Sadly, Sean Hannity's Self-congratulatory Book Won't Bring "Conservative Victory"
Hannity was right on the merits: Obama was a socialist in disguise and not fit to be President. But Hannity lost his case in the courtroom of public opinion because he missing compelling evidence and that permitted Obama to be elected. Amazingly and inexcusably, Hannity did not include that evidence in his new book.
The product description of Sean Hannity's new book, Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama's Radical Agenda, reads:
"Barack Obama and his radical team of self-professed socialists, fringe activists, and others are trying to remake the American way of life. They have used their new Democratic majority to launch an alarming assault on our capitalist system—while abandoning the war on terror, undermining our national security, and weakening our position in the eyes of our enemies. The 'candidate of change' is threatening to change our country irreparably, and for the worse—if we don't act to stop him now.
"Sean Hannity has been sounding the alarms about Obama and his agenda from the start. Now—in his first new book in six years—he issues a stirring call to action. Hannity surveys all the major Obama players—from the president's affiliation with radical theology to his advisers' history of Marxist activism, repression of the media, support for leftist dictators, and worse. He exposes their resulting campaign to dismantle the American free-market system and forfeit our national sovereignty. But he draws on the examples of Ronald Reagan and the GOP's Contract with America to show how conservatives can unite behind this country's most cherished principles and act now to get America back on the right track—while we still can."
But the book is most notable for what it omits.
Hannity began chapter 1 with this boast: "When it comes to Barack Obama's now well-known history of associating with far-left radicals, I can modestly say I was way ahead of the curve. During the 2008 presidential campaign, I took some criticism for probing the past of this little-known candidate. But I trust that now most can see the relevance of the associations he has made throughout his life, and how they've shaped the policies he pursues today, the connection is undeniable."
Yes, the connection is undeniable. It is also undeniable that (1) Obama was a radical before Hannity knew Obama was alive (so Hannity was not to blame for that),(2) Obama was elected President of the United States because conservatives with big megaphones (like Hannity) failed to present the case against Obama in a timely and effective way in the courtroom of public opinion and (3) Hannity left out compelling parts of that case in his new book.
Of course Hannity reported that he called attention to Obama's membership in Rev. Jeremiah A. ("God damn America") Wright, Jr.'s Trinity United Church on February 28, 2007. But more than a year passed before Hannity broadcast incendiary excerpts from Rev. Wright's sermons that had been available for sale on videotape in the Trinity United Church bookstore. By then, it was too late.
Hannity should be humbly apologizing for blowing a huge opportunity instead of praising himself as "way ahead of the curve." Hannity wrote (p. 26): "During the campaign, I played clips from [Rev. Wright's] sermons repeatedly, hoping the American electorate would wake up to the mind-set they represented--a mind-set with which Obama had publicly affiliated himself." Nut by the time "way ahead of the curve" Hannity played those clips, it was way too late. By then, it was necessary to expose Obama himself, not his minister, in order to thwart him.
Hannity could have done that, if he had exposed the ties of Obama and his presidential campaign to ACORN and Kenyan Raila Odinga before Election Day 2008, but he did not.
Hannity did not do that in his new book either and instead yearned for Obama to do it himself.
Hannity (p. 68): "I suppose that the powerful influence of Marxist parents and mentors is just too much for certain people to resist. It would be nice--or at least honest--if Barack obama would just come out and admit his socialism. Then again, if he had done so before the election, he'd never have received more than 30 percent of the vote in this center-right nation, even during very difficult economic times."
Obama is too cunning and Hannity is too wistful.
Hannity did not even mention Obama's Kenyan connections (beyond noting that Obama had "a Kenyan father") or the Obama/ACORN story that The New York Times killed and the pro-Obama liberal media establishment (understandably) ignored. (Hannity deftly avoided the controversy over Obama's birthplace, fueled by Obama's refusal to produce his birth certificate, and started with Obama's "formative years" in Indonesia.)
Pamela Geller, Israel National News.com, January 9, 2008: "The recent revelations of [Barack] Obama's ties to Raila Odinga in Kenya are disconcerting... because Odinga is behind the terrible violence in his country. It was he who instigated bloody riots and killing after he lost the election. Obama's bias for his fellow Luo was so blatant that a Kenyan government spokesman denounced Obama during his visit as Raila's 'stooge.' And while there are few angels in Kenya, Odinga is the source of great unrest and turmoil; and the [Memorandum of Understanding] he signed with the Muslim Council to institute sharia [Islamic law] is a foreshadowing of a dark fate for Kenya."
Obama's relationship with Kenyan radical Raila Odinga and the striking parallels between their respective presidential campaigns is very illuminating. See "Investigate Barack's Kenyan Connections! (February 14, 2008) (www.webcommentary.com/php/ShowArticle.php?id=gaynorm&date=080214).
"Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has said he is a cousin of US presidential hopeful Barack Obama."
Ironically,it should be easier for Hannity to check out the Obama-Odinga connection than to check out the Trinity United Church bookstore. After all, Dick Morris, a regular Hannity guest, was an Odinga adviser in 2007.
"Political consultant Dick Morris, who rose to prominence as a key adviser for President Bill Clinton and then fell from grace after a scandal involving a prostitute, has surfaced as a political consultant in an unlikely place -- Kenya.
"Leading presidential candidate Raila Odinga has brought Morris on as a consultant to help him beat incumbent President Mwai Kibaki in next month's elections. Last week Morris arrived in Kenya on a tourist visa and held a press conference saying he believed Odinga was poised to win the election."
Worse than ignoring Obama's Kenyan connections, Hannity ignored the compelling story of ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief. That story is so important that Michelle Malkin revised her book, Culture of Corruption, to include it after it had been sent to the printer. See "Michelle Malkin Exposes Obama's Culture of Corruption, Extols ACORN Whistleblower Anita MonCrief" (July 29, 2009) (www.webcommentary.com/php/ShowArticle.php?id=gaynorm&date=090729).
Hannity identified Obama as an attorney for ACORN who had trained ACORN workers in community organizing (p. 35). All he wrote about ACORN was that it's "a left-wing activist group that bills itself as a non-profit, non-partisan social justice organization" and one of Obama's "take-no-prisoners allies."
Hannity should have manned up and reported the compelling story of ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief. That story is so important that Michelle Malkin revised her book, Culture of Corruption, to include it after it had been sent to the printer. See "Michelle Malkin Exposes Obama's Culture of Corruption, Extols ACORN Whistleblower Anita MonCrief" (July 29, 2009) (www.webcommentary.com/php/ShowArticle.php?id=gaynorm&date=090729).
Hannity acknowledged David Limbaugh (Rush's brother) as "the principal editor of [the] book" and asserted that "his insights and contributions made it dramatically better than it otherwise would have been."
That's credible, but the book is not error-free. For example, Hannity stated at page 60 thagt "obama appointed Dawn Johnsen to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel despite her radical views..." Bulletin for Hannity (and Limbaugh): There's a difference between appointing and nominating, and Obama nominated her BECAUSE of her "radical views."
Glenn Greenwald, "The death of Dawn Johnsen's nomination," April 9, 2010(www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/04/09/johnsen/):
"After waiting 14 months for a confirmation vote that never came, Dawn Johnsen withdrew today as President Obama's nominee to head the Office of Legal Counsel."
"...here's what I do know: virtually everything that Dawn Johnsen said about executive power, secrecy, the rule of law and accountability for past crimes made her an excellent fit for what Candidate Obama said he would do...." (Note: Greenwald, a radical, added that Johnsen is "an awful fit for what President Obama has done." That may explain why she was not confirmed, but her radical views got her the nomination.)
Predictably, the reviews at amazon.com range from highest praise to condemnation.
Typo-prone, but thrilled C. ONeill of Levittown, Pennsylvania:
"Sean Hannity was ahead of the pack in alerting the American people of Obama's radical connections. Especially his close relationship with the Marxist theology, pastor Reverand Jeremiah Wright. He exposed Barack Obama's exteme liberal voting record in his short senate career.
"Conservative Victory chronicles this record and provides a clear and consise path for the American voters to take back our country and restore our founding principles and constitutional laws. It is more than a great read, it is essential for our country. I recommend giving copies to young parents as well as buying a copy for yourself. I gave a copy to my son, my niece and nephew who are parents...."
Anonymous reviewer:
"Sean, we know you have been saying it all along, but its unfortunate we didn't have this book in 2007/2008!
"Of course, better late than never.
"A great read."
This reviewer implies that the book simply repeats what Sean has been saying on television and radio and laments that the contents of the book were not generally known before Election Day 2008. The reviewer is right: Hannity was right on the merits: Obama was a socialist in disguise and not fit to be President. But Hannity lost his case in the courtroom of public opinion because he missing compelling evidence and that permitted Obama to be elected. Amazingly and inexcusably, Hannity did not include that evidence in his new book.
Michael P. Power of Northern Alabama, a longtime Hannity fan:
"I have been a Hannity listener for a long time and I TIVO his program on FOX every evening so I can review it the following day. Maybe I am a victim of all the hype about this book and Sean's promise to provide a blueprint for 'Conservative Victory'. I really expected some well thought out strategy that would tell Conservatives where we should go from here. However, a major portion of the book recaps recent events leading up to Obama's elections and what has transpired in DC up to a point just before the passing of health care reform. This would be good information for someone who has not been following Sean for the last year or so. As I read about Reverend Wright, ACORN, Saul Alinsky, William Ayers, Anita Dunn and Van Jones, I kept hoping I would turn the page and get into new information."
It's NOT because there isn't much more that could and should have been included!
Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.
Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.
The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.
Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.
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