On The Sean Hannity Show, Tom DeLay falsely claimed that Sen. Barack Obama is “in favor of a bill to fingerprint every American in this country and have a national fingerprint database.” In fact, the bill to which DeLay was apparently referring would require employees of banks that apply for “licensing and registration as a State-licensed loan originator,” as well as individuals who apply for licenses, to submit fingerprints to “to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and any governmental agency or entity authorized to receive such information for a State and national criminal history background check.”
On Hannity's radio program, DeLay falsely claimed Obama supports “a bill to fingerprint every American in this country”
Written by Zachary Aronow
Published
On the June 9 edition of The Sean Hannity Show, Townhall.com columnist and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) falsely claimed that Sen. Barack Obama is “in favor of a bill to fingerprint every American in this country and have a national fingerprint database.” DeLay later misrepresented an anti-discrimination bill passed in Colorado, stating that the bill “would allow men to go into women's bathrooms. And if you were the owner of the bathroom and don't allow that to happen, you can go to jail for a year and get a fine. I mean, that is a dictatorial proletariat. That's not a criminal action, but they make it a criminal action. That's going on all across our country, and people better realize it.”
Brian Darling, director of Senate relations for the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, claimed in a post on HumanEvents.com that a bill Obama co-sponsored, the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008, would “create[] a national fingerprint registry.” In fact, that bill would not “fingerprint every American in this country,” as DeLay claimed. Rather, it contains provisions requiring people who apply for “licensing and registration as a State-licensed loan originator” to submit fingerprints to “to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and any governmental agency or entity authorized to receive such information for a State and national criminal history background check.” The bill was sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and co-sponsored by Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL).
The Colorado legislature passed a bill to prohibit discrimination in numerous areas, including public accommodations, on the basis of sexual orientation. The bill defines "[s]exual orientation" as “a person's orientation toward heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender status or another person's perception thereof.” Contrary to DeLay's claim, the bill does not allow men to use women's lavatories. According to a May 30 Associated Press article about the bill, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson released a statement saying, “Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence.” The AP reported that in response, the bill's sponsor, Democratic state Sen. Jennifer Veiga “called Dobson's comments offensive and said she was frustrated with his 'scare tactics.' ” She also reportedly said that despite the existence of laws in numerous states enacting protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation, opponents have been unable to point to any examples of people trying to take advantage of these laws in a manner not intended by the law.
From the June 9 edition of ABC Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show:
DeLAY: Well, Sean, I was reading today that he is in favor of a bill to fingerprint every American in this country and have a national fingerprint database. And if you don't fingerprint yourself, you will be fined. I mean, if that is not --
HANNITY: That's pretty frightening.
DeLAY: -- straight out of the book of a dictatorial proletariat, where you're going to do something that's not a -- you won't do something that's a criminal act and go to jail for it? I mean, and I could go on and on and on.
HANNITY: Well, now, you see, you're going to be a “dictatorial proletariat.” Are you saying that he'd be a dictator? You know people are going to be taking those comments out of context.
DeLAY: No, but I'm talking about the definition of dictatorial proletariat is using the government to penalize and punish people for behavior that you don't agree with. I mean, look at the criminalization of politics now. There's -- I mean, there was a bill passed in Colorado not too long ago, signed by the governor, that would allow men to go into women's bathrooms. And if you were the owner of the bathroom and don't allow that to happen, you can go to jail for a year and get a fine. I mean, that is a dictatorial proletariat. That's not a criminal action, but they make it a criminal action. That's going on all across our country, and people better realize it.
Zachary Aronow is an intern at Media Matters for America.