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For a guy who boasts of his Mixed Martial Arts fixation, his firearms training and just general tough-guy bona fides, Sean Hannity hurts his image when whining. But thats the activity he undertook last night in a 10-minute monologue. A well-hyped monologue, at that:

Heres a snippet from that important tract: Theres not a single liberal cable host in American that I know of that has spoken out against the effort to get me fired, said Hannity last night. Not one. For example, theres people like Bill Maher well, they say they stand up for freedom of speech and they have in the past, but why is he, why are others so eerily silent? In this case, nobody came to the defense of me, defending me and my rights here. Theres a massive double standard when it comes to the First Amendment and the left in this country. Lefties, says Hannity, get to say and do pretty much anything they want when it comes to smearing and attacking conservatives, and 99 percent of the time they get away with it. They dont have to face any backlash, no outrage, no uproar, no boycotts trying to silence them.

Then he cited the example of Kathy Griffin, who earlier this week was shown to have posed with a decapitated head of President Trump. Of course, Griffin faced backlash, outrage, uproar and, yes, she was silenced by CNN, which has pulled her from future New Years Eve specials. But Hannity said, Did you hear me call for her firing? No, you did not.

What has Hannity so upset? Media Matters in May posted a list of Hannity advertisers on its website. Though the post didnt call for an advertiser boycott of the cable veteran, its message wasnt larded with subtlety. Sean Hannity is a professional propagandist for President Donald Trump, as well as a bigot, a sexist, and a conspiracy theorist, started the post. The post landed on a raw backdrop, as Hannity for the previous week had been hyping an evidence-free theory about Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee aide who was killed in July 2016. Though police thought that it was a robbery attempt gone awry, Rich was left with his wallet and watch and credit cards and so some people concluded that it was he and not the Russians who had leaked all those DNC emails to WikiLeaks.

On his program and Twitter, Hannity in May gave wind to this school of thought, based on reports from Fox News and Fox5 (D.C.s WTTG) that cited a break in the case. Even though the reports turned out to be bogus, Hannity kept going with the madness. Why? Because a good Seth Rich conspiracy would be good news for Trump. If this is true and Seth Rich gave WikiLeaks the DNC emails which ultimately led to the firing remember Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the eve of the DNC convention? this blows the whole Russia collusion narrative completely out of the water, Hannity said on his program. Also, Twitter:

A great deal of pressure from the media, social media and Richs parents forced Hannity to eventually bag the story for now, as he said on his show. Disgust with his shenanigans, however, had reached such a level that some advertisers bailed, though the snowball effect that dethroned ex-King of Cable News Bill OReilly and his multiple sexual-harassment settlements didnt materialize.

And so heres Hannity, railing about adherence to the First Amendment. Should Hannity care to consult his pocket Constitution, hed come to grips with the Civics 101 reality that this business about advertisers and his show doesnt pertain to the First Amendment, which outlaws only government abridgment of free speech.

If people want to abridge the rancid speech that Hannity spreads across the Fox News airwaves, well, thats their right their First Amendment right. That doesnt mean its a constructive use of that right. Writing in Politico Magazine, Jack Shafer in April railed against boycotts on the grounds that they turn corporations into content arbiters always a bad choice, he argues.

In the particular case of Hannity, however, the push to separate advertisers from his show isnt precisely what he claims. In his phrasing, its about crushing conservative voices. Whats so conservative, though, about far-flung conjecture about the slaying of a promising young man? Whats conservative about ignoring signpost after signpost indicating that this Seth Rich notion is a loser? Whats conservative about making statements without evidence? Its not as if the backlash against Hannity is pegged to his advocacy of lower taxes, a strong military and deregulation. The backlash isnt even linked to his offer to fly Barack Obama to Kenya!

Pressed on his behavior, Hannity told the Huffington Posts Michael Calderone: Nobody tells me what to say on my show. They never have and frankly they never will. Im not that type of person you can say, Go on air and say this. Thats been the beauty of Fox News all these years. They leave me alone.

Everyone needs editors, especially Sean Hannity. Since theyre nowhere to be found at his workplace, he is encountering them in the public realm.

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Sean Hannity whines: Why aren't liberals defending me? - Washington Post (blog)