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Jewish World Review May 19, 2004 / 28 Iyar 5764

Steve Young

Steve Young
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Sean Hannity is fair & balanced...Really. Even when it makes him look bad

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | By golly, the adorable conservative hunk of verbosity hasn't been kidding us. Sean Hannity is fair and balanced, despite what I and the rest of the liberal, elite and whatever other debauched media we are part of say. And this past Tuesday he proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt.


Let's set this up. It was Tuesday afternoon all over America and here was Sean, as normal, focused like a laser beam, climbin' a mountain, three hours a day (that's all he asks, folks), pontificating over the gaw-gee-ous, lilting tones of Martina McBride as he works like all git-out to lift President Bush over the evil and most liberal of all liberals, John Kerry. And the pressure is on. He's only got 167 days left to do it. Ask Scott Shannon.


He pushes through his regular guests and callers. Dick Morris comes on and, this is going to be hard to believe, pushes his new book. Sean, to his publisher's chagrin, doesn't push back with his new book. The normal callers come through. Some pro, some con. Some say they're Republicans who voted for Bush in 2000 and this time are voting for Kerry. Sean is quick to discern that this has got to be one of them there Kool Aid liberals trying to trick him. You'll never get that past the perspicacious Sean. Then comes the caller who says she voted for Gore in the last election and now will vote for Bush. Sean gives her a free book for having the courage to see the light.


Now he brings on a special guest: John Lehman, Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan administration and Republican member of the 9/11 Commission in town to hear New Yorkers re-tell the horrors. Not only does Sean revere Secretary Lehman, he wholeheartedly trusts him to be the only one on the commission he can trust to give him the real lowdown on the partisan and wasteful going-ons within the committee.

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Sean asks about the politicizing of the commission saying that it will only result in an unfair battering of President Bush. Lehman said that in their private meetings the commission has never been partisan and that the final report will not be. Sean does not interrupt Lehman, which he has been known to do once or twice in his time.


Sean asks about "The Wall," with its Clinton-era guidelines that had paralyzed the county's intelligence agencies. And, damn it, committee member Jamie Gorelick, Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton administration, took part in allowing "The Wall" to exist, just as Attorney General John Ashcroft patriotically submitted to the commission during his testimony. Sean has pushed for her resignation from the commission. Lehman said "The Wall" was there before Goerlick signed off and, in fact, the Bush administration allowed it to continue. Again, no interruption from Sean.


But what about Richard Clarke? Even Lehman said his stories had changed from book to testimony. Lehman says they really didn't. Clarke just emphasized some points more than others. No lies. No deviations. No Sean interruption.


Richard Ben-Veniste, co-counsel during the Watergate Hearings. He was really mean to Condi. Yes, Lehman agrees, he could have been more tactful. Then wouldn't he push towards a pummel Bush, partisan report. Um. No, replied Lehman ALL the meetings between the members had been nothing but bi-partisan.


Then Sean hit him with the big one. Bill Clinton had intimated, on tape, that he had been offered bin Laden on a silver plate by the Sudanese gov't but refused. If you haven't heard the tape, you haven't listened to the show. Sean plays it almost as much as he plays Kerry's explanation of his vote on the $87 billion for the Iraq effort. Wasn't it possible that Clinton's misplay lead to Osama bringing on 9/11. Score! Hannity: 1. Clinton: nada. Except that Lehman said it wasn't the way Hannity has deduced it and that will come out in the final report. D'oh.


So that's about all the time left in the segment. Every point Sean had argued for the past two months was countered by someone he trusted. And the best part. The surprise. Sean never questioned Lehman's veracity. He even (sort of) gave the commission's report his stamp of approval because of Lehman's participation and word.


So, there it is. Sean Hannity taught us who he really is. And he wasn't afraid to show us he could be wrong, wrong, wrong. For that I've got to give it to the man.


And for those of you who thought he didn't have it in him. Well... In your face liberal elite media you...me! I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up changing his vote to Kerry. Hey, he did it once...on April 1.


And now...we'll be right back to trash the lines. Five seconds. Five seconds each.

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JWR contributor Steve Young, is an award-winning television writer, author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful: Mistakes, Adversity, Failure and Other Stepping Stones to Success" . Comment by clicking here.

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© 2004, Steve Young