Print Article
<<< Sean Hannity (w/o a Flag Pin...)
Wow, it's amazing about the comments and inputs that I've received on my past two recent articles about the blatant lies from FOX NEWS, and from Sean Hannity, (who just happens to also be on the FOX Channel). My mail box had the expected few shots from some real, right-wing, "FOX Devotees", trying to make excuses or to yell about my articles. (However, most of their comments were just yelling and excuses, while not one of them said that anything I had said was untrue.)
From the other side, most of the e-mails were from those that agreed with the articles and many of them referred me to other web sites that also try to show just how bad and un-true the stuff is that "oozes" out of all the FOX rhetoric.
In just the last 24 hours, I was referred to a number of sites that also have the same issues with FOX's poor and untrue reporting. Some sites were very serious about FOX's lies and they are currently sponsoring petitions against FOX NEWS. Other sites were even filming their own "YouTube" videos showing examples of the lies taken from FOX, and then following them with the actual facts.
I still find it amazing how and why FOX continues to take this approach when it is so against the basis for what has made the United States, the most successful nation on earth. One of the reasons for our national success has been that as a people, Americans have, (in the past), been able to receive "honest and fair" information in which to make rational decisions. By watching and continuing to follow the current "FOX approach", Americans end up getting bad information and supporting bad decisions and strategies, (such as attacking a sovereign nation that did not attack us). These poor decisions can be totally due to the lies and mis-information supplied by a biased media.
Most people aren't aware that in the 1980's, President Ronald Reagan voided the long-time FCC regulation from the 1930's requiring that all broadcast networks must "regularly provide truthful news to the public". (This was a past requirement for keeping the network's broadcast licenses current.) In addition, the Federal Courts recently up-held a FOX law suite in Florida that basically said it was acceptable for network commentators to "lie to the public". Of course, after these changes, the "FOX NEWS approach" became the natural result of those kind of decisions.
For some additional examples of this "less-than-truthful" FOX approach, here are some selected items from the web site; The Center for American Progress. At this site, they list a set of quoted and dated statements taken from Sean Hannity on the FOX Channel's, Hannity and Colmes Show, and then they followed the statements with the facts.
Here they are, and you can decide for yourself:
Per: The Center for American Progress:
Speaking at the "Take Back America" conference on June 3, American Progress CEO, John Podesta said, "I think when you get so distant from the facts as -- as guys like Limbaugh and Sean Hannity do, yeah, I think that tends to -- corrupt the dialogue."
Apparently his comments struck a nerve with Fox News' Sean Hannity. Hannity challenged Podesta to; "defend and explain one example where I said something that was so false."
Since choosing just one of Hannity's distortions is too difficult, here are a number of examples:
(All Hannity quotes are from Hannity and Colmes unless otherwise noted.)
HANNITY: "You're not listening, Susan. You've got to learn something. He [Saddam] had weapons of mass destruction. He promised to disclose them. And he didn't do it. You would have let him go free; we decided to hold him accountable." (4/13/04)
FACT: Hannity's assertion comes more than six months after Bush Administration weapons inspector David Kay testified that his inspection team had "not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material" and Kay had also not discovered any chemical or biological weapons. (Bush Administration Weapons Inspector David Kay, 10/2/03)
HANNITY: "Colin Powell just had a great piece that he had in the paper today. He was there [in Iraq]. He said things couldn't have been better." (9/19/03)
FACT: Colin Powell: "Iraq has come very far, but serious problems remain, starting with security. American commanders and troops told me of the many threats they face--from leftover loyalists who want to return Iraq to the dark days of Saddam, from criminals who were set loose on Iraqi society when Saddam emptied the jails and, increasingly, from outside terrorists who have come to Iraq to open a new front in their campaign against the civilized world." (Colin Powell, 9/19/03)
HANNITY: "And in northern Iraq today, this very day, al Qaeda is operating camps there, and they are attacking the Kurds in the north, and this has been well-documented and well chronicled. Now, if you're going to go after al Qaeda in every aspect, and obviously they have the support of Saddam, or we're not." (12/9/02)
FACT: David Kay was on the ground for months investigating the activities of Hussein's regime. He concluded "But we simply did not find any evidence of extensive links with al Qaeda, or for that matter any real links at all." Kay also called a speech where Cheney made the claim there was a link to al Qaeda "evidence free." (Boston Globe, 6/16/04)
HANNITY: "[After 9-11], liberal Democrats at first showed little interest in the investigation of the roots of this massive intelligence failure...[Bush and his team] made it clear that determining the causes of America's security failures and finding and remedying its weak points would be central to their mission." (Let Freedom Ring, by Sean Hannity)
TRUTH: Bush Opposed the creation of a special commission to probe the causes of 9/11 for over a year. On 5/23/02 CBS News Reported "President Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe Thursday to voice his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11." Bush didn't relent to pressure to create a commission, mostly from those Hannity would consider "liberal" until September 2002. (CBS News, 5/23/02)
HANNITY: "First of all, this president -- you know and I know and everybody knows -- inherited a recession...it was by every definition a recession" (11/6/02)
FYI: To keep from boring you, American Progress went on to list 19 additional quotes from Sean Hannity, made from July 2003 through June 2004, stating that; "President Bush had inherited the recession".
Here are the facts:
FACT: "The recession officially began in 2001 -- months after Bush was sworn in -- according to the universally acknowledged arbiter of such things, the National Bureau of Economic Research. And President Bush, at other times, has also said so himself." (Washington Post, 7/1/03)
HANNITY: "The Hispanic community got to know him [Bush] in Texas. They went almost overwhelming for him. He more than quadrupled the Hispanic vote that he got in that state." (9/16/03)
FACT: Exit polls varied in 1998 governors race, but under best scenario he [Bush] increased his Hispanic vote from 24 to 49 percent – a doubling not a quadrupling. He then lost Texas Hispanics to Al Gore in 2000, 54-43 percent. (Source: NCLR, NHCSL)
HANNITY: "Look, we've had these reports, very disturbing reports -- and I have actually spoken to people that have confirmed a lot of the reports -- about the trashing of the White House [when the Clinton's left the White House]. Pornographic materials left in the printers. They cut the phone lines. Lewd and crude messages on phone machines. Stripping of anything that was not bolted down on Air Force One. $200,000 in furniture taken out." (1/26/01)
TRUTH: According to statements from the General Services Administration (GSA) that were reported on May 17, "little if anything out of the ordinary occurred during the transition", and "the condition of the real property [White House & Air Force One] was consistent with what we would expect to encounter when tenants vacate after an extended occupancy." (FAIR)
HANNITY: "I never questioned anyone's patriotism." (9/18/03)
FACT:
See 5 examples below:
HANNITY 1: (to attorney Stanley Cohen) "Is it you hate this president or that you hate America?" (4/30/03)
HANNITY 2: "Governor, why wouldn't anyone want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, unless they detested their own country or were ignorant of its greatness?" (6/12/03)
HANNITY 3: "You could explain something about your magazine, [the Nation]. Lisa Featherstone writing about the hate America march, the [anti-war] march that took place over the weekend..." (1/22/03)
HANNITY 4: "'I hate America.' This is the extreme left. There is a portion of the left -- not everybody who's left -- that does hate this country and blame this country for the ills of the world..." (1/23/02)
HANNITY 5: (speaking to Sara Flounders co-director of the International Action Center) "You don't like this country, do you? You think this is an evil country. By your description of it right here, you think it's a bad country." (9/25/01)
HANNITY: "It doesn't say anywhere in the Constitution this idea of the separation of church and state." (8/25/03)
FACT: 1) "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." (1st Amendment)
FACT: 2) "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." (Article VI, US Constitution)
HANNITY: "You want to refer to some liberal activist judge..., that's fine, but I'm going to go directly to the source. The author of the Bill of Rights [James Madison] hired the first chaplain in 1789, and I gotta' tell ya' somethin', I think the author of the Bill of Rights knows more about the original intent--no offense to you and your liberal atheist activism--knows more about it than you do." (9/4/02)
TRUTH: The first congressional chaplains weren't hired by James Madison--they were appointed by a committee of the Senate and House in, respectively, April and May, 1789, before the First Amendment even existed. James Madison's view: "Is the appointment of Chaplains to the two Houses of Congress consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom? In strictness the answer on both points must be in the negative." (James Madison)
HANNITY: "But the Alabama Constitution, which Chief Justice Roy Moore is sworn to uphold, clearly it says, as a matter of fact that the recognition of God is the foundation of that state's Constitution." (8/21/03)
FACT: While the preamble of the Alabama Constitution does reference "the Almighty," section three provides: "That no religion shall be established by law; that no preference shall be given by law to any religious sect, society, denomination, or mode of worship; that no one shall be compelled by law to attend any place of worship; nor to pay any tithes, taxes, or other rate for building or repairing any place of worship, or for maintaining any minister or ministry; that no religious test shall be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under this state; and that the civil rights, privileges, and capacities of any citizen shall not be in any manner affected by his religious principles." (Alabama Constitution, Section 3)
HANNITY: "Betsy, they're not going to lose it [public housing], because if you work less than 30 hours a week -- if you work more than 30 hours a week, you don't have to do it. If you're between the ages of 18 and 62 and you're not legally disabled and you have free housing -- in other words..."
BETSY MCCAUGHEY: "No. Wait a second, Sean. Let me correct you. Most people in public housing are not receiving free housing. Many of them are paying almost market rates."
HANNITY: "Betsy, that is so ridiculous and so false, it's hardly even worth spending the time." (10/23/03)
FACT: Residents of public housing pay rent scaled to their household's anticipated gross annual income, less deductions for dependents and disabilities. The basic formula for rent is 30 percent of this monthly adjusted income. There are exceptions for extremely low incomes, but the minimum rent is $25 per month. No one lives in public housing for free. (Department of Housing and Urban Development)
HANNITY: "But he (Senator Kerry) wanted to cancel every major weapons system. Specific votes that he would have canceled the weapons systems we now use." (2/26/04)
FACT: "In 1991, Kerry opposed an amendment to impose an arbitrary 2 percent cut in the military budget. In 1992, he opposed an amendment to cut Pentagon intelligence programs by $1 billion. In 1994, he voted against a motion to cut $30.5 billion from the defense budget over the next five years and to redistribute the money to programs for education and the disabled. That same year, he opposed an amendment to postpone construction of a new aircraft carrier. In 1996, he opposed a motion to cut six F-18 jet fighters from the budget. In 1999, he voted against a motion to terminate the Trident II missile." (Slate, 2/25/04)
HANNITY: "If he (Kerry) had his way and the CIA would almost be nonexistent." (1/30/04)
FACT: John Kerry has supported $200 billion in intelligence funding (7 bills) over the past seven years - a 50 percent increase since 1996.
Author's Note:
Enough is enough. I'm getting real tired of all this, but this is very serious business. It's this kind of activity that can eventually cause us all to lose the very rights and freedoms that the founding fathers' left to all Americans. Due to the Bush Administration's ignoring the US Constitution, this loss of freedom has already begun.
Wow, it's amazing about the comments and inputs that I've received on my past two recent articles about the blatant lies from FOX NEWS, and from Sean Hannity, (who just happens to also be on the FOX Channel). My mail box had the expected few shots from some real, right-wing, "FOX Devotees", trying to make excuses or to yell about my articles. (However, most of their comments were just yelling and excuses, while not one of them said that anything I had said was untrue.)
From the other side, most of the e-mails were from those that agreed with the articles and many of them referred me to other web sites that also try to show just how bad and un-true the stuff is that "oozes" out of all the FOX rhetoric.
In just the last 24 hours, I was referred to a number of sites that also have the same issues with FOX's poor and untrue reporting. Some sites were very serious about FOX's lies and they are currently sponsoring petitions against FOX NEWS. Other sites were even filming their own "YouTube" videos showing examples of the lies taken from FOX, and then following them with the actual facts.
I still find it amazing how and why FOX continues to take this approach when it is so against the basis for what has made the United States, the most successful nation on earth. One of the reasons for our national success has been that as a people, Americans have, (in the past), been able to receive "honest and fair" information in which to make rational decisions. By watching and continuing to follow the current "FOX approach", Americans end up getting bad information and supporting bad decisions and strategies, (such as attacking a sovereign nation that did not attack us). These poor decisions can be totally due to the lies and mis-information supplied by a biased media.
Most people aren't aware that in the 1980's, President Ronald Reagan voided the long-time FCC regulation from the 1930's requiring that all broadcast networks must "regularly provide truthful news to the public". (This was a past requirement for keeping the network's broadcast licenses current.) In addition, the Federal Courts recently up-held a FOX law suite in Florida that basically said it was acceptable for network commentators to "lie to the public". Of course, after these changes, the "FOX NEWS approach" became the natural result of those kind of decisions.
For some additional examples of this "less-than-truthful" FOX approach, here are some selected items from the web site; The Center for American Progress. At this site, they list a set of quoted and dated statements taken from Sean Hannity on the FOX Channel's, Hannity and Colmes Show, and then they followed the statements with the facts.
Here they are, and you can decide for yourself:
Per: The Center for American Progress:
Speaking at the "Take Back America" conference on June 3, American Progress CEO, John Podesta said, "I think when you get so distant from the facts as -- as guys like Limbaugh and Sean Hannity do, yeah, I think that tends to -- corrupt the dialogue."
Apparently his comments struck a nerve with Fox News' Sean Hannity. Hannity challenged Podesta to; "defend and explain one example where I said something that was so false."
Since choosing just one of Hannity's distortions is too difficult, here are a number of examples:
(All Hannity quotes are from Hannity and Colmes unless otherwise noted.)
HANNITY: "You're not listening, Susan. You've got to learn something. He [Saddam] had weapons of mass destruction. He promised to disclose them. And he didn't do it. You would have let him go free; we decided to hold him accountable." (4/13/04)
FACT: Hannity's assertion comes more than six months after Bush Administration weapons inspector David Kay testified that his inspection team had "not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material" and Kay had also not discovered any chemical or biological weapons. (Bush Administration Weapons Inspector David Kay, 10/2/03)
HANNITY: "Colin Powell just had a great piece that he had in the paper today. He was there [in Iraq]. He said things couldn't have been better." (9/19/03)
FACT: Colin Powell: "Iraq has come very far, but serious problems remain, starting with security. American commanders and troops told me of the many threats they face--from leftover loyalists who want to return Iraq to the dark days of Saddam, from criminals who were set loose on Iraqi society when Saddam emptied the jails and, increasingly, from outside terrorists who have come to Iraq to open a new front in their campaign against the civilized world." (Colin Powell, 9/19/03)
HANNITY: "And in northern Iraq today, this very day, al Qaeda is operating camps there, and they are attacking the Kurds in the north, and this has been well-documented and well chronicled. Now, if you're going to go after al Qaeda in every aspect, and obviously they have the support of Saddam, or we're not." (12/9/02)
FACT: David Kay was on the ground for months investigating the activities of Hussein's regime. He concluded "But we simply did not find any evidence of extensive links with al Qaeda, or for that matter any real links at all." Kay also called a speech where Cheney made the claim there was a link to al Qaeda "evidence free." (Boston Globe, 6/16/04)
HANNITY: "[After 9-11], liberal Democrats at first showed little interest in the investigation of the roots of this massive intelligence failure...[Bush and his team] made it clear that determining the causes of America's security failures and finding and remedying its weak points would be central to their mission." (Let Freedom Ring, by Sean Hannity)
TRUTH: Bush Opposed the creation of a special commission to probe the causes of 9/11 for over a year. On 5/23/02 CBS News Reported "President Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe Thursday to voice his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11." Bush didn't relent to pressure to create a commission, mostly from those Hannity would consider "liberal" until September 2002. (CBS News, 5/23/02)
HANNITY: "First of all, this president -- you know and I know and everybody knows -- inherited a recession...it was by every definition a recession" (11/6/02)
FYI: To keep from boring you, American Progress went on to list 19 additional quotes from Sean Hannity, made from July 2003 through June 2004, stating that; "President Bush had inherited the recession".
Here are the facts:
FACT: "The recession officially began in 2001 -- months after Bush was sworn in -- according to the universally acknowledged arbiter of such things, the National Bureau of Economic Research. And President Bush, at other times, has also said so himself." (Washington Post, 7/1/03)
HANNITY: "The Hispanic community got to know him [Bush] in Texas. They went almost overwhelming for him. He more than quadrupled the Hispanic vote that he got in that state." (9/16/03)
FACT: Exit polls varied in 1998 governors race, but under best scenario he [Bush] increased his Hispanic vote from 24 to 49 percent – a doubling not a quadrupling. He then lost Texas Hispanics to Al Gore in 2000, 54-43 percent. (Source: NCLR, NHCSL)
HANNITY: "Look, we've had these reports, very disturbing reports -- and I have actually spoken to people that have confirmed a lot of the reports -- about the trashing of the White House [when the Clinton's left the White House]. Pornographic materials left in the printers. They cut the phone lines. Lewd and crude messages on phone machines. Stripping of anything that was not bolted down on Air Force One. $200,000 in furniture taken out." (1/26/01)
TRUTH: According to statements from the General Services Administration (GSA) that were reported on May 17, "little if anything out of the ordinary occurred during the transition", and "the condition of the real property [White House & Air Force One] was consistent with what we would expect to encounter when tenants vacate after an extended occupancy." (FAIR)
HANNITY: "I never questioned anyone's patriotism." (9/18/03)
FACT:
See 5 examples below:
HANNITY 1: (to attorney Stanley Cohen) "Is it you hate this president or that you hate America?" (4/30/03)
HANNITY 2: "Governor, why wouldn't anyone want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, unless they detested their own country or were ignorant of its greatness?" (6/12/03)
HANNITY 3: "You could explain something about your magazine, [the Nation]. Lisa Featherstone writing about the hate America march, the [anti-war] march that took place over the weekend..." (1/22/03)
HANNITY 4: "'I hate America.' This is the extreme left. There is a portion of the left -- not everybody who's left -- that does hate this country and blame this country for the ills of the world..." (1/23/02)
HANNITY 5: (speaking to Sara Flounders co-director of the International Action Center) "You don't like this country, do you? You think this is an evil country. By your description of it right here, you think it's a bad country." (9/25/01)
HANNITY: "It doesn't say anywhere in the Constitution this idea of the separation of church and state." (8/25/03)
FACT: 1) "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." (1st Amendment)
FACT: 2) "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." (Article VI, US Constitution)
HANNITY: "You want to refer to some liberal activist judge..., that's fine, but I'm going to go directly to the source. The author of the Bill of Rights [James Madison] hired the first chaplain in 1789, and I gotta' tell ya' somethin', I think the author of the Bill of Rights knows more about the original intent--no offense to you and your liberal atheist activism--knows more about it than you do." (9/4/02)
TRUTH: The first congressional chaplains weren't hired by James Madison--they were appointed by a committee of the Senate and House in, respectively, April and May, 1789, before the First Amendment even existed. James Madison's view: "Is the appointment of Chaplains to the two Houses of Congress consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom? In strictness the answer on both points must be in the negative." (James Madison)
HANNITY: "But the Alabama Constitution, which Chief Justice Roy Moore is sworn to uphold, clearly it says, as a matter of fact that the recognition of God is the foundation of that state's Constitution." (8/21/03)
FACT: While the preamble of the Alabama Constitution does reference "the Almighty," section three provides: "That no religion shall be established by law; that no preference shall be given by law to any religious sect, society, denomination, or mode of worship; that no one shall be compelled by law to attend any place of worship; nor to pay any tithes, taxes, or other rate for building or repairing any place of worship, or for maintaining any minister or ministry; that no religious test shall be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under this state; and that the civil rights, privileges, and capacities of any citizen shall not be in any manner affected by his religious principles." (Alabama Constitution, Section 3)
HANNITY: "Betsy, they're not going to lose it [public housing], because if you work less than 30 hours a week -- if you work more than 30 hours a week, you don't have to do it. If you're between the ages of 18 and 62 and you're not legally disabled and you have free housing -- in other words..."
BETSY MCCAUGHEY: "No. Wait a second, Sean. Let me correct you. Most people in public housing are not receiving free housing. Many of them are paying almost market rates."
HANNITY: "Betsy, that is so ridiculous and so false, it's hardly even worth spending the time." (10/23/03)
FACT: Residents of public housing pay rent scaled to their household's anticipated gross annual income, less deductions for dependents and disabilities. The basic formula for rent is 30 percent of this monthly adjusted income. There are exceptions for extremely low incomes, but the minimum rent is $25 per month. No one lives in public housing for free. (Department of Housing and Urban Development)
HANNITY: "But he (Senator Kerry) wanted to cancel every major weapons system. Specific votes that he would have canceled the weapons systems we now use." (2/26/04)
FACT: "In 1991, Kerry opposed an amendment to impose an arbitrary 2 percent cut in the military budget. In 1992, he opposed an amendment to cut Pentagon intelligence programs by $1 billion. In 1994, he voted against a motion to cut $30.5 billion from the defense budget over the next five years and to redistribute the money to programs for education and the disabled. That same year, he opposed an amendment to postpone construction of a new aircraft carrier. In 1996, he opposed a motion to cut six F-18 jet fighters from the budget. In 1999, he voted against a motion to terminate the Trident II missile." (Slate, 2/25/04)
HANNITY: "If he (Kerry) had his way and the CIA would almost be nonexistent." (1/30/04)
FACT: John Kerry has supported $200 billion in intelligence funding (7 bills) over the past seven years - a 50 percent increase since 1996.
Author's Note:
Enough is enough. I'm getting real tired of all this, but this is very serious business. It's this kind of activity that can eventually cause us all to lose the very rights and freedoms that the founding fathers' left to all Americans. Due to the Bush Administration's ignoring the US Constitution, this loss of freedom has already begun.
view author's RSS feed
