As I mentioned the other day, Iowa State University, after receiving a warning letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), backed down and removed the Bibles that were in every one of its university guest rooms. (ISU is a public university, so that violates the First Amendment). Apparently Sean Hannity, conservative host of Fox News, thinks his religious feelings trump the Constitution, and he debates the issue with FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor on Fox News. (The link goes to the five-minute video, which I can’t embed.)
Hannity calls the FFRF a “left-wing radical atheist group,” which is really a stretch. Annie Laurie makes some good arguments, including the one I raised (why not put The God Delusion those rooms, as well?), and Hannity keeps rudely interrupting her. Listen to how rude that man is!
Some people think that Annie Laurie is too kind and gentle a soul to debate a rude loon like Hannity, but I disagree. She comes across as reasonable but firm, and Hannity as some kind of bully. (Of course he’s preaching to the choir.) And don’t be deceived by her demeanor: she’s a tough customer when it comes to the Constitution.
Ironically, Hannity tells her that “You guys on the left—you’re just intolerant,” and accuses her of using this incident to raise money for the FFRF.
I don’t watch Hannity, just like I don’t poke myself in the eye with a stick.
Forced into a choice between the two, I just might go for the stick….
b&
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Ha she was awesome, its because she is so kind and gentle that she wins the debate. Going aggressive against Hannity plays into his style.
Unless you have the prowess to hitchslap the inhannity out of him:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We7DyKWw61I
‘you give me the awful impression … of someone who hasn’t read any of the arguments against them – ever.’ – Hitchens from above video clip
That said, I agree that Annie did well.
CH: “We have had enough of people who think like you…”
I love it!
SH: “That might be intellectual snobbery on your side”
CH: “That might be true…”
WAHAHAHAHAA
There are those who take a certain pride in their intellectual – oh, what ought one call it – non-curiosity?
Is to take such peculiar pride in ones anti-intellectualism to be no less a snob?
I have noticed that a lot. This channel seems to pride its self in using “Soccer mom sensibility”. When in fact they are discussing complex issues that are often counter intuitive.
I think it’s an excuse to push the wrong side of an issue. These people aren’t dumb, but they know there market and it’s a way to turn a blind eye to facts that stand in obvious opposition to their agenda.
Gaylor is terrific in the way she responds to Hannity. I would have a complete meltdown if I were in her shoes.
IMHO Hannity is the most despicable TV personality I can think of. Sadly, millions swallow his lies, hook, line and sinker.
“Kook, loon and stinker”
** correcting above typos 😉
Chuckle…..
Getting tired of people affiliating atheists with a political mindset. There are many commentators in aus who do this as well.
Latest one was “North Korea is an atheist state. Imagine if the atheists have their way here”
My atheism has nothing to do with polotics. It’s like they don’t even understand what the word means.
Hannity says he’d be fine if there was a Koran in the hotel drawer. I do not believe that for a minute. He would freak out if a public University supplied Korans for any reason.
I didn’t think I could dislike Hannity any more than I already did, but this interview proved that wrong. It’s actually scary – there are millions of people that adore this guy.
I like what Jimmy Kimmel said at the White House Correspondents dinner a few years back (he mentions a different nutbag, but it works with Hannity too):
“Just to clear things up for the extreme right-wingers, here is the difference between Bill Maher and Rush Limbaugh: The people who watch Bill Maher know he’s an asshole.”
“Sean Patrick Hannity” (full name)
is a partial anagram for
“Tiny Partisan Hack” (letters ‘en’ left over)
Hannity’s lowest blow is his allegation that Annie Gaylor “isn’t really offended” but only did this to raise money. His telepathy-enabling tinfoil hat isn’t working very well, and anyone who’s read the writings of ALG should well know she finds the Bible very offensive!
SH also likes to throw the label “radical” on anything he doesn’t like, just as Bill O’Reilly has far too long a list of things he claims are “far left”. (One of the very first articles on Wikipedia ever to suffer deletion was “List of things Bill O’Reilly calls far left”.)
I would have focused more than ALG on the legal issues involved. I’m personally more concerned than offended, but I ought not to tell another non-believer how they should handle things.
It might have been better had she distinguished between being offended by the Bible in itself and being offended by the flouting of the First Amendment rather than any putative offence at finding any particular book in a draw or on a nightstand.
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The first time I heard Hannity on the air I had moved to a community and visited a local barber for the first time. There were a couple of customers ahead of me, and they and the barber were an enthusiastic audience happy to praise SH for his smarts during commercial breaks. I walked out a few minutes before the barber could finish customer #2 and never went back. A couple years later I walked into and right back out of an auto repair shop where I heard Limbaugh blasting away out in the garage.
Well done. I switched dentists because of one’s loud-mouthed endorsements of Fox News combined with racist asides. And if I’m at a business and they’re playing Fox, I won’t go back.
Lot’s of businesses play Fox News propagandists 24-7. I sat in a doctor’s office once and they had these shitheads on and I went to the receptioninst and said that I wasn’t paying my exhorbitant insurance premiums and co-pays to be subjected to that crap. They changed the channel to sports.
Gaylor is actually perfect for discussing these issues with a bully like Hannity. She is soft spoken and polite yets she is not at all weak. He looks all the worse when he goes up against Gaylor!
Agreed. And I love how she smiles while Hannity gets more and more frustrated with her tempered responses. She knows she’s won. She will sleep well tonight while Hannity tosses and turns.
I won’t go to the link because every time I hear Hannity ramble on, I can feel my brain cells dying. My hairdresser got a small tv to play in her shop and had it tuned to “Faux News”. Finally, when their panel were clattering on about something (pick any topic) with the usual slate of misstatements and misinformation, I had to speak up and said “Why are you watching this? They’re just lying.” Last time I was in, she had changed the channel to CNN – granted CNN is not what it was, but I wasn’t losing my mind along with my hair. (and I do wonder what Ted Turner thinks of his baby now).
“I come into one of them…miserable hotel rooms. I’m discouraged. I got no sales to chalk up. Nothing to read. I’m lonely. I’m just dyin’ for a drink. Some of them salesmen drink somethin’ terrible. And I reach my hand into a dresser drawer……and what do I find? A Gideon Bible. That’s what I find.”
“I reached my hand into a dresser drawer, and I found a Gideon Bible. I was so lonely and miserable, I might as well have been in hell. I was in hell. I knew all the salesman’s tricks. Why wasn’t I rich? Why wasn’t I successful? I opened the Bible, and I read the 18th Psalm. – – ‘The Lord is my rock and my fortress”……’The Lord is my fortress’…..Do you hear that? The Lord . Praise the Lord! The Lord is my rock!”
“The next mornin’ I walked into a general store. ….’What are you selling today? Gold-plated vacuum cleaners?’…….”No sir you can get better vacuum cleaners as Sears and Roebuck, and you can get ‘m cheaper. But you can’t beat our electric toasters.”
“He sat down and wrote me the biggest order of the year. Hallelujah!”
Sinclair Lewis: Elmer Gantry, 1927
” . . . Hannity keeps rudely interrupting her. Listen to how rude that man is!”
(sigh) . . . it is enjoyable every once in a while to call up “The Best of The Hitchslap” and hear his “your rather unlettered question” barb hurled at Hannity.
My favorite was when Hitch was getting the usual FOX treatment (I do not recall which FOX show he was on) and after awhile he responds, “you ought to have me on your show more often to tell me what you think.”
O’Reilly Factor
I don’t think he let her finish a single sentence without interrupting. She should have simply asked him if he wanted to answer the questions himself she might as well leave.
Perhaps he was channelling the Honorable Representative John Shimkus (R-IL) questioning Kathleen Sebelius.
A bit late, but: this demands recitation.
Ode to Sean Hannity
by John Cleese
Aping urbanity
Oozing with vanity
Plump as a manatee
Faking humanity
Journalistic calamity
Intellectual inanity
Fox Noise insanity
You’re a profanity
Hannity
She did very well. Hannity trying to bait her into getting angry / yelling. I would never be able show such restraint. He doesnt let her finish a single sentence after the introduction. What a pr!ck.
Imagine a state funded school had Korans in the rooms. Vanity would be explaining to us how Obama, the secret Muslim, is using the state to wage a jihad against Christians…..
She seemed quite prepared to me, since she let him rage while never resorting to it herself, and simply smiled as he tried to make her angry.
Ugh… Hannity is the worst. Why have people on your show if you aren’t even going to listen to what they have to say? He should just mention the topic and spew all of his opinions without doing it at the expense of the disagreeing party. Although, I guess if they didn’t have people on FOX that disagreed with their TV hosts it wouldn’t be called “Fair and Balanced” news coverage anymore…