Hannity offers plethora of town hall falsehoods to claim Dems are the ones "calling names"
Asserting that "the Democrats" are the ones "yelling here and calling names," Sean Hannity claimed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called health care town hall protesters "Nazis"; that Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wrote "that they are un-American"; and that President Obama is "telling the American people to shut up." In fact, none of these claims is true.
Hannity repeatedly advanced false claim that Pelosi called protesters "Nazis"
Hannity: "[W]e've had hardworking Americans called Nazis and brownshirts and un-American by Nancy Pelosi." On August 11, as an example of "the host of insults the Democratic leaders have been hurling" at town hall protestors, Hannity stated: "Now, we've had hardworking Americans called Nazis and brownshirts and un-American by Nancy Pelosi." [Fox News' Hannity; 8/11/09]
Hannity: "[I]t's Nancy Pelosi attacking the American people, it's the Democrats comparing them to Nazis -- the Democrats are doing that." Hannity further said on August 11:
HANNITY: The only people, John, that are yelling here and calling names -- it's Obama telling the American people to shut up, it's Nancy Pelosi attacking the American people, it's the Democrats comparing them to Nazis -- the Democrats are doing that.
JOHN McWHORTER (Manhattan Institute senior fellow): Oh, yeah. I mean, I'll tell you honestly that I think a lot of the people who are yelling in these town hall meetings do have some problems with misinformation. But, nevertheless, it seems to me that back in my day, when I used to teach at UC Berkeley and the big debate was affirmative action, I saw people on the left acting in the same way with the same lack of manners, the same volume, the same misinformation. Now, it wasn't in the formal setting of a town meeting about a national policy -- same thing.
HANNITY: Wait a minute. What misinformation? What yelling? You know what I see? I see fathers with their kids in wheelchairs. I see veterans that are speaking. Is there passion? Yeah, there's passion. You know, maybe they don't have the --
McWHORTER: Yes.
HANNITY: So that -- but that's real passion.
McWHORTER: They do feel what they feel. Yeah.
HANNITY: Because they see their country's going bankrupt. They see that every promise that has been made has been broken, and they're being attacked and called Nazis by people that are supposed to be public servants. [Hannity; 8/11/09]
Pelosi actually said protesters were "carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on health care." Speaking to reporters, Pelosi was asked if she thought there was "legitimate grassroots opposition" at recent town hall events. She responded: "I think they're Astroturf; you be the judge. They're carrying swastikas and symbols like that to a town meeting on health care."
Pelosi was right: Swastikas have appeared at town hall meetings. As Media Matters for America senior fellow Eric Boehlert and Fox News contributor Alan Colmes have noted, multiple protesters at health care reform protests have held signs featuring swastikas.
Media falsely assert Pelosi called or suggested that opponents of health reform are "Nazis." As Media Matters noted, conservative media figures including Joe Scarborough, Gregg Jarrett, Peggy Noonan, James Taranto, and Rush Limbaugh have similarly claimed Pelosi compared protesters to Nazis.
Hannity repeatedly falsely claimed Pelosi said protesters were "un-American"
From the August 11 edition of Hannity;
HANNITY: Nancy Pelosi said they had swastikas.
PENNY LEE (Democratic strategist): Again, America is great when we have --
HANNITY: Nancy Pelosi said they are un-American.
LEE: America is great -- America is great when we do have that public discourse and we have freedom of speech, and that is a wonderful thing.
HANNITY: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Nancy Pelosi --
LEE: But shouting at each other --
HANNITY: Nancy Pelosi --
LEE: But shouting at each other similar to what you and I are doing right now, but is not --
HANNITY: Wait a minute. Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the House, and she wrote with Steny Hoyer that they are un-American. I can't think of anything more quintessentially American. [Hannity, 8/11/09]
Pelosi, Hoyer actually wrote: "Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American"
From Pelosi and Hoyer's August 10 USA Today op-ed
[A]s members of Congress spend time at home during August, they are talking with their constituents about reform. The dialogue between elected representatives and constituents is at the heart of our democracy and plays an integral role in assuring that the legislation we write reflects the genuine needs and concerns of the people we represent.
However, it is now evident that an ugly campaign is underway not merely to misrepresent the health insurance reform legislation, but to disrupt public meetings and prevent members of Congress and constituents from conducting a civil dialogue. These tactics have included hanging in effigy one Democratic member of Congress in Maryland and protesters holding a sign displaying a tombstone with the name of another congressman in Texas, where protesters also shouted "Just say no!" drowning out those who wanted to hold a substantive discussion.
Let the facts be heard
These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views -- but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades.
Health care is complex. It touches every American life. It drives our economy. People must be allowed to learn the facts. [USA Today, 8/10/09]
Media have repeatedly claimed Pelosi and Hoyer called opponents "un-American." As Media Matters noted, numerous media figures including Chuck Todd, Brian Kilmeade, Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson, Greta Van Susteren, Lou Dobbs, Carl Cameron, and Glenn Beck have previously advanced this mischaracterization of the op-ed.
CNN contributor Louis debunks claim. After Dobbs claimed that "we also have now the leadership of the House saying you're un-American to oppose" health care reform, CNN contributor Errol Louis corrected him, stating that "the un-American part was, you know, to shout people down. To stop the conversation is un-American, which I would agree with." Louis continued: "[T]he words in the article were to shut down debate; to use those kind of disruptive tactics to try and stop the debate from going forward is wrong. It is just wrong. You call it un-American; you call it whatever you want. I mean, it needs to be denounced. You can't have people tarred and feathered in effigy outside of their congressional office or hung in effigy outside of their office. That's not the way to conduct this debate." [Lou Dobbs Tonight, 8/10/09]
Echoing Beck, Hannity falsely claimed Obama told health care protesters "to shut up"
From the August 11 edition of Hannity:
HANNITY: The only people, John, that are yelling here and calling names -- it's Obama telling the American people to shut up, it's Nancy Pelosi attacking the American people, it's the Democrats comparing them to Nazis -- the Democrats are doing that.
[...]
LEE: There needs to be -- back to be a level of civility, and that is what is lacking in this debate. To scream and to shout at each other just to --
HANNITY: Maybe Obama should stop telling them to shut up.
LEE: Well, and he didn't -- the president didn't say that.
HANNITY: He did. He said it last week --
LEE: He did not say -- he did not --
HANNITY: -- I don't want to hear from them anymore.
LEE: He did not say that. [Hannity, 8/11/09]
Hannity echoed Beck's false claim that Obama said he doesn't want health reform protesters to "do a lot of talking." On the August 10 edition of his Fox News program, Glenn Beck aired a cropped version of Obama's August 6 remarks at a rally for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds, falsely claiming that Obama's statement, "I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking," was his "reaction to the health care protests."
Obama was actually discussing "folks on the other side of the aisle" who increased the deficit, not health care reform protesters. From Obama's remarks:
OBAMA: So, now, you got folks on the other side of the aisle pointing at the federal budget and somehow trying to put that at our feet. Well, let's look at the history. When I walked in, we had a $1.3 trillion deficit. That was gift-wrapped and waiting for me when I walked in the Oval Office. Without my policies, we'd have an even higher deficit going forward. The one exception is the recovery package that we had to do in order to get this economy moving again.
So you can't go out there and charge up the credit card, go on a -- all kinds of things -- shopping sprees on things that didn't grow the economy, hand over the bill to us, and say -- then say, "Why haven't you paid it off yet?" I got that bill from you.
So, we've got some work to do. I don't mind, by the way, being responsible; I expect to be held responsible for these issues because I'm the president. But I don't want the folks who created the mess -- I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them just to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking. [Obama remarks in Tysons Corner, Virginia, 8/6/09]
Obama spokesman: President welcomes "spirited debate about health care" but doesn't think "scream[ing]" is "productive"
BILL BURTON (White House deputy press secretary): The President thinks that if people want to come and have a spirited debate about health care, a real vigorous conversation about it, that's a part of the American tradition and he encourages that. ... And so if people want to come and have their concerns and their questions answered, the President thinks that's important. Now, if you just want to come to a town hall so that you can disrupt and so that you can scream over another person, he doesn't think that that's productive. And as a country, we've been able to make progress when people actually talk out what our problems are, not try to shout each other down. [White House press gaggle, 8/10/09]
Transcripts
From the August 11 edition of Fox News' Hannity:
ROBERT GIBBS (White House press secretary) [video clip]: I think what is unproductive, though, is if somebody tries to come to a town hall meeting and you can't ask your question or your mother can't ask her question because somebody else is yelling. That's what cable TV and the food fight brings to this.
HANNITY: The only people, John, that are yelling here and calling names -- it's Obama telling the American people to shut up, it's Nancy Pelosi attacking the American people, it's the Democrats comparing them to Nazis -- the Democrats are doing that.
JOHN McWHORTER (Manhattan Institute senior fellow): Oh, yeah. I mean, I'll tell you honestly that I think a lot of the people who are yelling in these town hall meetings do have some problems with misinformation. But, nevertheless, it seems to me that back in my day, when I used to teach at UC Berkeley and the big debate was affirmative action, I saw people on the left acting in the same way with the same lack of manners, the same volume, the same misinformation. Now, it wasn't in the formal setting of a town meeting about a national policy -- same thing.
HANNITY: Wait a minute. What misinformation? What yelling? You know what I see? I see fathers with their kids in wheelchairs. I see veterans that are speaking. Is there passion? Yeah, there's passion. You know, maybe they don't have the --
McWHORTER: Yes.
HANNITY: So that -- but that's real passion.
McWHORTER: They do feel what they feel. Yeah.
HANNITY: Because they see their country's going bankrupt. They see that every promise that has been made has been broken, and they're being attacked and called Nazis by people that are supposed to be public servants.
[...]
PENNY LEE (Democratic strategist): There needs to be -- back to be a level of civility, and that is what is lacking in this debate. To scream and to shout at each other just to --
HANNITY: Maybe Obama should stop telling them to shut up.
LEE: Well, and he didn't -- the president didn't say that.
HANNITY: He did. He said it last week --
LEE: He did not say -- he did not --
HANNITY: -- I don't want to hear from them anymore.
LEE: He did not say that.
HANNITY: Nancy Pelosi said they had swastikas.
LEE: Again, America is great when we have --
HANNITY: Nancy Pelosi said they are un-American.
LEE: America is great -- America is great when we do have that public discourse and we have freedom of speech, and that is a wonderful thing.
HANNITY: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Nancy Pelosi --
LEE: But shouting at each other --
HANNITY: Nancy Pelosi --
LEE: But shouting at each other similar to what you and I are doing right now, but is not --
HANNITY: Wait a minute. Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the House, and she wrote with Steny Hoyer that they are un-American. I can't think of anything more quintessentially American.
You make it so easy because you don't seem to have a Clue.
You see screaming Right-Wing crowds at Town Hall meetings as America at it's Best.
I feel sorry for you Sean & this is not said in Jest.
Speak truth to power.
Mr. News
His is supposed to be a public service to the United States of America. He gets no pass. No.
.
I don't know how he sleeps at night.
.
I base my numbers on those who voted for Bush the second time, when almost anyone could see his presidency was a sham. Those who support wars in Iraq and afghanistan are loony. Please do not tell me we can win in Afghanistan, either. We could have won in Viet Nam ,too(those that think that are looy, as well).
I identify Hannity as a problem but people who listen to him, O'reilly, Levin, Savage Limbaugh, get no pass because they are wacko!!!!
Oh, a classic. Haven't seen that one for a while. Thanks for being so honest.
I can only hope that I reach the intellectual level where I can respond to a comment about the percentage of Americans who are loonies with a comment about how many of those loonies watch loony TV. Brilliant!
Hannity's "Freedom" concert is a money scam
by davefromqueens
Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 04:29:15 AM PDT
After weaving through voluminous amounts of carefully crafted, parsed language and following up on the reporting of news hounds and a daily kos diarist it appears that Sean Hannity and Oliver North are using the name of dead American soldiers to garner profits for a right wing organization masquerading as a charity.
Sean Hannity claims that his concerts are "to benefit the freedom alliance scholarship fund for the children of America's Military heroes featuring Country Music Stars Montgomery Gentry, Leann Rimes, and Lee Greenwood." A closer looks at the facts tell a different story.
<more>
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/6/6165/93743
You may have some more growing up to do, stark, if you do not see the difference between Hannity's freedom concerts and "all concerts". Think about it.
Honestly, I don't think the man knows what civil discourse means. He certainly doesn't know what a debate is. He has made a living shouting over people, being rude, spreading lies, and calling people names.
The Republic has survived and prospered in spite of the Hannities and his ilk before.Eventually people will stop thinking of this as political entertainment; and see it for what it is, bottom feeding for ratings and profit.
Even if GOPJoe thinks he'll never need a government program to get him health insurance (as soon as he loses his job, he will...), there are tens of millions of his fellow Americans that do need it provided. The need is critical, not optional nor frivolous.
They apparently continue to fall for the proven failure of "market-based" reform that the GOP has been claiming for decades is the solution, while more and more Americans lose coverage.
Bulletin for misinformed town hall trouble-makers: This reform is not about you if you are covered. It is about the 100 million Americans now un or underinsured, ONE ILLNESS AWAY FROM FINANCIAL RUIN. Wake up...
Those with insurance from their employers are one step away from the unemployment line, which means they're one major illness away from total financial ruin.
And unemployment checks won't leave enough left after food and housing expenses to pay for health insurance under COBRA.
How about a Non-Ignorance Pledge? I'd be fine with that,here's my idea (at the risk of sounding elitist)-
I believe I've heard that admission to some of these town halls is done through an online lottery. How about a website (not done exclusively by the White House, maybe a bi-partisan panel to approve content) with all existing versions of bills posted.
And, a list of falsehoods and misinformation, followed by the facts (again, overseen by representatives of both sides).
Then, a short online quiz , with tickets to the town hall given to those who have shown they really want to understand and discuss, and are not simply intent on showing up with a dazed look on their face to screech out their willful ignorance.
It's embarrassing to me, as an American, that the president had to take even a few seconds of his meeting to say that he doesn't support "death panels".
I've read posts all week that say "that's the craziest thing I've heard today".
My response is always, well it's early yet.
I would like to know where that poll came from.
It's up to people like you and me to straighten out the Hannity fans who might believe the lies he's telling about Pelosi.
Its a good thing noone said that.
And I'm glad you agree that Pelosi was right about people carrying swastikas. But why are the protesters wanting to support Nazi policies?
What books have you read about the Third Reich? I'm curious where you think you get your "facts" about the Nazis.
I get it.
I think that misinformed people trying to prevent a discussion by screaming qualifies as "shouting down democracy". We may just have to agree to disagree here.
As Jimmy Craghorn points out, your second sentence is a strawman, and not even a very good one.
And then you go back to agreeing that Pelosi was right about the swastikas, but I'm not sure what your point is about people carrying Nazi symbols to represent their socialist ideas. The Nazis were very anti-socialist, which would make "socialist agenda of Nazi Germany" something that doesn't exist.
Are you saying that the socialists carrying the swastikas are protesting the Nazi's anti-socialist agenda?
I never said what she said was true, I said it was true that she said it.
What did she say ? (This would be a good place for a quote from Pelosi, not from Seannie)
you are right it is rude also. But how come not one person here seemed to mind when it was constantly done to conservatives? Like Jim Gilchrist from the minutemen? Or how about Anne Coulter and Clarence Thomas to name a few? Or when people were holding signs depicting Bush as a Nazi or Hitler? They tried to physically attack Bush and his motorcade in Oregon in 2002 remember that? also the pictures of the swastikas had a red line going through them. Not that it's right but they carried these around during the eight years of Bush and not one word from this site. Why not?
Makin' sense.
I did drink quite a bit of malt liquor this morning, so my theory may not be airtight.
There were no liberal commentators during the Bush years who were calling Junior a Hitler or a fascist.
Right now, we have probably a dozen high-profile media commentators screaming Obama is Hitler, Obama is a fascist, etc.
There may have been isolated incidents during the Bush years when liberals shouted down conservatives--although I would need to check your examples--if that happened, it was wrong.
But there is absolutely no comparison between what went on during the Bush years and what's going on now with this orchestrated domestic terrorism from conservatives.
There are senior citizens worried about a government take over of their medicare. There are young people who claim they want their country back. People are worried about being killed by our government. This is insanity on an entirely new level.
The town hall meetings are set up for the legislators to impart information to the people and for the people to give respectful feedback to congress. Nothing is accomplished by screaming and adding to the confusion.
Of course, she isn't.I linked to the video on that thread, and while the woman mentioned by Hogg seems to know what she's doing, and is intentionally lying, there are others who seem so misinformed that they're genuinely terrified.
One woman is doing this melodramatic, finger jabbing rant, insisting that the country is restored to exactly what the founding fathers established (taking away her vote, so I might back her up on that), another geezer goes off on a Gitmo closure---> Terrorists "in his area"---> possible escapes---> Islam demands killing all non-Muslims scenario that apparently has him tossing & turning at night.
I'm all for opposing viewpoints, and debate on the issues, but is it too much to ask that we have some sort of minimum requirement in the sanity department, or that the people debating have some passing acquaintance with reality?
At the one he did last week in Philly, I could swear that the woman holding the red bible is my niece who traded her addiction to booze and pills for an addiction to Our Risen Savior.
This is a fact. I know they are like holy water to your vampire.
That sounds bad. How close did they get? I don't think many here would support such actions, even against W.
But what about this...
Since Mr Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400 per cent from the 3,000 a year or so under President George W. Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, author of In the President's Secret Service.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5967942/Barack-Obama-faces-30-death-threats-a-day-stretching-US-Secret-Service.html
Seems your attempt to equate the two environments kinda falls flat. Not mention your comparing of pundits and militia men to town hall meetings of elected representatives to discuss pending legislation is just ridiculous.
Why did no one worry about deficits when they kept going up year after year?
Reverse hypocrisy does no one any good.
I think that Hannity has picked up on the general sentiment of Obama, Pelosi and Hoyer. They are trying to tell the 'protesters' to shut up and referring to Nazism/fascism, etc. while making their case. Not very smart in my opinion. It's just adding fuel to the fire.
Hannity and Beck are exactly the same as Maddow and Olbermann. They overstate things to sensationalize them and don't come off very well to the average citizen. There's truth in there somewhere, you just have to filter out the vitriol to find it.
"They're our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska."
If Maddow and Olbermann are the same as Hannity and Beck, please show us where either has made up something as ridiculous as Beck's FEMA camps or Hannity's insistence that Obama is a socialist and is trying to make this a socialist country.
The only thing they have in common is their use of hyperbole. The difference is that Hannity and Beck's contains not a shred of truth.
There was a poster here a few days ago, the most recent thespian taking on the above-it-all, impartial concern troll role, who was a little more clever. He told a story about how his liberal friends think he must follow Boss Hogg Limbaugh, while his conservative friends guessed he was a fan of Michael Moore.
Concern Troll, being completely unbiased, and not shackled by ideology, understood that they were both windbags.
See, he didn't make a direct comparison (actually, in several 1,000 word posts over a few days, he never said much of anything directly) but he made it clear that anybody who saw a difference between Rush & Moore is not thinking as clearly as he is.
Hardly. The reality is totally missing from Hannity and Beck.
Anyone who gets their information from more than one source and can fact check knows that 99% of what hannity and limpo say is false or made up. Anyone who listens to limpo and hannity and believes them are hardcore rightwingers,always were and always will be. They need to here the lies and the things that those to make up. They are racists who cant stand the fact that theres a black man as the POTUS.