Sunday, March 11, 2007

Sean Hannity

On Tuesday, I was talking with some friends about conservative talk radio, noting that Laura Ingraham was my runaway favorite, with Rush coming in second, and the rest finishing far, far back, in this order: Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Mike Gallagher, and Michael Savage. One of those I was talking with indicated her preference for Hannity, and I opined that I basically can't stand him, at least as a talk show host. I find him superficial and quick to exaggerate and demonize his opponents' views. I also noted that his Catholicism seems to be of the cafeteria variety, based on some of his comments on the air.

It was rather ironic that my take was validated by Sean himself just a couple days later, when he had a back and forth with HLI president Fr. Thomas Euteneuer on his Fox News TV show about his (Sean's) views on contraception (which he apparently supports).

He employed his standard form of argument: raise a couple sound points in the midst of a deluge of non sequiturs and quasi-ad hominems. Father said that Sean's grasp of the faith seemed superficial, and while Sean disagreed, I thought that he actually confirmed Father's take.

Find more at Amy Welborn's post here, and do read the comments.

5 comments:

Jeff Miller said...

I would rate them in the same order. I like Laura Ingraham the most and as a convert she seems quite serious about her faith and it great on the life issues, though lesser so on the issue of torture.

Unknown said...

Agreed; although I don't get to listen to her very often, I've found her the most substantial.

I also appreciate the fact that she discusses (at least we I've listened) non-political matters more than the others... if you only listened to Sean, you'd think there was nothing else!

Anonymous said...

As I noted in a different combox Hanitty's performance made me think he was MSNBC's Chris Matthews in disguise.

W. said...

Do you know of Dennis Prager? He is on 9-12 PST from Los Angeles. He is not Catholic but any serious-minded individual would find it hard to not enjoy his show nor be stimulated. His variety of topics are great. Like I said, he is not Catholic but has a great amount of respect for the Faith and for many Catholics. He even was discussing the impact a Ratzinger papacy would have before Ratzinger was elected. He was and is very taken with then-Cardinal Ratzinger's interest in culture, faith, reason, his understanding of and dialogue with other faiths (especially Judaism).
Well, enough said. You can hear archives of Dennis's show via internet at www.pragerradio.com and hear his show live (M-F 9-noon PST) at http://www2.krla870.com/listen/.

Enjoy. After him, I would agree that Laura is the next one, though Hugh Hewitt is a close second too. He gets a great collection of guests and is close to being a practicing Catholic. He was brought up Catholic but then became an Evangelical after continual disappointments with American bishops. No excuse, I know, but a somewhat understandable reason for someone who did not understand the Church and the way she works.

Agree with your comments on Hannity.

In Christ,

Anonymous said...

I don't listen to Sean Hannity anymore. I wish Laura was #2 instead of Hannity in Talkers magazine. He is a sexist pig. He never tells liberal women to "get off the phone you big dope!". He only does it to the men and then hangs up on them. And you call that being a "compassionate conservative"??? Whatever! Also, when young 14 year old boys call into the show, he never shows interest in their future goals nor will he call them good kids...he only does that to the young girls that call in. He only kisses up to the young girls. Pathetic!