A serious discussion thread on the the comments made last night between our host and the president

Politics
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  1. do not flag this post.
  2. remember you can disagree with what Sean says but you man NOT attack him in any way shape or form.
  3. If you violate number 2, you WILL get a 3 month time out. NO exceptions
  4. You will be civil about Sean – See number 3

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Ok here’s my thoughts. I have thought long and hard about this. And as I write this I want to make it perfectly clear. I write this with no desire to show any contempt of our host. I may not agree with him…but i have had this forum for 16 years to come and make friends and talk politics. I respect him and this place. I feel there should be an ability to talk about Our host’s comments last night.

Quote: I was dragged into the Michael Cohen thing,” the Fox host said. “I interviewed him many times on TV. He was never my attorney. He did apologize to me for his attorney saying that in court.”

Hannity then set up the president, telling Trump that Cohen had told him “a dozen times that he made the decision on the payments” to Daniels and didn’t tell the president.

K1: I don’t agree that our host set up the president as if he laid a fat curveball up there for Trump to hit out of the park.

Quote:
“He told me that personally,” Hannity added.

The Daily Beast – 1 Mar 19

190228-hannity-trump-cohen_mruhv9.jpeg
190228-hannity-trump-cohen_mruhv9.jpeg1480×832 93 KB

Client 3 Hannity and Individual 1 Trump Rip Fixer Cohen

Hannity, who now says Cohen never represented him, and Trump, who regrets that he did, agreed that the fixer was no good.

The issue here is that our esteemed host, in my opinion, was used by the president for his role as a journalist and host of a coast to a coast talk show, to potentially do damage control on cohen’s testimony and potentially sway public opinion.

Journalistically is this proper. Should a journalist of our host’s caliber, any journalist for that matter be used in this way? The president is blessed with a bully pulpit. And he can do his own bidding on these things. How did Sean allow himself to get put in this place? It seems uncharacteristic of him to be mouth piecing for the President.

And finally, did our esteemed host invite himself to Congress down the road for a date with the committee?

I mean no disrespect to our host but I want to have some conversation about this. I have been given the advice to lay some ground rules. 1st. No contempt of host. Discussion stays clean and clear of that. 2nd. Stay appropriate with your comments. No need to go over the top. 3rd. Be respectful of each other.

I feel like Trump used Sean and maybe even caught Sean off the guard. I’m not calling anyone out nor am I calling out our host. I’m asking questions and looking for discussion.
Or, did our host walk into this of his own accord?

****************** MOD NOTE PLEASE READ****************************

  1. do not flag this post.
  2. remember you can disagree with what Sean says but you man NOT attack him in any way shape or form.
  3. If you violate number 2, you WILL get a 3 month time out. NO exceptions
  4. You will be civil about Sean – See number 3

****************** MOD NOTE PLEASE READ****************************

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It is my feeling that Sean should not have gotten involved in any of this discussion. He’s put himself in a bad position. Its one thing to defend the president from his critics like me, but to put himself out there as a mouthpiece as it were to refute testimony. That is not something a journalist should get involved in.

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2 things strike me here.

  1. Trump has proven time and again that loyalty, to him, is a one way street. He demands loyalty from his supporters and employees but rarely returns the favor, especially when the heat gets turned up.

  2. Hannity, with these comments about Micheal Cohen telling him Trump didn’t know about the payments to Ms Clifford, at the very least, has bought himself a subpeona to testify, under oath, to the House Oversight Commitee. I’m not suggesting Sean lied or will lie under oath. But he has, in my opinion, needlessly complicated his own life for a man that wouldn’t do it in return.

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I would agree. Did he knowingly walk into this…or did it just happen? Either way yep. There is likely a subpoena in his future.

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Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, who chairs the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, has already gone on record saying our host needs to testify, under oath, before Congress. Therefore I believe it’s a foregone conclusion that our host will be testifying before Congress.

Did he knowingly walk into it? I believe he did. Sean Hannity isn’t stupid. He had to know what kind of a reaction his comments would bring from House Democrats. I

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I wonder if he thought it was helping???

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I told them nothing. I have been asking their advice since this morning. That is what respect is all about. I wanted to do this right. But I told them nothing. Since I didn’t tell them anything it will end up just fine for me.

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I agree on two points: Hannity has likely complicated his life with this, and Donald does not return loyalty in equal measure.

And in the words of Forrest Gump -

“That’s all I have to say about that.”

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A note after my original reply to your OP.

Sean is not a journalist. He has said so himself many times. He’s a conservative pundit. He’s stated that the reason he asks softball questions to Republicans is that “he wants them to win.” I respect that our host has said these things. He doesn’t claim to be a journalist and therefore shouldn’t be held to the same standards to which journalists are held.

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Agreed. I just don’t like the term pundit. Always felt a negative connotation around the word.

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I don’t think there should be a negative connotation. On the right side you have folks like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh while on the left you have folks like Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews. I respect the fact they don’t claim to be journalists. When they admit to being pundits, they’re not trying to have it both ways.

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Makes sense to me.

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it wouldnt shock me to see Hannity in front of some committee after these comments.

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The lines can get blurred. Heres an article on our host referring to himself as a kind of journalist. Advocacy and opinion journalist.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/the-fix/wp/2017/11/29/sean-hannity-now-claims-to-be-a-journalist-he-should-be-judged-as-such/

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Disagree. Lately on his radio show he often says that sometimes he is a journalist, sometimes he is a pundit, and he is proud when he is a journalist. His words. I listen every day.

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Yes, he has been frequently referring to himself as a journalist lately. He didn’t use to do that.

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he used to say he was an entertainer.like rush…wonder why the change. Wonder if its a legal thing

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Thats an interesting dilineation to make. I wonder what the threshold is when he slides back and forth between the two. Is it arbitrary?

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I am not sure he can avoid it do you. I think he might be looking forward to having the chance to testifying.

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jumping on the grenade…