Hannity makes a funny

March 22, 2008

Several State Department contractors improperly, and possibly illegally, peeked at Barack Obama’s passport file (in addition to Hilary Clinton’s and John McCain’s). Administration officials have apologized, publicly and privately, and have already begun an investigation.

Sean Hannity, however, believes it’s wrong for Obama to blame the administration that failed to protect his private records, and which failed to even follow its own procedures. I couldn’t help but find this hilarious.

First, Hannity thinks Obama is using this to “distract” attention from the Jeremiah Wright story. Brilliant! I know, maybe Obama convinced the State Department to do this on purpose.

Second, Hannity insists that the Obama campaign shouldn’t be “blaming the administration.” You mean the administration that’s responsible for the potentially illegal mistake? Who, pray tell, should Obama blame? Apparently, if you hold responsible those who are responsible you’re guilty of making a “political statement.” Only on Fox News.

To his credit, Newt Gingrich was actually almost sensible about the whole thing.

Media Matters’ transcript is worth reading, just for the comedic value.

HANNITY: All right, just one point on this breaking news tonight. There’s a couple things that we do know that Bill Gertz has put into the Washington Times, and one is that Secretary of State Condi Rice is saying that the security measures that are used to monitor the records of high-profile Americans worked properly in detecting the breaches and that these were contract employees. Seems to me Barack Obama is looking for anything to distract from the story of Jeremiah Wright. Your initial thoughts?

GINGRICH: Well, no. No, my first thoughts are to be totally with Senator Obama on this. I think your records are confidential.

HANNITY: Oh, I agree with that.

GINGRICH: The government has an absolute obligation to keep them. I suspect these people have broken a law. I don’t think it’s enough just to fire them. And frankly, if the first breakthrough was back in January, how can they say that the security system worked? Why didn’t they — go ahead.

HANNITY: The only thing I might disagree a little bit on — because immediately they make it into a political statement by blaming the administration.

GINGRICH: Well, look, of course, but that’s — the Obama people can do what they want to. As an American citizen, I expect my government to protect the secrecy of documents that I give them. And I believe that they have — that this is probably a very severe penalty. It’s not enough just to fire these people. I think that the Justice Department should look into this, not because it’s about Senator Obama, but because we have to sustain a very high standard of protecting the right to privacy of Americans.

HANNITY: Yeah. There you and I agree.

How sad.

I suspect Hannity is expressing his outrage only as a way of deflecting rumors of his connection to the Larry Craig scandal. Pass it on. 🙂

  • Dangerous times when tabloid journalism becomes more important that violations of the privacy acts and other attacks on our constitutional rights. Hitler benefited from blind followers and a tacit press.
    Good job vanity.

  • Suppose you’re a GOP operative and you want to take a look at the passport records of the potential Democratic presidential nominees to see if they’ve traveled to any place embarrassing. You know that there are safeguards in place which will flag your efforts. What do you do?

    First you use independent contractors to do the dirty work. Once they’re caught you fire them, thereby stopping any further investigation. Second, you have them look not just at Obama’s and Clinton’s records, but at the McCain’s records as well. This way the whole thing can be spun as the innocuous curiosity of a few individuals.

    Anyway, that’s what I would do if I were a GOP operative.

  • Try this one on Hannity, since administration accountability makes so little sense to him:

    “Anybody want to buy the GPS coordinates to Sean Hannity’s house?”

    Spin THAT, FoxNoise!

    *evil laughter ensues

  • I’m starting to see a serious disconnect between the dittoheads and some of the Republicans whose opinions actually matter. It’s as though Fox News and the Republican party have marched in lockstep for so long that when people like Hannity steer towards a cliff they expect people like Gingrich to march with them and are surprised when they halt suddenly.

    I loved the bit where Hannity sputters in disbelief after Gingrich says that his first instinct is to agree with Obama. It’s like “Wha–? You’re not supposed to do that!”

    Joe Scarborough did almost the same thing when Huckabee defended Jeremiah Wright the other day.

    Is it possible that the actual Republican party is turning its back on the cartoon version of itself that Fox News has presented?

  • Gingrich will probably change his mind on this on who is to blame.

    You mean the administration that’s responsible for the potentially illegal mistake? Who, pray tell, should Obama blame?

    Well, he could start by blaming TAC, who was contracted by State for this work. And who leads TAC? One John Brennan, a former member of the CIA. Why does this matter? Because Mr. Brennan is an adviser on intelligence and foreign policy for…Barack Obama (link here: href=”http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080322/NATION/243762495/1001).

    So I guess we can blame the Obama campaign for this “gaffe”.

    ROTFLMFAO

  • Hannity knows one tune and one tempo. The verses may change but the refrain is always the same.

  • Sean Hannity is the most vile person at Faux news. He has been circulating the Rev. Wright clips knowing full well they were not The Rev’s words. Rev. Wright is quoting Edward Peck the Ambassador. This is th eworst case of slander I have ever witnessed. They had someone on “pretending” to be a black panter endorsing Obama. If we sit by and say nothing we are accepting this kind of smear campaign. Don’t forget, Murdoch (the owner ) had a fundraiser for Hillary

  • Maybe repubs are coming to the realization that allowing these flame-throwing media screech monkeys to be the voice of their ‘movement’ is killing them. Most of the country realizes the mess repubs have made in very short order. But in in their desperation to maintain their power, their media screech-models appear more detached from reality by the day. As defined by Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, to say nothing of WH screech monkey Perino, modern American conservatism should qualify as a mental illness. These people are loud, proud, and quite literally, deranged.

  • SEAN HANNITY IS COMPLETELY DIVORCED FROM REALITY

    Hannity tried to bring back Joseph McCarthy from the dead, it didn’t work so now he is perfecting the personification of him. If he could travel back in time, he would only leave the McCarthy trials, to go to the Spanish Inquest!

    Why on earth don’t you people enlighten yourselves to the entire sermons these snippets came from? Do you enjoy being brainwashed by FOX, CNN, ABC, NBC etc.? Why don’t you try going straight to the Trinity Church web site and take a look around. I’m by no means trying to tell ANYONE what to think. Don’t you think you owe it to yourselves AND your families to be informed? Do you encourage your kids to watch a 10 second sound bite and think that they know all there is to know about the subject. Do you know what propaganda is? Try and find a WW 2 veteran, and ask them. Ask a Holocaust survivor about propaganda. Better yet ask them what they think about these networks using these clips, over, and over, and over again. Ask yourselves, have you EVER seen soundbites played on like this. Ask yourselves what is going on here. Lastly, ask yourselves if the media takes for granted that you do not have the intelligence to investigate these things for yourselves. This is propaganda at it’s worst. Meant to instill fear, and sway your thinking. There is a wonderful quote from World War Two. WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR, BUT FEAR IT’S SELF! Don’t be afraid to find out what you can about this. Please.

  • HANNITY: Ridiculous Assertion

    GINGRICH: Counterpoint to assertion.

    HANNITY: Complete Agreement

    REGULAR FOX NEWS VIEWER: Yeah, you tell ‘im, Sean!

    NON-FOX NEWS VIEWER WHO ACCIDENTALLY STAYED TOO LONG WHILE CHANNEL SURFING: Aaagghhhhh! My BRAIN! (slumps in chair, unconscious)

  • How about Obama look in his own back yard? The Analysis Corporation is headed by John O. Brennan, a former CIA agent who is an adviser to Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign.

    Statement From The Analysis Corporation

    WASHINGTON, March 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Late this morning,
    representatives of the Department of State informed The Analysis
    Corporation (TAC) for the first time that one of the individuals who had
    been detected inappropriately accessing passport files of prominent
    political figures was a TAC employee. The individual was working on
    contract at the Department of State.
    This individual’s actions were taken without the knowledge or direction
    of anyone at TAC and are wholly inconsistent with our professional and
    ethical standards.
    TAC has an exemplary record of supporting the Department of State and
    other elements of the U.S. Government for close to two decades. We are
    fully cooperating with the Department of State in its investigation.
    Specifically, we have honored the Department’s request to delay taking any
    administrative action related to the employment of the individual in order
    to give the Department’s Office of the Inspector General the opportunity to
    conduct its investigation.
    We deeply regret that the incident occurred and believe it is an
    isolated incident.
    Contact: Jim Flynn of The Analysis Corporation, +1-703-738-2876

  • @jeff, i’m cerain he is asking, but the fact still reamins, even if it was an employee of TAC, the govt should have been more closely monitorin this and let him know in january, not now in march, march is months later, why wasn’t he notified day one?

  • axt113

    Obama is pointing fingers at everyone else, probably to get his pastor out of the headlines, what will he have to say about his “adviser” sending in operatives to snoop on his rivals?

  • Tacking on to Michael’s brilliant parody @ 12:

    A as in Adult

    Yes…
    Gingrich really made Hannity back-pedal and re-spin. And then back-pedal again and re-spin again. Until the back-pedaling and re-spinning came into accordance with Gingrich’s more sane reality.

    Here is an interesting thought to ponder:

    We’ve now seen both Gingrich and Hucklebee treat Obama’s candidacy with a great deal of “adult respect.” I find this rather fascinating. He is bringing out, it you will, their “A-games.” He is making at least some of the competition rise to meet him, rather than sink to slander him.

    All this tells me at least one deep thing:
    Hucklebee and Gingrich respect Barack Obama.

    I find the prospects of this rather interesting, in a David Brooksian sort of way. Which is also to say: If we are ever going to get anything worthwhile done in this country, we need the smartest GOP people to battle us with their brightest ideas, rather than their meanest fox-hole instincts.

    Both Hucklebee and Gingrich are showing glints that the are willing to play the game this way. It is a small start. But a ray of hope is better than no ray at all. It is all traceable to the politics and personality of Mr. Obama. He radiates a fundamental decency,– a core genuineness, if you will. His fairer, more balanced, and more idea-driven opponents on the right respect him for that.

    Mr. Benen, thanks for bringing us these interesting developments…
    And obviously I quite agree with the subtext, there is something deeper going on here. Keep your fingers crossed, but there are hints the country is escaping the Clinton/Bush dynastic morass that has mired both parties in muck, and made our present and past, a boggy walk in blunder land.

  • “what will he have to say about his “adviser” sending in operatives to snoop on his rivals?”

    Considering that Obama’s information was also snooped on? Probably not have Brennan as an advisor anymore.

    But that’s just a hunch.

    By the way, who was the recipient of this leaked passport information?
    If all three candidates were targeted, then that kind of wipes out any speculation that one was behind the leak.

  • Umm Jeff and SteveIL They worked for Stanley Inc .

    Wrong again. 2 worked for Stanley and were fired. The one that was snooping for Obama was “disciplined” by his boss an, Obama supporter.

    Chief of firm involved in breach is Obama adviser
    The executive is a former senior CIA official and former interim director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

    He contributed $2,300 to the Obama campaign in January.

    http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/22/passport.files/index.html

  • SteveIL,

    Thanks for sharing half the story.

    Some of the contract employees who looked at Obama’s record worked for “Stanley Inc.”. The president of Stanley is Phil Nolen, a regular, and almost exclusive (he gave to Liberman as well), contributor to the Republican party.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aU6zQl1ZwPgc&refer=home

    So is it your position that government agencies that let security breaches occur should not be held accountable if the breaches were caused by “contract” employees?

  • Has anyone else noticed there are Clintonistas that are just as insane as Sean Hannity? By that I would mean Jeff and Stevell.

    Of course there is also Taylor Marsh, Larry Johnson and the old Pup Tent Democrat and Jeralyn.

  • @Jeff

    Are you saying he shouldn’t complain when his data has been violated and he only found out months later? Sorry but I would be pointing fingers at the govt as well, if my data is breached I want to know on day one, it is an issue and it goes beyond judt trying to get his pastor off the news

  • Pug,

    SteveIL is a Republican poster to this site. He drops by from time to time to make arguments for his point of view; sometimes reasonable, sometimes not so much. I did visit his web site once. There, without the benefit of a sparing partner, he seems to go off on long-winded rants against straw man “liberals”.

    At this site he appears to try to be respectful as long as others are respectful to him.

  • ROTMFLiberalAO, I agree with you about Huckabee and Gingrich showing respect. I would add the recent comments of Charles “Bell Curve” Murray in The Corner to your list.

    “Has any other major American politician ever made a speech on race that comes even close to this one? As far as I’m concerned, it is just plain flat out brilliant—rhetorically, but also in capturing a lot of nuance about race in America. It is so far above the standard we’re used to from our pols…”

    I believe that there is a fissure in the conservative movement between the true believers and the propagandist power mongers. It will be interesting to see if this dynamic continues. For too long, decent conservatives have stood by quietly reaping the benefits of the propagandists. Now, some of them seem to be pushing back. The Sean Hannitys of this world may soon find their audience disappearing.

    And I want a pony, too!

  • Has anyone else noticed there are Clintonistas Obamaistas that are just as insane as Sean Hannity? By that I would mean Jeff and Stevell Pug.

    Because it takes some serious CDS to knee-jerk that SteveIL is a Clinton supporter. But hey, you just keep on representing the intellectual rigor of the Obama camp. . . works for me.

  • We’ve definitely entered a parallel universe when Newt is on Faux News talking what appears to be sense…

  • Pug, 21,

    Both Jeff Farias and SteveL are hardcore Repubs, not Clintonistas, as is (now missing) JRS Jr; you must not be reading this site very often, to think otherwise 🙂 They’re our “spice” (or “cross”, depending on your POV). Actually, all three of them (Seaberry is a dropping of an altogether different kind), while being mostly wrong (as far as I’m concerned), make sense once in a while. Additionally, both Jeff and SteveL are *literate* — a fairly unusual trait for a Repub. They remind me of the USSR spin doctors which had been my daily fare when I was growing up in Poland; they’re *almost* convincing a lot of the time and they provide a lot of entertainment when you try to “de-construct” and refute their points.

  • Passport files are pretty much just scanned in copies of your passport application and the doucments which support it. In the case of Obama’s file the supporting document is either a prior passport or his birth ceritficate – and not scanned in, just “seen and returned”. There is no travel history or much beyond what is on the passport application. It’s very private and must be protected, but hardly useful for political smearing. The good stuff is kept in a seperate system with much tighter control. DHS- “Homeland Security” owns that system, not DOS- “State”). The only files that DOS keeps which would have juicy opposition research type stuff are the visa application files and related derogatory information files kept regarding immigrant and visitor visa applications.

    • Comments are closed.