Hannity: L'état, c'est moi et Bush
On the January 7 inaugural broadcast of Fox News' Hannity's America, host Sean Hannity named actor Sean Penn, who Hannity described as an "actor, activist, and all-around very angry man," as his first "Enemy of the State" for, among other offenses, calling Hannity a "whore," and for "call[ing] for the impeachment of just about everybody in the Bush administration and call[ing] them 'bastards.' " Despite designating Penn an "Enemy of the State," Hannity then said, "Now, Penn can say whatever he wants." Hannity then invited Penn to appear on Hannity's America "to sit in the hot seat and defend his outlandish comments." Hannity also wondered: "Who does this guy speak for? Who does he represent, other than other bad actors?"
Penn won an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2003 for his performance in Clint Eastwood's Mystic River and has been nominated for three other Oscars for Best Actor, as well as numerous other awards.
In response to the "Enemy of the State" segment on Hannity's America, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, host of Countdown, awarded Hannity the "bronze," or second runner-up, in his "Worst Person in the World" segment. Olbermann said that he would "skip the rip-off aspect of this," adding: "If you want everybody to think of my show and my book when you launch into this segment, be my guest." Olbermann characterized Hannity's "enemy of the state" word choice as a phrase "that Roman dictators used to apply before the Centurions would go and stab their enemies in the throat."
Hannity's segment was noted by Newshounds, which said of Hannity, "[I]f you exercise the freedoms he purports to hold dear, you'll be labeled an enemy."
From the January 7 edition of Fox News' Hannity's America:
HANNITY: And finally, tonight, the "Enemy of the State." This week, actor, activist, and all-around very angry man Sean Penn takes the honors. Now, besides calling little old me a "whore" at a recent speech, Penn has called for the impeachment of just about everybody in the Bush administration and called them "bastards." Now, Penn can say whatever he wants. And we invite him on this program to sit in the hot seat and defend his outlandish comments. But the real question is: Who does this guy speak for? Who does he represent, other than other bad actors? So, Sean Penn, you are this week's "Enemy of the State."
From the January 8 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:
OLBERMANN: The bronze tonight to Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel, establishing a new weekly segment called "Enemy of the State," selecting Sean Penn as the first recipient. OK, we'll just skip the rip-off aspect of this, Sean. If you want everybody to think of my show and my book when you launch into this segment, be my guest, but to use that phrase, the one that Roman dictators used to apply before the Centurions would go and stab their enemies in the throat?
Having an opinion = Enemy of the state
An enemy of the state is a person accused of certain crimes against the state, such as treason. Falsely describing individuals in this way is often a manifestation of political repression.
(Qouted from Wikipedia for convenience)
Although Oblerman is guilty in the same sense to a certain point. The term enemy of the state has a very different connotation.
Mine has come to make some enemies, or, well, dislike.
...at that comment, but I just can't parse it. Does it make no sense at all, or am I getting a tumor?
No tumor, you're fine ;-)
Dr. Jeter
I just showed Bill Frist a video of the comment, and he said it appears perfectly coherent.
"Mine has come to make some enemies, or, well, dislike"...by evillib1727
=====
Could you translate the ABOVE statement into English for me?
He's trying to portray himself as the victim because he will say purposefully inflammatory things and then get a negative response.
EVILLIB 1727 SAYS:
An opinion = Enemy of the state
Mine has come to make some enemies, or, well, dislike.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
MINE = MY OPINION: - As in: - My opinion is here to make some enemies.
OR, WELL = ON SECOND THOUGHT: - As in: - On second thought, instead of making enemies with them, I'll just Dislike them.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
That was just a “Stab In The Dark” at best. -EVILLIB1727 Where are you? Will you please come back and explain this word puzzle?
...you can have an opinion it just has to be the same one as Hannity and the rest of the wacko right wing extremists.
If not then you are an "enemy of the state".
I Witnessed Hannity’s New Show on Jan 7th 2007.
AND AS I SUSPECTED... A New FoxNews Far-Wrong Show...
It Should Be Called:
ENEMY OF AMERICA
It features a segment called (2 on 2) - A Classic Far-Right-Wing Show in its thrust. Hannity teams up with a fiery, abusive, hot headed old man. A right-wing talk show host - Mark Levin. Mark would cut the Liberal guests off every time they tried to speak.
Levin kept interrupting by saying, "Excuse Me - Excuse Me - Let me Educate You!” He's was a total hot headed screaming abusive man. He even cut Hannity off.
Then he has two Liberals. Jane Fleming, a very attractive and polite young woman who's from The Young Democrats of America. She tried in vain to make some points but Levin and Hannity would cut her off most of the time.
The other Liberal was Micheal Brown, a Democratic Strategist. He was very polite and well mannered and was also cut off most of the time by Levin.
One one occasion they let him finish his point but as soon as he finished Levin said that’s a good point but you’re not in office so your point doesn’t apply.
When Levin's tactics became obvious the two Democrats began to try and talk over his rude interruptions. They failed to do that.
Both Liberals tried to promote a more civil discourse, but failed because Lenin was not interested. Levin kept repeating the same
TALK DOWN TACTICS:
"DO YOU WANT TO GET EDUCATED? - LET ME EDUCATE YOU! - "WHAT'S ALL THIS CLUTTER OF LIBERALISM."
I hereby, with the powers vested in me, award Fox News, Hannity and his new show, the following well earned Award:
The Most Despicable Example of Journalistic News Worthlessness on The Planet Earth. A Show That Will Live in Infamy.
Congratulations to Fox News and to Sean Hannity! America loves to be entertained so it wouldn't surprise me if the show attracts an audience.
Viewers who are not interested in journalistic integrity.
...Nathan Lane.
Except he isn't funny like Nathan Lane. He's a drama queen. Wherever you are on the political continuum, how can you post pics of Kim Jong-II and Sean Penn, as if they are equivalent threats to "the state"? Even if Penn had his own nuclear program, Kim stands alone. Kim is the modern Caligula.
I think Sean is a dead ringer for Lou Costello.
Difference being, Costello only played an idiot.
Nathan Lane (gay). Lou Costello (french mother). And notice that he dresses like
(wait for it)
Ahmadinejad and Obama!!!! OMG!!!!
Enemy of the state, indeed. Suddenly the reasons for everything he does becomes crystal clear.
you made me laugh, but if you keep thinking this way, the neocons will hire you to do their Obama/Osama/Hussein sleazery.
Hannity's little "Enemy of the State" thing is a complete and utter rip off of Olberman. That's pretty funny. At least Olberman calls it "Worst Person in the World." not indicating that they are doing anything wrong, just that they're stupid bad people. Enemy of the State? Come on Hannity. Get original Mr. Blow Hard.
"Worst Person in the World." not indicating that they are doing anything wrong, just that they're stupid bad people.
Really?
'worst person in the world' does not imply or designate criminal activity. 'enemy of the state' does. really, reading is your friend...
Does that mean Penn is engaged in treasonous thus illegal behavior? Now if I say you are the worst poster in the world that's just a joke! I wouldn't call you an enemy of the state, just the English language. (Smile)
I'd like to point out that "Worst Person in the World" is clearly hyperbolic and humorous. It reminds me of a bumper sticker that says "I'm not infantile you stinky butt poophead".
"Enemy of the State", however, when directed at someone for criticisms and name calling the Bush administration, well... it smacks of a police state.
The 'Worst person in the World' is ironic. It is a psuedosmear awarded to people for SMEARING. See how it works its over the top to make that point.
little Seaney a whore. No wonder his ickle chin is all wobbly, poor baby.
Who does Hannity speak for? Who does he represent, other than other right-wing pundits?
This strange position - that somehow millionaire actors have no right to speak their minds, but millionaire talking heads do - keeps getting repeated and repeated as if it made any sense at all.
What a through-the-looking-glass media we have in this country...
and only his opinion counts LOL!
What makes Hannity any more or less qualified to speak about issues than someone like Sean Penn?
It's not like Hannity even has a distinguished educational backround. He dropped out of college, just like Sean Penn.
... This is Bill's schtick isn't it? Play the martyr and invite all those who oppose to sit in the "hot seat" or the "no spin zone"... I have trouble telling these jokers apart.
As Lloyd Christmas so aptly stated, "... you are one pathetic loser!"
Dumb and Dumber? This guy's both.
...that is a Bill "sexual harasser" O'Reilly tactic. They always want to have a "debate" on their home turf. They never want to have one on neutral ground.
Hannity's stock routine is the loaded yes-or-no question... e.g. "have you stopped beating your wife, yes or no?" It would be amusing if libs didn't keep getting stuck in it like a fly walking on duct tape.
close those tags folks... <\b>
valentinian: a valiant effort, but methinks your HTML was wrong. let's try this.
doobie doo. testing, testing.
alpha gamma lambda tramda
testing more.
Fixed now? Come on.
MMFA should just go to Haloscan and be done with it.
This whore asks who does Sean Penn speak for...
But who does the whore hannity speak for?
That question actually has an answer...
He speaks for the Republican National Committee... his paymaster is roger ailes...
...they're what you call "whores" for the RNC... "media whores".
And if you thought that Fox News Channel, and all the whores who work there, would be toning down their whoring now that their "johns", the RNC, lost control of the House and the Senate...
...then you'd have thought wrong.
Just the opposite... with this loss of power in Congress comes a panic at any more loss of power... and that panic feeds a desperate attempt to solidify their base, upon which to build anew.
That means the whoring at Fox News Channel goes into overdrive...
That means more whores and more whoring...
...witness the launching of this ridiculously named new show of sean the whore's.
Better yet, don't witness it.
You know the Repubs and Dems have been know to --- "Whore" around. So has Penn.
Face it, it is the Nation we live in. It pays to be a "Whore".
a whore has...
... wouldn't Alan Colmes now have his own solo NEW SHOW on FOX? I mean, a more stark opportunity to prove that their slogan is correct cannot be imagined.
Colmes has no such show on FOX. Ergo, their thesis is feces ... they're LYING to their audience. They just made it crystal clear.
it's a radio show and I think it is only an hour long, but he broadcasts it after H&C daily.
Now whether or not any of the Faux News affiliates actually broadcast it is another question all together - but he supposedly has one...
Shocked me as much as anyone else...
I have heard the show. It sounds as if the same Fox call screeners are used for both shows. Majority of the callers were not intelligent progressives but insane off-the-wall left wing loonies. Colmes had to hang up on a significant number of his callers while they were still screaming. The show, broadcast from the Fox Tower, appears to be designed to confirm the belief of neocon listeners that all liberals are flakes.
They filter out the right wing crazies from H&C, but usher the left-wing nutsbags right on to the Colmes show. Why should anyone be surprised?
Yup, I'd think "balance" meant that the resident "librul" at Fox News Channel would've gotten a chunk of air-time too, to "balance" this ridiculous "Enemy of the State" crap.
Me, I'd have designed the "balance" show something like this:
A Show that examines not National Politics per se, but the Rights of the American People to have and express their opinions on National Policy, whether to do so publicly or privately (you know, "...the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances").
And I'd not so much consider the more anonymous ones of the American People (who make up more than 99% of the American People, the anonymous ones do), but the ones who have some kind of fame or celebrity... and then find that their fame or celebrity weights their opinions on National Policy, and puts those opinions into the "media" and onto the pages of newspapers and other rags.
Which is risky for a famous person, to publicly express their opinions on National Policy... not because they may find themselves subject to any official or legal repercussion (the First Amendment being their Defender of that Right), but because they may risk their fame, or the altering of it, from what we might call "good fame" to something less than good...
...something like the status of "enemy".
My Show would point out though, that in order for anyone to consider their fellow Citizen to be an "enemy of the state", that Citizen would have to be breaking the Law... for how else can a Law-abiding Citizen be considered an "enemy" to the American People?
They cannot be such, as all Law-abiding Citizens are Friends of the American People... Friends of the Highest Order.
So that's what my Show would examine, the public expression of opinions on National Policy (what is commonly called "politics"), by persons of fame or celebrity...
...who simply exercise their First Amendment right, legally and peaceably (as do you and I of the anonymous, and greater, sort)...
...but in so doing, for a person of fame or celebrity, they risk a great deal (they risk that fame or celebrity)...
...just to be a publicly concerned Citizen... just to be a Law-abiding Citizen, excercising their Rights... just to be a friend to the American People...
"A Friend of the Highest Order, to the American People"
That's what I'd call my show... that's what I call persons of fame or celebrity who risk that fame or celebrity to publicly express their concern for the American People, by publicly expressing their opinions on National Policy... legally and peaceably.
"A Friend of the Highest Order, to the American People"
My first Show would profile Sean Penn... it'd have a big picture of his face on the screen during the profile...
It'd show him in a skiff, in the floodwaters of New Orleans, desperately trying to help those poor folks... while the rest of us stared at our television in shock and disbelief...
And under the pictures of the famous celebrity in the skiff in the floodwaters of New Orleans, I'd have the words...
"A Friend of the Highest Order, to the American People"
Sean Penn.
Penn does what The Founders believed was the duty of the citizenry: speak out, protest, petition, etc.
Sh'awn attempts to do what The Founders believed were the greatest threats to The Republic: suppress dissent, over-empower the President and theocratize the government.
The irony here is that Sh'awn doesn't understand just who is the real Enema of the State.
I give you a cyber-standing ovation
Well said, Drafted.
Teddy Roosevelt has been quoted in this space saying much the same thing.
It always seemed to me that the right to criticise the government, no matter how unpopular that criticism might be, was one of the most important things I was protecting when I answered the draft. It clearly distinguished us from our Cold War opponents.
It's also amusing, to me, that Seaneen calls Sean an EOTS. I can see why he'd respond to being called a whore, but that's personal. Is Sean Penn an enemy because he was more timely and effective in his response to Katrina than FEMA, and thus showed the State up? By the way, did Seaneen put his body and health on the line tosave lives during Katrina, or did he stay in the studio, covering up for "my president's" (as he referred Shrub in an interview with Paul Rieckoff) criminal negligence?
Who died and made this a-hole the patriotism czar?
Sean is a comissar of the Neo-Con right.
You're a Great American, Sean!
(Penn)
I think General Mills appointed him.
I know Hannity is talented enough to read GOP talking points and quotes from Democrats, but I don't remember him ever winning an Oscar.
Sean actually thinks Arnold is a good actor.
...to treat Red Dawn as a classic motion picture.
..The Running Man.
got it in my war movie collection. Campy, yet action packed - great movie to watch when you don't really care what the dialog is (also known as beer night movie).
OMG this is ridiculous. Equating liberal figures with Kim Jong Il, and Fidel Castro...what a loon. I know someone from the right(TD) will equate this segment with Keith Olbermann's WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD segment pretty soon so I will deflect it already. KO's segment is meant to be satiric and comedic while Hannity's is "supposed" to be taken seriously. See the difference? My God I cannot understand how Colmes could stand this egomaniac day in and day out...
P.S. Can anyone tell me why Alec Baldwin is there? I mean he is liberal, but I rarely hear him protesting anything...
Google the Hannity/Alec Baldwin on-air exchange. It's pretty funny. Alec calls Hannity a hack and Hannity says he's a bad actor too. Therefore, he's an enemy of the state.
Mr. Penn is angry, I wonder why? In his anger he dispensed a couple of insulting labels and suggested we impeach “just about everybody in the Bush administration”. So I guess the question is, who should not be impeached? As near as I can tell from the video clip, Penn got pissed off and told the truth. For this you get to be enemy of the state? What a Hoot!
Remember Gingrich's speech in which he stated that their should not be FREEDOM OF SPEECH!!! Their is a group of VERY FAR RIGHT individuals who believe dissent is wrong and individualism is evil. They obviously forgot what the Constitution stands for...and MUST be called out on thier ignorance. If we don't we will become a country we are supposed to be against...IRAN...
In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.
~George Orwell
Other than the the bad choice of words I don't have a problem with this, although as a newsman this doesn't help his credibility. Olbermann can be quite harsh in his charaterizations of people of who speak their (admittedly delusional) minds, so as long as this is just informal polemics I don't think we should worry too much.
What does "enemy of the state" mean? By definition:
An enemy of the state is a person accused of certain crimes against the state, such as treason.
Falsely describing individuals in this way is often a manifestation of political repression. For example, an authoritarian regime may purport to maintain national security by describing social or political dissidents as "enemies of the state".
By having an "enemy of the state" segment, Hannity is basically telling his audience the names of people who, by definition, have committed treason. I don't know about you, but in my world treason is a pretty major charge to bring against someone. What oath of loyalty was breached? What attempt to overthrow the government was made? Hannity wants you to think that disagreeing with the neocon republican agenda somehow "aids and comforts" the enemy, but we aren't hearing Lord Haw-Haw, axis sally or tokyo rose type of commentary from these dissenters. Their comments may demoralize the hard right, but they hardly speak for the majority.
What I meant by that post was that they would do well to reconsider the title of the segment, but the format and content is fine by me. I apologize for the ambiguity.
Did you SERIOUSLY just refer to slanthead as NEWSMAN?
can be called a NEWSMAN, is the same day Walter Cronkite becomes a Rockette.
should put his own picture up there, nay he's not a traditionalist like the men that started American tradition, you know Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson,etc, etc, etc.... Now Tommy I'm looking for some consitency here, is Hannity wrong to criticize Penns right to engage in free speech???? Don't let me down bud.
valentinian: a valiant effort, but methinks your HTML is wrong. let's try this.
doobie doo. testing, testing.
I didn't watch the show. I may never watch the show. I've heard/seen enough of him on radio and on H&C to have pretty much figured out where he's coming from.
I did, however, stare for a while at the picture at the head of this thread, in which we see a kinder, gentler Sean; collar unbuttoned, hair casually tousseled, wearing jeans...it's Sean Lite. Makeup still has a way to go on getting rid of the squinty-eyed bully boy facial body language. I'll bet Sean and Bill O'Reilly were raised in the same "spare the rod, spoil the child' philosophy.
The backdrop is interesting as well. On one side Kim Jong Ill (the third!), Chavez, Ahmedinejad, and some ghoulish bearded dude. And then there's our very own American counterparts on the other side: Babs, Michael, Alec and, on the top of the heap, Sean P. Their crimes? Genocide? Totalitarianism? Just Plain Nuts? Noooo...they all called Sean names! Bwaaahhh!
If I took my Christmas, sorry, Holiday garbage and wrapped it up nice with ribbons and bows, it's still just garbage on the inside.
looks like Castro to me.
I don't understand MMfA's problem with this segment ..... it's just a business decision by Fox News and if it is wrong it will therefore be unpopular and will be therefore unprofitable .... business decisions sort everything out all the time ..... jeesh thought everybody knew that
Tommy had an understudy.
I think it's Castro too, but he looks like a corpse ready for the casket. Not sure I've ever seen him without the fatigues and cap!
Why would anyone go on Hannity's show? It's a set up for failure. He will skewer you whether you go on the show or not, so I suggest to progressives that they just boycott Fox News shows. I say screw 'em.
Enemy of the State. That sounds like something at the very leaset the "commies" would say.
Enemy of the State. That sounds like something at the very least the "commies" would say.
Sean Penn never claimed to represent group. His comments and opinions are just that...his. Just like Hannity, his comments and opinions are his.
Hannity is, in the broadest sense of the word, a whore. He is being paid for his services. He, like other media mouthpieces, are WELL PAID whores. Sometimes you just have to bite the pillow and take it Sean.