Can Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity Get Doug Hoffman Elected?
Here’s the key exchange between Hoffman and Beck:
HOFFMAN: I have good mentors here.
BECK: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Are they mentors that will show…
HOFFMAN: I’m talking about you, Glenn.
BECK: Oh, okay. I was going to say, ‘all right, as long as they are standing out from the shadows, and saying Doug as long as you sign away your soul I’ll make you king of the universe.’
HOFFMAN: No. Yeah, well, I’m going to keep in touch with people like you so I don’t get infected with that disease.
Glenn Beck is a “mentor” for Doug Hoffman, because Hoffman is the first national candidate to come out of the tea party movement. Hoffman has appeared several times on Hannity’s show, and on Beck’s TV and radio show. But that doesn’t mean they’re the only ones who have a horse in this race. Obviously there are the politicians – Sarah Palin being the key name thrown around – and there is the conservative blogosphere that was way ahead of even Beck and the bigger stars about this race.
But this is about the power of tea parties – and that means it’s about the power of Fox News as an entire news entity. Their coverage of town halls and the 9/12 protest – again, from the news side, was far more vast than any other cable news outlet, sometimes drifting into what could only be described as ‘getting too close to the story.’
And they didn’t hold back on stating their opinion that they believed the news judgment of the other networks was wrong in not covering this movement more: “Generally speaking, it’s fair to say that from the tea party movement … to Acorn … to the march on 9/12, the networks either ignored the story, marginalized it or misrepresented the significance of it altogether.”
Hoffman, who is unpolished at best and embarrassingly unprepared at worst, is the first candidate to come out of this movement, and if he can win, it means Fox News and their tea party coverage has won as well. And who knows – if they can field a candidate, have their opinion hosts boost him to victory in a small congressional race, what’s next? A 9/12er Senate candidate? A Tea Party President?
At the end of the interview, Hannity said, “I think this is a referendum on a lot of what’s been going on in the country which is moving radically to the left. This election will be watched. I hope I’m on the air this time tomorrow night and I’ll be able to declare you the winner.”
If he’s on the air and has to declare Hoffman the loser, then that means Hannity lost as well – and it will be a referendum on his power, Beck’s power and others. We’ll see just how fair of a fight this White House vs. Fox News feud really is.
Here’s the Hannity interview last night:
Here’s the “mentor” comment:
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11 comments
m says: Isn’t this just another example of where Fox News is a political advocacy bureau? Not covering, but involving.
Fidoohki says: No, it’s an example of telling the other side instead of just telling the Obama agenda.
ImNotBlue says: In the NY23rd race, it’s not who wins really… it’s the fact that the Tea Partiers were able to get the “Republican” (not the quotes) to withdraw. That shows their movement is gaining power. To go from nothing, to influencing a candidate to resign… especially when they were doing well in the polls… is very significant. A win would be amazing politically… but events preceeding it show of things to come.
Tater Salad says: The candidate in the 23rd. district was a Democratic ….plant it would seem. She even supported the criminal enterprise…..Acorn.
To be fair, Hannity is open about being an opinion show, so this is not any proof of advocacy in the news side of Fox. This does not mean it doesn’t exist (it does, just the same as MSNBC), but Hannity is an OPINION show.
Granted that Hannity is another coward with a microphone, at least he does not pretend to be an actual journalist, unlike say, Olbermann or Dobbs or Greta.
As far as the “telling the other side” comment, that is inaccurate as far as journalism. Actual journalism involves telling both sides, which nobody does. Not Fox, not MSNBC, not CBS, ABC, CNN or any other. They all tell the side they like.
But the opinion shows do not count towards that.
And Tater Salad happily points out the GOP’s biggest problem – intolerance towards any but hard party line. If a Republican has a position that is not on the marching orders, they get cut out. Thus a moderate Republican becomes a Democratic “plant,” instead of just a moderate Republican.
In a great example of hypocrisy, this is exactly what the Dems did to Lieberman in his re-election bid. A move the GOP scoffed at. Yet here they are doing the same thing.
Both parties are officially corrupt and useless. They serve nobody and represent nobody. Michael Steele’s blog is called “Change the Game.” Well, it is not a game. It is about governance. The Dems fret over head counts in Congress while ignoring ethics violations that would make Nixon weep. Again, to them it is a game.
Well, to We the People, it is about our government, not head counts, wins, polls and the like. Both parties have set aside their duty to the voeters and serve only themselves.
I remain proudly No Party Affiliation and urge everyone else to unjoin with me.
The Tea Partiers claim to be independent but they’re still trying to sell the same defective Bush/Republican policies that put us into what is apparently the Great Depression II. They can dress themselves up as 912ers or birthers or Becknuts or Tea Partiers – but underneath all that, it is all the same – defective policies that resulted in a doubling of the national debt, $1.2 trillion of the $1.4 trillion budget deficit for FY 2009, the least tax revenues since the first Great Depression and all the tea partiers can do is go into turbowhine about spending now trying to help Americans instead of the stupidity that included the Blunder in Iraq. Tea Partiers – still stupid after all these years.
Scuzzy wasn’t a “moderate republican” she was a liberal Democrat who called herself a “moderate republican”. It’s no accident that she talked about leaving the race “for the good of the republican party” — and then endorsed the democrat. Scuzzy is a shill for big labor, big government, and big socialism. She’s a disgrace and the GOP is a disgrace for nominating her.
Apparently Chris Jones is now the official arbiter of who gets to be a Republican. Thus the party’s problems. Good luck with the exclusive entry qualifications the the so-called “big GOP tent.”
ImNotBlue says: I don’t know what’s more depressing, Bill. The fact that you’re so wrong… or the fact that you’re proud to be so wrong.
All you’ve got is hate and ideology. That’s it. Bummer.
If you knew the first thing about the Tea Partiers, you’d know they oppose the same wasteful spending of the BUSH years, that they oppose now. But you don’t. All you know is that you have to hate them, before they don’t root for “your guy.” How does it feel to turn your mind, logic, and reason over to a political ideology? I bet it feels nice… not having to think. Too bad it doesn’t get you anywhere.
David Ladabouche says: I agree that both parties have lost sight of who they represent. It’s staggering to realize that it’s not the health of the American people at stake, but which party wins with their healthcare proposal, whether it’s good for America or not. I’m tired of socalled journalists bashing personalities instead of issues.
Also, I think it’s a sad day in America that the religious right (not necessarily) and ultra conservatives came from all over the country like flies on horse dung to overthrow gay marriage in Maine, just as they did in California. They predicted doom and gloom after Mass. approved gay marriage and none of it has come to pass, in fact just the opposite. It’s too bad those millions couldn’t have been spent on people in our country (and their parishes) that are destitute instead of discriminating against a group of people who only want what the Constitution offers all Americans….the pursuit of happiness. What has the marriage of 1000’s of gay people so far in the states that have passed it cost heterosexuals? It’s a question no one wants to answer. Very sad indeed.
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