children, but she will be happy in the long term.
NOTE TO HANNITY
Did Hugh call you ‘deaf, dumb and ignorant?’ and told you his home was not your ‘flophouse?’ Those years at Catholic schools was a waste of his hard-earned money.
Because they were so educational (sarcasm).
But Levin is supposed to be an American, a member of an enlightened Western, democratic society. And he screeches such incredibly ugly things about the president?
Ellen, you left out the multiple exclamation points in your transcript of Levin’s screeching.