Yes, I know that only a very few days ago I personally declared Sean Hannity to be "irrelevant". In fact, my "Declaration of Irrelevance" was issued at least two days before that which was offered up by Keith Olbermann. It should also be noted that Keith waited only a single day after declaring Hannity irrelevant...before resuming addressing the circular reasoning routinely offered up by this particular element of the lunatic fringe.
I had sworn that I would absolutely refrain from even acknowledging Hannity for the next eight years...or perhaps, ever. Unfortunately, the guy has gone so far off the deep end following the Obama LANDSLIDE, that I have to go back on my word, so to speak, and discuss an aspect of the most recent "Hannity Seizure"...that no other Commentator has found worthy of addressing.
Before, during, and especially after THE OBAMA LANDSLIDE, Hannity customarily took to his "purer than the driven Ivory Snow soapbox" to proclaim to his listeners that he was, in fact, the "Grand Bastion of All Things both Conservative...and Capitalist". This would tend to make sense, given that he participated actively in the conspiracy to label Barack Obama as a Socialist...essentially killing two birds with one besmirchment.
However...as is virtually always the case when dealing with this particular arm of The Axis of Weasel, while Sean the Magnificent is showing you one card, a closer examination reveals an obvious attempt at misdirection while he palms the item that you were never intended to observe.
Let me attempt to reveal how this latest trick is actually performed.
Hannity is a True Conservative. This means, of course, he stands for less government. Any True Conservative wants government to stay out of business...because any time government gets involved in business...business loses...which means the consumer loses.
Hannity is a True Capitalist. This means, of course, that he stands for allowing the Free Market to control costs, prices, market shares, location of operations, day-to-day management of all business, and yes...whether or not any company should stay IN business, or go out of business.
Unless...of course, the business in question happens to be a major sponsor of The Sean Hannity Show, Hannity.com, and various peripheral elements, all of which generate revenue to the most favored of all Hannity Charities...Sean Hannity.
For months, Hannity railed against any form of government bailout for Wall Street Investment Houses. Hannity ranted about banks, insurance companies and mortgage companies making bad loans, insuring bad debt, making their own beds...and suggesting that CEOs of these entities be PERP-WALKED, instead of being allowed to collect and retain multi-million dollar golden parachutes.
And, then...General Motors stock tumbled, more layoffs were announced, plants closed, and...while other self-proclaimed Conservative, Free-Market Capitalists were screaming to "LET GM DIE"...and echoing the previous Hannity suggestion that a CEO who had made their own bed should now be forced to lie in it...Sean was now SOLIDLY in favor of a MINIMUM FIFTY BILLION DOLLAR BAILOUT for GM, and of course...the other two remaining U.S. car companies, as well.
As always...Hannity had more than enough rationalizations to satisfy his own limited intellect, and convince himself that the tune he was singing NOW, was somehow far different from any of those OTHER bailout packages which were bad for business, bad for consumers, anti-competitive, anti-Free Market, and essentially amounted to being Socialist.
Bear Stearns? They weren’t An American Institution. They had only been around since 1923.
Lehman Brothers? That company was founded in 1844. What part of Mom & Apple Pie could they possibly represent? Besides...both had made their own beds. Management of those companies had made horrendously poor choices, exposed the companies and shareholders to risk of total collapse, and essentially deserved to go the way of the wounded Corvair...as determined by the absolute, total and complete determination of the Free-est Damned Market in the known universe.
But wait? General Motors was founded in 1909, right? Sixty-Five years AFTER Lehman Brothers. General Motors, in 2008, owned as many NON-American Brands, as it did American Brands, which made up its total automotive production and distribution roster. And...a significant part of the losses associated with General Motors...were attributable to BAD LOANS made by GMAC, the lending arm of the company. And...were these not the same KIND of loans which were either made by Countrywide (who Hannity demanded by prosecuted)...or insured by Lehman and Bear Stearns (who Hannity ALSO wanted to face judgment)???
When it came to the actual failure of one company after another where hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost, pensions obliterated, careers ended, lives ruined, and even ended in some cases...Hannity was ALL FOR ALL OF IT.
"They did it to themselves. LET THE FREE MARKET CONTROL. Keep government out of business. THIS IS AMERICA...we do NOT take over businesses...especially ones who just made bad decisions which caused the public to lose confidence in them and their products".
When it came to the maker of the "BRAND NEW ESCALADE" that carts the Hannity Family to the Hitler Youth Meetings and the Cross Burnings...the other side of the patented Hannity Forked Tongue took over.
Forget about the fact that for years, GM did nothing but spend, spend, spend, on making bigger, and bigger, and bigger SUVs. Hannity even noted this fact time and again, WHILE DEFENDING those actions. "We are AMERICANS, he would spew onto the airwaves. We LOVE OUR SUVs...AND WE HAVE A RIGHT TO HAVE THEM!"
Forget about keeping government out of business, allowing the Free Market to control, the core principles of either Conservativism, OR Capitalism. Times are tough...and Hannity can ill-afford EITHER losing a major advertiser, having to actually pay for his own cars, OR not being able to find spare parts for his "BRAND NEW ESCALADE". And...since it is "ONLY A LOAN" that Hannity thinks GM has AN ENTITLEMENT to...he isn’t REALLY advocating Socialism, kinda, sorta...in a Sarah Palin, "I don’t really OWN the free clothing" kind of way.
And, they wonder why they lost...IN A LANDSLIDE??
The same person who goes on, and on, and on...AND ON, about republicans losing in 2008 BECAUSE THEY "LOST THEIR WAY, their values, and have no principles"...goes on, and on, and on...AND ON, about companies who should go out of business because "THAT is what the free market is all about"...UNLESS, he happens to be going on, and on, and on, AND ON...about a company that gives him free cars and puts tens of millions of dollars in HIS pocket.
Then, I guess that whole "Free Market" thing is just a suggestion?
You may not be relevant any longer, Sean...but, it is at least good to know that you are still a fascist hypocrite who simply can’t wait to find another self-serving and self-righteous employment of God, Mom, Apple Pie and the American Way...in order to feather your own nest at the expense of any number of those "Great Americans" you want the world to believe you actually care about in the slightest degree.