During the April Fools Day edition of his Fox News show, Hannity, Sean Hannity attempted to criticize the White House press kit on the United Kingdom claiming the Obama Administration had downgraded our view of the UK, saying that the UK was “once referred to as our closest ally, to, quote, ‘one of the United States’ closest allies.’” Hannity also claimed the press kit: “read more like a children’s book.” Taking issue with the statement that the U.K., “was, quote, “slightly smaller than Oregon.'” Interestingly Hannity failed to report that the exact phrases he was criticizing were used in the State Department’s “Background Notes” issued during the Bush administration.
Hannity began his attacks saying, “And tonight in “Hannity’s America”: School is in session on board the White House press charter yesterday, as it traveled to the G-20 summit in London. Now, according to the Telegraph reporter Toby Harnden, White House staffers distributed press kits to members of the media that was supposed to help inform them about their destination. But instead, it read more like a children’s book.
“Like the description of the U.K., which said it was, quote, “slightly smaller than Oregon.”
Work with me Sean, the official CIA description of the United Kingdom and Ireland, from the CIA Fact Book (the CIA Sean, and all you ditto-heads out there, is the Central Intelligence Agency) reads, “Slightly smaller than Oregon”.
To further clarify, the CIA describes its use of “Area – comparative” in its Fact Book as,“…an area comparison based on total area equivalents. Most entities are compared with the entire US or one of the 50 states based on area measurements (1990 revised) provided by the US Bureau of the Census. The smaller entities are compared with Washington, DC (178 sq km, 69 sq mi) or The Mall in Washington, DC (0.59 sq km, 0.23 sq mi, 146 acres).”
Ok Sean, now let’s compare the sizes of the two: the state of Oregon’s total area is 255,026 sq. km, and the United Kingdom and Ireland have a total area of 243,000 sq. km. Now I don’t know Mr. Wizard, but it would appear to me that the UK is, how should I put this? Oh, I don’t know, slightly smaller than, oh say, Oregon?
What phrase should the United States Government use Sean to describe the total area of the United Kingdom and Ireland?
How about this: “The United Kingdom and Ireland have a total area of 243,000 sq. km, about 2,000 times larger than Akrotiri”.
Akrotiri Sean, and all you ditto-heads, is one of two areas in southern Cyprus of which the UK retained full sovereignty and jurisdiction by terms of the 1960 Treaty of Establishment that created the independent republic of Cyprus.
Oh, and by the by Mr. Wizard, this phrase was also used by the Bush Administration in its description of the total area of the UK in its “official” background notes. When, you might ask, did the Bush Administration use this description? Well let’s see, just a few times really, July 2001, June 2002, April 2003, November 2003, April 2004, October 2004, May 2005, August 2005, May 2006, February 2007, August 2007, January 2008 and golly gee, as late as July of 2008, pretty much throughout the entire Bush Presidency. But you already knew that, didn’t you Sean? Or is your so-called “reporting” really this sloppy?
Having supposedly proved his point on the “size” of the UK, Hannity then attempted to attack the administration’s “downgrading” of the UK’s relationship with the U.S., “It seems that the Obama team has downgraded our view of the country, once referred to as our closest ally, to, quote, “one of the United States’ closest allies.”
So, saying that the UK is “one of the United States’ closest allies” is bad because it implies we have a lot of close allies?
Hey, and guess what Sean? The Bush Administration’s State Department used a slightly similar phrase in its “official” background notes on the UK; it described U.S. and UK relations: “The United Kingdom is one of the United States’ closest allies…”And what is the “official” Obama Administration’s State Department’s statement in its background notes? The United States State Department said in its March 2009 background notes on the UK: “The United Kingdom is one of the United States’ closest allies…” Wait a second, that’s not just similar to what President Bush’s State Department said, it’s identical! Now to be fair however, the Bush Administration only used this phrase a few times; July 2001, June 2002, April 2003, November 2003, April 2004, October 2004, May 2005, August 2005, May 2006, February 2007, August 2007 and January 2008. But, as stated above, you already knew that, didn’t you Sean? And if you didn’t know it then you’re so-called “reporting” truly is sophomoric at best, and pathetic at worse.
Continuing his sniping, similar to an annoying little kid down the block, Hannity took a swipe at the short biographies listed in the press kit, “And even the bios included were a bit, well, liberal with the facts. Hillary Clinton’s didn’t mention that she ran against Mr. Obama for president, but instead says only that she, quote, “campaigned for the election of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”
Sean, I think unless a reporter just arrived here from, oh let’s say Pluto, they already know that Secretary of State Clinton “ran against Mr. Obama for President”. Sean, exactly which bio were you reading from by the way? The one listed by the State Department says, of Secretary Clinton, “…in 2007 she began her historic campaign for President. In 2008, she campaigned for the election of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and in November, she was nominated by President-elect Obama to be Secretary of State.”
Now let’s see, it says of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “in 2007 she began her historic campaign for President”; and President Barrack Obama began his run for the presidency in January of 2007. Wait a minute! That would mean they ran for the presidency at the same time! Even against each other.
You’re really reaching now Sean.
In finishing his little rant Hannity tried to take one more punch at President Obama’s foreign policy saying, “Another brilliant foreign policy move by team Obama. You know, they’re truly hitting the reset button on all of our relations with countries all over the world. Ladies and gentlemen, that is not a good thing.”
As compared to the wonderfully successful eight years of the United States’ relations with countries all over the world under the “leadership” of Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld? Actually Sean, hitting that particular reset button, is not just a “good thing” it’s a great thing. Our “relations” under Team Bush were strained at best, and the “diplomacy” of running around the world brow beating not only our enemies, but also our friends, was not diplomacy at all; and the Bush Doctrine of invading other sovereign countries because we could was a foreign policy nightmare.
By the way, did Team Bush ever get Bin Laden? No, but we managed to kill almost 90,000 innocent people who had nothing whatsoever to do with the 9-11 attacks, spent nearly 660 billion dollars invading a sovereign country that had nothing to do with the 9-11 attacks, lost 4,263 American service personnel and left another 31,000 wounded invading the same country that had nothing to do with the 9-11 attacks.
You, Sean Hannity, are a shameless, gutless, lying fraud. You are one of a number of propaganda mouth pieces for a political party that is grasping at whatever straws it can grab in a pathetic attempt to regain any amount of political power possible. You – in spite of what your misinformed listeners think – are not a great American. Great Americans don’t promulgate lies, and misrepresent facts.
The Liberty Tree 