Michael Gaynor
Is Sean Hannity moving up in weight class at the right time?
By Michael Gaynor
Hannity is right about Christie and the 2016 Republican presidential nomination race, just as he's been right about Obama all along.
This fall Fox News bumped Sean Hannity from the key 9 PM time slot he had filled for years, for Megyn Kelly, shifting him to 10 PM, bedtime for many.
In 2009 Chris Matthews called Sean Hannity a "middleweight."
MATTHEWS: "This administration has been very careful...to pick its enemies. They like Rush Limbaugh. They like Sean Hannity, people like that. Middleweights, they can handle...."
In 2008 Hannity and Limbaugh had tried and failed to stop Barack Hussein from being elected President while Matthews shilled for Obama, so, ratings aside, Matthews' perception of himself as a heavyweight and them as a middleweight made sense.
After all, on the biggest issue in 2008 – who should be elected the next President of the United States – most voters heeded Matthews instead of Hannity and Limbaugh and elections do have consequences.
Hannity and Limbaugh had tried their best to show that Obama did not deserve to be elected President and they continued to do so. Nevertheless, Obama won reelection and before Election Day 2013 Megyn Kelly returned to Fox News after maternity leave and took over the 9 PM time slot.
It looks like Hannity is moving up in weight class by taking on superheavyweight Chris Christie, a self-described conservative recently reelected as Governor of red state New Jersey by a huge margin perhaps best know nationally for his speech of self-praise at the 2012 Republican Convention and the bearhug he gave President Obama after Hurricane Sandy struck New Jersey.
Last week Hannity, far more conservative than Christie, declared on his radio show that the "anointment" of Christie as the 2016 GOP presidential nominee following his re-election on Tuesday is "jumping the gun" and flatly stated, "I don't know what the big appeal of Christie is, just based on the record."
Hannity explained: "It is hardly an economic boon or turnaround in the state of New Jersey, I can tell you that. [But] everybody is just going nuts thinking they have this thing figured out for 2016."
More importantly, Hannity challenged Christie's conservative credentials, insisting that Christie is "not in the mainstream of conservatism" and rejecting the notion that Christie would have "a cakewalk" to the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Hannity is right about Christie and the 2016 Republican presidential nomination race, just as he's been right about Obama all along.
But, can Hannity bring about the right result this time by criticizing Christie as insufficiently conservative...or will he help Christie by criticizing him?
The recent exposure of President Obama's blatant Obamacare lies gives Hannity a golden opportunity to return to the evidence that Obama is not the nice fellow people fooled (like 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain believed him to be. Hannity should expect to be called a racist if he does that, of course, but if he shows that Obama really is a liar, the racist charge will be evidence that he's not to be worn as a badge of honor.
Hannity should focus on the truths that ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief tells about ACORN and Obama and the horrendous treatment of True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht by the Obama Administration.
That shows what sort of a person Obama really is, what he is out to do and how he has his own war on women like Engelbrecht.
Hannity needs to present citizens like MonCrief and Engelbrecht who can tell their personal stories to inform viewers and listeners justify his opinion, not entertainers like Ann Coulter to comment wittily and agree with him.
© Michael Gaynor
November 12, 2013
Hannity is right about Christie and the 2016 Republican presidential nomination race, just as he's been right about Obama all along.
This fall Fox News bumped Sean Hannity from the key 9 PM time slot he had filled for years, for Megyn Kelly, shifting him to 10 PM, bedtime for many.
In 2009 Chris Matthews called Sean Hannity a "middleweight."
MATTHEWS: "This administration has been very careful...to pick its enemies. They like Rush Limbaugh. They like Sean Hannity, people like that. Middleweights, they can handle...."
In 2008 Hannity and Limbaugh had tried and failed to stop Barack Hussein from being elected President while Matthews shilled for Obama, so, ratings aside, Matthews' perception of himself as a heavyweight and them as a middleweight made sense.
After all, on the biggest issue in 2008 – who should be elected the next President of the United States – most voters heeded Matthews instead of Hannity and Limbaugh and elections do have consequences.
Hannity and Limbaugh had tried their best to show that Obama did not deserve to be elected President and they continued to do so. Nevertheless, Obama won reelection and before Election Day 2013 Megyn Kelly returned to Fox News after maternity leave and took over the 9 PM time slot.
It looks like Hannity is moving up in weight class by taking on superheavyweight Chris Christie, a self-described conservative recently reelected as Governor of red state New Jersey by a huge margin perhaps best know nationally for his speech of self-praise at the 2012 Republican Convention and the bearhug he gave President Obama after Hurricane Sandy struck New Jersey.
Last week Hannity, far more conservative than Christie, declared on his radio show that the "anointment" of Christie as the 2016 GOP presidential nominee following his re-election on Tuesday is "jumping the gun" and flatly stated, "I don't know what the big appeal of Christie is, just based on the record."
Hannity explained: "It is hardly an economic boon or turnaround in the state of New Jersey, I can tell you that. [But] everybody is just going nuts thinking they have this thing figured out for 2016."
More importantly, Hannity challenged Christie's conservative credentials, insisting that Christie is "not in the mainstream of conservatism" and rejecting the notion that Christie would have "a cakewalk" to the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
Hannity is right about Christie and the 2016 Republican presidential nomination race, just as he's been right about Obama all along.
But, can Hannity bring about the right result this time by criticizing Christie as insufficiently conservative...or will he help Christie by criticizing him?
The recent exposure of President Obama's blatant Obamacare lies gives Hannity a golden opportunity to return to the evidence that Obama is not the nice fellow people fooled (like 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain believed him to be. Hannity should expect to be called a racist if he does that, of course, but if he shows that Obama really is a liar, the racist charge will be evidence that he's not to be worn as a badge of honor.
Hannity should focus on the truths that ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief tells about ACORN and Obama and the horrendous treatment of True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht by the Obama Administration.
That shows what sort of a person Obama really is, what he is out to do and how he has his own war on women like Engelbrecht.
Hannity needs to present citizens like MonCrief and Engelbrecht who can tell their personal stories to inform viewers and listeners justify his opinion, not entertainers like Ann Coulter to comment wittily and agree with him.
© Michael Gaynor
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