http://www.rawstory.com/...
Now that's how you do it. Keith Ellison (D-I Wish I Lived in His District) tore Fox News bitch Sean Hannity wide open tonight. I don't think Hannity was ready for it. He did some of the usual conservative gobbling, but was reduced to trying to mock Ellison by advising him to "keep ranting" and then trying, with limited success, to shout Ellison down.
Hannity started with the usual slurs: the sequester is all Obama's fault, accusing Obama of ignoring the sequester and leaving the hapless GOP heroes to try to deal with it all on their own, and then 10 seconds later accusing Obama of trying to gin up "end of the world panic." Teleprompters were mentioned. He replayed a mash-up of Obama moments trying to portray Obama as hysterical and irresponsible. (Between the echo effect and the "O Fortuna" music behind him -- stolen from Maddow's bit from the, what, 2008 elections? -- you could barely understand anything Obama was saying. Much easier to refute that way.)
This would have worked fine had some jackass like Inhofe or Cantor been Hannity's guest. Instead, Hannity tried to rock Ellison back on his heels with this. Didn't work. More below.
Ellison came out firing. The "worst excuse for a journalist" remark was just the opening salvo. He called the mashup deceptive "yellow journalism" and a "breach of every journalistic ethic I know of," and then went straight for the breadbasket, calling Hannity a "shill for the Republican Party." The best Hannity could say was to insist he was a "registered conservative" and not a Republican. Ellison was having none of it, and Hannity was reduced to sneering and inviting Ellison to "keep ranting." He corrected Hannity's assertion that Obama is responsible for the sequester, calling Hannity's stance "a lie" and citing the GOP stance from August 2011 that they would drive the country into default if the government didn't enact huge spending cuts (mostly in safety net programs). He then walked Hannity through a thumbnail sketch of the "Grand Bargain" negotiations. Hannity let him talk, but snorted and snuffled throughout to make sure his listeners didn't get 10 seconds of Ellison's talking without some oral cues that he, Hannity, thought Ellison was full of shit.
There's more, but the upshot is clear. Ellison had no use for Hannity's garbage and would not play his game. He wouldn't stay quiet and let Hannity throw out one bullshit assertion after another. "You're a bully, Sean, and I'm not backing down to you." After a couple of minutes of both men talking insistently over the other, Hannity finally reasserted his threatened conservative manhood by cutting his mic, all the while asserting that he had given Ellison more than a fair chance to express himself.
What was achieved from the interview? As far as information exchange and discourse, nothing. Lots of heat and almost no light. But what the Fox News viewers (and any of the rest of us who sat through the interview -- I watched it on the link given above, as I don't watch Fox) was a strong, principled Democrat who wouldn't play Hannity's game, who wouldn't be bullied, who wouldn't do the usual faux-polite sparring with the Fox jackasses that so many Democrats do on that broadcast. He came out firing and never let up. I'm sure that Hannity vilified Ellison up and down once he had cut Ellison off and had the studio all to himself (and whatever sycophantic assholes were in studio with him). Doesn't matter.
Ellison's staunch, principled stance, his righteous outrage, and his refusal to back down before conservative bullying and bullshit is -- or needs to be -- the face of the Democratic Party. Period. Certainly the face that is presented on Fox News.
10:01 AM PT: Rec list! You guys rock.
10:30 AM PT: Some folks have come in with the predictable "ewww, Dems shouldn't go on Fox, it just encourages them, we should pretend they aren't there and deny them the exposure." I answered that in the comments, and am exercising my prerogative to be a self-promoting sleestak by reprinting them in the diary itself.
It is exactly wrong to ignore them, and this is an example of why. Limbaugh went national with his Screaming Meemie Express in August 1988 -- just days before the Republican National Convention. Coincidence, Watson? I think not. By 1990 he was in full bloom, stinking up the airwaves in every major market in the US, most minor ones, and plenty of overseas outlets as well. In 1994, he played a key role in helping Republicans take control of Congress.
What did the Dems do between 1988 and the mid 2000s? Advised everyone to "ignore" Rush. "Pretend he doesn't exist." "Don't give him any attention." While they relentlessly pretended he wasn't there, he was becoming the "king" of talk radio, and spawned a hellbreed of ever more ignorant and shrill imitators. Their demagoguery and insanity has not just tainted American politics, it has transformed them.
Rush ruled unchallenged until he joined ESPN in 2003 and went full-bore racist on Donovan McNabb. ESPN, not populated by "dry powder Democrats," kicked his ass off the air, and the first cracks in the empire were seen. In 2006, he got busted as an oxy head, and he lost more support. By that point, some activist Dems were daring to stand up to Rush, and blogs like Kos, FDL and others were hammering him on a regular and increasingly frequent basis.
What has he done since then? Gone insane, thrashing, screaming, and attacking anyone that comes in sight like a warthog stuck in a gate. Sandra Fluke, Marines, Michael J. Fox, crippled kids, whoever. He's losing credibility and sponsors at an accelerating rate.
When we attack, he goes down. That's how it works. The "pretend they aren't there" routine has never worked, and never will.