Shocker: Sean Hannity Gets It Wrong

I was there. Sean Hannity wasn’t.

So why is he acting like he knows what happened at the Secular Coalition for America’s briefing with Obama Administration officials?

Hannity: The Obama administration earlier today rolled out the red carpet for a coalition of atheist groups. Now, among the individuals in attendance was Michael Newdow. That’s the California man who sued unsuccessfully to have the words “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance. Now, religious groups, however, have not received this kind of treatment from the Obama White House. Now, last year, the President distanced himself from the National Day of Prayer, cancelling the formal service traditionally held in honor of the day and refusing to attend a Catholic prayer breakfast. So what’s going on? Has the administration demonstrated a pattern of hostility towards religion, or is this merely a coincidence?

There was no red carpet.

There was no Michael Newdow in attendance (not that there would have been anything wrong with that).

Religious group have indeed received the same — in fact, far better — treatment from the Obama administration.

Hannity is doing with conservatives do best: Taking a headline, stretching it past the point of falsehood, and getting his base all riled up.

Note that the majority of the segment has nothing to do with the issue at hand. They don’t talk about atheists or the administration meeting with us. They just use it as a launching pad to trash the president.

By the way, at no point did FOX News ask the Secular Coalition for America for a response to their claims. But I’m sure we would love the chance.

(via Atheist Media Blog)

Brett G

Hannity….wrong? I am SHOCKED! 🙂
Matt

Makes me physically ill.
Mike Brownstein

Yeah I wondered about that when I was watching last night. I felt like they were more or less talking about nothing either true or new in that segment.
ckitching

There are plenty of things they can criticize Obama for from a conservative policy standpoint, but they never seem to do that. Instead it’s the same old stories dug up time and time again. Instead of criticisms of the actual things he’s championing, we get vague scares about socialism, rehashed nonsense about Reverend Wright, etc. It’s become mudslinging instead of criticism, a behaviour I’d expect from blogs or political advertisements, not news networks.

It’s like they’re not even pretending to be a news network anymore.
SeanG

I can’t watch… Mike Huckabee’s face appeared and that’s as far as I got.
hazor

ckritching: You say all of that as if Fox could reasonably be called a news network in the first place.
PrimeNumbers

Liar Liar pants on fire! But what do you expect from nutjobs from the religious right? The truth? No – that’d set them free.
NewEnglandBob

Why would any sane or thinking person watch Hannity?

Why would any sane or thinking person watch Fox News?
Scott

ckitching says: “It’s like they’re not even pretending to be a news network anymore.”
This was Fox… was anyone EVER fooled into thinking they were a news network?
Carlie

Once again, offering even half of the same gesture every other group already gets to a group that hasn’t gotten anything before is seen as giving them super special extra awesome favored treatment.
Karen

One of my dearest friends was there ~ A truly warm, moral and generous person. And because she is an atheist she doesn’t have a right to be heard? How insulting.

For people (Fox “news”) who chatter their heads off about loving America, they sure don’t seem to love Americans very much.
bigjohn756

Since when has FOX news bothered with facts?
TSC

Contact FOX as well as a different news organization. Say… NBC and Keith Olbermann. That’ll take care of it. I mean, you need to tell FOX they messed up to give them a chance to correct (HA!), but telling NBC will keep FOX honest.
Revyloution

I’ll probably shock the heck out of SeanG, and a few others when I say that I really like Huckabee.

I disagree with almost all his positions, but I like that he is honest. I like that he is willing to sit down with people he disagrees with and have dialog. He might be my polar opposite on most policy, but I feel like he is someone I might be able to work with.

We can’t expect everyone to agree with us on everything, but we can expect them to listen, and we should be willing to listen to them.
Mike

For Mr. Hannity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfYJsQAhl0
Leilani

Who is this Hannity fellow and why is he talking out of his ass?

I have refused to watch anything on Fox for awhile now. (Though my kids are permitted to watch The Simpson’s on Sunday nights.)

I don’t dismiss their power and the impact they have on their sheeple, but I just can’t stomach bullshit anymore. How much effort would it have taken him to research his ‘news’ report? Not much, he would just rather spew untruths for ratings. Pathetic.
Buffy

No surprise. His entire job is to spin reality and even outright lie so as to rile Fox Newz viewers into a frenzy.
Richard Wade

I don’t think for one minute that Hannity or anyone working for Foxaganda actually believe the crap they feed to their paranoid viewership. They have a formula that they know works: Really simple story, black-and-white issue, and lots of fear that is only comforted by the reassurance that they’re morally superior to whomever are today’s “evil ones.” You’ll see those three aspects in report after report, regardless of the subject matter.

Think about how deeply insecure religionists would have to be to become alarmed about a meeting of some atheists with some White House staff.
Iason Ouabache

Q: How can you tell if Sean Hannity is lying?

A: His lips are moving.
SeanG

@Revy:

I actually liked Huckabee at one time. I do think he’s intelligent and well spoken, not a firebrand gasbag like Hannity or Rush Limbaugh. But, after his last presidential run he’s really shown that he wants a christian theocracy in America. Nice guy? Sure. Easy to talk to? Maybe. Someone to sit down with and find a middle ground? Not when his end of the spectrum starts with amending the constitution so it jives with the right wing version of the bible. (http://atheism.about.com/od/mikehuckabeechristianity/a/ConstitutionGod.htm)
Insignificant Speck

No. Huckabee is a monster
Dan

Extremists are scarey people! Guys like Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, etc. are not much different than radical muslims, zionists, etc. when it comes to their religious views.
Frankly, I am growing increasingly concerned about the extreme political polarization that seems to be happening in this country. As an agnostic independent, I wonder what will be left of this country if conservatives on the extreme right and ultra-librals on the extreme left don’t quit trying to tear it apart. The folks in the middle trying to find common ground, are continually drowned out by the bellowing. BTW, if the term ‘Hypochritstians’ begins to catch on in mainstream American media when describing the likes of Hannity and Limbaugh, please give me some of the credit.
Compsci

“Hannity is doing with conservatives do best: Taking a headline, stretching it past the point of falsehood, and getting his base all riled up.”

No, Hannity is doing what Hannity does best. Not all conservatives are like this. Please stop with the (obviously false) gross generalizations. I don’t hate liberals because of idiots like Keith Olbermann. Don’t hate us for what one loudmouth says or does. The same goes for Beck and Limbaugh. They’re shock jocks who are trying to get ratings.

Huckabee is actually a pretty likeable guy. He’s certainly well spoken (something the republicans have been lacking recently). I don’t know how he feels about atheists, and I probably wouldn’t like it. You’ll notice that he stayed away from that topic, though.
Gustavo Keener

I wonder if Hannity even caught that little attack on his “shouting” match tactics… (I’m sure he did, but it’s not like he’d reflect such an observation on his show.)
muggle

This is about what you’d expect form Hannity.

Compsci, what the hell’s idiotic about Olberman. I admit I don’t have cable so I’ve only seen You Tubes that have been linked but they’ve been most impressive. He seems well spoken and direct. What’s stupid about him?

Plus I’ve got to say opening up about his father’s illness was an admirable move that caused him much pain. He didn’t just be grateful that he could make the choice others can afford to. He had compassion about what would happen without insurance. He’s right. There are death panels in this country. They kill those who can’t afford insurance. Something all those right leaning idiots screaming right to life don’t give a hang about.

Huckabee wants a Christian nation far too badly to not worry about him.
fritzy

I didn’t have to watch this because I already can tell you the gist of what InSannity said. Reason being that (surprise) this isn’t news; it’s propaganda. There’s nothing factual or informative about this network. No one that watches Faux “News” does so to learn anything; they do so to get “fired-up.” That’s what Faux “News” is good at; they’ve found a formula that works–throw read meat to the fears and hatred of a certain segment of society. Cynical and dangerous stuff, Faux “News.”
fritzy

And yes, the Faux “News” base at large, I would surmise, does not believe atheists/non-believers should have a voice in American society. Bush the first said that you can’t be a good citizen if you don’t believe in an invisible sky-monster and Bush the re-run did a great deal to break down the church-state separation. So yeah, in this segment, it is simply de facto that the White House has no good reason to meet with secular organizations.
Compsci

muggle, if you haven’t watched his show, how can you comment on Olbermann? He’s a blowhard, just like Hannity and Limbaugh, only with a liberal slant and significantly weaker ratings. I think he likes to hear the sound of his own voice more than anything. He distorts the truth at least as as much as Hannity does. They’re both worth ignoring.
Neon Genesis

“Huckabee is actually a pretty likeable guy. He’s certainly well spoken (something the republicans have been lacking recently). I don’t know how he feels about atheists, and I probably wouldn’t like it. You’ll notice that he stayed away from that topic, though.”

Hardly. Huckabee has said before when he was running for president in the election that if science contradicts the bible, he’ll side with the bible and he doesn’t believe in separation of church and state. He also credited the votes he got as divine intervention from God.
Kevin

Bet you I’ll be hearing about this in a few days from my Conservative Christian parents… Maybe it’ll be my jumping off point for telling them I’m an atheist…