Smelling salts alert! Keith Ellison was very, very rude to that nice man Sean Hannity

Smelling salts alert! Keith Ellison was very, very rude to that nice man Sean Hannity

by digby

Oh my goodness, someone needs a fainting couch stat:

Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison attacked Fox News host Sean Hannity on-air tonight in what is surely one of the most explosive and contentious interviews between an anchor and a politician in recent history.

Rep. Ellison began the interview by calling Hannity "the worst excuse for a journalist I've ever seen." He went on to accuse Hannity of violating "every journalistic ethic I have ever heard of" and called him "a shill for the Republican Party."

Hannity calmly endured the attacks from the Minnesota congressman and tried in vain to assure him that he was not a registered Republican, but rather a registered conservative. He finally gave up and told Rep. Ellison to "keep ranting."

The congressman's remarks came after Hannity aired footage of President Obama giving two similar interviews about the looming effects of sequestration, set against a soundtrack of "O Fortuna," from the Carmina Burana. Hannity said the President was "more concerned with fearmongering than finding a solution to the problem he created."

(WATCH: Team Obama drives home sequester messaging)

Rep. Ellison cited the background music as evidence of Hannity's "yellow journalism."

"For you to say the President is to blame here is ridiculous," the congressman said.

Roughly three minutes later, Hannity tried to ask questions and was consistently interrupted by Rep. Ellison. Finally, more than six minutes after the interview started, Hannity ended the interview
Now watch the video from the beginning and ask yourself if Ellison was the screeching lunatic described above.  Once you're done laughing at the stupendously ridiculous notion that Hannity isn't a Republican, ask yourself why the Politico is so upset about the bad manners of someone who actually challenges the lies of the right wing.

Here's a highlight reel if you can't bear to click over to Fox:

I do take issue with Ellison for one thing: calling Hannity a journalist.  He's a propagandist.

I do wonder, however, why Politico doesn't know that. It's not as if he isn't on TV telling lies and slandering his enemies every night. His guests often get perturbed. Indeed, rather than this being "one of the most explosive and contentious interviews in history" this sort of reaction is commonplace on Hannity's show. (And apparently, poor Mother Byers has never even heard of Bill O'Reilly.) You can look it up. Here's one example:


By the way, our good man Sean can get a little hot under the collar himself at times.


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