Sean Hannity Loves Donald Trump

I did something I haven't done in a long time. I watched Hannity. I used to keeps tabs on him, and it's pretty obvious that he's there to give talking points. O'Reilly could go off on weird stuff at any time, Rush sometimes surprises me with his take on things, but Hannity is a reliable automoton with his spin on whatever the subject is.

So I watched Hannity last night because I heard he and Ann Coulter were singing Trump's praises. He started with guest Newt Gingrich, where they both talked about why Trump is a credible candidate. Hannity was spoonfeeding for the slower folks at home that Trump gave a speech earlier this week with a lot of specifics. Lots, I tell you.

Then Coulter came on and they started defended Donald Trump's position.

Charles CW Cooke was the other guest, and Hannity or Coulter would not let the guy finish a sentence without interrupting him and blasting him with Trump talking points. Hannity and Coulter tag-teamed him for the whole segment, and Coutler said stuff that was flat-out untrue. Cooke, if you read his writing, is a credible conservative. Coulter, if you read her writing, is a carnival sideshow. And Hannity sided with the sideshow. My favorite line from Cooke was that she was changing her position on issues based on whatever Donald Trump said last.

Remember when Donald Trump said he had a call with Roger Ailes and he said he felt like Fox News would be fair to him now? Well, Sean Hannity is the good little soldier wearing the "Trump 2016" button now.

Hannity & Colmes recap

Hannity & Colmes and The Rachel Maddow Show

A few months ago I decided to watch O'Reilly Factor and Countdown in full to compare the two. My conclusion is I probably agree with O'Reilly two-thirds of the time, Olbermann one-third of the time, they'd rather swallow broken glass than admit they agree on anything, and while neither is a guy I could see having over for dinner, I could converse with O'Reilly about anything for a few minutes. Keith, I'd have to stick to sports, or I'd be afraid his psychopathic side would emerge.

Now I'm going to try doing H&C and RM.

First up: Hannity & Colmes. Hannity reviews Pres.-Elect Obama's new cabinet announcements, then interview Karl Rove about it. They include a quote from David Axelrod saying he's no Karl Rove. Hannity says he wants the new president to succeed. When guys like Glenn Beck or Michael Medved say that, I can believe them. I have a hard time believing Hannity on this one. Hannity & Rove go around on all the problems with the economic stimulus package. Six minutes into the show, I didn't know he was there, but Alan Colmes interrupts when Rove says he wants more specificity, saying the game could change day to day, i.e., Hank Paulson gave us specifics, then changed his mind as circumstances changed, which Rove concedes.

Back from the break, Colmes asks about Axelrod saying he's no Rove, to which Rove says Axelrod's being humble. Rove then talks about how the Bush White House always went with policy over politics, and I'm tempted to tune him out, but I keep going. Hannity gets back into questioning about how many Clinton people Obama's bringing in. Rove says "Well, Democrats can choose from the Clinton administration or the Carter adiministration, and the Carter people are getting long in the tooth."

Back from the break, they now interview Rep. Eric Cantor, new GOP minority whip about Obama's proposed stimulus package he wants on his desk on January 20. Cantor says Obama's not reaching across the aisle, blah blah blah, and Hannity says "Hey, if Obama puts off raising taxes on the wealthy, I'm for that. If he's going to cut taxes, I'm for that." And Cantor agrees. Colmes comes in when Cantor mentions meeting with Rahm Emmanuel. Colmes asks "Wouldn't it be reasonable to hold your fire on an administration that hasn't even taken office yet?" Cantor starts rattling off the problems with the bloated way of doing business in the auto industry, and Colmes said you just had a Republican administration bail out all these financial institutions. Cantor wraps it up.

Back from the break, to discuss the possible appointments of Hillary Clinton (State) and Bill RIchardson (Commerce), Colmes intrroduces Dick Morris. Wow. We're going to have conservative guests all hour, aren't we. Morris says it's ridiculous to fill up his administration with Clinton loyalists, and then putting Hillary in the Cabinet. Colmes asks if it's too much to think the administration wants best for the United States. Morris says yeah. Colmes asks if Morris can say anything nice about the Clintons. Hannity says "No." Colmes says he asked Morris; Hannity said he's answering for Morris, and that he himself can say something nice about the Clintons. Morris never answers the question. Hannity takes over questioning, rattling off the foreign policy differences between Obama and Hillary. Morris says Obama won't rasie taxes because he can make the deficit as large as he wants and everyone will understand.

Back from the break, still with Morris. Morris says Obama's going to load every liberal pet project he wants into the stimulus package. Hannity & Morris then move to the Senate race where Hannity says if Franken steals Minnesota, and if Saxby Chambliss loses the runoff in Georgia, it's over. Morris says the GOP is dead at that point. Morris plugs a website to give money to Chambliss, saying the whole country is at stake on this election. Colmes says you like to say Bush inherited a recession from Clinton, well, look at what Obama's inheriting from Bush. He asks Morris, "Aren't you just scaring people?" Morris says it's both parties' fault. Obama didn't cause it and can't cure it.

Back from the break, their guest is Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC). Holmes asks about his trip to Iowa. Sanford demures. They discuss Ted Stevens, who Sanford says faked conservatism and is a poster child for their party gone bad. Colmes asks about some Bush policies and if they're fake conservatism. Sanford says "compassionate conservatism" wasn't real conservatism and points to himself and Bobby Jindal and others who are trying to return conservatism to the GOP. Colmes says "Who else? Sarah Palin?" Sanford chuckles and says certainly, and others, plugs Jindal and a "broad swath of folks."

Hannity chimes in to agree. He say the Republicans, when they ran Congress, were not the party of fiscal responsibility. Sanford says they also failed in protecting the free market and were late on energy independence.

Back from the break, Alan Colmes announces he's leaving the show. Hannity says we have a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress and you're leaving me? Colmes says "Four words. My work is done." Colmes says he'll continue on the network as a contributor and his radio show, his website, and he's shooting a pilot or two, maybe he'll call it "Alan's America."

The only change to that show without Alan will be there'll be no one to ask devil's advocate questions.

Talk Radio Ratings

I've been trying to find more recent rankings, but this was all I could find. From talkers.com, it's from Fall 2007 numbers, average audience numbers.

1. Rush Limbaugh - 14+ million
2. Sean Hannity - 13+ million
3. Michael Savage
Dr. Laura Schlessinger - 8.25+ million
5. Glenn Beck - 6.25+ million
6. Laura Ingraham
Mark Levin - 5.25+ million
8. Neil Boortz
Dave Ramsay - 4.25+ million
10. Mike Gallagher
Michael Medved - 4+ million

Bill O'Reilly just misses the top ten. Jim Rome is the highest sports-based talk show. I imagine when they publish some 2008 numbers we'll see a change in the order.

Rush Limbaugh - He's entertaining to listen to. If I find myself disgreeing with a position he's taken, his braggadociousness can get annoying. He's willing to debate liberals who call him up and gives them equal time if they stick to the issues. He's disliked McCain for eight years so now his support for him is "Obama would be much worse." I'll catch a segment if I go out to lunch during his time.

Sean Hannity - The heir apparent, former guest host for Rush, popular Fox News show, but I don't find him as informative. He tends to cling to one or two statements and pounds them into the ground, and callers call in who disagree with him he doesn't let them get a word in edgewise and then hangs up on him. I'd rather listen to Alan Colmes Show, which used to be on in Utah, and if it still is, I don't know where it's moved to. Hannity is all about the debate and pounding the positions through. Colmes, when not being interupted by Hannity, can do well at articulating his positions. He just doesn't do it on the TV show.

Michael Savage - Yesss. What to say about him. He considers himself so conservative that all the other radio hosts are buffoons. Her refers to Rush as "the golfer" and Bill O'Reilly as "the Leprechaun." He hates gays and Muslims and illegal immigrants, refers to liberalism as a mental disorder, and he goes into rants that I think are intended as self-parody of a Peter Finch type. He boasts of his PhD's and how intelligent he is, but he's grumpy and likes dogs more than people. Sometimes he's entertaining; more often than not, he's on one of his mean streaks and just a hater. I'll flip to him to see what he's talking about if I'm not interested in what Glenn Beck or the local sports-talk stations are discussing.

Dr. Laura - The StopDrLaura.com campaign against her when she got a TV show was vicious and dishonest. But it wasn't a good TV show. I haven't listened to her for a long time because after a few months, I know what she's going to say to every problem presented to her.

Glenn Beck - Unlike most conservatives, he's self-deprecating. He has fun on his show, and whenever I catch his TV show, it has the same vibe. I tend to listen to a segment or two when I drive home from work. He strikes me as one who can have a breezy conversation with anyone from any background.

Laura Ingraham - She's on when I drive to work in the morning, and during NFL/NBA season the local sports-talk stations tend to win, but sometimes I'll listen to her. She's under contract with Fox News, and that's affecting her freeness with her opinion. She can get snarky when she wants to.

Mark Levin - I know who he is, but I've never heard his show. he was the conservative pundit-o'-choice during the Clinton impeachment.

Neil Boortz - I know who he is; I've never heard his show. I've read he can get as inflammatory as Savage or Don Imus.

Dave Ramsay - Financial guru. Very entertaining. I'm taking his Total Money Makeover class right now. He preaches credit cards and payday loan companies are evil. I don't catch his show often, as it's on 7-10pm here.

Mike Gallagher - Never heard him.

Michael Medved - He occasionally does film reviews, but 90% of the time he's talking conservative family values. He was one of the only ones to hop on McCain's bandwagon during the primaries. He's on the same time as Hannity here, and if I'm in the car from 1-4pm, I'll see what he's talking about before flipping to Hannity.

Bill O'Reilly - He's better on TV than on the radio.

Jim Rome - When it comes to national sports, his sctick was entertaining to me when I was in my 20's. Now I'd rather hear Mike & Mike or Colin Cowherd.