Lying for a “More Civil” Conservatism: Did FrumForum Repeat Slander Against Sean Hannity?
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Warchol’s source is a not-quite-professional blog called Political Quotes, which claims the quote comes from the June 15, 2005 broadcast of “Hannity & Colmes,” but provides no audio, video, or links to any transcript. All of my attempts to nail down the quotes’ origins thus far have led to the same place. Not even the obsessive-compulsive smear merchants at Media Matters have any record of the quote.
David Frum and Tim Mak owe Sean Hannity and their readers either a verification of the quote’s accuracy, or an apology for uncritically repeating it. Mak’s defense will probably be that, at most, he was too trusting of Warchol. That’s probably true as far as it goes—I doubt Mak knew the quote was fake—but it’s also probably true that Frum and followers relax their skepticism when it comes to whatever will reinforce their favored narrative: a heroic band of “reasonable” conservatives valiantly risking persecution to swim against an ever-increasing current of hatred, ignorance and dogmatism.
Frum and Mak surely know that the Left and the media routinely victimize conservatives, especially those in talk radio, with false quotations. And this wouldn’t be the first time FrumForum has played fast and loose with the truth to smear conservatives. He accuses Rush Limbaugh of knowingly damaging the conservative movement to advance his own success (but whines about “mind-reading” when his own ox is gored). When partial-birth abortionist George Tiller was murdered by a pro-life extremist, the website joined the campaign to cast Bill O’Reilly and the broader pro-life movement as sharing the blame. When Hannity’s work on behalf of soldiers’ families was smeared back in March, Mak commendably debunked the charges, but Frum somehow spun the story into an indictment of the rest of the Right.
The Right will always have a certain degree of genuine disagreement, and when it’s borne out of a sincere desire to do what’s best for our country, it can be healthy. But the conservative tent should never be big enough for liars.
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Hailing from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Calvin Freiburger is a political science major at Hillsdale College. He also writes for the Hillsdale Forum and his personal website, Calvin Freiburger Online.
