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Hannity's Laughable Whopper: “ I Would Never Question [President Obama's] Patriotism“

justinspoliticalcorner:

On the August 24 edition of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity claimed that he “would never question” President Obama’s “patriotism.”

Really? (Remember, this is coming from Fox News’ head cheerleader of the birther conspiracy theory.)

Here are just some examples of Hannity questioning Obama’s patriotism:

And Hannity isn’t the only one on Fox who has questioned Obama’s patriotism. Since Obama took office, Fox has relentlessly portrayed him as un-American and anti-American.

Sean HandTitty that delusional?

h/t: Media Matters For America.

muttandjeff: Sean Hannity, a FOX “news” journalist, reporting the news without bias (fair/balanced), elects to refer to President Obama as the “Anointed One”. Once more Sean has “hannitized” the news. How can a FOX anchor be BOTH “fair and balanced”, and impartial/without bias, and make a remark, in PRINT, of this sort? Seems UNETHICAL and MALICIOUS to me.
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muttandjeff:

Sean Hannity, a FOX “news” journalist, reporting the news without bias (fair/balanced), elects to refer to President Obama as the “Anointed One”. Once more Sean has “hannitized” the news.

How can a FOX anchor be BOTH “fair and balanced”, and impartial/without bias, and make a remark, in PRINT, of this sort? Seems UNETHICAL and MALICIOUS to me.

Bachmann Says Daughters Have To Be Asked Out Via Telephone By Guys, If Not, Tough Stuff!

  • BACHMANN: People do find out [in my book] that I did not get asked to my senior prom.
  • HANNITY: Well, neither did I. And nobody would go with me.
  • BACHMANN: Well, in my time, girls didn’t ask boys to prom. If you didn’t get asked, you didn’t go.
  • HANNITY: Yeah, well let me tell you, I have a 13-year-old son. Those days have changed big time.
  • BACHMANN: And our girls are not allowed to do that in our house. They have to wait for the boys to call.

Source: thinkprogress.org

Coulter & Hannity Share a Chuckle Over Prospect of Attacking Children

curioustheorist:

So I know this is the first time I’m writing about her, but let me get this out in the open: Ann Coulter is a (excuse my French) nutf*ck. I actually heard her speak in person years ago (I’m going to say about 2004) when I was in my conservative phase, and I think back to it now and shudder. She is right up there with Glenn Beck in terms of psychosis. In this case, she laughs and is tickled by the thought of having pundits attack President Obama’s children, since that seems only fair in retaliation for the beating Rush Limbaugh has taken for labeling a private citizen a “slut.”

And to think these people really believe they can argue they have the moral high ground. Not a chance, lady. Not a chance.

(via curioustheorist-deactivated2012)

HandTitty's Latest Attempt At Race-Baiting: “'There's A Picture' Of Obama With The New Black Panthers"

justinspoliticalcorner:

During a segment of his Fox News show devoted to attacking the Obama administration for its handling of the Trayvon Martin case, Sean Hannity played clips of racist statements about the case that aired on New Black Panther Radio. Hannity also suggested that President Obama has ties to the New Black Panther Party (NBPP). It’s an outrageous claim; after all, the NBPP has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. And it’s also a totally false claim.

Deneen Borelli, a Daily Caller columnist and Fox contributor, claimed during the segment that “[in] 2007, Obama spoke with the Black Panthers while he was running for election.” Hannity responded: “There’s a picture of that, by the way, with Malik Zulu Shabazz.”

While Hannity did not elaborate on this supposed connection between Obama and the NBPP, Hannity has previously falsely claimed that, in 2007, Obama was “hanging out” with the group.

Last October, Hannity promised to “show a tape” of Obama “hanging out during the campaign” with a member of the NBPP. In fact, the tape actually showed Obama participating in events marking the 42nd anniversary of the 1965 march from Selma, which ended when the civil rights marchers were attacked by law enforcement at Edmund Pettus Bridge. The extent of the connection between Obama and the NBPP was that during the event, both Obama and NBPP leader Malik Zulu Shabazz gave speeches from the same podium, and both were part of the crowd that then marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Obama was not “hanging out” with anyone from the NBPP during the event.

Rather, as pictures from the event show, Obama was in the company of such civil rights icons as the late Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and Rev. Joseph Lowery.

HandTitty’s race-baiting to his gullible audience. No surprise there.

h/t: MMFA

On the April 9 edition of his Fox News and radio shows, Hannity said that he had an “off the record” conversation with Zimmerman.

UPDATE: On the April 9 edition of Premiere Radio Networks’ The Sean Hannity Show Hannity said: “People are trying to make this all about George Zimmerman. And I spoke to George Zimmerman, and I’m not going to reveal the contents of that conversation, but I have confirmed yes, he was a mentor to minority children. Now if you were racist, I don’t think you’d be a mentor to minority children.”

Source: mediamatters.org

Loop 21 Reporter Talks To George Zimmerman Through Email/Blackberry Correspondence!!!

[UPDATE: George Zimmerman’s former lawyers confirm the exchange that occurred between Loop 21 and a man who was allegedly George Zimmerman was 100% real, and that the man was actually George Zimmerman. This case gets much weirder each and every day that I have been following it. The full exchange is after the jump!]

The legal team representing Trayvon Martin’s shooter confirmed details exclusively given to Loop 21 on Monday night by a man claiming to be George Zimmerman.

Hal Uhrig and Craig Sonner, who spoke outside of the Seminole County courthouse on Tuesday evening, cited Zimmerman’s reclusive behavior and his disregard for their legal advice, as one of several reasons for their departure.”He has gone on his own. I don’t know what he’s doing or who he’s talking to,” Sonner said. “I cannot represent a client who doesn’t stay in contact with me.”

Uhrig said the legal team had never met with Zimmerman face-to-face and that he was hard to reach by phone. In an exclusive, Loop 21 attempted to confirm a series of emails between Loop 21 contributor Wesley Lowery and a man claiming to be Zimmerman.

During the courthouse press conference, the lawyers confirmed Zimmerman gave an off-the-record interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, which Loop 21 was the first to report. The emails sent to Lowery on Monday night were the first to mention the Hannity interview.

Spokespeople for Hannity and Fox News have not responded to requests for comment. The man claiming to be Zimmerman did not reply to an email request for comment, immediately following his lawyers’ press conference.

Zimmerman is also said to have contacted state attorney Angela Corey on his own, and told someone in her office that he was not officially represented by Uhrig and Sonner.

On Monday, Corey announced she would not send the case to a grand jury. The decision of charges against Zimmerman is effectively in her hands. Legal analysts say the move suggests Zimmerman will not be charged with first-degree murder, which requires a grand jury indictment, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Lawyers for the Martin family said they have been concerned that Zimmerman was a flight risk.

“Trayvon’s family was always concerned that Zimmerman doesn’t try to skirt his legal responsibilities,” said attorney Benjamin Crump, in a statement to Time following Tuesday’s press conference.

“We always wanted this before a judge and a jury. We hope that [authorities] will take this under consideration that this a flight risk. If they go to press charges, is he really going to face them?”

Earlier, Crump told Loop 21 that they remained hopeful after the state attorney’s decision against the grand jury.

“We’re viewing this as a positive thing,” said Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, in an interview with Loop 21 on Tuesday.

“A grand jury is a private proceeding. In the legal community, it’s well known that if you take a case to a grand jury you want it to die,” Crump said. “By not doing that, we believe that (Corey) believes she has enough evidence for an arrest.”

It’s been more than a month since, against the instruction of police, the 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer pursued and scuffled with Martin, a black Miami student, before shooting him to death, in a Sanford gated community. After news of the case went national, Zimmerman was dogged by allegations that he racially profiled the teen. Zimmerman’s father is white and his mother is Hispanic.

In the press conference announcing that they will no longer represent Zimmerman, his former attorneys cited their inability to maintain constant contact with him and his decision to start a fundraising website without their knowledge as part of their rationale.

Using that site — www.therealgeorgezimmerman.com — Loop 21 believes it was able to contact Zimmerman directly.

Zimmerman purchased the site Sunday, according to domain registration records available from GoDaddy.com. 

A spokesperson for GoDaddy declined to comment on the site or who the domain is registered to, referring inquires to the information page for Domains by Proxy, a third party privacy organization (owned by Go Daddy founder Bob Parsons) that allows domain owners to remain anonymous by registering sites in the company’s name.

When NBC reporter and my fellow National Association of Black Journalists board member Mara Schiavocampo reported yesterday that George Zimmerman had started a website and was seeking contributions for his legal defense, I thought it was too good to be true.

But moments later, when Schiavocampo and fellow NBC and MSNBC reporters had confirmed the site’s authenticity with Zimmerman’s legal team, I threw off my skeptic’s hat and went into reporter mode.

Was it possible to further prove if it was Zimmerman behind this relatively new site? Could I track down contact information for him using it?

About 20 minutes later, after a series of online searches and digging, I found myself in the midst of a seven-email exchange with a site administrator claiming to be Zimmerman himself. Our correspondence was brief and it’s important to note that, without further confirmation from his legal team, it’s impossible to confirm 100 percent that it was Zimmerman with whom I was speaking.

Calls to the Zimmerman legal team seeking confirmation that the man behind these emails is George Zimmerman himself were not immediately returned. Multiple members of the legal team representing Trayvon’s family said this morning that they were not aware of Zimmerman speaking to any media outlets thus far.

The below account chronicles what we know to be confirmed, how I tracked down the site administrator claiming to be George Zimmerman and a complete account of our correspondence.

Read More

Source: loop21.com

Sean Hannity Could Be Required to Testify at George Zimmerman's Trial (If That Occurs)

According to several experts in Florida law, Sean Hannity could be compelled to testify about his conversations with George Zimmerman. Tamara Lave, a professor of criminal law at the Universtiy of Miami who also practiced as a public defender for 10 years, told ThinkProgress it’s a “no brainer.”

Under Florida Law, there is a “qualified privilege” for journalists that protects their conversations with sources. But this priviledge can be overcome, per Florida Evidence Code 90.5015:

A party seeking to overcome this privilege must make a clear and specific showing that:

(a) The information is relevant and material to unresolved issues that have been raised in the proceeding for which the information is sought;
(b) The information cannot be obtained from alternative sources; and
(c) A compelling interest exists for requiring disclosure of the information.

Here’s how Hannity described his conversation with George Zimmerman:

Now yesterday I was contacted by an individual that we in fact believe was George Zimmerman. He reached out to me, we spoke on the phone about his case, and I agreed not to report on the contents of that conversation.

Lave said that, in her opinion, the qualified privilege could “easily” be overcome under Florida law because Zimmerman’s statements about the incident are “relevant and material to unresolved issues.” Further, there are no “alternative sources” for his statements to Hannity and there is a compelling interest for disclosure in a potential manslaughter case.

Lyrissa Lidsky, an expert in media law at the University of Florida and the author of a book on the First Amendment, said that she also believed the factors in the Florida law would be resolved “in favor of forcing Hannity to disclose the information.”

Michael Seigel, Director of the Criminal Justice Center at the University of Florida, agreed, stating that Hannity “may very well have opened himself up to subpoena.” Kenneth Nunn, another criminal law professor a the University of Florida, concurred and said he didn’t think the journalist’s privledge could be made successfully by Hannity.

How Sean Hannity Learned to Stop Worrying And Love Teleprompters

I always had the feeling that Sean Hannity was merely reading from a script when he is doing both his television and radio shows. The responses and statements he gives are too rehearsed, too nonchalant for them to be off-the-cuff remarks.

At the link above, a former employee of Fox News who was writing for Gawker about secret goings-on inside the world of Fox News, shares a video that captures a conversation between Mitt Romney and Sean Hannity.

In the video, Hannity and Romney are discussing President Obama’s use of a teleprompter (which shouldn’t be controversial because every President since Nixon used teleprompters). What is said next is both ironic and surprising, considering Hannity’s frequent deriding of Obama’s teleprompter.

Hannity criticizes Obama’s use of a TELEPROMPTER when he is reading from A TELEPROMPTER on his television news show!! What’s even weirder is this: both Romney and Hannity agreed in the clip at the above link that anyone in politics SHOULD USE A TELEPROMPTER!!!

Therefore, his and any Republican’s criticism of Obama’s use of a teleprompter is null and void, considering that they use one themselves to avoid a huge influx of controversial statements. THAT’S THE SAME DAMN REASON OBAMA USES A TELEPROMPTER!!!

I don’t give a flying flip what any politician says with or without the use of a teleprompter. If a politician is moving their mouth, they are lying!!

Sean Hannity’s interviews are a source of embarrassment for many of us at the network. Even those ideologically sympathetic to him joke about the ostentatiously friendly treatment he routinely gives Republican candidates. Not that anyone at the network is in the business of grilling GOPers, of course. But Bret Baier and Chris Wallace have been known to make politicians on the right squirm in their seats every once in a while. Hell, even O’Reilly seems to know that you’ve got to give the interviewee a little bit of chin music, if only to give yourself cover later when someone questions your credibility.

But that lesson seems to have escaped Hannity. And despite the derision it earns him from the Lamestream Media, it’s probably been mostly beneficial for his show. The reason he’s able to book so many GOP luminaries is that they know that they have a safe space, a child-proofed room where they’ll be able to talk at length without interruption, state falsehoods without challenge, and reach the Republican base completely unfiltered.

Hannity’s welcoming cocoon even extends to fake-conservative Mitt Romney. If you listen to Sean on a regular basis, you can tell that he’s suspicious of Mitt—rightfully so, because now that Romney has sewn up the nomination, he’s going to attempt to pivot away from conservatives so fast and hard that Ronald Reagan’s tombstone is probably going to crack in half. But Hannity can read the writing on the wall, so he invites him on the show and makes nice with him.

In the clip above—taken from the same interview I published earlier this week, in which Romney rhapsodized about his Austrian Warmbloods and Missouri Foxtrotters—Romney and Hannity talk about how important it is for politicians to use teleprompters while they attack Obama for using a teleprompter. “It does make some sense,” Romney says. “It keeps you from saying something you don’t mean, you get the message out.”

“Yeah, of course it does,” Hannity concurs. “It’s smart. You don’t want to make a mistake. I’ll tell you, they’re out to eviscerate anybody who makes a mistake.”

Contrast that with just one of the innumerable (202 at least, according to Nexis), prompter potshots Hannity has taken at Obama: “I think he’s got a teleprompter on each side of the bed when he goes to sleep every night. I think most Americans have figured out that you take away that teleprompter, he’s in trouble. as evidenced by earlier today. Let’s roll this tape.”

The ongoing right-wing obsession with Obama’s teleprompter remains a mystery to me. He doesn’t use one any more often than any of his predecessors, or any more often than the men who want to replace him. Yet it’s always “har har har he has to write down his words before he says them” and so on. Yet Hannity advises Romney to use one lest his enemies find an error to exploit.

To me, that’s the most offensive thing about him. He practices the laziest form partisan journalism — if Obama does it, it must be bad. Case in point — early in Pres. Obama’s term, he went to a burger place with the media in tow. The outing elicited the sort of embarrassing-in-retrospect media fawning that was typical of the early Obama presidency, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for a president still in his honeymoon phase.

Hannity saw something more insidious, though. Seizing on Obama’s choice of Dijon mustard on his burger, Hannity sneered: “I hope you enjoyed that fancy burger Mr. President.” That clip still enrages me, almost 3 years later.

Fox News (And Sean Hannity) Nab First Interview with George Zimmerman, Airs Tonight at 9PM on Fox News!! Expect a Softball Question-Filled Interview!!!

Sean Hannity has secured the first interview with George Zimmerman, the man accused of killing Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. The hour-long exclusive will air on Hannity’s Fox News Channel program tonight at 9pmET.

Zimmerman will discuss what happened on the night of Martin’s death. His attorney, Mark O’Mara, will also participate in the interview and will address rumors circulating about bail donations and hidden money, FNC says.

Hannity has been pursuing a Zimmerman interview for several months. The pair had an off-the-record phone conversation in April. Yesterday, GlobalGrind posted an article claiming that Hannity offered to pay Zimmerman’s legal fees; a spokesperson for Fox News told TVNewser Hannity has never offered to pay “any legal fees or any fee associated with George Zimmerman.”

Hannity/George Zimmerman Interview Will Be Used in Zimmerman's Trial in August!!!

Florida’s top lawyers, including State Attorney Angela Corey, say it was a bad idea for George Zimmerman to be interviewed on television by Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

STORY: Zimmerman: “No Regrets…It Was God’s Plan!”

According to the Orlando Sentinel, David Faulkner, a former FBI agent and Winter Park criminal defense attorney said, “I think George Zimmerman needs to stop talking.” 

Special Prosecutor Corey filed formal notice, saying she intends to use the interview as evidence against Zimmerman.

As reported by the Orlando Sentinel:

Zimmerman deviated at least twice from his previous versions of what happened the night he shot Trayvon. He told Hannity he got out of his truck to follow Trayvon because he needed to find a house number to help police find him, but in recorded interviews with Sanford police, he said it was because he needed to find the street’s name, something detectives challenged him on.

Also, Zimmerman told Hannity that Trayvon “skipped” away from him and did not run in fear when after they first spotted each other a minute or two before their fatal face-to-face confrontation.

Zimmerman should never have brought up God, Faulkner said, and he should stop apologizing.

“He needs to stick with the same theme: ‘I was attacked. This man was beating my head into the pavement.’ It’s got nothing to do with God,” Faulkner said. “It’s got to do with living another day.”

No doubt the Hannity interview will be used against Zimmerman when he goes to trial and Faulkner makes a good point: Zimmerman should remain silent if he thinks he has any chance of being acquitted.

Sean Hannity Offered to Pay George Zimmerman's Legal Fees!!!

Yesterday, the Special Prosecutor in the George Zimmerman case released 149 jail house phone calls that Mr. Zimmerman made while being held on bail in April of this year in Seminole County Jail. Last night, GlobalGrind scoured through all of them, trying to decipher the coded language that George uses in his conversations with his family and close friends.

In call #30, from April 14th (3 days after being arrested), George is speaking to one his closest friends and confidantes, “Scott.” As reported by many of our colleagues in the press, including the Miami Herald this morning, George mentions to Scott that his attorney Mark O’Mara is aware of an attempted transfer of $37,000 from his PayPal account to Zimmerman’s wife’s personal account.  This would be big enough news in the case, as Mr. Zimmerman was sent back to jail after being released on his first bond for not disclosing the amount of money he had raised for his legal defense fund.  Furthermore, Mr. O’Mara admitted in court that he did not know anything about the attempted transfers, but with this new evidence being made public, it seems that the attorney was in the know.

However, as we listened to the rest of the call, what struck us as odd was George’s comments about a gentleman, who he calls “SH,” who offered to pay for his entire legal defense, as long as he uses an attorney, who George calls “JB.”  In a previous call (#24), George reveals to his wife, Shellie, that “JB” is Jose Baez, who represented Casey Anthony (this was also confirmed to GlobalGrind by Miami Herald reporter, Frances Robles).  However, the person who offered to pay for his legal fees, “SH” is only identified in code.  The conversation went as follows:

George Zimmerman: He (Mark O’Mara) asked my why JB (Jose Baez) was trying to get involved, and I told him who referred me to him, because I told you Taaffe (George’s friend, Frank Taaffe) reached out to him, right?

Scott: Mm hmm..

GZ: And he said he was gonna try and reach out to the person who referred me to JB, if he has any connections. Taaffe said the people were willing to pay for my defense if I take JB on, and I said—he said that whoever, whether it’s him personally or some party that he’s affiliated with that’s willing to support my defense, they should be willing to support my defense whether I use JB or not.

Scott: Mm Hmm..

GZ: Unless they have some vested interest in meeting him, so…

Scott: So you mean the support coming from SH and…is that what you’re thinking?

GZ: SH…Yeah

Scott: Ha…That’s an interesting dynamic. I’m thinking that that’s probably gonna be…probably gonna raise some tensions with Mark.

GZ: — if he told him about it

Scott: Yeah, no no I mean, he’s not gonna want to be overshadowed

GZ: Right, well he’s not gonna take JB on…no matter what.

Scott: Right

GZ: He said all that would do was polarize the two sides, that would cause tension, and I said ‘yeah, yeah I agree 100%’ so he seems to be very confident and uh, very ya know realistic, although there’s a lot of hype around it in the media, when it boils down to it, there’s a case that…it’s…their argument is not strong basically.

Later in the conversation they discuss contacting “SH” via email.

GZ: Well, and the other one you were asking about is last name at the same domain.

Scott: SH?

GZ: Yeah, it’s just the last name and then the same domain that I just gave you.

Scott: Really?

GZ: Yeah

Scott: You’ve had contact with him..

GZ: ..No..

Scott: ..That way?

GZ: Yeah

Scott: Oh, I didn’t know that. Should I reach out to him or no?

GZ: Run it by O’Mara first.

Scott: Gotcha

GZ: Because he’s going to anyway.

Scott: But he still needs to be at arm’s length

GZ: Yeah, I agree.

Scott: I miss you, boy!

GZ: I do, too!

GlobalGrind spent this morning trying to confirm the identify of “SH.” A rock solid source has told us that the personal email address for “SH” that George Zimmerman gives to his friend, Scott, is in fact the personal email address for Sean Hannity, thus confirming that “SH” is in fact the Fox News host. 

If you recall, Sean Hannity had a relationship with George, as he spoke to George a few days before his initial arrest, which he spoke about on his Fox News show on April 11th.

“I want to set the record straight,” Hannity said on his Fox News program. “For a few weeks we have been pursuing an interview with Mr. Zimmerman to give him a chance to tell his side of the story. Now yesterday I was contacted by an individual that we in fact believe was George Zimmerman. He reached out to me, we spoke on the phone about his case, and I agreed not to report on the contents of that conversation. That’s it.”

Hannity had previously spent many segments of his show discussing the case, including securing the first interview with George Zimmerman’s father, whom he silhouetted to protect his identity. At one point during his early coverage of the case, Sean proposed the idea that the whole thing could have been “a horrible accident.”

“Could this just be, you know, a case where Trayvon was running because he thought he was in jeopardy, […] Is it possible it was just a horrible accident?” Hannity asked during a March broadcast.

George Zimmerman decided not to use Jose Baez as his attorney and stuck with Mark O’Mara. We do not know if Sean Hannity is funding Mr. Zimmerman’s legal defense with Mr. O’Mara at the helm. We reached out to Mr. Hannity for comment and are awaiting a response.

Report: George Zimmerman Wanted ABC To Pay for Month-Long Stay for Him and His Wife at Hotel, ABC Refused, Interview Went to Fox News and Hannity

The Miami Herald’s Frances Robles shares the news on Twitter:

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