Wednesday night on the Fox News Channel, primetime host Sean Hannity accused Democrats of hypocrisy for calling for civility in the wake of the pipe bomb scare late Tuesday and Wednesday. Hannity first pointed out that just one day before the wave of mail bombs targeting well-known Democrats began surfacing, former Vice President Joe Biden compared President Trump to segregationist George Wallace.
Hannity continued: “Today, he’s singing a much different tune, tweeting ‘this country has got to come together.’” How convenient.
The FNC host then played a clip of Hillary Clinton from two weeks ago saying that “you cannot be civil” with Republicans and contrasted that with a video of her “singing a different tune after criminal acts against Democrats” by calling for unity at a political rally in Florida earlier Wednesday.
After contrasting Maxine Waters’s calls to confront Trump administration officials and tell them “they are not welcome anywhere anymore” versus a tweet of hers condemning “any and all acts of violence and terror,” Hannity accused the other news channels of “selective moral outrage,”: “They have been dead silent in the lead up to today. Frankly, complicit in giving her and all of these people on the left a pass and many of them themselves using this incendiary rhetoric.”
He ended the montage by highlighting the hypocrisy of New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, who stated four years ago that “extreme conservatives who are right to life” and “pro-assault weapon” “have no place in New York.”
Contrasting those comments with ones made by the Governor reacting to the pipe bombs, acting as a “champion of civility” and proclaiming “we may have political differences, but this is one country, we are all Americans, E Pluribus Unum, out of many one,” the longtime FNC responded: “E Pluribus Unum, except if you’re pro-life and believe in the Second Amendment.”
Railing against “phony selective moral outrage,” he continued: “Let me tell you what it is, it’s unacceptable for anybody, but the left’s been silent. We’ve been outspoken. There is pure outright hypocrisy; they only seem to care when it’s against members on the other side of the aisle, only when they can use it to attack President Trump and bludgeon him.”
It looks like the media have decided not to take Hannity’s advice to avoid using “incendiary rhetoric” in the wake of the mail bomb scare, blaming President Trump for the attempting bombs and suggesting he did not see the bomb targets as “human beings.”
A transcript of the relevant portion of Wednesday’s edition of Hannity is below. Click “expand” to read more.
Hannity
10/24/18
09:14 PM
SEAN HANNITY: Remember Madonna? I think an awful lot of blowing up the White House or holding up severed heads of the President of the United States. Oh, I didn’t see a whole lot of criticism on the left; a little, not a lot. Yesterday former VP Joe Biden even compared the President to George Wallace. Today he’s singing a much different tune, tweeting “this country has got to come together.” Oh, okay, crazy Uncle Joe. “You can’t go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have an Indian accent.” You know, really, we got a lecture from Joe Biden, crazy Uncle Joe? And this is true of many Democrats. Remember Hillary Clinton, what did she say? We can’t be civil with Republicans, remember this?
HILLARY CLINTON: You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about. That’s why I believe if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and/or the Senate, that’s when civility can start again.
HANNITY: Oh, today, now she’s singing a different tune after actual criminal acts against Democrats. Oh, it’s only if it happens against Democrats. I’m beginning to catch on here. Now she’s calling for us all to come together. Take a look.
CLINTON: It is a troubling time, isn’t it? And it’s a time of deep divisions and we have to do everything we can to bring our country together.
HANNITY: Really? You said we couldn’t be civil. Oh, that was last week. Oh, I understand how that works. Now, we can’t, of course, forget about Congresswoman Maxine Waters repeatedly calling for Republicans to be stalked, harassed, confronted in grocery stores, department stores, gas stations, tell them they are not wanted anywhere anymore. That was a couple of weeks ago. Take a look.
MAXINE WATERS: You have members of your cabinet that are being booed out of restaurants. [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] You have protesters taking up at their house who say “no peace, no sleep.” And if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them they are not welcome anymore anywhere.
HANNITY: They are not welcome anywhere anymore. Oh, that was then. That was a couple of weeks ago. Now, Congresswoman Waters issued a statement today that reads “I unequivocally condemn any and all acts of violence and terror.” What happened to get a crowd, follow them into department stores, grocery stores, gas stations, tell them they are not wanted anywhere anymore? All these networks all day, selective moral outrage. They have been dead silent in the lead up to today; frankly complicit in giving her and all of these people on the left a pass and many of them themselves using incendiary rhetoric. The greatest hypocrisy of all, today, here’s New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Remember when he said this about conservatives living in New York if they are pro-life, pro-Second Amendment? Look at what he says.
ANDREW CUOMO: Who are they? Are they these extreme conservative who are right to life? Pro assault weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are and if they are the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York because that’s not who New Yorkers are.
HANNITY: No place in New York if you’re pro-life, pro-Second Amendment. Anyway, he’s calling for civility today. Wow. Champion of civility, take a look.
CUOMO: Overheated rhetoric, extremism that pushes people to violence. And at the end of the day, we may have political differences, but this is one country, we are all Americans, E Pluribus Unum, out of many one. And keeping the debate and the dialogue civil is very, very important and for elected leaders who in many ways set the tone, it is especially important.
HANNITY: E Pluribus Unum, except if you’re pro-life and believe in the Second Amendment. What you just saw is a sad pathetic double standard in the Democratic Party. This is what I call phony selective moral outrage, false blame. We see it over and over again; so quick to call for unity when Democrats are targeted but when Republicans are threatened, as they have been for weeks and weeks, they’ve been silent. They obsess about Trump-Russia collusion; no evidence but they ignore Hillary Clinton purchasing dirty Russian lies and disseminating them to the American people to steal an election. Bought and paid for Russian lies. That’s ignored by the same media. On the topic of sexual assault, they want a seventh FBI investigation into Brett Kavanaugh; that’s called the Kavanaugh treatment. But they are silent, totally silent, the same people, missing in action with all the allegations against Keith Ellison. They love Bill Clinton, Spartacus Cory Booker and others. The Democrats’ silence when Sarah Sanders, Pam Bondi, Kirstjen Nielsen are harassed and run out of restaurants. Ted Cruz run out of a restaurant with his wife. Mitch McConnell, a guy banging on the…banging on his table this weekend, rocks being thrown through Kevin McCarthy’s office window; violence, threats, intimidation, harassment. Let me tell you what it is, it’s unacceptable for anybody, but the left’s been silent. We’ve been outspoken. There is pure outright hypocrisy; they only seem to care when it’s against members on the other side of the aisle, only when they can use it to attack President Trump and bludgeon him. Now hopefully today, hopefully people are beginning to realize what I have been saying, what Rand Paul has been saying, the political climate in this country is getting dangerous. Somebody’s going to get killed or worse. We don’t want that to happen to anybody. Democrats, fake news CNN, others, they all could have spoken out when something like, you know, today’s bomb scare happens. They should, but they should have also been denouncing all the incivility, all the “kick ‘em,” all the follow them into stores, they are not wanted here anywhere anymore and this is what matters. In 13 days, we solve our differences at the ballot box.
