It was a joy to behold on Tuesday October 7, 2008 when Robert Gibbs, an Obama spokesman slapped Sean Hannity all over the television screen and reduced the hate-monger and vomit-inducing talking head to a please-don’t-hit-me quivering fool. It is very astonishing sometimes when we hear the hate that spews from the mouths of supposedly intelligent people in one of the most advanced countries in the world. We can understand such crass behavior from some people in developing and underdeveloped countries, not here. When a journalist or TV host takes it upon him or her self to promote hate and incite racist tendencies, they are essentially projecting themselves as a danger to the national security of the country. When Sean Hannity openly calls a U.S. senator a “terrorist” and appeals to a presidential candidate to “go after” another candidate, it is the most despicable thing I have ever seen. But the beauty of the Gibbs/Hannity clash is the exposure of the hypocrisy of the right-wing ideologues in this country. After Sean Hannity hosted a show that openly embraced anti-semitic feelings and ranted and raved about Andy Martin, he was egregious enough to try and blab on about Ayers and terrorism. Sometimes it does seem as if these so-called conservative pundits live in an alternate world. Just as senator McCain projects this hypocritical mien, Sean Hannity was in self-denial when Gibbs called him anti-semitic. That Sean Hannity would go to the vitriolic length he did in a wimpy attempt to prove that he was not only re-enforced the fact that he is indeed anti-semitic. When confronted with the fact that the so-called “terrorist” also worked with the Annenberg Foundation owned by a Republican, Sean Hannity slipped into the familiar water-balloon of shouting and insult flinging. What the exchange between Gibbs and Hannity exposed was the danger associated with labeling.
When you label someone recklessly, there is the danger that someone can take your words at face value, hence the reports of people yelling “kill him” at a Sarah Palin rally. It was the reckless labeling that attempts to define Obama as “not one of us” despite the fact that he is a bona fide American. The confrontation was poignant because it put Sean Hannity in the seat of the person he was gleefully labeling. When he was called anti-semitic, he felt the need to defend himself and discredit the minds of the watching public that he was not. We cannot expect Sean Hannity to suddenly be smitten by a bout of conscience and “repent”, but one thing is sure, his life will not be the same after being called out like that.
The eight years of the disastrous policies of George W. Bush has brought us here. For those eight years, the rabid ideology of the right-wing intelligentsia ruled and controlled the conversation. It is said that power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely. That is what is making the Republicans and their bull-horns very angry. They see the end of their stranglehold on power about to come to an end. And they are going to go down kicking and fighting.
See a short clip of this throwdown here