Hannity got "Worst Person" "silver" for using cucumber, condom to misrepresent Obama's stance on sex ed
On the July 24 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News host Sean Hannity the "silver" in his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for previewing a discussion of July 17 comments by Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) regarding age-appropriate sex education during the July 20 edition of Hannity & Colmes by asking "[W]hat is it that Barack Obama was thinking when he said he supported sex ed for kindergartners?" while Fox News aired video of a woman applying a condom to a cucumber. As Media Matters for America documented, the Obama campaign has made clear what the candidate "was thinking": "He said we needed to teach even kindergartners what kind of touching is OK, and what kind is not."
Fox News received third place in the same segment for, as Media Matters also noted, misidentifying Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) in on-screen text as a Democrat while showing footage of Specter telling Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales that the Senate Judiciary Committee would be reviewing his testimony about a May 2004 confrontation over the Bush administration's warrantless domestic wiretapping program to "see if your credibility has been breached to the point of being actionable." At no time during the accompanying report by Fox News chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle was Specter identified as a Republican. As Olbermann noted, this is not the first time Fox News has identified a congressional Republican as a Democrat: "They did it again. Remember when they identified Congressman Mark Foley as a Democrat last fall at the height of the sex scandal? Today Republican Sen. Arlen Specter fricassees Attorney General Gonzales, and they identified Specter as a Democrat on Brit Hume's show. You know, the show Rupert Murdoch identifies as his neutral newscast of record?"
As Media Matters has noted (here, here, here, and here), Olbermann has frequently named Hannity in his "Worst Person" segment. For instance, on July 19, Olbermann gave Hannity the "runner-up" for comments Hannity made during the "Clinton Chapters" segment of the July 15 edition of Fox News' Hannity's America, in which Hannity asserted that "there are still many chapters remaining open from [Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY)] time at the Rose Law Firm. Take Whitewater and the death of Vince Foster." Olbermann responded: "No, there aren't. That's what the last of three special prosecutors concluded after six years and $60 million spent investigating her."
From the July 24 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann
OLBERMANN: But first, time for Countdown's nominees for "Worst Person in the World." The bronze: This just in to Fox Noise. They did it again. Remember when they identified Congressman Mark Foley as a Democrat last fall at the height of his sex scandal? Today, Republican Senator Arlen Specter fricassees Attorney General Gonzales, and they identified Specter as a Democrat on Brit Hume's show. You know, the show Rupert Murdoch identifies as his neutral newscast of record?
The silver, Sean Hannity. You name a Democrat, he's lied about him or her. "Later," he teased, as video rolled of a woman applying a condom to a cucumber, "what was it that Barack Obama was thinking when he said he supporeted sex ed for kindergartners?" He said we needed to teach even kindergartners what kind of touching is OK, and what kind is not. If the distinction is not clear to Fixed Noise, it should have been obvious when the network let Bill O [Fox News host Bill O'Reilly] go on the air and repeatedly defend the monster who abused the Missouri teenager, Sean Hornbeck.
Hannity's in a pickle again! Squashed by Olbermann.
Hannity needs to put a condom on his head.
He wouldn't know how - they didn't have sex ed in kindergarten the 3 years he was there.
or...
No can do. Apparently they only make them for cucumbers, not other vegetables like Hannity.
or...
But the point would poke through the reservoir tip...
He'd never get the okay from the Bush administration.
hantywaste is the disastrous result of a broken one and subsequently millions have been traumatized and the airwaves have been poluted as well by the gutteral utterances of a seminary school drop out. This is why scientists from around the world are feverously working on a retroactive birth control pill. Word is, dickme cheatme and baby bush will get a free prescription as well as hundreds of others.
MMFA and Olbermann - made for each other. Talk about lazy journalism - all that Olberman does is read the selective, manufactured outrage that is posted here and repeat it ad nauseum the next day during the Worst Person segment.If he takes some trouble and act like a real journalist (which the former sportscaster is NOT), Olberman will find enough awards for bigots on the Left too.
Olbermann's usually right, but he's (cough cough) unfair to O'Reilly about the Sean Hornbeck matter. At no time did BOR ever "defend" the kidnapper. All he did was question the whole story. The worst thing he ever said was "maybe the kid liked being there, that it was better than being home." Remember, this was BEFORE the whole story got out about abuse, etc.
BOR was correct to question the received opinion about that kidnapping, and he quickly modified his opinion when the evidence came in. Many things about it didn't make any sense. They still don't. This was not a small child, it was a 15 year old, and there has yet to be a trial.
You have to love Olberman he preaches about how FOX allows O'Reilly to go on the air and defend the monster who abused Sean Hornbeck but he works for a network that tolerated Don Imus and his racism for 10 years. He also works for ESPN Radio part of the ESPN network a network which has its own history of sexual harasment (Harold Reynolds) and hiring Rush Limbaugh. But Olbermann is the moral authority on what networks should and should not allow.
The lengths you will go to find fault with somebody know no bounds.
It's called parody Sue, not moral authority. The colorful graphics and use of the words worser and worsest should tip you off it's all tongue in cheek.
I do not think talking about what happened to Shawn Hornbeck is parody. You and Olberman may think that.
I gotta agree with you SueEld.
Keith was riding Hannity the other day about not mentioning that Murdoch has gone green or is buying carbon credits or carbonated credits or whatever they are ;-)
Yet Keith the Coward didn't even dare bring up Imus & criticize him until AFTER his network fired him.
Keith is such a brave coward hehehe.
I stopped watching Olbermann along time ago, I do not watch O'Reilly either to me they are both two peas in a pod. The same ones a hack on the right one is a hack on the left. I do not understand MSNBC at all, and the Imus point is a great one, Keith should nowhere be critical of what FOX allows when he works for a network that tolerated Imus, and even at one point hired the evil Michael Savage. Look in your own house Keith.
Casey,
I don't watch O'Reilly or Olbermann anymore either, but occasionally during a commercial will check in to see what the 2 Bloviators are rambling on about.
I happen to catch Keith giving it to Hannity [who I can't stand either] about ripping carbon credits but failing to mention his boss Murdoch was on board with them. Seems to me Hannity is allowed to do something Keith apparently is not....be able to voice an opinion without fear of his own network.
Keith is as big of a joke as the man he stalks...O'Reilly.
Righties often try to lump O'Reilly and Olbermann together.
They understand that O'Reilly is a moron, and they think that they can diminish Keith by lumping him together with O'Moron. Of course, it's bogus.
Keith is a class act, and points out the baloney of these right-wing gasbags. O'Reilly and Hannity are pitiful liars and cowards. Olbermann is nothing like them!!
One annoying and shallow trait they do share is the inordinate amount of time they spend dissing and stalking their competitors.
Why can't they stick to their own stories and leave their petty jealousies out of it?
Olbermann's big problem is hyperbole and silliness. A strange combination, but it's there, usually every night. Unlike Olbermann, one of the few people who's always correct about BOR is Bob Somerby of the Daily Howler, who dislikes the man but does give him credit for bringing up issues that others won't.
Hate to say it, but O'Reilly is not always wrong. He brought up some interesting points about the Hornbeck kidnapping, and he got nailed for it, as if he were somehow advocating child abuse. That's not fair, and as with this issue, Olbermann often hurts his argument with his overstatements.
Apparently Keith thinks he has 100% total moral authority to say whatever he wants. Yet he did not feel that way when Imus was calling Hillary Clinton "Satan" in 2006.
Wow. Deja-vu.
Deja-Sue
LOL...."carbonated credits". Would that be when you drink a Coke, you are supposed to plant an apple juice?
That sounds about right Tommy...oops I mean correct. Don't wanna confuse anyone.
But just to be sure you better clear it with the Grand Pooh-Bah of All Things Green--> Big Al or was it Kermit the Frog? Mmmmm
Well just clear it with your favorite Lib. If you have one ;-)
That's baloney, to put it politely.
Olbermann explained why he didn't talk about Imus on the air before he was fired. Blame his bosses, not him. After Imus was fired, he came down on him hard, and it looks like Olbermann's behind the scenes efforts had impact on their decision to fire Imus!
You're the hypocrite here.
Blame his bosses? thats a nice excuse. Say nothing while Imus says racists things for 10 years even call him my "Morning Diety" in 1998, Olbermann is a political hack of the worst kind, MMFA hurts its good name by attaching itself to this hack.
Jeter, I believe that the reason that Keith did not speak up regarding Imus was his network (NBC) ask him not to comment on the subject. Report it yes, but no personal comments.
We get it sue, you disagree with most anyone or anything that looks, smells, talks or thinks like a little left of center.
Where did Sue say that? She was talking about Olbermann? I am very left of center and Olbermann does not represent me.
How do you come to that conclusion? Because I dare be critical of Keith Olbermann?
Sueeld, your rabid dislike of Keith sounds like a former poster Peg. She too hated any and all thing Keith. Come to think of it, she too defended anything Imus as well.
I do not get your point? No where do I "defend" Imus on this thread. I point blank think he is a racist. I do think he was treated unfairly however or as mentioned on another thead "lynched" I did hardly ever watch or listen to him, I do not like that humor.
Well Sueeld you think he was treated unfairly? Imus was fired because of money not because of Rev. Jackson/Sharpton. I used to watch to Imus and the reference to African American college students was about average for Imus. One of the reasons I stopped watching him was because I could not take that kind of constant racist talk from Imus and his sidekick Bernie. His sponsors decided they did not like the attention that Imus brought with is racists comments. They decided that they did not want to associate their product as a sponsor for his racists comments. You think that was unfair but yet you didn't watch or listen to him.
Please explain to me how he was treated "unfairly" and by whom.
Sue if you'd try a little longer/clearer statement, its possible an intelligent debate might ensue. Folks have taken issue with Olbermann before. Hasty conclusions were held in check, mostly.
To repeat, give us enough basis for an actual discussion. Two sentance straffing runs do not an argument make.
I am not sure what your point is?
Sue, you state your position, but offer little about what you base it on. At least thats how I feel. If thats what you want to do, fine. I'd just like see something beyond that. If I'm frustrated here s'ok.
MMFA and Olbermann - made for each other? Talk about lazy journalism - all that Olberman does is read the selective, manufactured outrage that is posted here and repeat it ad nauseum the next day during the Worst Person segment.If he takes some trouble and acts like a real journalist (which the former sportscaster is NOT), Olberman will find enough awards for bigots on the Left too.
Wasn't the same post on page 1?
Pearlene, I think that was an "Encore Performance", re-run not because of any excellence , but in recognition of the 1.000th time that exact comment has been posted.
1,001st.
Frankly I am appalled that Hannity could take a perfectly logical statement and turn it into such a disgusting graphic. Both of these statements appeared about the same time frame so children could be up to see both of them. I give Mr. Hannity the worst person of the world designation since he took a perfectly innocent statement that young children could easily understand and with that graphic, turned it into the most disgusting idea that a child could see on the subject. Shame on you, Mr. Hannity.
It is apparent that Hannity's graphic put it into the worst person in the world. Without the graphic which was shown in a time slot that children could see, he may have been ok to object to the Obama statement. It is a free speech country, after all. But, to even try to badmouth Oberman for objecting to some very graphic pornographic activite that children could see and equate that with the Obama statement is a lie. Not equal at all and in fact, disgustingly pornographic for children to see.
Interesting concept.
Out of curiosity, if a kid didn't already know what a condom was for, and hadn't already seen porn, what would make him relate a cucumber to something pornongraphic?
If the issue being discussed deals with inappropriate sex eduation for kindergardners, what is apropriate? Other material dealing with Obama's perception of appropriate sex ed includes dealing with the question of appropriate and inappropriate touching. So, dealing with this definition perhaps there could be a more positive discourse dealing with the segment in question. Just anattempt to redefine and reshape what is being discused past personal attacks.
Just an addendum. Growing up in a small midwestern town we had a local barber who made comments to younger teen age boys, and touched them inappropriately. He was able to get away with this for awhile because there was no one who realised the problems. Becauseof the authority position of the barber, as a adult, it took a couple of years for this issue to come out. After it came out it was discovered he had learned barbering while in prison for child molesting (or at least that was the rumor). The comment is that we should teach about apropriate and inappropriate touching and comments because much of what occurs is possible because of the auhority adults have in their being qadults.
If you compare the content of the Obama statement and the graphics of the Hannity tirade, guess which one is the most disgusting. You have to have a distinctly dirty mind to portray that sort of disgusting graphic in relation to what is suggested by Mr. Obama. Yep, Mr. Hannity turned a perfectly straightforward statement about age appropriate information for children who need to understand te difference between good and bad touch and turned it into a graphic of Mr. Hannity's about a cucumber and a condum. If you ask me, Mr. Hannity is the person with the filthy mind or he is incapable of understanding English. Since I have heard Mr. Hannity discuss even more complex subjects in a fairly understandable way, I have to assume it is his dirty mind that twisted this Mr. Obama's perfectly reasonable assertion into such a vulger tirade. So get the soap and wash your mouth out, Hannity!!!
With all due respect, Mari, you have to have a distinctly dirty mind to find someone putting a condom on a cucumber disgusting.
...unless you were planning on using it in your salad, of course.
These are by far my favorite stories MMFA posts. Let the whining about Olbermann and how MMFA should not print these stories continue! From now on if you are going to post either A) Keith and MMFA are in on some conspiracy B) Keith is a bad newsperson C) about his rating or D) MMFA should not print these stories, please just type WAH WAH WAH WAH, since that is what the rest of us read anyway.