HOW ARE FOX´S HANNITY, THE RNC & THE FAR RIGHT HILLSDALE COLLEGE ALL RELATED

FOX´s right-wing "Talking Head", Sean Hannity

Hannity, the FOX Network & Hillsdale College prove that "Birds of a Feather" really do "Flock Together".

Some months ago I wrote a column on the difference between the surveys that are sent out to the public by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) versus those political surveys from the Republican National Committee (RNC).

I explained that the DNC tends to ask straight forward questions such as, "What is your impression of how President Obama is doing his job as President of the United States?" The reader is then given three to five categories from poor to excellent from which to choose.

The RNC on the other hand, always asked leading questions in their surveys, somewhat in the style of the old comedy joke of asking someone, "When did you stop beating your wife?" Oh you know what I mean. The RNC tends to ask questions like, "Do you agree and support the actions of President Obama and Speaker Pelosi in their taking over and expanding the US government?" The reader is then given a choice of, "Totally Agree", "Agree Somewhat" or "Other_______".

Well, not to be out-done by the RNC, the less-than-honest, FOX Network´s talking-head, Sean Hannity, and the conservative educational institute known as Hillsdale College have joined together in the "Game of Political Surveys".

The Hillsdale College, headquartered in Hillsdale, MI, has for years been a haven for far right and ultra-conservative education. And this American institution is where one could hear extreme right-wing speakers such as Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, William F. Buckley, Jr., Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and of course Sean Hannity himself?

Well today, I received a survey and a notice that Hillsdale College is in the process of completing the construction of their Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship. This new facility will be physically located in the heart of Washington D.C. In addition, Mr. Hannity has now joined with the college, and he has added his name to a new survey and request for donations to support this new educational center in D.C.

It also appears that whoever was hired to write the prior RNC survey questionnaires, that organization has now also been assigned the new project for asking the questions as stated on the new Sean Hannity / Hillsdale Center, 2010 National Survey.

I will say, that in the new Hillsdale Survey, the question writers have learned to not be so blatantly stupid about asking their questions. For instance, instead of asking, "When did you stop beating your wife?", the latest Hillsdale Survey writer would probably ask, "If given an opportunity, when do you think you would be able to stop beating your wife?"

To demonstrate my point, here is a selection of questions, (verbatim) as stated on the survey that arrived at my house today:

QUESTION 1:

"Some say that the Left has succeeded in gaining power in America far beyond its level of support in the electorate. Starting in the 1960´s, the Left had a concerted strategy to control education in America, including America´s colleges and universities, and [that] has succeeded."

"Do you agree with this statement? Agree___, Disagree___, Undecided___"

Author´s Comment:

Right off the bat, this question asks you to assume that, "The Left-Wingers had a magnanimous strategy for all of the education operations in America (Including K-12)." They also try in leading you to believe, with absolutely no substantiation, that America´s electorate in the 1960´s "did not" really support the Democrats that were in control of the government at that time. (Regardless of the overwhelming voting results of the time that had placed the Democratic officials in office.)

QUESTION 2:

"Given what you know now, how would you describe the overall bias in American education concerning morality?"

"Support of morality___, Hostile to morality___, Not Sure___."

Author´s Comment:

What is their definition of ´Morality", and what are the actual biases of which they refer?

OUESTION 3:

"Harvard graduate, John LeBoutillier wrote a book titled Harvard Hates America. Given what you know now, do you think this is probably an accurate description of Harvard; or do you think LeBoutillier exaggerates Harvard´s anti-American bias?"

"I think this book is probably an accurate description___, I don´t think it´s accurate___, Not Sure___."

Author´s Comment:

I haven´t read the book, and I doubt that most of the people surveyed have read it as well. But obviously, those asking the question agree with the book and it´s title. Otherwise, why would they ask the question? (But to say that Harvard, a top-ten American university is Anti-American…..I believe that´s a real stretch.)



QUESTION 4:

"Were you aware that Forbes Magazine now ranks Hillsdale College ahead of such famous Ivy League colleges as Dartmouth, Cornell, The University of Pennsylvania and other historic colleges such as Georgetown, Duke, Oberlin, Vanderbilt?"

"No, I was not aware___, Yes, I was aware___, Not Sure___."

Author´s Comment:

First, I´m not surprised about the reference to Forbes Magazine.

Steve Forbes, the grandson of magazine founder Malcolm Forbes, is the magazine´s publisher and he was a minor Republican presidential candidate in the 1996 and 2000 primaries. I would suspect that he is a large contributor to Hillsdale College. He is also a very strong right-winger that appears regularly on the FOX network shows.

After Question #3 above, you will notice that it is not mentioned that Hillsdale is not ranked above Harvard (ranked 5th), or Princeton (ranked 2nd), or West Point (ranked 1st), or Stanford (ranked 10th), or even Vassar (Ranked 19th). In fact, I don´t know where Hillsdale is ranked as I only looked at the top 25 Forbes List, and Hillsdale College was not in the top 25.



So yes, the Hannity / Hillsdale Survey is right in line with prior, classically biased, RNC surveys.

If you are unfortunate enough to receive one of these bogus surveys, I would suggest that you do fill it out and return it as I will be doing. However, I will answer the questions very truthfully and I will change or line-out the false allegations that are included within each question. I will also not answer a question if I don´t agree with the question´s original premise. In addition, I will write a comment next to the question explaining why I´m not answering such a bogus question.

Oh, I know. The right-wing college will probably just throw my survey away.

But it does make me feel good to occasionally call them out and make them aware that I´m not going to play their ridiculous game. And I will always do that whenever I can.

Copyright G.Ater 2010

Follow me on Twitter: gater01