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Sean Hannity

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… and that's why Hillary is secretly having an affair with Putin.
Parroting squawkbox
Pundits
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And a dirty dozen more
Watching Hannity talk to Ingraham is like watching state TV in a banana republic — but with great production values.
—Prof. Tom Nichols[1]
How would you like to be in Kabul today, as an American, and you can’t get to the airport? Where are you thinking your life is headed? If you’re one of those family members, I bet you’re not sleeping. … MyPillow.com. That’s where I go. I fall asleep faster, I stay asleep longer.
—Sean Hannity, corporate shilling two days after the Taliban seized Kabul[2]
Sean, just one broadcaster to another: if you want to change the subject away from Donald Trump, maybe don't go to footage that is so clearly a metaphor for his administration — just a car crash we can't tear our eyes away from.
—Stephen Colbert on the January 29th, 2018, edition of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert[3]

"Somebody Call"[4] Sean Hannity (1961–) is an American right-wing political commentator-turned conspiracy theorist who speaks nothing but God's Honest Truth, you rebel scum. At least one prominent Republican thinks he's nuts.[5]

Basically, you know that loud "happy drunk" type on the barstool next to you who's mostly fun when the game is on but tends to spout vaguely racist gibberish when the TV is off? That one who's fun to drink with but you're pretty certain has the IQ of a brick? Well, imagine giving him a television and radio show where he goes point-counterpoint against and gets to talk over uninteresting comedian Alan Colmes.[6][note 1] In 2009 Colmes was dropped from the Hannity and Colmes show, and now Hannity has the floor to himself. Now it is titled simply Hannity, and he can spout his non-stop drivel without having an annoying leftie commie to keep him in check.

Hannity occasionally substituted on WABC for fellow literal-super-heavyweight[note 2] motormouth Rush Limbaugh, doing a few stints as his guest host around the same time he started with Fox News. He was also responsible for inflicting neo-Nazi shitstirrer Hal Turner on the world.

White supremacist[edit]

Hannity's background as befriending a white supremacist has been glossed over. Learning from David Duke (R-South Africa), Hannity has distanced himself from former neo-Nazi pal Hal Turner. Amid accusations that Hannity staffers and "fan boys" have been purging the web on a mission to sanitize Hannity's record,[8] even Wikipedia has finally acknowledged Hannity's complicity.

Following the 2008 Presidential elections, Hannity declared an "underground war, guerrilla war against President Obama."[9][10][11]

Effusive opinions[edit]

Hannity is on record as having spent more than an hour praising the United States as "The greatest, best, most free country on God's earth, ever"; Fareed Zakaria wore a slightly desperate grin throughout. He also has a rather bizarre definition of the word "peace" that appears to have absolutely nothing to do with any acceptable definition on the Internet. Whereas even the usually unreliable Wikipedia calls it "an absence of hostility", Hannity basically likes to think peace means "blowing the shit out of dirty foreigners".[12]

Hannity worked hard in support of the decrees of God-King Dubya, certain that the GOP would be in power forever. Until they weren't.[13][14] His intense man-crush on Vladimir Putin is way beyond merely strange.[15]

Getting owned on television[edit]

In a desperate attempt to further the bias of Fox News, Hannity tried to debate with atheist Dave Silverman on religion and lost miserably. His continuous preaching of religious values seemed illegitimate due to his hostile, frustrated and irrational arguing.[16] When he realized that he was being outclassed and being exposed for the biased moderator he is, he quickly tried to undermine his opponent via personal attacks. He then closed the debate hastily, realizing what little credibility he had as an anchor was being decimated. The debate was met with strong support towards Dave, and with strong criticism toward's Hannity's unprofessionalism and lack of logical reasoning.

Scamming via veteran's "charity"[edit]

The Freedom Alliance charity, which claims to raise money for wounded soldiers and survivors of fallen ones, was exposed in early 2010 by hardcore right-wing Ann Coulter wannabe Debbie Schlussel as only using three percent of its proceeds for the stated purpose. (Stopped clock?)

Hannity apparently insists on being flown around in a private jet and having access to a fleet of luxury vehicles for himself and his family on the ground.[17]

World records[edit]

  • First ever winner in history of the official "Worst Newscaster of FOX" award. Proceeds to celebrate on Twitter.
  • Use of the word "hate" in a single show: 16,535.
  • Career usage of the word "hate": 3.226x1027.

"Ode to Sean Hannity"[edit]

"Ode to Sean Hannity" is a poem written by John Cleese of Monty Python fame. It is an addendum of sorts to the pwning of Hannity at the hands of Obama campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs on the special edition of Hannity & Colmes following the second Presidential debate in 2008. The poem was submitted to Keith Olbermann and was read as part of the number one story on the October 8, 2008 broadcast of Countdown with Keith Olbermann:[18]

An Ode to Sean Hannity
Aping urbanity
Oozing with vanity
Plump as a manatee
Faking humanity
Journalistic calamity
Intellectual inanity
Fox Noise insanity
You're a profanity
Hannity

Hillary Clinton[edit]

See the main article on this topic: Hillary Clinton

Although he's obviously not a doctor himself, Hannity seems to have armchair diagnosed Hillary Clinton as an epileptic, or at least given to "having seizures" based on two instances of taking a sip of water, causing coughing, one instance of tripping boarding a plane, and a playful bobbing of her head in response to a number of not so serious questions which she then joked about herself. Let's be grateful he's not a qualified doctor — well, acquiring that degree is probably beyond his talents.

Don the Con[edit]

See the main article on this topic: Donald Trump

Hannity's relationship with Trump dates back to at least 2012 when Hannity advised Trump not to run in the 2012 U.S. presidential election.[19] In 2015, when Trump announced that he was running for president, Hannity and Fox were immediate and enthusiastic supporters,[19] a relationship that has been ongoing. The relationship with Trump was so close that White House aides have said that "he basically has a desk in the place" due to Hannity's frequent phone conversations with Trump in the White House.[20]

Hannity has also voiced frequent and strong support for one of Trump's lawyers, Michael Cohen, who is under criminal investigation as of April 2018. Hannity however did not reveal that Cohen is also Hannity's own lawyer, which Cohen's lawyer was forced to reveal in court.[20] This previously unacknowledged relationship between Hannity and Cohen would be a breach of journalistic ethics,[21] particularly if Hannity were a journalist.[22] Nonetheless, the official word from Fox is that they don't care.[23] As of 2018, Cohen, known mainly as a "fixer" rather than as a practicing lawyer, has only three clients, the third one being Elliott Broidy. Broidy resigned as RNC Finance Chair after it was revealed that Cohen arranged for a $1.6 million settlement with "an ex-Playboy model who said she was impregnated by Broidy."[23] Given that Cohen paid hush money for sexual affairs for two of his three clients, it does raise questions about what the third client hired him for, particularly because of the widespread sexual harassment that has occurred at Fox.

Homophobia[edit]

Newspaper article from 1989 reporting on Hannity's firing over homophobic comments.

Although not as frequent as it used to be, Hannity's long history of homophobia is something he became infamous for. At one point, it was even something those who supported him were proud of, as one promotional blurb for his radio show in Florida notes that he had been "making a proud name for himself by insulting lesbians."[24]:272 In 1989, he infamously said that “Anyone listening to this show that believes homosexuality is just a normal lifestyle has been brainwashed… these disgusting people,”[25] although he has since called these statements "ignorant and embarrassing."[26]

Hannity also said much of this while interviewing Gene Antonio, author of the pseudo-scientific book The AIDS Cover-up? The Real and Alarming Facts About AIDS. During the interview, Antonio said gay men "were cutting the claws off of gerbils, and prying their teeth out, and stuffing them up their rectums" and "eat one another's fecal matter."[27] These comments have occasionally been misattributed to Hannity, although he did not push back against these statements when they were made by the person he was talking to.

Hannity's obsession with homosexuals is something that was specifically common during the 2000s, with David Brock writing in 2004 that his radio show "reflects Hannity's preoccupation with sex, especially gay sex."[24]:272

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. Fun fact: The show was originally called Hannity & Liberal to Be Determined, which FAIR said gives "some idea of the relative weight each host carries, both on-screen and within the network."[7]
  2. If he's going to keep calling Michelle Obama fat, he's fair game for this.

References[edit]

  1. https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/834242501821214726
  2. Sean Hannity cuts to commercial by Alexandra Petri (August 19, 2021) The Washington Post.
  3. https://theweek.com/speedreads/751804/stephen-colbert-wryly-tries-outsean-hannity-sean-hannity-whiplashinducing-defense-trump
  4. Trump vs. Clinton ft. Blondie
  5. John Boehner says he told Sean Hannity: 'You're nuts' by Callum Borchers (October 30, 2017 at 10:11 AM) The Washington Post.
  6. "You just contradicted me, you hate America!"
  7. The Most Biased Name in News
  8. Hannity "fan boys"Wikipedia
  9. War against President Obama (funny how that's been removed!)
  10. Hannity's America (funny– that's been removed too!)
  11. Bill Moyers' Contemporary America (Hannity hasn't gotten to NPR yet.)
  12. You Tube - Check Out Hannity's Definition Of Peace
  13. "Sean Hannity Hypocrisy, Changes Opinion on NSA Surveillance" The Rubin Report
  14. "Sean Hannity has one job: to keep people who were wrong about everything for the last 20 years thinking they've been right about everything."
  15. Poor, Humiliated Sean Hannity, Dispatches from the Culture Wars
  16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA7g9SngRag
  17. Schlussel's write-up of Hannity's charity shenanigans. This story had originally been broken three years earlier in 2007 by the Daily Kos, but they are liberal commies out to smear a great man by asking questions no rich white conservative should ever have to answer.
  18. Newshounds reports on the poem.
  19. 19.0 19.1 A Short History of Donald's Trump Relationship With Fox News by Conor Gaffey (3/29/17 at 1:02 PM) Newsweek.
  20. 20.0 20.1 Hannity's rising role in Trump's world: 'He basically has a desk in the place' by Robert Costa, Sarah Ellison and Josh Dawsey (April 17, 2018 at 7:53 PM) The Washington Post.
  21. Hannity’s ethics under fire: Fox News host's failure to disclose his relationship with Trump attorney Michael Cohen puts his credibility on the line. by Michael Calderone (04/16/2018 08:11 PM EDT) Politico.
  22. Is Sean Hannity a journalist or not? Here's why it matters. by Paul Farhi (April 18, 2018 at 5:56 PM) The Washington Post.
  23. 23.0 23.1 Fox News gives Sean Hannity 'full support' as critics slam him for hiding link to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen by Kevin Breuninger (April 17, 2018) CNBC.
  24. 24.0 24.1 The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media And How It Corrupts Democracy by David Brock
  25. Fox News host Sean Hannity called AIDS a ‘gay disease’ and lashed out at gay ‘brainwashing’
  26. Sean Hannity 'called AIDS a gay disease' and compared homosexuality to 'playing in a sewer'
  27. FLASHBACK: The Repulsive Anti-Gay Comments That Once Got Sean Hannity Fired