Hannity falsely claimed Obama's "air-raiding villages" statement is a "lie"
SUMMARY: On Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Sean Hannity repeatedly cited Sen. Barack Obama's 2007 remark that "[w]e've got to get the job done there [in Afghanistan] and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there," calling the statement a "lie." Hannity did not note that Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently offered Afghans "sincere condolences and personal regrets for the recent loss of innocent life as a result of coalition airstrikes" and that news outlets have repeatedly reported that U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan have resulted in civilian casualties.
On the October 6 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity repeatedly cited Sen. Barack Obama's August 13, 2007, remark that "[w]e've got to get the job done there [in Afghanistan] and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there," at one point calling Obama's statement a "lie." However, as Media Matters for America has documented, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently apologized for deaths resulting from coalition airstrikes, saying in a September 17 statement: "I offer all Afghans my sincere condolences and personal regrets for the recent loss of innocent life as a result of coalition airstrikes. While no military has ever done more to prevent civilian casualties, it is clear that we have to work even harder. I have asked for a detailed briefing this afternoon about our close air support as well as our intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations."
Further, U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan and accounts of resulting civilian casualties have been widely reported in the media and have reportedly provoked criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a British commander stationed there. Additionally, the Associated Press reported in a "Fact Check" the day after Obama's remark: "Western forces have been killing [Afghan] civilians at a faster rate than the insurgents."
During the show, Hannity asked Fox News contributor Dick Morris: "When you want to be president of the United States and you say that our troops that are in harm's way are air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is a lie ... [w]hy is this even a race?" Later in the show, Hannity said to former Rep. Jack Kemp (R-NY): "And I'm just wondering at what point the American people are going to say that his radical associations are air-raiding villages, killing civilians. Why isn't he being held responsible for these radical views?" Kemp responded: "Well, I think he has to be, and I think it's an issue." In a later segment, Hannity said to pollster Scott Rasmussen: "You know, how is it that John McCain puts everything on the line for the surge when it's the least politically popular, because he believes it's right, and he leads, and he's successful. And Barack Obama is nowhere to be found except accusing our troops of air-raiding villages and killing civilians."
As Media Matters has documented, Hannity has previously falsely suggested that Obama "attack[ed] our troops as murderers," claimed that Obama's comments were "not true," praised Gov. Sarah Palin for referring to Obama's remark during the vice presidential debate, and otherwise repeatedly mischaracterized Obama's remark (here, here, here, and here) without noting the widely reported U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan.
From the October 6 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
HANNITY: But let me ask you this: When you want to be president of the United States and you say that our troops that are in harm's way are air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is a lie; when you vote to cut off their funding even though your vice presidential choice says lives will be lost; when you hang out with Jeremiah Wright; when you hang out with Bill Ayers; when you hang out with Father Pfleger; you hang out with Tony Rezko -- why does a part of me -- you know he is the most radical and unqualified candidate, Dick, to even be within reach of the White House. Why is this even a race?
MORRIS: He certainly is the most liberal candidate for president in a long time, but what you're describing, Sean, I think, is only half of the offensive.
[...]
HANNITY: All right, let me ask you this, because I brought this up with Dick Morris. He's friends with an unrepentant terrorist. He sits in Reverend Wright's pews for 20 years, Jack -- 20 years, a guy who hates this country. And I'm just wondering at what point the American people are going to say that his radical associations are air-raiding villages, killing civilians. Why isn't he being held responsible for these radical views?
KEMP: Well, I think he has to be, and I think it's an issue. But the first three issues facing John McCain and the American people tomorrow night, and I think next Wednesday night in New York, are the economy, number one, the economy, number two, and having John McCain as commander in chief in this still dangerous world.
[...]
HANNITY: Explain something to me. You know, how is it that John McCain puts everything on the line for the surge when it's the least politically popular, because he believes it's right, and he leads, and he's successful. And Barack Obama is nowhere to be found except accusing our troops of air-raiding villages and killing civilians.
In the case of the economy, again, McCain following, true to form, puts everything on the line. Obama says, "If you need me, call me. I'll be there in a hurry." How come this benefits him, you know, this mess on Wall Street, and not Senator McCain. McCain warned about Fannie and Freddie three years ago. Why don't people seem to understand this?
RASMUSSEN: Well, let's go back to your first point. Both Obama and McCain thought that, by now, they'd be talking about Iraq, and both thought they'd have a winning issue. Instead, right now, Iraq has been so successful politically in the last few months that it's dropped out as a political issue, and it's -- you know, people are more optimistic about it. And so, that's harmed John McCain, because the minute --
HANNITY: All right, let me ask you.
RASMUSSEN: -- you shift away from national security -- but on the economy, you know, you're trying to connect the dots. You're following this very closely. The American people are uncomfortable with what's happened, and they're uncomfortable with the administration in power, and that's helping Obama.
A cousin of mine, ex-Army, took exception to my saying pretty much the same thing about Iran. He stated, to the effect, that none of his Army buddies would EVER deliberately harm civilians. He wasn't too happy with me when I told him that intent had nothing to do with it. When you are carpet bombing a city from 25,000 feet you don't have a whole lot of control over who gets hit.
I see a liar in this equation...and it isn't Barack Obama. Folks, things are really getting desperate over on the right...and Hannity's lying is pathological.
In Hannity's defense, he doesn't really know that he's lying. You see, it's because he's the
DUMBEST.
GUY.
IN.
MEDIA.
...so it's not really his fault. You know those papers he's always looking down at and occasionally waving as if they're irrefutable facts?
Each page has a rebus of a single talking point sent to him from Levin. He's so proud when he gets one, he tends to dwell on it for a while.
I was able to get my hands on one of those rebuses (rebi?)
un +
+ 
+ 
That's exactly like page F +
of Hannity's notes.
Unrepentant terrorist?
Plural could be either. I do know that the plural of Elvis is Elvi, he said, then jumped onto an osteridge and then gimped slowly for the horizon.
You're exactly righ Irony. He lied last night about the NY Times piece. He said that the NY times finally did this sotry after he brought it to the people attention. Of course he conviently forgets that the NY Times story debunks his whole premise. But I guess he figures that if he doesn't tell his audience that then they will believe that even the NY Times has the same position as him. I'm am so sick of Hannity, Tracy Flick (Palin), McCain, O'Reilly and the whole lot of em'. they are each and everyone dispicable human beings. My hope is that this whole character assasination thing backfires on them and they get blamed for McCains loss. that will be torture enough for them here on earth as it is certain that they will burn in hell. Two for one....can't beat that right?
I was watching Palin's distortion of what Barack said, and when she yanked the chains of the robots with "thats not what our troops are doing," they broke predictably into "USA! USA!USA!" I've read where McCain/Palin supporters have even responded to the deliberate distortions of Palin with "kill him," I take in reference to Obama. I haven't ever seen this in a presidential campaign,and it has made me very fearful for Baracks life. McCain/Palin to win the presidency would destroy the country. They are attempting to appeal to the most backward rabid white chauvinist fascistic elements in this nation. I used to believe that fascism could never gain a foothold here! I thought the "new Deal" regulations and safety net would keep an economic situation like the one we experienced before ww2 from repeating itself. Well that safety net and those regulations have been eroded like rocks sucumbing to the relentless pounding of the ocean. The gap between the rich and the working poor has widened exponentially. The present crisis working people are facing( erosion of their 401k's,rising gas and food prices, lack of affordable housing and health insurance etc.) are predictably being blamed on the historically reliable scapegoats minorities and the working poor. No health insurance blame the"undocumented," banking crisis blame those "blacks " who took mortgages they couldn't afford,oh and "Obama pals around with terrorist, and calls our soldiers murderers, he is not like us(SIC). This was what Hitler was able to do with the "Jews" in Germany wasn't it? If we take the attacks on Obamas patriotism and associations in this light I can see a clear possibility of fascism in this country just being an economic collaspe away! This election is so important for the future of this nation, i hope we are not seeing it's twilight!
What we're seeing is the legacy of Karl Rove/ Rush Limbaugh politics of hate. When you continually demonize your opponent, and your audience has a cumulative I.Q. smaller than their waist size, it's a dangerous combination.
Well nerzog thanks for your reply, and while i agree this has Roves dirty hands and Limbaughs funky breath all over it , their words and actions don't take place in a vacuum and with an uniformed audience I agree it's a dangerous combination. Rove and Limburgher are skilled at manipulating the weak minded and in this current situation with people searching for answers their hate filled instant gratification answers could unleash a storm fueled with hatred rivaling the worst periods in human history. I think about the "Cuban Missile Crisis" and how close we came to nuclear war, with the military advisers foaming at the mouth to attack and they were on the verge of getting their way except for a few men of reason, those men don't exist in George Bush's administration and they wouldn't in a McCain/Palin administration either. Do you see what I'am driving at? Things are shaky and each day they seem to be on the verge of spiriling of control and the short term blame the others(not like us, USA!USA!USA!)non-answers could easily morph into something that can't be stopped. That is my fear, that is why I fight !
"In the most obscene chapter in recent American history is the conduct of the Kosovo conflict when the president of the United States refused to prepare for ground operations, refused to have air power used effectively because he wanted them flying -- he had them flying at 15,000 feet where they killed innocent civilians because they were dropping bombs from such -- in high altitude." --- John McCain, 2000 Republican Primary Debate
Sorry bad link. Here it is.
Col
I do believe that goes way beyond Hannity's deciphering skills.
That's why he has interns. He doesn't actually do any deciphering himself.
But the pictures help him remember what Levin wants him to say, after his interns shows him what they mean.
A position as an Hannity intern has to be one of the most thankless jobs in the world.
now cindy mccain is saying obama is running the dirtiest campaign ever. but the mccain campaign has run two of the sleaziest ads ever. first the one claiming obama wanted to teach "sex education" to kindergartners. what he wants to do is warn them about inappropriate behavior by predators, not teach them about having sex.
the second ad is the one running now calling obama "dishonorable" because they clip the quote he actually made and have turned it into obama saying troops in afghanistan are "just air-raiding villages and killing civilians", which is clipped right from the middle of his sentence. all he said was that it makes it harder to win them over when we have too many civilian casualties. it's mccain and palin who have produced the slime and turned the truth on it's head, palin with her ridiculous claim that the press is "censoring" her, when it's her campaign that has kept her away from the press. when is she doing meet the press? oh, she's not? palin has also suggested that the press is "abusing" their freedom. obviously a planned attempt to intimidate the media.
How can Cindy say this? Obama hasn't pointed out that the source of her family wealth, which facilitated John McCain's political career, was her father's mob connections. Obama has not mentioned that Cindy stole narcotics from a charitable relief foundation to feed her drug habit and then used her connections to escape prosecution. Cindy, darling, Obama has been kind to you...
Yeah. I don't get that at all. If you go to any independent fact checker like factcheck.org, the AP or cnn's research, you can see that by the facts, Obama has run demonstratably the most accurate and clean campaign in (at least recent) history. McCain has been a fairly typical politician to my disappointment with his deceptions and outright falsehoods. Cindy McCain has nothing to complain about with Obama. In fact, Cindy should thank Obama in that Obama didn't act more like McCain's campaign has acted.
...so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians...
The issue is with the word "just"
I think the statement, as said by Obama, implies that air-raiding villages and killing civilians is all we are doing. Anyone have a different interpretation of what impact the word "just" has in the statement?
Power projection from the air is all well and good. Without coordination and resources on the ground, all that power does is kill people. It does not lead to any resolvable, mutually benificial out come. There is much mythology regarding the effigency(sp?) of air power.
I think you are focusing on a single word for no apparent reason. Just can just be a throwaway word - especially with a person like Obama who is known to stammer just a bit in conversation. So just hold on a bit before rushing to judgement.
Obama has literally uttered millions of words over the last couple of years and people nitpick over the single word "just". That is just mind-boggling to me and smells like desperation.
Oh, and by the way, I need to pedanticly point out that focusing on a single word like "just" as the problem just seems to indicate the fallacy of changing the emphasis of the words that were said. Barack did not emphasize the word "just", but you are focused on it. That can lead to a different interpretation of what Obama was suggesting. Nitpicking is often related to this fallacy.