What we can learn from the creation of Sean Hannity

For each action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. In the case of Sean Hannity, he is the creation of a terribly biased liberal media, he is outnumbered and so to compensate, he has become a fire breathing conservative monster.

Years ago, I used to hate Sean Hannity, i couldn't stand how biased he was. As a fan of Bill Clinton and someone who supported Obama over Mccain and Romney, i couldn't stand the rubbish Sean Hannity spewed day in day out. I thought that he was an embarrassment to news and one of the news anchors that were dumbing down the public, failing to present facts. Sean Hannity has dubbed Obama the most unfit president to ever hold office, he claims ACA is destroying the economy, he claims Obama is weak, a disaster, an embarrassment. He blames Obama for all the problems in the U.S. and his news reporting is as biased as any news reporting in the media, it's extreme. Having said all of this, i find myself aghast at the fact that i have become a fan of him recently, let me explain.

I have always considered myself an independent, i liked George Bush Sr. (even though i was very young) and was not happy when he lost to Bill Clinton. The 90s were good times and so i learned to admire Bill Clinton, ever since, i have supported democrats. The reason i have supported democrats is that they have been the most reasonable, closer to the middle than republicans, who have veered more and more right. I have, however, been waiting for a republican who is more for the people and less for the billionaires and large corporations. Enter Donald Trump. I feel Trump is really and independent, disguised as a republican.

Trump has held liberal views on healthcare, social matters and praised democrats before. I think he has picked republican party for two reasons - 1. it's not viable to run as an independent and 2. as a business man, i think his conservative fiscal and economic views make him lean right. Having said this, if you analyze his views carefully, from trade to social issues, he's a moderate 'populist' republican who appeals to the American worker who is not represented by the elites in media and the establishment politicians. For this reason, i have been supporting Trump but not yet decided if i would vote for him. Now back to media..

For the first time i have found myself supporting a republican nominee and so i have experienced a paradigm shift, realizing how liberal the media has become. From the NY times, to CNN, it's a disgrace how the media blows up every little non-issue into a huge controversy, especially when it comes to Trump. The Khan controversy was really nothing, the crying baby was nothing, the Tapper interview where trump didn't denounce david duke, was nothing, the list goes on. The media have been on constant and aggressive 'gotcha' campaign, going through extraordinary efforts to completely exaggerate every Trump controversy, even recently claiming he may be 'dropping out' of the race. It's a disgrace and i probably wouldn't have noticed it if i were supporting Hilary. Sometimes you have to be on the other side to realize the truth.

The liberal media has been on a roll, ever since Trump has become a threat. There are actually much larger issues to discuss when it comes to Hilary Clinton (benghazi, e-mails, clinton foundation, her role in the ME etc..) but they are just much more boring than picking on the smallest of things with Trump. So where does Sean Hannity come into play? After been bombarded with liberal bias, i crave the opposite, i need the balance. I get this from watching Sean Hannity who will go and call BLM a racist violent organization (meanwhile CNN bashes cops), actually talks about Hilary Clinton controversies and presents a more positive picture of Trump instead of just focusing on negatives. This is a man i used to despise but now i feel like we need more, we need balance.

 

Your Sean Hannity's and Rachel Maddow's of the world have never been the problem. They are editorialist, and very upfront about who they are. The viewer is not under any guise of them being non biased, and instead can look at their viewpoints for precisely what they are. They are unabashed advocates, and nobody is pretending otherwise. The far more insidious problem are the people that are unabashed advocates that PRETEND to be centrist, and instead of presenting themselves as editorialists, they masquerade their slant as news coverage. Chuck Todd comes to mind, but in truth this category probably applies to 90% of the mainstream media.

It is downright dishonest. Now that you can see this dishonesty yourself once you are supporting Trump, perhaps you can look back and see how you were manipulated prior. You thought at the time that Democrats were more reasonable and closer to the center, but were they really ? Are you sure this wasn't simply you being manipulated by the biased media that you for the first time are just starting to see for what it really is ?

-With John Mcain probably being the most milquetoast, centrist Republican imaginable, was he REALLY further from the center than is Obama ?

-Mitt Romney, another centrist Republican that many Republicans refused to vote for because of his lack of conservative street cred, was he REALLY further from the center than is Obama ?

I would submit the notion that they are MUCH closer to the center, yet because of the mainstream media bias, you were DUPED into believing that those two people were off the rails far rightists. It is a big lie. The totality of the political narrative told by the mainstream media is a big lie. This lie is part of the political equilibrium. Republicans have a significantly harder time presenting their case to the American people because of this lie.

It is well known that the mainstream media is going to turn on whomever is the Republican nominee once the general election rolls around. They almost pushed for Mcain and Romney in the primaries, and when the general election rolled around they predictably turned on them, painting them to be off the rails extremists. That has always been my biggest concern with a Trump candidacy. When the media goes into its predictable full out assault on the Republican nominee, Trump gives them an enormous amount of ammunition.

 

Romney and McCain are probably as right of center as Obama and Hillary are left of center.

The main issue is...do we want policies that are right of center or left of center.

It appears we want left of center policies.

 

For starters, Romney and Mcain are as moderate as it gets from the right. They are the Tim Kaine of the Republican party. Tim Kaine is closer to the center than is Hillary or Obama, and Romney and Mcain are also closer to the center from the right than Hillary or Obama are from the left. But even that argument is irrelevant. The point is that the media had the OP convinced that Romney and Mcain were extreme rightists and that Obama and Hillary are moderate. Even if we are going to use YOUR analysis that they are as far to the left as Romney and Mcain are to the right, the mainstream media put out the lie that they are more extreme.

 

Thanks for your opinion. I don't see any facts backing it up so.....

 

You put forth YOUR opinion that "Romney and McCain are probably as right of center as Obama and Hillary are left of center". I allowed you that opinion, and for arguments sake am willing to accept that opinion as fact. The OP put forward the notion that he used to think that Democrats were closer to the center. Using YOUR opinion that Romney and Mcain are as far right as Obama and Hillary are as far left, then clearly his belief that Romney and Mcain are further from the center is based off misinformation ( assuming YOUR opinion is correct that they are equally close to the center). Nothing in that assessment is a leap in logic.

I do find it humorous that you give your OPINION, and when I reply to that OPINION, you all of a sudden lament a lack of "facts". It is strange how your rationale changes like the wind. With you, it seems that what is good for the goose is NOT good for the gander.

I don't see any fair mindedness or critical thinking skills being employed on your part, so.........

 

No it appears the media wants left of center

 

First, i don't think the media has been this biased before, for several reasons:

1. The rise of the tea party and Obama himself have created a more divisive political arena. This has played a part in the mainstream media bias because the increasingly divisive politics have influenced news people to take it upon themselves to take a side, even when they attempt to be subtle. I don't recall such bias from CNN, FOX or MSNBC 10 years ago...

2. Trump is not only republican, he's anti-establishment and this is much more of a threat to the media elites and political class. Trump has taken aggressive anti-media and anti-establishment views and has voiced his opinions loud and clear. I think due to all of this, we have seen the worst side of the mainstream media, bias like we have never seen before

3. Ratings. CNN and MSNBC have been struggling in the ratings compared to FOX and so to compensate they have been trying to generate more 'entertainment and shock' value in recent years.. CNN pretty much deems anything to be 'breaking news' when in the past it was reserved for real breaking news. They now use racism and any silly Trump antic as somehow, newsworthy 'breaking news'.

On Mccain and Romney - I did think Mccain and Romney were fairly moderate, but there are a few reasons why i didn't favor them over Obama. For starters, Mccain was unfortunately trying to run after Bush, who i think was absolute disaster. Bush was in bed with big oil, the wealthy and not the middle class; he got us into wars that cost of trillions and made matters worse; he presided over large tax cuts that didn't do squat other than take trillions off tax revenues; by the time he left office, we can a financial calamity. Even though i liked Mccain, i felt we desperately needed to go democrat. Secondly, Romney and Mccain were not the type of republican i yearned for, i was tired of the republican candidates that advocated free (and unfair) trade, sided with the wealthy and large corporations and kept on wanting more and more tax cuts. Also, i was tired of the republican rhetoric that everything government does is evil... I was tired of all of this. Trump is different, he is more of an independent who i feel has some liberal views yet also mainly conservative on fiscal matters. He has unconventional views on trade and his policies are more geared towards the middle class and the wealthy, not just the latter.

So the mainstream media didn't really brainwash me in the past, they were much more respectable many years ago. Things have become increasingly divisive politically and Trump is an entirely different target, a candidate running against the media and the establishment. There has been a degradation of quality informative news...

 

The media has ALWAYS been biased, and it has gotten more acute since the advent of the 24 hour cable news cycle. YOU can see it now only because you like Trump. If someone is biased in your favor, human nature is that you would not perceive that bias since it confirms what you already believe. The reason that Fox does so well is that approximately 50% of the public leans right, and being the only media outlet that comes from the right as opposed to the left, they are able to garner all of those viewers. The other 50% of the country that leans left are split between all the other networks because those are all coming from essentially the same place, which is squarely on the left.

 

The largest percent of the media is biased. I have worked in the industry for 50 years and it has always been this way. The profession attracts liberal thinking people. The OP has seen the light and expresses himself very well.

 

Trump is different and it's being disingenuous to think the media hasn't gotten worse that before... be real. Remember when CNN only flashed 'breaking news' when it was something like an major earthquake? a war? Now, Trump says anything, and it's 'breaking news'. CNN was MUCH MUCH better before.. there is no question about it. You also need to admit Trump is nothing like Romney or Mccain, Trump is waging war on the media and not holding back, he's also anti-establishment. He differs greatly from Romney and Mccain in these two areas and this has played a large role in the increasingly biased (and radical) mainstream media. The media always had some bias to it but it's become worse... i think my previous post summarizes things nicely.

 

Yup. The government class, the media, the Dems and the GOP leadership, all sold out to the military-industrial complex of the US war machine and the rigged financial system that drives it and enriches them. There are only a small brave handful standing up to it, and yes, their number includes Sean and Trump.
~
During the 29 years after Alan Greenspan became Fed chairman in August 1987, the balance sheet of the Fed exploded from $200 billion to $4.5 trillion. Call that a 23X gain.

Warren Buffett’s net worth was $2.1 billion back in 1987 and it is now about $73 billion. Call that 35X.

The value of non-financial US corporate equities rose from $2.6 trillion to $36.6 trillion. Call it 14X.
~
http://davidstockmanscontracorner.c...ank-enabled-financialization-divided-america/



The screwin'

The underlying economy that "supports" those fabulous financial gains, as shown above, nominal GDP rose from $5 trillion to $18 trillion during the same 29-year period. But that was only 3.6X

Wage and salary disbursements rose from $2.5 trillion to $7.5 trillion over the period. Make that 3.0X.

Median nominal income of US households. That measurement increased from $26K to $54K over the period. Call it 2.0X.

Digging deeper, the sum of aggregate labor hours supplied to the nonfarm economy. That fairly precise metric of real work by real people rose from 185 billion hours to 240 billion hours during those same 29 years. Call it 1.27X.

Further down the rabbit hole, we have the average weekly wage of full-time workers in inflation adjusted dollars. In constant 1982 dollars that was $330 per week in 1987 and is currently $340. Call that 1.03X

Real median family income. At about $54,000 then and now, call it a three decade long trip to nowhere.

But when you deflate nominal household income by our more accurate Flyover CPI, median real household income went backwards! It now stands at just 0.8X of its starting level.

So 35X for Warren Buffett and 0.8X for working people. That is some kind of divide.

A whole generation of financial gamblers have become the greatest lottery winners in recorded history. They turned redistribution upside down——-sending unspeakable amounts of windfall wealth to the tippy top of the economic ladder.

These games have conjured from thin air, a $45 trillion overhang of excess financialization.



That's the grand game that Hillary, Obama, The Left, The GOP Leadership, The International Banks and US Military Complex is riding and they will do anything to keep the game going. Trump's a real problem for them, so are guys like Hannity and David Stockman.

 

I find that Sean Vannity is a phony baloney POS empty headed vain anus head. Other than that he is ok.

I do not see where there is or was some cast liberal conspiracy in the media.

Where ya you evidence that the nexus blows" up every controversy" ?

What are your examples of thus do called gotcha campaign?

What are your examples of CNN bashing cops as you claim?

Sean Vannity will never give you balance . Sean barks and exaggerates. That is not creating balance that is barking and exaggerating.


You claim thst they MSM is biased but you make happy noises about Sean Vannity twisting the picture of politicians that he likes. You admit that Sean Vannity and Rachel Madcow are just talking heads and not. MSM reporters. So now show us proof where the news arm of the MSM is giving a prejudiced view and slanting left. I am not talking about the Rachel Madcows I am talking about news people.

You will be able to show us any because there virtually are none.

The twister are the Vannity,s, Madcows, Mathews has become one, O,Reilly has always been one .

You whine that CNN does not call BLM racist or violent. Those are value judgements not news. Sean Vannity can call BLM whatever he wants to he is not a news anchor.

I see that what you are looking for if not news but a validation of your opinion. If you want opinion then yes indeed watch Sean Vannity, Rachel Madcow, Van Sustrain , last Word with What,s hus name, and throw in the guests such as Ann Coulter or the Toe Sucking Dick Morris.

 

In no manner, shape, or form am I implying that Trump is like Romney or Mcain. The one commonality amongst them is that as rightists, they are predictably going to be attacked mercilessly by the drastically left leaning media.

You think this is something new because you have previously supported Democrats. Now that you are supporting a Republican, you can NOW see the bias. EVERY general election, the candidate is going to be unfairly painted as racist, sexist, and homophobic. Trump is not an exception. He is just the latest in a long line of Republicans being unfairly portrayed by a biased media pushing their desired result. Fortunately it doesn't always work, but in order to win, Republicans have to work twice as hard. If it were reversed, and the whole of the media was in the tank for the Right like Fox News, Democrats would have to work twice as hard to win.

 

The flashing of the BREAKING NEWS is being done by most networks.they jeep doing that and label every thing as breaking news nothing will be breaking news.

 

When you say that a Republican has to work twice as hard that sounds like mist Blacks who claim that they gave to work twice as hard as Whites to get even. Are you going to whine for Affurmative Action for Republican candidates because you claim that the BBM has been mean to Republicans and all RWingers?

 

All American institutions dominated by the corrupt bipartisan political class, including the MSM are no rejected by he vast majority of Americans.

“Americans clearly lack confidence in the institutions that affect their daily lives: the schools responsible for educating the nation’s children; the houses of worship that are expected to provide spiritual guidance; the banks that are supposed to protect Americans’ earnings; the U.S. Congress elected to represent the nation’s interests; and the news media that claims it exists to keep them informed.” Gallup, http://www.gallup.com/poll/192581/a...e=Politics&g_medium=newsfeed&g_campaign=tiles

Poll: 2016 is the Year Americans Stopped Trusting the Establishment, Especially the Media, Claire Bernish June 14, 2016

Hannity has far more influence as an anti-establishment outsider.

 

First off Hannity has never been a new anchor, he has been a political talk show host from beginning to end. Before he joined Fox, he was on the radio in Atlanta on WGST. There is really no difference between Hannity and Mathews or Shultz of MSNBC outside they come at you from different directions. None of them has anything to do with the news, their job is a political talk show host and to attract as many viewers as possible.

But what they do has nothing to do with being a reporter or a news broadcaster, anchor if you will. Their job is propaganda pure and simple.

 

How to even tackle such a distorted world view?

1) First of all, you don't gain objectivity by simply transferring your loyalties from Team A to Team B. The only way to have even a hope of finding the truth (or at least getting close) is to stop focusing on the faults of the opposition, and to focus on the faults of your "side."

Once you have taken step #1, you have automatically surpassed 95% of the people on this forum - they are interested in one thing and one thing only: hearing their opinions confirmed, and their enemies opinions denied. You are now ready for step 2:

2) Don't be loyal to your team, your party, or your organization. Be loyal to what you believe in, regardless of party. Regardless of the label people will try to pin on you. The label-people will try to extort your loyalty and slam you for the slightest deviation. They are your real enemy.

3) Remove yourself from pride, anger, and bitterness. Try to understand what motivates people to believe what they believe. Not your cartoon construct, but what fears and hopes truly motivate them. If you can successfully do this, you will start to learn about the world. Many things will become clearer - you may not like it, necessarily, but you will understand it.

Acting on these three principles, a number of things have become clear to me.

Yes, the media is biased. But it is not a liberal or conservative bias. It is a corporate bias. These guys are careerists and technicians without a fixed political spectrum. Their job is to reflect the views and opinions of those who employ them. These views are based on corporate self-interest not ideology.

The conservative/liberal axis is a scam designed to distract voters from the real motivations that drive the actions of the oligarchy.

Ask yourself, when was the last time a self-professed "conservative" even tried to reduce the size of government. Bush II and Reagan enlarged the federal government at an unprecedented rate; Cheney said deficits don't matter. When was the last time a "liberal" tried to take any action to help the working class in the US?

 

your refusal to acknowledge my valid points doesn't help your cause. IT'S NOT THE SAME, OK? NO, the media didn't cover Mccain and Romney as they have covered Trump, it's NOT EVEN CLOSE... So my point that they were more respectable back then is very valid and it's not hard to figure this out. Even though Mccain and Romney were 'republicans', they were moderate and they didn't attack the media like Trump does. Additionally, they were establishment politicians and not populists; populists, anti-establishment leaders like Trump SCARE THE MEDIA, forget that he's republican.. Trump is a lethal combination that has brought out the worst of the mainstream media - a populist, anti-establishment republican who attacks the media 24/7.... It's just silly for you to argue with me that the media has been the same all along and that i just didn't realize it. CNN was a respectable news channel back in it's heyday, it's not now. This is not simply a result of me realizing bias just because i support the candidate being attacked, it's also a result of a radicalization of the liberal/mainstream media... Trump has brought out the worst in them. I have also listed other reasons why the liberal media has degraded over the past 10 years or so - an increasingly divisive political arena, lackluster ratings and a candidate that threatens them.

 

I would tend to agree that an African American pre civil rights era absolutely had to work twice as hard to stay even. I would even say they had to still work harder to stay even maybe 20 years after the Civil Rights Era. Fifty years later however, I'd say that claim would be bogus.

No I am not calling for affirmative action for Republican Candidates in any manner, shape, or form. You cannot right past wrongs by purposefully creating an unlevel playing field going forward. That is an absolutely awful idea that perpetuates divisions that are supposedly trying to be eliminated.

You never see Republicans trying to legislatively corral the media, even though the institutionalized bias against them is undeniable. Ironically however, you often see Democrats trying to legislate the media with cries for the return to the "Fairness Doctrine" etc. Republicans do not think that way, they instead take a bootstrap approach that says they need to learn to fight through the disadvantage they face with the biased mainstream media. Calls for the "Fairness Doctrine" and Affirmative Action, those are distinctly a Liberal mentality. I find it a bit humorous that you try to ascribe these notions to Conservatives ( in a mocking tone no less), when it is in fact antithetical to mainstream Conservative thought. You are perhaps right that those solutions are worthy of being mocked, but 100% incorrect when trying to ascribe the desire for these mock worthy legislative solutions to Conservatives.

 

Every election is different. NOBODY is saying otherwise. OK ? Yes we can point to differences in every election that has ever taken place. There are differences to how the media is covering Trump, Romney, Mcain, or any other candidate for the last 50 years. There are ALSO similarities. The singular, most commonly predictable similarity is that the mainstream media is going to paint the Republican candidate as a Racist, Sexist, Homophobic lunatic that is so far out of mainstream thought that it is absolutely shocking that Republicans would dare trying to foist this terror upon the American People. They are going to parse every word that a Republican candidate utters, and fawn when the Democrat says some meaningless platitude, with nary a skeptical question. In that regard, this election is like EVERY other election. The biggest difference with Trump is that with his penchant for running off at the mouth, he gives them an awful lot of ammunition with which they can levy the above mentioned accusations. I am not saying they are characterizing him correctly because they are not, but he provides a lot of material that can easily be twisted to demonize him.

You are seeing this media bias as a one time Trump thing because against your norm you are supporting the Republican, and can finally see the bias. I bet you can see a Trump quote said live, and know deep down how the media is going to mischaracterize that quote to paint their pre ordained picture of him. I bet you deep down knew that the media was going to get the Hillary email FBI fiasco out of the headlines as soon as possible, because you KNOW they do NOT want that to be a big story. I bet you deep down know that if that were Trump with the Email scandal, that they would still be doing investigative daily reports on the subject. Well guess what ? THIS ISNT NEW. This isn't some bizarre new phenomena where the media is all of a sudden just being unfair to Trump. THEY ALWAYS UNFAIRLY CHARACTERIZE THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE. I am not whining. The truth is that Republicans still win their fair share of elections. It is just that they have to do so with one hand tied behind their back. You will have to forgive me if I don't feel sorry for you because all of a sudden you finally support a Republican, and you NOW declare that they are treating HIM unfairly. Welcome to OUR world.

P.S. CNN has never been a respectable news channel. The nickname of the "Clinton News Network" was well earned. CNN is by far the most insidious of the cable news channels, because with Fox and MSNBC, you know precisely where they are coming from. CNN pretends to be centrist, and that claim is an out and out lie.

 

Good post, Mike.

I scan CNN and Fox websites daily. I notice all pictures of Trump on CNN are of him looking angry, and all the photos of Hillary show her smiling pleasantly or looking presidential . Often times the top 5 or 6 stories are attacking Trump.

Here's a simple little hypothetical. Let's pretend that the Obama administration was Republican, and Obama was very conservative. And let's pretend Hillary had been his very conservative SoS. And let's say she did all the things she did ... the destruction of Libya, the proxy war in Syria for "regime change", the Benghazi movie lie, the emails ...

What do you think the media and liberals would be doing?

Answer: They'd be apoplectic with rage and righteous indignation. And they would be telling us that she is supremely unqualified to be president. They would be telling us what a dangerous and degenerate liar she is. And they'd be hailing the leaders of the Senate hearings as heroes.

And, on another related topic, the marriage of the media to the administration....

http://www.breitbart.com/big-journa...edia-honchos-related-towhite-house-officials/

 

Trump was given a free ride by he press for virtually a year. If fact you can say that the press made him in that they gave him access and exposure no other candidate ever had. Trump attacked the press while he was using them and he continues to attack the press. His followers are convinced that there is a great conspiracy against him a made up scenraio that uses to fire his sheep up. He attacks the press at virtually every rally.

As regarding how Trumpmis depicted you need to go and look at how he behaves. He inflicts self administered wounds a. Couple three times a week.

Examples: he overreacts to the Kahn,s appeance at the DNC and responds with exaggerated reactions. He claims that he was viciously attacked. No he was mocked at a level where he us vulnerable based upon his own actions and words. He makes outlandish claims the press reports them then he accuses the press of reporting his outlandish claims.

He attacked a member of the press because he didn,t like he questions at a debate.

He makes fun of a disabled reporter by mocking the guys medical neural muscular affliction then les about it. The press and the Clintonjans just gave to show the video.

The press dies not need to maniputate the coverage of Trump but only to show Trump as he is.

 

Exactly right. Anyone paying the least bit of attention this cycle can't help but be appalled by the state of our mainstream media; we can no longer even pretend to have access to an objective, impartial, unbiased media Most mainstream organizations and personalities have a strong Hillary bent, and we need to understand and recognize that. So there are those who provide an explicit bias (the Sean Hannity's and Rachel Maddow's of the world), and those whose bias is masked, those involved in clearly defined efforts to see a specific result achieved (the Chuck Todd's out there). Yet have we had a conversation about how this has been brought to light? Have we been able to openly acknowledge the dishonesty and manipulation that we've been subjected to? Not only do I think we haven't acknowledged this problem, I think that there's an active effort to see to it that we don't. The deck is stacked against Trump; given this, he needs to really watch what he says if he is to have any chance of being able to raise legitimate questions about where we are and where we're headed.