Poor Sean Hannity

King ^ | April 22, 2003 | Charley Reese

[Beenliedto]

Poor Sean Hannity

Sean Hannity, a radio talk-show host and Fox News whiner, has a one-rut mind. Every criticism or dissent, no matter what the subject, the topic or the source, is a left-wing attack against his hero, George W. Bush.

Well, what can you expect from an immature groupie? Every time he tries to think, his face reflects the pain of the effort. But he really showed his emptiness recently when he said that criticism of the United States failing to guard the Iraqi National Museum was — you guessed it — just left-wing soreheads who are mad that President Bush's war has been so successful.

Give me a break. That museum is one of the five greatest museums on Earth. It contained treasures that are the heritage of mankind. There are 140,000 U.S. military personnel in Iraq. We've protected all the oil fields, north and south. Do you really believe we couldn't have spared two fire teams to guard the irreplaceable artifacts of the beginnings of Western civilization? Of course we could have. Somebody just goofed.

This is not a left/right, liberal/conservative issue. It's not a question of patriots versus traitors, as the morons among the neoconservative crowd try to paint every human being who refuses to click his heels and salute their guru, Richard Perle, and their emperor, George Bush. This is a cultural issue. Three great treasures — the museum, the National Library and the largest collection of Koranic writings in the world — were looted and burned. Since we had destroyed the Iraqi government, it was our responsibility to protect them.

I don't blame President Bush. I'm sure he's unaware of their existence. After all, he brags about not reading. But what would we say if the crowds who have rioted in Washington in the past had been allowed to loot and burn the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress? Do you think we would have accepted an excuse that there weren't enough cops to protect those two treasures?

One hates to disillusion the permanently adolescent among us, but this tiny sliver of life in which we are participating is a dot on a long line of human civilization. One day, we will be as forgotten as the Assyrians, and hopefully some museum will have artifacts from our brief stay on the stage of history.

There is a definitely a whiff of anti-intellectualism — so characteristic of fascist states — in the air. Beware of bully boys who worship the military and scoff at museums and libraries. Beware of people whose limited brains see everyone as either an ally or an enemy. Beware of people who can't tell the difference between patriotism and military conquest. Beware of people so stupid and ignorant that they accept anything and everything the political and the media demagogues tell them.

Thomas Jefferson, who would have been outraged by the loss of the museum and the library, said, "Those who expect to be ignorant and free expect what never was and never will be." Amen cubed.

I'm no longer concerned about liberals or conservatives, leftists or rightists. I just pray to God for a non-ideologue with a three-digit IQ. If we don't elevate the level of intelligence and integrity of our government, we are going to end up floating on the cesspool of history.

As for anyone being disappointed that the war was conducted rapidly and successfully, that's bull. I was opposed to the war, but I'm damned glad it was quick and there were as few casualties as there have been. Every anti-war person I know of or have read feels the same way. You have to be a really sick puppy to imagine that anyone would want to see Americans die just because they disagree with the policy that put them in harm's way. Let me spell it out for the mentally impaired: People are anti-war because they do not wish to see anyone die — our soldiers, their soldiers, our civilians or their civilians. Anti-war is pro-life.

© 2003 by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

[Beenliedto]

Now just remember that a few short months ago, everyone on Free republic loved this guy.

[cicero's_son]

I disagree with Charlie on the war, but he's spot on regarding Hannity.

I heard the show Reese is referring to in the article. It was a disgrace. Hannity actually said something along the lines of, "big deal, so we broke a bunch of stupid clay pots."

[Puppage]

And they don't now? Because of a museum?

[Puppage]

big deal, so we broke a bunch of stupid clay pots."

And, just how many US lives are YOU willing to lose the protect those "pots"?

Sure, I agree that in the interest of history & such, that it would wonderful to have saved them. HOWEVER, it is secondary to the removal of Saddam & his thugs.

Ya thinks it's POSSIBLE, that all this crying about the museum is coming from those on the left because there's NOTHING ELSE THEY CAN COMPLAIN ABOUT, OR TAKE ISSUE WITH?

[Amore]

I grew up reading this guy's columns. He's been senile for quite some time now.

[ChuckHam]

Is Charley a liberal? Sure sounds like one since he parrots every liberal talking point he hears.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Why was it responsibility of the US military to protect and defend the heritage of the Iraqi people? After WWII, the Japanese people never looted their own treasures, neither did the Germans. I would imagine that the US military had enough on their plate securing the future of the Iraqi people. The past should have been protected by the Iraqi people themselves.

[sirchtruth]

I heard the show Reese is referring to in the article. It was a disgrace. Hannity actually said something along the lines of, "big deal, so we broke a bunch of stupid clay pots."

Your wrong, and so is Charlie! Sean was referring to the FACT that the real left whiners were more concerned about this museum than Iraqi's being tortured and their lives!

Get a clue.

[BruceS]

People are anti-war because they do not wish to see anyone die — our soldiers, their soldiers, our civilians or their civilians. Anti-war is pro-life.

I haven't seen this much bologna since I got out of grade school. Those who were anti-war were saying that it was OK to let a despotic regime continue to murder thousands of people rather than us get involved. Reminds me of that famous case in New York where people did nothing while a woman was raped and killed on the street in front of their homes. Being anti-war means that you consider your life and the life of your friends to be more important than some third-world, non-white person's life.

That said, not everyone who is anti-war is anti-Bush. Just most of them.

[Helms]

Sean may not be the heir to El Rushbo. He is way more red meat eating than Rush and does not yet have the intellectual gravitas and depth of Rush.

[Alouette]

Well, what can you expect from an immature groupie? a senile old idiot? Every time he tries to think, his face reflects the pain of the effort.

[cicero's_son]

I'm not on the Left, but I think the looting of that museum was a tragedy.

Don't make the same mistake the Left does, boiling everything down to scoring political points or defending our goal. Conservatives care about history and culture, as we should. It's one of the things that distinguishes us from the Left, which always wins when people are cut off from their past. After all, who are the great culture-destroyers of the 20th century? Mao, Lenin, Pol Pot...

[Miss Marple]

I haven't read this guy in some time. I would like to know why he has such a visceral hatred of George Bush. He has managed to roll into several columns every stupid comment I have heard from the left wing over the last 3 years, such as the LIE that Bush brags about not reading books.

He is also apparently unable to read current wire reports, statements by archaeological and museum experts, and the Wall Street Journal, all of whom have pointed out that there is a very real possibility that this was an inside job done under cover of the looting.

[nicmarlo]

We've protected all the oil fields, north and south. Do you really believe we couldn't have spared two fire teams to guard the irreplaceable artifacts of the beginnings of Western civilization? Of course we could have. Somebody just goofed.

Yes, that would be Saddam Hussein and regime. They were told to get out. They were given 48 hours. They refused. Oil fields: let's see, at the last war, hundreds were set on fire. We were prepared this time, only 9 I believe were set.

Human life is worth more than antiquities. Those who stole from the museums are the guilty party, not the US who freed human beings from prisons, tyranny, and torture.

I don't blame President Bush. I'm sure he's unaware of their existence. After all, he brags about not reading.

This is an untruth...George Bush reads, a lot.

There is a definitely a whiff of anti-intellectualism — so characteristic of fascist states — in the air.

Yes, there is, and it's coming from people like you.

[PGalt]

Charlie (misplaced priorities, misplaced anger) Reese, trying to fire up the "arts and croissant" crowd. Whaaa whaa whaa...what a column.

[cicero's_son]

I'm not wrong.

I heard the show.

I listen to him just about every day.

[oldvike]

It's not a question of patriots versus traitors, as the morons among the neoconservative crowd try to paint every human being who refuses to click his heels and salute their guru, Richard Perle, and their emperor, George Bush

Very true.

[appeal2]

This reminds of the time that Klinton didn't bomb a palace in Yugoslavia where he could have taken out the evil Milosevic because there was a Picasso hanging there. I guess we should have skipped the invasion to preserve the museum.

[smith288]

Sean is getting on my nerves... Especially during the Lott issue. Hannity would stick up for Lott if Lott called the Black Caucus an "auction". Colmes is wrong 90% of the time but I like his style more than Hannity who just likes to scream and name call. At least Colmes debates without the emotion a liberal tends to debate with. Funny its Sean who gets all worked up and emotional.

Colmes is butt ugly but even tempered, Sean is a good looking guy (being comfortable in my sexuality) but an emotional hot head.

[mware]

Come on, it has been reported that the theft of the museum was an inside job. The thieves had the keys to the vaults.

It has also been reported that a large portion of the artifacts were in fact copies. It has been reported that the museum had a plan that could safeguard pieces in the museum within 24 hours.

As to the dig on Sean, I think he was right. The life of one of our military on the ground is worth anything in that museum.

[cicero's_son]

Colmes is wrong 90% of the time but I like his style more than Hannity who just likes to scream and name call. At least Colmes debates without the emotion a liberal tends to debate with. Funny its Sean who gets all worked up and emotional.

Yup.

Hannity is a disaster in the making for the conservative movement. We'll rue the day we made him one of our champions.

[Guenevere]

Charlie Reese's writings are slop!

[frossca]

This is not a left/right, liberal/conservative issue.

It shouldn't be but the left and the media made it one. This is all they have to hang there anti-war (Bush) hat on (other than not yet finding any big drums with "WMD" stamped on the side.)

In all this brouhaha about the museums I have yet to hear or see anyone mention the human shields. Since they were so interested in protecting the people and culture of Iraq, where were they when all this was happening?

[AppyPappy]

Charlie Reese is a girlyman

[Puppage]

the looting of that museum was a tragedy

I absolutely agree. However, how many US lives would have been expendable in order to have prevented it? It was also the work of professional thieves who just waiting for the chance to steal.

[Guenevere]

#13...Don't even bother to get your ire up over this hasbeen!

He's a vicous, meanspirited nobody who thinks he has something worthwhile to say.

If you've seen him lately, you will see his body reflects the sour, overindulged person he has become.

He's repulsive!!

[plain talk]

Oh really? He has written that the Bush administration is "by far" worse than Clinton's and that N. Korea has every right to have nukes. The guy is a complete idiot.

[AppyPappy]

I'm not on the Left, but I think the looting of that museum was a tragedy.

A tragedy is when a child dies. That was a robbery.

[KeyBored]

"After all, [Pres. Bush] brags about not reading."

If Charlie Reese has a fault to some, it's that his writing reflects one who is TOO enamored of the Constitution. (Personally, I don't agree with this because one CAN'T be too enamored of the Constitution.)

He's like the elderly uncle who lives in the next town - cranky, and always seeming to find fault and reasons we shouldn't do what we want to do. As with anyone, sometimes he'll be right - sometimes he'll be wrong. But count on one thing - when Reese writes a column it has been well thought out. He's hard to pigeonhole as a liberal or a conservative - and maybe that's not a bad thing.

I DO wish he would lay off one of the favorite tactics of the left however - the "Bush is an idiot" ploy. (See quote above). IMO his writing and any points he makes risk being lost when he does it.

[arasina]

There are a lot of issues to discuss about this Museum of Antiquities and Sean Hannity and Charlie Reese, but I'll let ther rest of you do that. I'm just wondering about two things:

• What the heck was this museum doing in IRAQ in the first place? I mean, it isn't exactly a prime tourist spot and Saddam didn't have respect for any museum unless it contained thousands of likenesses of him.
• Why didn't the curators follow their 48-hour evacuation plan when the first tanks crosssed the border into Iraq?

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Even if the theft were not an inside job, (which it now appears that it was), why is it the reponsibility of the US military to protect and defend the heritage of the Iraqi people? After WWII, the Japanese people didn't loot their museums, neither did the Germans. The US military was working securing the future of the Iraqi people. It should have been up to the Iraqi people to respect and defend their own heritage.

[dwilli]

God help anyone who depends on Sean Hannity to give him or her daily intellectual stimulation.

[Dr.Deth]

Sean is right, it's just the grasping of the left. If we protect the museums instead of the oil wells, then they decry the 'environmental holocaust' of having them set ablaze.

Sorry Charlie, must be some bad tuna you ate. "Heads I win, tails you lose" went out with the monolithic left-wing media bloc of the 70's, 80's and 90's that ensured such things.

[Dr. Luv]

I disagree with almost everything this guy has to say. In one respect however, he is absolutely correct:

"That museum is one of the five greatest museums on Earth. It contained treasures that are the heritage of mankind. There are 140,000 U.S. military personnel in Iraq. We've protected all the oil fields, north and south. Do you really believe we couldn't have spared two fire teams to guard the irreplaceable artifacts of the beginnings of Western civilization?

We could have and we should have. As conservatives, we need to be big enough to admit our mistakes and this one was a doozy...

[Miss Marple]

I didn't hear the show, but I would imagine Sean's comments were much as you said. I do not hold the military responsible in any way for the museum thefts. I wish that it hadn't happened, but I am convinced that most of the valuable items were removed before the US Army reached Baghdad, and the looting was of mostly office furniture and the like.

However, it would be better for our side if people like Sean would take a less belligerent posture and point out the facts and suspicions about the thefts, rather than simply acting like the items were valueless.

Charlie Reese, on the other hand, is totally consumed with attacking the President at every turn. I cannot remember the details of his column just prior to the war, but it was so bad that I cancelled our local county paper over it.

And he isn't fooling me one bit. He, along with several others in the press, had their "Bush is to blame for the deaths of thousands" columns all ready to print.

[J. L. Chamberlain]

It's not a question of patriots versus traitors, as the morons among the neoconservative crowd try to paint every human being who refuses to click his heels and salute their guru, Richard Perle, and their emperor, George Bush.

The slide of mainstream Repubilcans into neocon stupidity has been disgraceful. Hopefully they will awake soon.

J

[AppyPappy]

God help anyone who depends on Sean Hannity to give him or her daily intellectual stimulation.

God help anyone who uses a strawman to give him or her daily intellectual stimulation.

[sirchtruth]

I'm not wrong.

Ok, then you didn't put your quote of what Sean said in context.

I don't get to listen to Sean every day, but I do know the intent of what he said.

BTW, it's aweful what happened, and I am only sorry that Iraq's did not protect the remnants of their heritage better.

[bullseye1911]

If we don't elevate the level of intelligence and integrity of our government, we are going to end up floating on the cesspool of history.

Sorry Charlie, we took care of that in 2000!!

[MrsEmmaPeel]

As conservatives, we need to be big enough to admit our mistakes and this one was a doozy...

How so? See post #31.

[AppyPappy]

Maybe Pat Buchanan and his pro-abort VP can save us.

[cicero's_son]

What you said.

I agree with everything in your post. All I ask out of Hannity is a little intellectual honesty. I don't blame our military either, I just don't want conservative leaders to start acting like Jacobins. You can't be both a conservative and a Jacobin at the same time.

[cicero's_son]

BTW, it's aweful what happened, and I am only sorry that Iraq's did not protect the remnants of their heritage better.

Spoken like a true conservative. I agree with you 100%.

To put Sean's comment in contect, he was signing off (cutting his caller off in mid-sentence, btw, as he nearly manages to do going into a break), and he basically said, "I'm sick and tired of hearing about this museum issue. It's a bunch of stupid rocks and pots, and who cares if they got broken or stolen." NOT an exact quote, mind you, but pretty much along those lines.

[Bluntpoint]

Sean comes off as a silly ass conservative cheerleader. Give me Michael Medved, Dennis Praeger, Hugh Hewitt or Rush for thoughtful commentary.

[Hammerhead]

Never been a big fan of Hannity. His long winded tirade against Charlie Rangle regarding Charlie's statement of 'bombing innocent women and children' in Iraq was extremely amature. I knew, and Sean knew, that Charlie was trying to make political hay. But to imply that Rangle meant we were going to INTENTIONALLY bomb women and children, well, that was just plain ridiculous on Sean's part. Very juvenile.

And would someone tell SH to PLEASE dump this Levin guy. What a complete unfunny, wise ass he is. I switch channels whenever that idiot comes on.

[Publius6961]

Well, what can you expect from an immature groupie?

What can we expect?
Charlie, exactly what we see from the hysterical left:

Whether the topic is war, natural disaster, famine, epidemic, the word "Bush" can be expected in the mindless drivel delivered.

Next question?

[cicero's_son]

Ditto.

[TheRightGuy]

Sadly, I doubt if either Reese or Hannity was even aware there is a museum in Baghdad before looting began. Now we're forced to listen to the two opine on the topic.

[Living Free in NH]

But what would we say if the crowds who have rioted in Washington in the past had been allowed to loot and burn the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress? Do you think we would have accepted an excuse that there weren't enough cops to protect those two treasures?

I'd be a lot less worried about it if it occured about the same time the Russians were bombing the hell out of us. I can do without Archie Bunker's chair or Julia Child's kitchen. And I probably wouldn't blame the Russians for the looting.

[TankerKC]

Agreement here.

Also, I have had about enough of the “Bush is dumb” song.