Sean Hannity is scheduled to participate in the National Action Network's (Rev. Al Sharpton is the president) convention honoring the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, on April 4th. As we have repeatedly demonstrated, Hannity has a dubious, at best, record on issues relating to civil rights. In fact, for the last three years, he has "commemorated" the federal holiday recognizing Martin Luther King by attacking an African American and accusing them of racism. Now Hannity is doing his best to undermine the candidacy of the first African American to run for president not by debating him on the issues about which most Americans care but by smearing Barack Obama as an anti-American racist, based on the beliefs of his pastor. For those reasons and others outlined after the jump, I believe that Hannity has no place in any commemoration of Dr. King.

There he goes again -- some asshole writes nasty comments about Nancy Reagan on a public site, and Bill blames Arianna. This is pretty personal. More and comments at newshounds.us

There has been plenty of substantive bad news for Republicans this week but last night (5/8/07), Hannity & Colmes ignored it all in favor of discussing a baseless accusation against Nancy Pelosi. When challenged by Alan Colmes to provide any facts to back up the claim, a ridiculously overdressed Ann Coulter tried to change the subject, then stumbled, giggled and whined as Colmes refused to let her off the hook.

Only on FOX News would a terrorist tape be discussed as a political story, rather than one of national security, international relations or even military strategy. So instead of getting a guest with real terrorism credentials to discuss Al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri's recently-released remarks about the war in Iraq, Hannity & Colmes put on Dick Morris Monday night (5/7/07) to offer his unsubstantiated "insights" into Al Qaeda's political tactics.

We've seen, three nights this week alone, the kind of treatment FOX affords their progressive guests after the fact. They are ridiculed, misquoted, and misrepresented. Make no mistake, these are pre-meditated and carefully arranged rebuttals to leave viewers with the interpretation that FOX wants them to remember.

After FOX News scurrilously attacked Sen. Barack Obama last January, the Senator from Illinois cut them off at the knees, refusing their reporters access to himself and his family. True to form, that hasn't stopped FOX's lackeys from poor-mouthing Obama and "suggesting" through innuendo that it's the Clinton camp that's responsible for leaking the nasty little details that the various hosts, panelists and guests subtly bleed out a little bit at a time. This is the classic "divide & conquer" tactic. It muddies the waters, sows suspicion and, if successful, leaves one's enemy in a demoralized, confused state.

As various Democratic groups ponder whether to link up with Fox News for 2008 presidential candidate debates, Democrats should consider the bottom line of a study of the effect of media bias on voting -- Fox News helped make George Bush president by persuading Democrats and independents to vote Republican. As the researchers wrote, the "main effect of Fox News was to induce non-voters in Democratic districts to turn out and vote Republican."

The Beltway Boys, Fred Barnes and Mort Kondracke, went after John Edwards, 3/10/07, for refusing to participate in the Fox Sponsored political debate in Nevada blaming his decision on " Moveon left wing liberals not in favor of free speech" who he later labeled " juior grade Stalinists". Also, the Fox News website reported the news by posting an article that was extremely critical using the headline " Lunatic Fringe In Charge".

With over a quarter of a million signatures in two weeks and countless phone calls to individual campaigns, the Democratic Party of Nevada got the message loud and clear: FOX News is not a legitimate news organization and should not be dignified by sponsoring a Democratic candidates' debate.

Our first success! According to Daily Kos, Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards has decided to withdraw from the debate that the Nevada Democratic Party foolishly arranged with that arch-enemy of free speech, FOX News. Kos (Markos Moulitsas Zuniga) writes that he is sure the Nevada Democrats are "cursing whoever it was that negotiated the deal with Fox News." He goes on to say that the "Democratic Party decision maker ... is still secret. Everyone claims they don't know who signed the deal."