Oh, So Many Lies and So Little Time!

Hannity quotes from Hannity and Colmes unless otherwise noted.

HANNITY: "You're not listening, Susan. You've got to learn something. He had weapons of mass destruction. He promised to disclose them. And he didn't do it. You would have let him go free; we decided to hold him accountable." (4/13/04)

FACT: Hannity's assertion comes more than six months after Bush Administration weapons inspector David Kay testified his inspection team had "not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material" and had not discovered any chemical or biological weapons. (Bush Administration Weapons Inspector David Kay, 10/2/03)



HANNITY: "Colin Powell just had a great piece that he had in the paper today. He was there [in Iraq]. He said things couldn't have been better." (9/19/03)

FACT: "Iraq has come very far, but serious problems remain, starting with security. American commanders and troops told me of the many threats they face--from leftover loyalists who want to return Iraq to the dark days of Saddam, from criminals who were set loose on Iraqi society when Saddam emptied the jails and, increasingly, from outside terrorists who have come to Iraq to open a new front in their campaign against the civilized world." (Colin Powell, 9/19/03)



HANNITY: "And in northern Iraq today, this very day, al Qaeda is operating camps there, and they are attacking the Kurds in the north, and this has been well-documented and well chronicled. Now, if you're going to go after al Qaeda in every aspect, and obviously they have the support of Saddam, or we're not." (12/9/02)

FACT: David Kay was on the ground for months investigating the activities of Hussein's regime. He concluded "But we simply did not find any evidence of extensive links with Al Qaeda, or for that matter any real links at all." He called a speech where Cheney made the claim there was a link "evidence free." (Boston Globe, 6/16/04)



HANNITY: "[After 9-11], liberal Democrats at first showed little interest in the investigation of the roots of this massive intelligence failure...[Bush and his team] made it clear that determining the causes of America's security failures and finding and remedying its weak points would be central to their mission." (Let Freedom Ring, by Sean Hannity)

TRUTH: Bush Opposed the creation of a special commission to probe the causes of 9/11 for over a year. On 5/23/02 CBS News Reported "President Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe Thursday to voice his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11." Bush didn't relent to pressure to create a commission, mostly from those Hannity would consider "liberal" until September 2002. (CBS News, 5/23/02)



HANNITY: "First of all, this president -- you know and I know and everybody knows -- inherited a recession...it was by every definition a recession" (11/6/02)

HANNITY: "Now here's where we are. The inherited Clinton/Gore recession. That's a fact." (5/6/03)

HANNITY: "The president inherited a recession." (7/10/03)

HANNITY: "He got us out of the Clinton-Gore recession." (10/23/03)

HANNITY: "They did inherit the recession. They did inherit the recession. We got out of the recession." (12/12/03)

HANNITY: "And this is the whole point behind this ad, because the president did inherit a recession." (1/6/04)

HANNITY: "Historically in every recovery, because the president rightly did inherit a recession. But historically, the lagging indicator always deals with employment." (1/15/04)

HANNITY: "Congressman Deutsch, maybe you forgot but I'll be glad to remind you, the president did inherit that recession." (1/20/04)

HANNITY: "He did inherit a recession, and we're out of the recession." (2/2/04)

HANNITY: "The president inherited a recession." (2/23/04)

HANNITY: "The president inherited a recession." (3/3/04)

HANNITY: "Well, you know, we're going to show ads, as a matter of fact, in the next segment, Congressman. Thanks for promoting our next segment. What I like about them is everything I've been saying the president ought to do: is focusing in on his positions, on keeping the nation secure in very difficult times, what he's been able to do to the economy after inheriting a very difficult recession, and of course, the economic impact of 9/11." (3/3/04)

HANNITY: "All right. So this is where I view the economic scenario as we head into this election. The president inherited a recession." (3/16/04)

HANNITY: "First of all, we've got to put it into perspective, is that the president inherited a recession." (3/26/04)

HANNITY: "Clearly, we're out of the recession that President Bush inherited." (4/2/04)

HANNITY: "Stop me where I'm wrong. The president inherited a recession, the economic impact of 9/11 was tremendous on the economy, correct?" (4/6/04)

HANNITY: "[President George W. Bush] did inherit a recession." (5/3/04)

HANNITY: "[W]e got [the weak U.S. economy] out of the Clinton-Gore recession." (5/18/04)

HANNITY: "We got out of the Clinton-Gore recession." (5/27/04)

HANNITY: "We got out of the Clinton-Gore recession." (6/4/04)

FACT: "The recession officially began in March of 2001 -- two months after Bush was sworn in -- according to the universally acknowledged arbiter of such things, the National Bureau of Economic Research. And the president, at other times, has said so himself." (Washington Post, 7/1/03)



HANNITY: "The Hispanic community got to know him in Texas. They went almost overwhelming for him. He more than quadrupled the Hispanic vote that he got in that state." (9/16/03)

FACT: Exit polls varied in 1998 governors race, but under best scenario he increased his Hispanic vote from 24 to 49 percent – a doubling not a quadrupling. He lost Texas Hispanics to Gore in 2000, 54-43 percent. (Source: NCLR, NHCSL)



HANNITY: "Look, we've had these reports, very disturbing reports -- and I have actually spoken to people that have confirmed a lot of the reports -- about the trashing of the White House. Pornographic materials left in the printers. They cut the phone lines. Lewd and crude messages on phone machines. Stripping of anything that was not bolted down on Air Force One. $200,000 in furniture taken out." (1/26/01)

TRUTH: According to statements from the General Services Administration that were reported on May 17, little if anything out of the ordinary occurred during the transition, and "the condition of the real property was consistent with what we would expect to encounter when tenants vacate office space after an extended occupancy." (FAIR)



HANNITY: "I never questioned anyone's patriotism." (9/18/03)

FACT: (See Below)

HANNITY: (to attorney Stanley Cohen) "Is it you hate this president or that you hate America?" (4/30/03)

HANNITY: "Governor, why wouldn't anyone want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, unless they detested their own country or were ignorant of its greatness?" (6/12/03)

HANNITY: "You could explain something about your magazine, [the Nation]. Lisa Featherstone writing about the hate America march, the [anti-war] march that took place over the weekend..." (1/22/03)

HANNITY: "'I hate America.' This is the extreme left. There is a portion of the left -- not everybody who's left -- that does hate this country and blame this country for the ills of the world..." (1/23/02)

HANNITY: (speaking to Sara Flounders co-director of the International Action Center) "You don't like this country, do you? You don't -- you think this is an evil country. By your description of it right here, you think it's a bad country." (9/25/01)



HANNITY: "It doesn't say anywhere in the Constitution this idea of the separation of church and state." (8/25/03)

FACT: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." (1st Amendment)

"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." (Article VI)



HANNITY: "You want to refer to some liberal activist judge..., that's fine, but I'm going to go directly to the source. The author of the Bill of Rights [James Madison] hired the first chaplain in 1789, and I gotta' tell ya' somethin', I think the author of the Bill of Rights knows more about the original intent--no offense to you and your liberal atheist activism--knows more about it than you do." (9/4/02)

TRUTH: The first congressional chaplains weren't hired by James Madison--they were appointed by a committee of the Senate and House in, respectively, April and May, 1789, before the First Amendment even existed. James Madison's view: "Is the appointment of Chaplains to the two Houses of Congress consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom? In strictness the answer on both points must be in the negative." (James Madison)



HANNITY: "But the Alabama Constitution, which Chief Justice Roy Moore is sworn to uphold, clearly it says, as a matter of fact that the recognition of God is the foundation of that state's Constitution." (8/21/03)

FACT: While the preamble of the Alabama Constitution does reference "the Almighty," section three provides: "That no religion shall be established by law; that no preference shall be given by law to any religious sect, society, denomination, or mode of worship; that no one shall be compelled by law to attend any place of worship; nor to pay any tithes, taxes, or other rate for building or repairing any place of worship, or for maintaining any minister or ministry; that no religious test shall be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under this state; and that the civil rights, privileges, and capacities of any citizen shall not be in any manner affected by his religious principles." (Alabama Constitution, Section 3)



HANNITY: Betsy, they're not going to lose it [public housing], because if you work less than 30 hours a week -- if you work more than 30 hours a week, you don't have to do it. If you're between the ages of 18 and 62 and you're not legally disabled and you have free housing -- in other words...

BETSY MCCAUGHEY: No. Wait a second, Sean. Let me correct you. Most people in public housing are not receiving free housing. Many of them are paying almost market rates.

HANNITY: Betsy, that is so ridiculous and so false, it's hardly even worth spending the time. (10/23/03)

FACT: Residents of public housing pay rent scaled to their household's anticipated gross annual income, less deductions for dependents and disabilities. The basic formula for rent is 30 percent of this monthly adjusted income. There are exceptions for extremely low incomes, but the minimum rent is $25 per month. No one lives in public housing for free. (Department of Housing and Urban Development)



HANNITY: "The Kerry campaign wants to cut taxes on people who make two hundred thousand dollars. She [Teresa Heinz Kerry] only paid 14.7 percent of her income in taxes, because their plan doesn't go to dividends, only income. So they don't want to tax themselves." (5/12/04)

FACT: Kerry's plan would "Restore the capital gains and dividend rates for families making over $200,000 on income earned above $200,000 to their levels under President Clinton. (Kerry Press Release, 4/7/04)



HANNITY: "He's [Kerry's] flip-flopped all over the place... on the issue of Iraq. All the munitions that we have built up, most of them wouldn't be there." (1/30/04)

HANNITY: "But he wanted to cancel�???every major weapons system. Specific votes that he would have canceled the weapons systems we now use." (2/26/04)

FACT: "In 1991, Kerry opposed an amendment to impose an arbitrary 2 percent cut in the military budget. In 1992, he opposed an amendment to cut Pentagon intelligence programs by $1 billion. In 1994, he voted against a motion to cut $30.5 billion from the defense budget over the next five years and to redistribute the money to programs for education and the disabled. That same year, he opposed an amendment to postpone construction of a new aircraft carrier. In 1996, he opposed a motion to cut six F-18 jet fighters from the budget. In 1999, he voted against a motion to terminate the Trident II missile." (Slate, 2/25/04)



HANNITY: "If he (Kerry) had his way and the CIA would almost be nonexistent." (1/30/04)

FACT: John Kerry has supported $200 billion in intelligence funding over the past seven years - a 50 percent increase since 1996.

Kerry votes supporting intelligence funding:

FY03 Intel Authorization $39.3-$41.3 Billion
[2002, Unanimous Senate Voice Vote 9/25/02]

FY02 Intel Authorization $33 Billion
[2001, Unanimous Senate Voice Vote 12/13/01]

FY01 Intel Authorization $29.5-$31.5 Billion
[2000, Unanimous Senate Voice Vote 12/6/00]

FY00 Intel Authorization $29-$30 Billion
[1999, Unanimous Senate Voice Vote 11/19/1999]

FY99 Intel Authorization $29.0 Billion
[1998, Unanimous Senate Voice Vote 10/8/98]

FY98 Intel Authorization $26.7 Billion
[1997, Senate Roll Call Vote #109]

FY97 Intel Authorization $26.6 Billion
[1996, Unanimous Senate Voice Vote 9/25/96]

(Source: CDI)

Stop The Ins-hannity

There’s no shortage of examples of how Sean Hannity has come to fame by misquoting others and telling half-truths to insinuate lies, in fact, all out lying, but I’ve recently received a transcript for the Sean Hannity radio show that has puzzled me for a long time. It’s puzzled me because I can’t believe that while I write this book, there are fact checkers who demand that I cite all of my sources, which I have no problem with, but I wonder why radio hosts are not responsible for the same? After all, there shouldn’t be only certain mediums where people can only tell the truth, and others that can just tell as many lies and false truths as they want without consequences. This is from a January 2002 edition of the Sean Hannity show, carried by my local station, WJON.

SEAN HANNITY: Jim, Los Angeles. Sean Hannity Show. What’s up, Jim?

JIM: Hey, what’s up, Sean?

SH: Happy New Year.

JIM: I just heard you talking about how Democrats were supposedly attacking Christians for criticizing people like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and I don’t see how you can make that kind of assumption.

SH: Well, what I can tell you is that I’m reading from Greg Pearson’s piece in the Washington Times yesterday and he was quoting Newsweek and Howard Fineman—their correspondent—how the Democrats are planning to demonize conservative Christians as being like the Taliban. According to Fineman, the Democrats are planning a daring assault on the most critical turf in politics, the cultural mainstream and the theory goes: our enemy in Afghanistan is religious extremism and intolerance. It is therefore more important than ever to honor the ideals of tolerance—religious sexual, racial, reproduction—at home. The GOP “is out of the mainstream” and Democrats will argue that it’s too dependent on “the intolerant religious right”. In other words, they’re comparing Christians to the Taliban.

JIM: Yes, absolutely. First of all [laughing] don’t trust the Washington Times. It’s owned by Moon.

SH: He’s quoting Howard Fineman. Howard Fineman is not a conservative.

JIM: Yeah, and the thing is that much of the sectarian right—I call it the sectarian right—is very Talibanesque. One thing I agree with President—

SH: Whoa. Who is—Make your comparison. The Taliban, let us remind people, used to beat women that would leave their homes without men. The Taliban wouldn’t let women go to school or go to work. The Taliban used to beat men if their beards weren’t a certain length. The most rigid interpretation of Islam that is out there. Explain. Compare and contrast for me where Christian conservatives are similar in any way.

JIM: Yeah, one thing I agree with President-select Bush’s September 18th speech before Congress—

SH: Answer the question though. Where is that comparison? Compare and contrast.

JIM: George W. Bush criticized the Taliban for their mistreatment of Hindus but you have someone like Pat Robertson who said that Hinduism is demonic and that we shouldn’t allow that to come into our country.

SH: First of all, I didn’t hear Pat Robertson say that. Now I know Jerry Falwell came under fire for the comments he made after September 11th, but you gotta remember he apologized for those comments and he put them into context. He was speaking in a broader philosophical vein and if you don’t accept his apology on that, that’s fine. But you can’t compare mainstream Christian conservatives with the Taliban. You can’t make that comparison. It doesn’t fit.

JM: The thing is that these are not mainstream Christian conservatives. My mother is a mainstream Christian conservative. Pat Robertson is a nutcase and Jerry Falwell is a thief. These people are—

SH: You know what I’m going to do: I gotta put you on hold here. This is important. We’ve got to work through this because there’s a level of hatred toward Christian conservatives that I think is at the root of this.

[Bumper music plays and Hannity goes to break]

[Bumper music plays and Hannity returns from break]

SH: I’m going to get to politics tomorrow—otherwise I would rush through it and I don’t want to do that. Back to Jim in Los Angeles. Jim, you still there?

JIM: Hi, Sean.

SH: Jim, here’s a question—that you have yet to answer this question. I gave you a list of how abusive the Taliban has been—in terms of their treatment of women, women who can’t go to school, women who can’t go to work, women who can’t leave their home without men, about men who must have beards a certain length, their extreme and fanatical interpretation of the Qur’an that believes God has instructed them to kill who don’t believe, those that don’t agree with them—and asked you to compare that to Christian conservatives and you make the comparison here where there’s some type of moral equivalency. You can’t do that.

JIM: Yes I did. I pointed out that at least the Taliban allowed Hindus into their country. Pat Robertson said that Hinduism is demonic and we shouldn’t allow these people to come to our country. That’s religious bigotry—

SH: Jim, you’re wrong because, for example, Christians are charged if they are caught proselytizing. Remember these two girls we interviewed. Don’t dismiss that. Here in America, you can practice—and Thaïs is what freedom of religion is about—you can practice any religion you want—even an extreme religion, even what by definition is considered a cult.

JIM: Not is Pat Robertson had his way because he believes that anyone who’s not a Christian or a Jew is a second class citizen and should not be allowed to hold office. We should oppose this kind of religious bigotry. That’s wrong.

SH: You know, here’s the problem, ladies and gentlemen, around the country, in debating someone like Jim—

JIM: [Sighing in annoyance]

SH: Jim, wait a minute, you’re obviously ignorant of your facts.

JIM: No I’m not. You call Jerry Falwell the real deal. This man is a thief who steals from his flock.

SH: Hang on for a second. Put him down for a second. Put him on hold. Don’t hang up, Jim, because this is important. Number one, you’re ignorant because you don’t know Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have been two of the staunchest supporters of Israel that are out there and outspoken in American society today. That’s fact number one. Number two, your criticism of Jerry Falwell as a thief is just—it’s clearly rooted in your own bigotry and hatred of him because of his religious point of view and his religious perspective. Jerry Falwell—you may not like his Christian perspective—but it doesn’t mean he’s a thief nor does it mean he’s been caught stealing, nor has he been accused of such and all you’re doing here is dropping these bombs in hopes that somehow you can demonize their name and reputation. The person who is intolerant here is you.

JIM: Mr. Hannity, Jerry Falwell sold a video on his TV show to his flock that claimed that President Clinton was involved in drug smuggling and murdering people and he had this phony infomercial in which he claimed that an investigative reporter was fearful of his life. This was not an investigative reporter—this turned out to be the producer of the video itself. So he sold this phony, outrageous, libelous, video at a high price—at a big markup—to his flock and he used deception and I call that stealing and that’s wrong.

SH: Was President Clinton a criminal? Was President Clinton legally impeached? Was President Clinton found to have lied under oath?

JIM: Oh wow, the guy had sex and he doesn’t want to tell the whole world. Gee, is that the same thing as murdering people and drug dealing and the kind of thing that scurrilous video said? That’s wrong.

SH: President Clinton cannot practice law right now and when you talk about the Taliban women—the Taliban support al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda has been fighting against the Indian government in Kashmir. This is, they’re fighting against Hinduism, isn’t it?

JIM: Absolutely. And pat Robertson and Falwell, they’re the biggest bigots for any religion other than Christianity.

SH: Hey, listen, Jim. Everybody who has a particular religious faith believes that they have the right faith. I have never heard Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson say that they don’t believe in the principles of freedom of religion.

JIM: No, that’s wrong. Absolutely. Pat Robertson said that only Christians and Jews should hold office in the United States and that’s against the constitution.

SH: Jim, you’re making this up.

JIM: No I’m not.

SH: Jim, you’re making it up.

JIM: I can document—

SH: Ladies and gentlemen, Jim doesn’t like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Okay. Fine, Jim. Don’t listen to them. Don’t listen to them. But don’t make up phony lies about them. Give us either one quote from either Robertson or Falwell. Give us the source.

JIM: Hinduism Today is the source behind the Pat Robertson quote about Hinduism.

SH: No, no, give me the source. What did he say and when did he say it and where was it quoted.

JIM: Well, I don’t have these things in front of me, but I’d be glad to email you all the information.

SH: [Sarcastically] Sean, I’ll email you tomorrow some time.

JIM: I’m sorry, I’m hanging out on my couch. I don’t happen to have the exact quotes with me. that doesn’t mean that my quotes aren’t valid. They are and I can back it up. I’ll tell you what: if you want to call me up, I’ll have all of this information for you tomorrow.

[Hannity disconnects the call]

SH: [Very sarcastically] Alright. We’re going to make a point of it. we’ll call Jim tomorrow. Thank you, Jim for your sourcing of your ridiculous quotes.

I apologize for the length of that, but it was essential for showing probably the best example to date of how Sean Hannity not only lies to his audience but even prevents his callers from legitimatizing their own statements. Sean seems to have an affinity for cutting his callers off or disconnecting them just before they’re about to make a point the he cannot refute, and changing the subject after they make a point that he failed to cut off or disconnect. I’ve called into the Sean Hannity show before and have been treated very similarly, and even with hostility. Sean Hannity doesn’t like anyone who disagrees with him.

Hannity will deny anything but his own point of view, and will go to no end to discredit those who do, no matter how low he must stoop, or how unrelated the discrediting process might be to the comment that he’s trying to disprove. Well, let’s see Hannity disprove any of the quotes in this chapter, because I’m sure he’d like to. In fact, in this conversation, he did deny some of the quotes that I’ve put in this book. Every quote is cited and sourced, therefore, I’d love to see him refute it.

The New Lie is a large part of Hannity’s broadcasts as well as his popularity, almost as much as the ignorance of his audience.

And without ignorance, there could be no New Lie, in fact, there could not be lies. What I suggest is that from now on, Mr. Hannity always quote his sources, and that an unbiased person be in charge of the phones at his show, that way he can never cut people off just because they disagree with him. In reality, it’s his show, therefore he can do whatever he wants and say whatever he wants; but until he starts being held to certain standards that are seemingly non-existent on AM radio, Mr. Hannity should never be taken seriously, and his quotes should be taken as seriously as Wikipedia.