Sean Vannity and the Amazing Talk Radio Money Machine
P.T. Barnum was right: “There’s a sucker born every minute.” At some point in time several years ago, Sean Hannity understood this and, after observing the throngs who followed Rush Limbaugh, realized there was still plenty of room on the talk radio gravy train. With that he hopped aboard, grabbed Limbaugh’s coat-tails and is coasting nicely into a gazillion dollar retirement. Good for Sean. Is this a great country or what?
Only in America could a relatively talentless intellectual lightweight like Hannity become the second most popular radio talker in the country. Then again, the fact that his Boy Scout mug was plastered across the FOX News screen seven days per week certainly helped. Throw in a heavy dose of faux self-deprecation, fawning over every female who calls into his show and a bogus, over-inflated sense of moral outrage over any person, place or thing that can be perceived as pornographic in nature and you have a truly “Great American.”
Hannity may have brain coral for a cerebrum, but his business sense is very well developed: his books and Freedom Concerts are remarkably effective vehicles at promoting conservatism in general and Sean Hannity in particular. After all, as Hannity and Rush would be the first to admit, they are there first and foremost to garner ratings and drive up ad revenue for their radio networks. The ongoing polarization of our country is a mountain of grist for the talk radio mill and the top radio talkers are grinding away at it 24/7.
Not surprisingly, I’ve become acutely cynical since the 2008 election and these days, quite frankly, I suspect everyone’s motives - especially conservatives, because I hold them to a much higher standard than I do liberals. These days, I’ve come away from talk radio not so much jaded as disappointed. Like all other good things it’s just another business, another vehicle for fame and fortune: Tinseltown for conservatives and those who claim to be conservative.
I started listening to Rush Limbaugh in August 1988 - when he was living in New York and broadcasting from the WABC radio flagship studio in Manhattan. In those days he was a blast of delightfully fresh and unabashedly conservative air; his style was raw, astringent and edgy. Some of the best stuff he ever did was in the early years - when he was hungry and still unknown. How obscure was he? In those days I was able to call him up at his WABC office after the show and chat with him. Try doing THAT these days.
I still listen to Rush - mainly because I believe he is one of the most brilliant political analysts and pundits of this generation. His instincts are keen to the point of being eerily clairvoyant. Simply stated: Rush Limbaugh has a perfect radio voice, the ability to articulate his thoughts with great eloquence and elocution, a brilliant analytical mind and a razor sharp wit. He parlayed this talent into a billion-dollar empire. There is no question in my mind that Rush Limbaugh is both brilliant and conservative. I know this because during the 2008 campaign, he continued to attack John McCain as a RINO in a conservative suit.
Sean Hannity, on the other hand, does not have a radio voice or the ability to articulate what few original thoughts he has with any clarity, eloquence or elocution. He is less an original thinker than a cheerleader who realized years ago that the hours in a single radio day numbered far more than the three dominated by Limbaugh. Hannity understood - as I’m sure did many other Rush-wannabes - that Limbaugh’s audience was salivating for more red meat at the close of his daily excursion into broadcast excellence and these days Hannity takes full advantage of the sloppy seconds.
Unfortunately, he slipped up in the last two weeks and I am left wondering if Hannity is either a complete idiot or a total fraud.
Regular Hannity listeners are well aware of his incessant braying about being a “conservative first and Republican second.” We’ve all heard his annoyingly repetitious sermons about the need to follow the conservative principles of Ronald Reagan. We therefore have a standard to which we can hold him accountable.
As the New Jersey Republican primary battle became a two-man contest between Steve Lonegan and Chris Christie, Sean Hannity professed to a caller on the air that he did not want to take sides in the battle and that both candidates were good men. I know this because I not only heard the caller on the radio but actually met her a couple of weeks ago.
Then on May 25 Hannity had as guests on his television program Rudolph Giuliani and Chris Christie. Here is the interview:
At the minus 4:50 mark the Lisping RINO references Christine Whitman as part of the Republican resurgence in 1994. For those of you who don’t live in New Jersey, Christine Whitman is the alpha RINO female of the species who governed the Garden State like a Democrat. Much of the economic and governmental turmoil in this state can be laid at her feet. Notice how the Fat Man nods approvingly when Giuliani rattles off the list of RINO victors in various elections. Christie references the harsh “tone” of certain Republicans in the Northeast.
All good and well if Hannity would have offered Christie’s opponent, Steve Lonegan, equal time. After all, Fox News is all about being “fair and balanced,” right?
Wrong. Hannity wouldn’t give Lonegan the time of day. Those of us who supported Lonegan were flabbergasted. Was Hannity unaware of Christie’s RINO past? Was he ignorant of the fact that Lonegan had a specific, workable plan for the economic recovery of New Jersey while Christie had no plan at all - only a vague promise to “cut taxes across the board?” Was he clueless to the vicious and utterly duplicitous attacks Christie’s campaign made on Lonegan’s economic plan? Could Hannity really be THAT stupid? Or was he merely being opportunistic?
On Friday, May 29, Hannity had Christie on his radio program during the five o’clock hour. It was a short phone-in segment - about five minutes long - but certainly a boost to Christie’s campaign.
On June 2, Christie defeated Lonegan in the primary.
Last night Mark Levin chatted with Hannity during the opening segment of the eight o’clock hours of his show. You can go here for the full clip, which lasts roughly 12 minutes or so.
Listen carefully to the clips below and marvel as Hannity hoists himself with his own “conservative” petard:
Hannity talks about leadership and taking a principled stand as Regan did and running as conservatives
He talks a good ballgame, that Hannity. Everything he said applies perfectly to Steve Lonegan - a principled conservative who embraces the core values of Reagan conservatism. Unfortunately, Hannity ignored Lonegan in favor of a RINO with no executive experience who once tried to run for the New Jersey State Senate as a Democrat. Is Hannity aware that Christie once donated to Planned Parenthood and described Second Amendment proponents as “fanatics?”
Hannity prattles on about his “Reagan conservative values” and declares that “we don’t abandon our principles.”
Oh really? Does that explain why Hannity sucks up to Guiliani? Perhaps that explains why he ultimately sided with Christie. Apparently he was and still is too stupid to distinguish between a real conservative like Steve Lonegan and Chris Christie - a RINO in conservative’s clothing.
Unfortunately, Sean Hannity made his bed and now he has to lie in it, lest he be outed for the dimwit he really is. Instead of biting the bullet, sucking it up and admitting Giuliani and Christie had him bamboozled, Hannity will likely dig his heels in and jump into the tank for Christie because he’s the guy running against Corzine and in spite of the fact that he is anything but a conservative.
Hannity urges fellow radio talkers and politicians to stand on those principles.
I guess Hannity must have fallen over and couldn’t get up.
In what has to be the crowning irony of this interview, Hannity laments the cold-shoulder given by the Drive-By media to the enormous success of Mark Levin’s best-selling book Liberty and Tyranny.
That the Drive-Bys ignore Levin is no surprise. I’ve come to expect that from them. What I did not expect is that a proud, self-professed “Reagan conservative” would ignore a fellow conservative who garnered nearly half the Republican vote in the recent NJ primary. I never expected a “Great American” such as Sean Hannity would promote a RINO over a true conservative. It’s all the more amazing in light of Hannity’s praise for Levin’s book.
I guess Hannity must have skimmed through Liberty and Tyranny without actually reading it (understandably enough, as there are no pictures in the book). Clearly, he skipped the chapter where Levin eloquently defended the flat tax as an equitable and conservative solution to the question of raising government revenue.
The mainstay of Lonegan’s plan for the economic recovery of New Jersey involved implementing a flat tax of 2.91% on all incomes. Christie attacked the plan as stupid and crazy, arguing that it would raise taxes for 70% of New Jersey residents. It was a lie, of course. But Hannity appears to have swallowed it hook, line and sinker.
That Sean Hannity failed to distinguish between the true conservative and the RINO in the New Jersey primary tells me he’s a dimwit. That he refuses to acknowledge his error and make a good-faith effort to undo the damage for which he is partly responsible tells me he is, at best, disingenuous and at worst, a fake, a phony and a fraud.
Excellent article Manly. I saw you at the Lonegan “party” election night covering the event but didn’t get a chance to stop by and say hi.
Check out the GardenStatePatriot’s Blog Entry about how he was treated by Hannity’s call screener when he tried to bring up the issue of Lonegan. Having talked to others who were treated the same I know this was by design and not just a fluke.
I wrote a follow up the the GardenStatePatriot’s entry which I won’t repeat here except to say that Sean Hannity views himself as more important than the conservative cause he claims to champion. This is the height of arrogance and vanity.
That speaks volumes about the education level of the listeners, not that Rush is highbrow!!
Good grief!!
Which is why he needs to get a HUGE DOSE of correction or be utterly destroyed!!
Again, Sean Hannity is the “conservative Benedict Arnold” of our time, betraying and misleading the very people and principles that he claims to stand for, instead siding with and supporting the enemy - and faux conservative candidates are evil, therefore our enemy because they are DESTROYING our country!!
MD,
I think a big chunk of this is ignorance in general, but not all. There are a lot of intelligent people who simply are not inclined to spend their free time dealing with politics. I have one set of relatives that are all very highly intelligent. Not even one dunce among them. But they don’t want to spend their free time listening to 3 hours of radio every day to try and catch all the nuance that Rush dishes out. Hence, they get a lot of their news from the 3-5 minute station updates at 5pm on their drive home each evening.
I think some of the apathy comes from the feeling that most people have (including myself sometimes) that no matter what we do the people in D.C. are going to do what they want anyway, so why bother scouring the net or listening to talk radio for 3 hours a day upsetting yourself about it? Look at TARP, the Porkulus, the $trillion budget, etc. People melted the phone lines in Congress and it didn’t matter. They passed it anyway.
Things like that discourage people from caring enough to really participate in the process.
Which is where Hannity comes in because you can literally listen to him for 5 minutes and get the gist of the entire show. I agree, he needs a HUGE kick in the pants over his choice in candidates (although I suspect this is more to do with him not being a stellar “thinker”, so he picks either his buddies or friends of his buddies because he thinks they’re good people). But I’d rather not write him off completely yet, because as Charlotte pointed out, he can be an absolute pit bull for the conservative cause and has been on the issues I mentioned above.
I know you guys are mad that he gave Christie a platform with Giuliani behind him and I understand that completely. If (and probably when) he does the same for Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio in Florida, I’ll be pretty pissed myself. But unless he pulls a Powell/Frum/Noonan/Parker/Meg McCain, etc, I’m gonna take what help he can give. In other words, he may not always pick the best candidates to promote, but the causes/issues he champions are usually the right ones and I’ll take that.
True.
Hence the need for the full fruition of Manly’s extensive classroom.
That’s because they have busy lives being productive and taking care of family and making this country run as well as it does.
From reading your posts, you have impressed me as being from good blood stock, Mandy.
I have said this in the comments and in email exchanges with Manly, many times.
Too many people simply don’t have the patience nor the time to listen to 3 hrs. of radio - laced with entertainment - to expect a program like Rush’s, to be as effective as we need it to be, in these desperate times.
Hence, this is why we need to have people sign up for email and text message updates from this blog, that explains in a clear and brief synopsis all the issues of the day, and not just what Rush chooses to talk about.
Partly true. Some of it is apathy, some of it is laziness and lack of time, as well.
Regardless of how upsetting the news is, we can NEVER tire of defending our country by informing ourselves… that is, if we truly love and appreciate what God has given us, in this great country of ours!!
This is why the full fruition of Manly’s plan (which most of you haven’t heard) needs to be realized, because for the first time in the truly Conservative Blogosphere, there will be multiple REAL effective action plans and tools immediately available alongside the news and issues of the day, everyday, so that there is no longer any excuse for slackers.
Not if you truly love the country more than being miffed by a politician.
That’s because he repeats the boiler plate bulletins every 5 minutes.
Real boring if you want any depth out of the guy.
The pants he needs to be wearing is a conservative straight jacket from now to eternity.
Rest assured, Hannity has less brain power in his entire head than Sarah Palin has in her little toe (that’s why she takes good care of them).
His support of RINOs is purely about vanity browny points for Sean Hannity in the RINO social cocktail parties.
He is an absolutely neutered pit bull with all bark and no teeth, because he is preventing real conservatives from getting elected - which is where the real battle is - and misleading his followers of his support for true conservatism, therefore, he is a fraud of the highest order.
Anybody, repeat, ANYBODY can rail about Obama - he is a sitting doofus Donald Duck after all!!
But getting true conservatives elected?
Now that is the most highest order in the Conservative bible, because without elected Conservative politicians we have nobody to represent ourselves!!
Duh………
And in this, Hannity has UTTERLY FAILED US!!
IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mad does not begin to describe it.
If I found out that my Mom was a whore when she conceived me, I wouldn’t be more hurt, than I’m with Sean Hannity’s treachery and betrayal……..!!
(Now mind you, I heard his first national broadcast which was the day of infamy: 9 - 11, and many a day since)
Pretty pissed shouldn’t begin to describe it, if you love your country.
He’s pulled something far worse than these people have.
He is as we speak, pulling a “Conservative Benedict Arnold”.
Refer back to my other responses.
Sean Hannity is a neutered castrati that sings a good conservative song and goes to all the conservative dances, but when he needs a spine, he turns into a slithering snake.
To wit: He promises fairness in Republican primary candidate treatment and then turns around and refuses to give the true conservatives the time of the day…..
…..tells people he is not a liar and truly lives what he believes and then lies before our very eyes all the while saying he doesn’t lie.
Rant not over.
A sad state of affairs…
Excellent article and I’m inclined to agree with Mandy P. I am outraged and hurt by Sean’s treatment of Lonegan. You couldn’t find a better man to serve as NJ governor if you offered a million to find him.
I listened to Sean before he was syndicated and loved him. But Sean totally blew it on this one. I have not listened to him since he had Christie on his TV show. I heard that call where he said he didn’t want to get involved in a primary and then proceeded to have Christie on. What the?
If Sean had bothered to look at the background of these guys, no doubt he’d realize Christie is a Rino and Lonegan the true conservative. He should have also been more concerned with this race as it is in his backyard and the country’s best interest. Maybe Mark Levin can slap him and get him out of this for the next NJ election.
Truth be told, I’ll probably listen to him again but I’m too ticked right now.
hey is it true Sean Hannity can see his failure from his house window in loserville