I can't believe I actually need to say this, but here we are.
Friday night, during a discussion of the White House offer to Rep. Joe Sestak, Sean Hannity invoked the allegations against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich: “We have a governor, former governor in Illinois, who's being prosecuted for trying to get something of value for a Senate seat”:
Hannity later added that the two cases were “eerily similar.”
This is really stupid, even for Hannity.
The White House apparently offered Sestak an unpaid position on a presidential advisory council to induce him not to run for the Senate. Numerous legal, political, and historical experts -- including President George W. Bush's chief ethics lawyer and President George H.W. Bush's political director -- have stated that this does not even approach the realm of being legally questionable.
On the other hand, Blagojevich allegedly tried to sell a Senate appointment for cash or other personal benefits, specifically:
- A substantial salary for himself at a either a non-profit foundation or an organization affiliated with labor unions.
- Placing his wife on paid corporate boards where he speculated she might garner as much as $150,000 a year.
- Promises of campaign funds -- including cash up front.
- A cabinet post or ambassadorship for himself.
These are among the many allegations that has him currently awaiting trial on corruption and other charges that could result in him being jailed for 20 years.
It takes a rather obscene level of partisanship to not be able to see the difference between the two. But that's Hannity for you.