Target in Range; Left-Wing Deflection Efforts Inbound
Disgraced journalist Dan Rather recently made some ill-considered remarks about President Barack Obama and watermelons. So who needs to be raked over the coals?
Obviously, the answer is Sean Hannity.
That was the conclusion Crooks & Liars came to, anyway. It seems that during last night’s Great American Panel, the discussion of racially-charged commentary turned to Glenn Beck’s accusation that Obama was a racist:
Hannity defends his buddy Glenn Beck’s remark that President Obama is a racist and does it by trotting out his old attacks on Jeremiah Wright. To their credit his entire panel tells him that the election is over, the public already weighed in on the matter and they don’t care. Hannity already over-played that hand during the election and obviously he’s not done yet.
Does Hannity tend to harp on the Wright controversy? Yes, but he’s completely right to do so here. He wasn’t the one to bring up the subject of Obama’s racial animosity, and once it arose, it was only natural to retort with the most glaring example, especially when the president has called for the firing of private citizens charged with the very thing that so checkers his own past. Given the context, it’s blatantly unfair to use this as an example of Hannity “over-play[ing] that hand” (and no, whether or not “the election is over” or “the public already weighed in” has no bearing on whether or not his point is valid).
Getting back to Hannity’s main point, he gives Rather’s motives the benefit of the doubt (if not in the most flattering way possible: “I just don’t think he’s that bright. I don’t think he really thought about what he was saying”), and makes the broader point that:
But this is — this is the problem. We live in an America, where if you misspeak. Look, I have people that monitor — right now there’s some — some psycho leftist liberal in her underwear, you know, hiding out [...]A psycho hanging out in their underwear, hoping and praying that dumb old Sean Hannity says something wrong. You know, they do it to everyone else on this channel. They do it to Rush Limbaugh […]I think we ought to live in a world where you can make a mistake, what you’re saying. And revise and extend your remarks, apologize, and it will be accepted. But we don’t live in that world anymore.
Do conservatives do this sort of thing too, as his guests suggest? Sure. I don’t doubt for a second that examples of overzealous bloggers unfairly treating the words of liberals can be found, but while underhanded tactics may be an occasional failing of the Right, they are a fully embraced cornerstone of the Left. Elected Democrats lied about virtually everything President George W. Bush ever said, and many left-wing outfits—Media Matters, Crooks & Liars, Daily Kos, Charles Johnson’s Little Green Footballs, just to name a few—exist for the sole purpose of taking conservatives’ every word and turning them into weapons to be used against them, no matter how much distorting the weaponization process requires.
Hannity is right: political correctness is the order of the day. The Left’s primary means of advancing their agenda is a scorched-earth approach consisting of personally destroying their foes using any means necessary. Whether there’s any meat to any given attack is of little concern; the objective is to overwhelm the enemy with the sheer volume of manufactured narratives, flooding the public consciousness with so many supposed examples of unsavory right-wingers that it’s both easier as a practical matter and more intuitively sensible to accept at face value the general impression they leave behind, rather than put in the time and effort to dig beneath the surface.
But if there was a compelling case to be made for leftist policies, would they be wasting time with this sort of thing? If they could convince America that Sean Hannity’s political views were foolish or harmful, they wouldn’t need to try discrediting him on such flimsy ground. As Mike Huckabee was fond of saying during the 2008 election, the more flak you’re catching, the closer you are to hitting the target.
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Hailing from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Calvin Freiburger is a political science major at Hillsdale College. He also blogs at the Hillsdale Forum and his personal website, Calvin Freiburger Online.
Rush should stay out of anything close to elections. Who cares about what Rush has to say, after all his genius plans got Obama elected. YES he did. If you didn't know you weren't following politics during the democratic primary check the story out
http://bit.ly/ch10Lg
I’ve been following politics acutely for over 40 years and you’re so full of crap it’s coming out your ears!
I agree that Rush certainly didn't help the Republican cause in 2008. For the previous eight years he did everything he could to ridicule John McCain.
And rightly so. McLame, like Snow, Collins, Specter, Lugar, Hagle, and a couple of others, who didn’t get re-elected in 2006, are really democraps.
Rush was correct opposing McCain. It was the Republican Party that was wrong in supporting him. I voted for McCain as the lesser of two evils. I would have preferred a conservative Republican, as did Rush. Obama is doing us a favor by regurgetating the failed agenda of the Left. The danger of the Left is no longer a matter of debate or argumentation. Obama is making the harsh realities of Leftism as palpable to us as Hitler and Stalin did to their despondent and hopeless people. We needed a wake-up call and Obama is more than satisfying that need. With McCain we would be lulled even further into our complacent sleep.
It could be , "that the more flak you're getting , is because the more dumb things are coming out of the mouth ".
The trouble with the republican party ,….lol….is the republican party …thats'much closer to target .Remarks like yours are the norm , in the republican lexicon , and while they sell well at Tea Parties and CPAC , they resonate badly as the foolish rhetoric that it is , with most Americans .
That's why Republicans lost the election , they allowed the narrative to be taken over by the loons on the fringe , lol…and now they embrace the loons on the fringe . So you think you need a wake up call ? I tyhink it;s worse bthan that pal , you're comparisons to Stalin and Hitler , are kind of indicative of the small paranoid minds that have hijacked your party .
No badaboo that is not the reason the Republicans lost the last election. The main reason they lost the last election was it was "REALLY" stolen this time. Not like the demo-crap party elite say was the case back in 2001, and 2004. It was stolen by, and with the help of corrupt fools from a.c.o.r.n., and several other groups that are hell bent on the total destruction of this nation, and the biggest reason is we as conservatives did not have a "DOG N THE HUNT" this time.
Larry D. Crumbley
Geee , REEEEALLY mr.Crumbley …lol…hell bent on the destruction of this country huh ? And "they " stole it eh ? " several other groups huh ? And I guess the " conservatives ' are the ooooooonly ones who dont want to destroy the whole damn country huh ?
GROW UP MR CRUMBLEY .
Well Crumley, there is no doubt the front groups for the democraps steal votes, stuff ballot boxes, intimidate voters etc, and there’s no doubt that that got the clown elected in minnesota, but the main reason we lost this last presidential election was because of our candidate. The only reason I even voted for him was because there was a boni fide conservative also in the ticket. Regarding the 2000 election; this is where the democraps pulled out all stops to get Gork elected. This is where they collected large numbers of people ineligible to vote, because they were felons, illegals etc, and drove them to more than one voting place. This is where they really splurged on cigarettes, drugs, booze, etc to solicit these illegal and some few legal votes. The problem that occurred for the dimbulbs is that many of the people who they rounded up couldn’t read or speak english very well and found themselves looking at a ballot for the first time in their lives. Thus the hesitant marks on the chads, hanging chads, and votes for 3rd and 4th party candidates. The democraps needed to accompany these people into the voting booth. Over the years the democraps have attempted to inject fraud into the voting process by ‘motor voter’, provisional ballots, and fighting tooth and nail all attempts to enact voter ID. So maybe expect them to try to get a law passed to allow union thugs to accompany illegal voters into the booth. Noooo, nothing is too far fetched for power hungry marxists.
So, Republicans nominated one of the most liberal candidates they could….yet they lost because of the "fringe."
Gotcha.
Larry D.CRUMBLY
Yea thats it !! They STOLE IT …you mean just like GW …STOLE IT ? Funny , from …whatever side LOSES , comes the charge …..THEY STOLE IT !!
Hey man ACORN has become your holy grail ….and you know what ? there never was a holy grail , it was a myth ….yet some fools still "hunt for it " .
Calvin , republicans did WHAT ? McCain LIBERAL ? is that the republican code word for BUSH CLONE ? "gotcha " ?? lol…yea I can see where that's at . REPS lost the election because , McCain is not so much "liberal " . but much more a phony and this was so transparent as he chose Palin , who was basically a laughing stock , and you know it . The RNC decided to focus on dirty laundrey rather than the issues , and yea "the fringes …painting Obama as a coimmie , baby killer , In addition the track record was dismal for the last two Rep. Admins. You should be old enough to realize , that people go to the poll to vote someone out primarily ,, and then vote by emotion , that is with their hearts rather than their heads . McCain played to the fringes from day 1 .Missing the base of this country who REALLY decide the elections …..THE MIDDLE . Something people of your view have not nor ever will realize .
"gotcha " ..lol…no , you "got you " …
..and p.s. Calvin , it seems the RNC /Conservatives , have learned absolutely NOTHING , from their boondoggle . Fringes ? You bet , just look who's showing up at Tea Party and CPAC … Wilson and his disgrace may play well with some of you guys , but to those in the middle ? it too will be remembered in Nov.2012 . As well as the birthers , truthers and the rest of the trash .
I do have a question though Calvin , why is it , that whenever some one on the right bombs out for whatever the reason , that person is then classified a "liberal " ?
SOP , I guess , huh Calvin ?
I take it I'm supposed to notice something persuasive in the above stream-of-consciousness?
Suffice it to say, if you can't figure out why anybody would consider McCain liberal (he was recognized as such long before 2008, by the way), you're probably not well-informed enough to be opining on politics at all.
Not really Calvin , anyone who goes against what the lock step republican pandering to the religious right , or the lunatic fringe holds to, is considered a "liberal " . A "liberal " by Republican /conservative standards ,is not what the REST of the country considers Liberal . There is no mystery here Calvin , two words : abortion and immigration …those are the two areas where MCcain went against the grain , thereby gaining the title [ AFTER HE LOST THE ELECTION ] as a liberal .
You guys live in your own little microcosm . Just like the term you like to refer to yourselves as – "conservatives " , that's a bunch of baloney , conservatives in the present are merely disaffected Republicans .
…and no Calvin , the last thing I would attempt , is persuasion , for as I stated earlier " you can't fix stupid " . McCain was not the man to win to begin with , and when he chose Palin , he sealed his fate . THAT was STUPID . His immigration stance went aginst the Middle , and the MIDDLE at the end of the day , picks the President . Romney was your man , but his Mormonism did not sit right with the pandering to the religious right .And in 2012 he was your best shot , but now after he's been wallowiing in the mud at CPAC with all the new "denizens " showing up there , I doubt he'll be viable . Seems you don't know enough about the shortcomings of your own party which lost them lthe election , and their present politics which will lose them the next , to be criticizing my opining about politics
Congratulations: you've written the most entertainingly delusional comments I've gotten all week. Thanks!
Indeed…lol…Calvin. I realized the first time I saw him bloviate he was a neophyte at politics. Or just very ignorant. Just about everything he says is the opposite of reality. That’s why everything the left tries to do is counterproductive, because they have everything screwed up in their minds. Everything is based on emotion and hysteria and preconceived notions. Polls and Studies for the last 20 years have shown that the MIDDLE is right of center. The problem is that the left has, at least up til now, been able, with a gargantuan effort by their media, to hide their real agenda. Now the alternative media is starting to awaken people. That’s why they hate FPM, FOX, Rush, Hannity, Beck, et al. That’s why they want to silence their/our voices, legislatively, judicially, smearingly, etc. They’re really worried Calvin, that’s why ignoramuses like boo is over here filibustering this blog. They haven’t been able to compete in the free exchange of ideas (actually they don’t want to), that’s why they can’t get any traction with airhead America and other leftists who have tried to start talk shows, etc. The MIDDLE doesn’t agree with them and thus doesn’t listen to them. Soros must go crazy trying to keep all these democrap front groups afloat. If the MIDDLE had wanted Illegals to get citizenship (so-called immigration reform), we would have had it when Bush was still in office. But they didn’t and they raised their voices about it. They’re doing it again now with the Government run Healthcare fiasco. The left has survived for years by dangling “carrots” in front of the populous, but maybe the Alternative media has finally begun to show people that it was in fact rhubarb, not carrots that they were being tempted with. Rhubarb being a euphemism for totalitarianism and collectivism. Remember, liberty is the absense of tyranny.
Someone's got to do it Calvin , may as well be me .After all ,when people start referring to McCain as a "liberal " , I think someone may be foisting a revisionist dictionary here .
McCain a liberal ? Now what surely must be entertaining , is HOW you got there .
Know what I mean Calvin ?
I did something that's apparently too strenuous for you: I studied his record.
Is he as left as most Democrats? No, of course not. But he was easily one of the most liberal options available in the 2008 GOP primary.
Oh ….and rerpublicans picked him because he was a liberal ? riiiiight Calvin . But YOU studied his record did ya ? And what did the record tell ya Calvin ? LOL….that politicians regardless of stripe vote one way on Tuesday and the opposite on Thursday .? Or that on the issues of the present , many brepublicans who vote against them were actually for them only some months and even WEEKS ago . And I have no doubt Democrats do the same .
But you checked "his record " huh Calvin ? Sorry pal ,. McCain's "alleged liberalism " did not get him the canidacy , nor did it lose him the election . Good fantasy thinking though .
You really don't see how ignorant you're making yourself look, do you? I'm almost embarrassed for you.
Almost embarrassed??? That's funny Cal, after the stuff you buy into and attemp to defend , I would say you're not capable of embarrassment .
Do all Repu….er ..uh …conservatives share your views ?
Where's my "RUSH IS RIGHT " bumper sticker ? lolololol ….McCain's a "leftie " now, is he ? ..and he would be worse than Obama ! …hahahahaha ….man this is what I call "strange politics " !
The election in 2012 will be a record breaker for superlatives .
I wonder if Babadoo is part of the paid far left effort to attempt to demoralize conservatives or if he really is the fool he portrays himself to be.
I don't think the Left needs to pay people to make stupid comments on conservative blogs. There are enough losers who will do it for free.
Awww C'mon fellas , just trying to remove the excuse of ignorance . Go against the grain or the party line and the resultant reactions are eerily the same whether it be on the Islamic Forum , Daily Kos , or Here .
Demoralize conservatives ….lol….no , I couldn't do that in a month of Sundays , not with the folks oat Kos , not on the Islamic Forum , nor here at FPM .
After all can you guys really sit there with a straight face and tell me that many of the statements made here are not ridiculous , and maybe a bit less than honest ? You guys need a little fresh air here . less you actually believe everything you say .