Wednesday, January 17, 2007

All the Kings Men

Granted, I am certain that most honest observers have characterized Sean Hannity as a two-bit party-hack for some time. Notwithstanding his obvious allegiances and delusional blindness, Hannity's new "Enemy of the State" segment exceeds all of my gutter-dwelling expectations. I mean seriously, "Enemy of the State??" Perhaps I'm out of the norm here, but that's a badge I'd wear proudly. Sign me up. David Weigel at Reason summarizes the 'Hannity Code' nicely:

...the Hannity strain of authoritarianism... has as its first principle worship of George W. Bush.... Hannity, like far too many Fox News pundits and radio hosts, is protecting George W. Bush against criticism from, well, everyone, from Pat Buchanan and Justin Raimondo to Cindy Sheehan and Dennis Kucinich. Notice what Sean Penn is maligned for: insulting Hannity and "calling for the impeachment of everyone in the Bush administration and calling them bastards." That might be unpleasant, but the conservatives of yore thought the Republic could survive occasional verbal attacks on the executive branch. Hannity thinks an attack on Bush is an attack on America. This is the reasoning of fascists, or at least of trembling four year olds.

UPDATE: It appears that I am a day late here as Hannity has apparently renamed the segment, "Enemy of the Week."