Sean Hannity deserves today's Sarah Palin Snark Award for his show. It was just jam-packed from beginning to end. He began by serving up some Ollie North on a platter, continued with Dick Morris, and wrapped the whole show in a bow with Monica Crowley and "Republican operative" Elise Jordan. This show actually gave me a migraine, which I understand may be the first symptom of one's head exploding.
We begin with Oliver North. You remember old Ollie from the Iran-Contra days? The guy who carried out the illegal and unconstitutional mission of selling arms to Iran in exchange for hostages? That guy? Yeah, well here's his gem o' the day:
HANNITY: I'm amazed by this President's inability, Colonel, to make a decision. Now, it took six months to give the troops that were requested by our leaders in Afghanistan He was dithering, that was the phrase we used and then he still didn't give them the troops they wanted. He didn't support the freedom fighters in Iran in 2009. He vacillated and took varying positions in Egypt and seems to be doing the same here today, more concerned about brackets, trips to Rio, and playing golf!
NORTH: Look, he's on his spring break. Give him -- the poor boy -- a break. Here's the bottom line of this President. This is a man who tries to please everyone. He's got factions in his own party, he's got various factions around the world, he's done nothing but apologize for America, literally since he's been in office. And now he's in a position where he has to be the Commander-in-Chief and it's just beyond him.
The bitterness in North's voice is palpable. I suppose he's still frustrated that he broke the law, went on trial, got away with it, and can't get some of us to forget. That's some real leadership there, Ollie. He should go worship Saint Reagan on a mountaintop and get off my TV screen.
Now, if you haven't figured it out yet, the Word Of The Day is "DITHERED". Please memorize it, Hannity will test you on it at the end, if you haven't been tested enough by his nonsensical rants to follow.
Next up, Dick Morris, who is pimping his new book "Revolt" while being revolting and full of unwarranted certitude. I take comfort in knowing he's wrong about just about everything, as he is here when he asserts that the President has failed on all three prongs of the Powell doctrine. Perhaps Dick should go find some nice toes to suck.
Finally, Hannity brings it all together with his girl panel -- Elise Jordan and Monica Crowley. I'll let the words speak for themselves, but it's not hard to understand why so many people believe such nonsense about Barack Obama when they watch a full hour of this kind of crap.
HANNITY: Where is this coming from? And I think this is a really important question, getting into the mind of Barack Obama. Remember, when he was asked about American exceptionalism his answer was well, I'm sure the Germans believe in German exceptionalism and so-and-so believes in so-and-so exceptionalism and the Brits... and I'm thinking is it a belief system rooted in ya know, maybe what he learned from Jeremiah Wright, maybe his radicalism and his background. In other words, he doesn't seem to think that it's America's responsibility to lead. And in that sense, he accepts America's passive role.
But Monica Crowley, now, she's got to ratchet it up a notch:
CROWLEY: But Sean, I think it's even worse than what you describe. I think this is a man who comes out of the far left progressive tradition in America that buys totally into the doctrine of American guilt. That not only is he uncomfortable with projecting American power and influence in the world, but that he actually believes the United States is a force for bad, for evil in the world and that he intends to take the United States down a notch or two, to diminish American power and influence.
HANNITY: I think you're onto something. I wouldn't say it quite the way you did, but when he went on the apology tour it was very revealing. When he said America's arrogant, when he said at the United Nations "we don't have the right to impose our values", wait a minute. I thought our founding document believes that every human soul is endowed by their Creator, so..you agree with that?
Finally, after Elise Jordan snarks her way through some banal criticism, we get Crowley's really odious form of dog whistle:
CROWLEY: There does seem to be a real disconnect between this President and the United States' traditional role in the world. We are the lone superpower, and when the United States -- and this is the lesson of history -- when the United States is perceived as weak or the Commander-in-chief is perceived as weak and indecisive, the wheels come off the world. And that's what we're seeing now.
How on earth does Crowley get this notion that Obama, or progressives for that matter, believe the United States is a force for evil? Is it wrong to object to playing cowboy games in Iraq, destroying entire nations, sacrificing thousands of our youth to a cause which is undefined and not for the common good? What is the matter with these people? (It's rhetorical, you don't have to answer)
Tonight's show was particularly disgusting. It was full of dog whistles, judgments, sanctimony, and gave credence to old and young idiots who are great at spewing nonsense but wouldn't know what the term "analyst" actually meant, much less play one on TV.
I know I should probably add some sort of valuable counter-commentary, but it's really hard to counter irrational idiocy with logic. How does anyone answer someone who learned his style of commentary in elementary school when he was hanging with bullies? How many blondes and criminals will Fox News trot out to drive home their racist, agenda-driven, anti-American rants about this President?
