Sean Hannity's desperation in his dire quest to keep up with Glenn Beck by getting a White House scalp in the form of safe-schools advocate Kevin Jennings has now gone from simply fabricating stories out of distorted evidence to outright gay-bashing.
Last night he brought on Rep. Steve King of Iowa -- one of the nation's leading bigots, the guy who predicted Al Qaeda would love Obama and claimed that the hate-crimes bill would protect pedophiles but not veterans. And it quickly became clear what their chief objection to Jennings really is:
He's gay.
King objects to having someone "pushing the homosexual agenda" in charge of advocating safety in schools -- even though one of the primary forms of violence within our schools involves bullying gay students. But then, King is a guy who objects to including gays and lesbians in hate-crimes protections on free-speech grounds -- which is to say, he thinks that beating up gays is a First Amendment right -- so it fits.
And Hannity chimes along. Because, like Inspector Javert, he is a man possessed ... of the need to beat Glenn Beck. He doesn't mind whatever casualties pile up along the way.