Hannity: Clinton had low turnover on White House staff because employees were "scared" to leave
On the November 13 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity said: "All year long, publications like The New York Times, Washington Post, Time, and Newsweek have all reported what they call [Republican presidential candidate] Rudy Giuliani's temper. Well, the subjectiveness aside, couldn't the same questions be asked about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton [D-NY]?" Hannity then asked Fox News contributor Kirsten Powers and Sirius Satellite Radio host Andrew Wilkow whether Clinton has "the temperament to be president." Powers responded: "I think she does. I think she has a temper, as do many politicians. And Rudy Giuliani, your favorite, has a temper, as ... do many people." Powers later asserted: "I think you've got to keep it in the context of what she does ... and who she is. And I'm just telling you -- first of all, I do have to say that while there are people who say that she has a bad temper, she had almost no turnover on her staff in the White House, so that says something." Hannity responded, " '[C]ause they were scared to probably leave," to which Powers replied, "No, I know a lot of them and they like her."
During the segment -- which featured a recurring on-screen graphic reading: "Does Hillary Have the Right Temperament to Be President?" -- Hannity asserted: "Andrew, let me throw this question to you, because I guess the question now comes out, as we see that both Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton are out there claiming that they are being unfairly treated because of her gender. We have this Swift-boating of her going on here -- and it seems like this is basically their MO. They have smeared -- they have besmirched anybody that has come out against them." Wilkow, referring to the October 30 Democratic presidential candidates debate at Drexel University, replied, "You know what the best part is, is that this all started with [Sen.] Chris Dodd [D-CT]. A lightweight like Chris Dodd managed to take her apart, and what's happening now is Bill Clinton is doing the mop-up. They're claiming it's sexism; it's piling on; it's the boys are being tough on her." Wilkow added: "This is the primaries. If you can't even handle Chris Dodd, how are you going to handle Mitt Romney or Rudy or Fred Thompson, or even worse, [Iranian President] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?" Hannity responded: "Well, that's a good question."
The on-screen graphic shown repeatedly during the segment:
From the November 13 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
HANNITY: And welcome to Hannity & Colmes. We get right to our top story tonight: There are only 51 days until the Iowa caucuses, 84 days until Super Tuesday. And there are questions tonight about the Democratic front-runner.
All year long, publications like The New York Times, Washington Post, Time, and Newsweek have all reported what they call Rudy Giuliani's temper. Well, the subjectiveness aside, couldn't the same questions be asked about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton?
Now, it sure sounds that way when you listen to former Clinton supporters. Now, this is what George Stephanopoulos and Dee Dee Myers had to say during an interview with the PBS program Frontline.
[begin audio clip]
STEPHANOPOULOS: I made this case that we had to go forward, that we had no choice anymore but to go for a special counsel. And, man, she just jumped down my throat. You know, basically yelling, "You never believed in us. You never stood for us," you know. "We were all alone in New Hampshire," and it was fierce and chilling.
MYERS: She kind of belittled him in front of everybody. And, you know, I thought -- he took it, and I couldn't believe that she really -- I didn't believe that she really believed it. And anybody that stood up and tried to say this is a bad idea was, you know, smashed down and belittled, very personally.
[end audio clip]
HANNITY: Joining us with more, Sirius radio host Andrew Wilkow and Fox News contributor Kirsten Powers. Let's see: her temper was "fierce and chilling"; "she ... jumped down my throat." The way Dee Dee Myers described it, her former longtime secretary described to Gail Sheehy, shivering, "the person on the receiving end of her temper never gets over it" -- and that's just one of 10 more examples I have. Does she have the temperament to be president?
POWERS: Yeah, I think she does. I think she has a temper, as do many politicians. And Rudy Giuliani, your favorite guy, has a temper, as, you know -- as do many people. And I think that she also --
HANNITY: I've never seen Rudy's temper. This is --
POWERS: Rudy -- there's plenty --
HANNITY: You don't hear his close aides saying that.
POWERS: Well, you haven't seen Hillary's temper, either. You're talking about what other people have said. Now, listen, Sean, I know a lot of people who've worked for her, a lot of people who worked for her. In the White House, she had almost no turnover on her staff, she -- on her Senate campaign, in her Senate office. So, are there some people who've been on the receiving end of her temper? Sure.
HANNITY: Her longtime secretary --
POWERS: But there are a lot of people that are very loyal to her and very happy working for her.
HANNITY: Her longtime secretary, "the person on the receiving end of this never gets over it." We have -- she cursed out the White House counsel, a guy by the name of Ab Mikva. We have ex-bodyguards, Secret Service agents. Susan McDougal referred to her as a "scary woman."
POWERS: OK. Sean, look, are you seriously telling me that you think there are politicians -- that politicians don't have tempers? I mean, have you worked around politicians before?
HANNITY: No, I think what we've -- no. Well, I've never seen -- this -- but everyone that's close to her is saying the same thing about her.
POWERS: But I think you've got to keep it in the context of what she does --
HANNITY: George Stephanopoulos --
POWERS: -- and who she is. And I'm just telling you -- first of all, I do have to say that while there are people who say that she has a bad temper, she had almost no turnover on her staff in the White House, so that says something.
HANNITY: OK, 'cause they were scared to probably leave for --
POWERS: No, I know a lot of them and they like her.
HANNITY: Andrew, let me throw this question to you, because I guess the question now comes out, as we see that both Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton are out there claiming that they are being unfairly treated because of her gender. We have this Swift-boating of her going on here -- and it seems like this is basically their MO. They have smeared -- they have besmirched anybody that has come out against them.
WILKOW: You know what the best part is, is that this all started with Chris Dodd. A lightweight like Chris Dodd managed to take her apart, and what's happening now is Bill Clinton is doing the mop-up. They're claiming it's sexism; it's piling on; it's the boys are being tough on her.
HANNITY: Swift-boating.
WILKOW: This is the primaries. If you can't even handle Chris Dodd, how are you going to handle Mitt Romney or Rudy or Fred Thompson, or even worse, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
HANNITY: Well, that's a good question. I mean, do you think -- and now we've got this new controversy that has emerged. Not only can she not answer questions, but they lash out at Tim Russert, and the other candidates, but now we find out she's planting questions in an audience in a sophisticated scheme as described by one of the --
POWERS: Do you really believe Hillary Clinton can't answer questions?
HANNITY: Yeah, I really do.
POWERS: I mean, did you watch any of the debates?
HANNITY: I really did. I have.
POWERS: It's like -- did you watch seven debates where Hillary has made one mistake?
HANNITY: Here's her answers. Here's her answers.
POWERS: No, but you're telling --
HANNITY: She couldn't answer a direct question on illegal immigration.
POWERS: This isn't your argument, though. Your argument is that she crumbles under questioning.
HANNITY: Hang on a second. Let me answer. She wouldn't answer the question about illegal immigrants and legal driver's licenses. After seven years in the Senate, she wants a blue ribbon commission on Social Security.
ALAN COLMES (co-host): That's a good idea.
HANNITY: She won't answer how she's going to stop Ahmadinejad from getting some nuclear capability.
COLMES: She'll talk to him.
HANNITY: She --
POWERS: Well, you just don't like her positions on Iran. It's not that she doesn't have one.
HANNITY: Is there a position? Is there one? Explain it. What is it?
POWERS: The position is exactly what she said at the debate --
HANNITY: What is it?
POWERS: -- that she explained that she voted --
HANNITY: Explain it!
POWERS: -- for the resolution, that she thinks that they're a major threat, that she wants to use diplomacy.
HANNITY: She was asked how she stops them.
POWERS: You don't like -- because you want her to say that she wants to bomb them, Sean.
HANNITY: That's not what I'm looking for.
POWERS: I mean, if she doesn't say that, then you think she doesn't have a position. She supported that resolution --
COLMES: Something called diplomacy.
POWERS: -- that she caught a lot of flak for.
COLMES: Yeah, and she then came out with a statement supporting Spitzer on driver's licenses, which are not IDs, by the way, they're a special kind of driver's license.
WILKOW: They are, because we're going to have to get New York passports --
COLMES: By the way, what is the temperament --
WILKOW: We're going to have to get New York passports to get on a plane.
COLMES: I want a president who's got -- you've got to have a temper sometimes. I mean, that's normal. It's a normal human being thing, by the way.
Oh, I get it. I can't remember any job that I where I was so miserable that I decided to stay in it. Hannity's an inarticulate fool.
And he's stupid too.
I think he's feeding off of Limbaugh's earlier statement and implying that they would wind up dead if they left.
Like trying to get out of the mob?
What a cocknozzle.
Or........
Those that worked under Clinton felt that they belonged and perhaps were happy with their job because...... I don't know.....
Maybe they were allowed to do their job without some crony sleeze threatening them at every turn.....
Like say..... those professional lawyers at the DOJ that are told to use politics as a tool as opposed to say.... the LAW?
Or those pesky people at the EPA that truely love the environment having their scientific facts called junk by an ex-lobbyist/lawyer from the mining/lumber/oil/energy BOSS? Or ingnored all together....
Yeah Sean....... real brilliant on your part to use such cunning and intellect!
has anyone ever noticed or mentioned the way this guy dresses? are those shoulder pads? are those suits cut to make him look like some kind of Bad A$$? He has these HUGE shoulders. Look at the way his clothes hang, then look at Colmes. They dress Colmes so he looks like a wet noodle. GIve Allen lots of deep read and dark jackets...it makes the dude look like a skinny corpse.
Let's give ol Bill O'reilly a call, maybe we can borrow is 'body language' expert and see what he has to say about this...
Here's Hannity's World:
If Hillary had no turnover on her staff, they must have been so afraid of her that they declined to leave.
If Hillary had had massive turnover, what would Hannity have said? Would he have said that that spoke well of Hillary? I sort of doubt it. I'm betting that he would have said that it meant that she was a lousy manager (and an abusive, le$b1an b1tch, to boot).
That's his world: heads, the Democrat is scary and awful; tails, the Democrat is awful and scary.
HUGY:
BINGO! You cracked the code.
And on another thread here, is the example of how the favorite son Republican can do no wrong. Charles Krauthammer declared that Guilliani's tight relationship with the corrupt and felonious Bernard Kerick is actually an ASSET to Rudy's resume, that it shows GOOD things about Rudy's character.
Right-you've got it. It's the ol' 'Everything's good for Republicans' rule. Classic example: Casualties down in Iraq = show's we're winning. Casualties up = show's how desperate the enemy is. Rinse and repeat as needed.
Anything to avoid having to leave Fox because he's raising money for Giuliani.
Here you go again Sean doing an infomercial for Giuliani. No wonder the other Republican candidates are complaining.
Sean Hannity said: "All year long, publications like The New York Times, Washington Post, Time, and Newsweek have all reported what they call [Republican presidential candidate] Rudy Giuliani's temper. Well, the subjectiveness aside, couldn't the same questions be asked about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton [D-NY]?"
Does the temperament of any other candidate really change what Giuliani is or isn't?
Apparently in Hannityworld it does.
I love Seanie using the term Swift Boating without any apparent irony.
More from... The Hillary Channel!
And while Hannity was exploring this terribly important topic the Judith Regan lawsuit, which alleges that she was encouraged by a top executive at Newscorp to lie about her relationship with Bernie Kerik in order to protect Rusy Giuliani, was breaking news. And exactly how much time did Hannity devote to that real story?
The amount equal to his IQ - zero.
Hannity's an idiot. Plain and simple...
STEPHANOPOULOS: I made this case that we had to go forward, that we had no choice anymore but to go for a special counsel. And, man, she just jumped down my throat. You know, basically yelling, "You never believed in us. You never stood for us," you know. "We were all alone in New Hampshire," and it was fierce and chilling.
MYERS: She kind of belittled him in front of everybody. And, you know, I thought -- he took it, and I couldn't believe that she really -- I didn't believe that she really believed it. And anybody that stood up and tried to say this is a bad idea was, you know, smashed down and belittled, very personally.
Mmmmm....Wonder if these two ever thought of Hillary as a bitch?
BTW, Hillary has allegedly done a 180 on ILLEGAL immigrants getting Drivers Licenses.
Guess she finally figured it out...eh?
Of course she's now opened herself up to: She was for them before she was against them
Just giving you guys fair warning
It's all good for me Jeter, I'm still hoping for an Obama/Wes Clark ticket.
Rick, I hope you're sitting down.
That is a ticket even I could support!
OH MY GOD !!!
I marked it on my calandar:
THE EVENING JETER AND I AGREED ON SOMETHING RELEVENT
[I should have sat down as you suggested, I fainted and bumped my head]
Oh, that's nothing, guys. Wait until sue sees this. In particular, look who got the bronze.
Time to put bets on the table.
$5 if she poops her drawers.
$7 if she faints.
$9 if she has a heart attack.
$1,000,000 if she says she was wrong!
$1,000,000 if she says she was wrong!
That coming out of your pocket Snoop? ;-)
Well good for Keith. And now that's he's named himself, any chance he'll award other MSNBC/NBC employees?
I won't hold my breath. You can bet $1,000,000 on that!
Seems to me that he named himself once before. Maybe 6 or 7 months ago.
Yeah, but he was lying, dummy.
[I should have sat down as you suggested, I fainted and bumped my head]
Sorry about that Rick, but I did warn ya ;-)
I hope you're insured :-)
Oh, I'm okay. My hard head brike the computer desk, but we were getting a new one anyway. And yes, my wife and I are insured, at the tune of about 12K per year. :-/
Jeter: I remember hearing the Stephanopoulus story before. He was talking about appointing a special counsel for Whitewater, and Hillary did explode (reportedly) because she thought it was completely unnecessary to appoint a special counsel to investigate a land deal from years ago on which the Clintons lost money, and that once a special counsel was appointed it would create a circus and the special counsel would just be used to harrass the Clintons regardless of whether there was anything to Whitewater or not. Frankly, I do not think she was a B, I think she was probably the clearest thinker in the room, and she knew exactly what the Repubs wanted to do with getting a special counsel appointed. And after that Stephanopoulus then left the administration, wrote his book, and became a media darling. Hillary may have had him pegged just right, too. (By the way, I am not even supporting Hillary in the primary, but I do think that a lot of the venom directed at her is completely unfair).
Good points Mark.
It just goes to show there are almost always 2 sides to any story.
I'm not fond of Hillary, won't vote for her, but I don't think of her as a "bitch". That has been an unfair label hung on her by some.
Jeter: I am glad that we agree on this point. Actually, when it comes to whether Hillary is a "nice" person, which none of us really know and which is not the most important criteria in any event when choosing a president, I always notice that it seems like the people who are close to her have been around a long time. She still sees old friends from her hometown in Park Ridge, IL, she still has a lot of friends from law school, her employees seldom quit, etc. And, to top it off, by all appearances Chelsea seems to be a fine young woman with great regard for her mother, and she seems very well-adjusted in spite of some things that may have been very tumultuous to most teenagers. It seems to me that if Hillary really was the "cold-hearted, evil B" that she has been portrayed as by the right-wingers, that she would not be able to hold so many people close to herself for so long. I do not know if that is important or not, but it is the reason that I tend to reject the right-wing spin about how horrible she is as a person.
I agree as well, Mark. I'll vote for Hillary only if she wins the nomination. But I hate the way the media has been attempting to trash her in such an unfair way. Although I think she would do a good job as President, I think Obama would be better.
Has anyone else noticed that Hannity, under the right light, is start to look a little bit like Lou Costello?
Off topic, but has Hannity made any reference to the Judith Reagan law suit considering his constant pimping for Guliani and his ongoing non stop anti clinton attacks. This could be interesting, very very interesting...
"Has anyone else noticed that Hannity, under the right light, is start to look a little bit like Lou Costello?"- whillenbrand
Your not the only one. Google Sean Hannity Lou Costello, and you'll find thousands who agree.
Darn. I thought I was going to the first to point out my brilliant observation about his looking like Low Costello.
Have you noticed that on the H & C show, Sean always sits taller than any of the other people at the desk? It's like he's sitting in a high chair, while appropriate, so he can be taller than the rest. Even the back of the chair is higher than Colme's. What an idiot. He's a small minded, petty little man who constantly asks loaded questions and demands a yes or no answer.
Please don't besmirch the memory of Lou Costello. Hannity looks like Moe Howard.
Please don't besmirch the memory of Lou Costello. Hannity looks like Moe Howard.
You just insulted Moe Howard. I think Hannity is more like Doodles Weaver...
You just insulted Doodles Weaver. I think he looks a lot like Rosie O'Donnel.
Either Judith Regan is going to have Murdoch/Ailes to thank for adding to her already big fortune or the Giuliani campaign is sunk.
You can take that to the bank.
The Giuliani/Ailes/Fox connection has been an open secret in this town for years.
The Republicans are now finding out what a real bitch acts like.
"The Republicans are now finding out what a real bitch acts like."
Ha...! Isn't that the trurh? Best quip of the day...
"truth" Sorry...I'm sooo tired right now.
The Republicans are now finding out what a real bitch acts like.
They experience it every time Ann Coulter crawls out from under her rock.
Has anyone else noticed that Hannity, under the right light, is start to look a little bit like Lou Costello?
The only difference is that Lou Costello brought joy and laughter to millions. All Hannity brings to the table is lies and misery.
I had posted (or tried to) a comment before about the methods used by the likes of Hannity, Colmes, and especially Bully-O whenever a resonable guest appears. They begin with a blast of vile assertions and when their guest tries to bring some measure of intelligence and "balanced" opinion, they talk over the person, making it difficult to actually HEAR what they are saying. Notice, also, that the guest is usually very polite and willing to sit and listen to these rants, waiting for an opening to respond. What we are witnessing are the most tried and true ploys of bullies: turn the "discussion" into an "argument" by talking over and through their adversaries. Kirsten Powers is not even an adversary; she works for the network. You're not going to see a Jon Stewart or a Phil Donahue invited back on Faux News. They are the kinds of individuals who can dish it out when necessary.
Hannity was interviewing Tom Brokaw last night, and went into one of his rants which is often thinly disguised as a question. When he finally finished, Brokaw said; "Well clearly, you're more interested in what you're saying than what my answer will be."
I fell out of my chair laughing.
We all know Fox News supports Giuliani. And they will do what it takes to make sure Giuliani wins the bid for the White House.
Thin-skinned Sean, a Giuliani supporter, talks about Hillary's temper. It takes one, to know one, right Sean? Ask anyone at Fox News about this overweight hack's Irish temper. He easily gets very defensive and cannot handle criticism. What a baby! Maybe we should take a baby bottle upstairs to Sean's office.
This media thorn comments about the low turover at the Clinton White House because staff was "scared." What can be worse than Fox News? Charlie Reina, you were right about this one.
Wow...even for Hannity this is weird.