Morality and Hannity: Sean Hannity and Richard Miniter Question Obama’s Faith

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by Jeffrey Joseph

After President Obama so soundly defended his intellectual and policy credentials before the GOP, FOX had to approach denigrating President Obama from a different angle. Sean Hannity decided a great way to begin, and to further his goals with Republicans, included making a discussion introducing doubts and unfounded assertions about President Obama's theological leanings.

Searching the archives for an ABC interview with President Obama from July of 2009, Hannity aired footage to his guests for his "Great American Panel" of President Obama mentioning that he begins his days with a daily devotional from Josh DuBois, head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Hannity's problem arose from President Obama mentioning that the devotional includes "a passage -- Scripture, in some cases quotes from other faiths -- to reflect on." Immediately, Hannity complained about the devotionals, sent directly to President Obama's Blackberry, because "if he ever says ‘GD America’ or ‘America’s chickens have come home to roost,’ we won’t know about it." If Hannity had done any homework on DuBois, he may have found him hardly a radical, having helped President Obama meet with evangelical leaders on the campaign trail, but Hannity preferred to simply suggest otherwise to see who would pick up on the meme.

Sure enough, Richard Miniter quickly caught on to Hannity's sentiment. Miniter's first comment attempted to attack both Islam and the president, saying, "Sean, the question is, what are the other faiths? Is he talking about Islam?" Fellow panelist Kirsten Powers stated the obvious: "Who cares if he’s talking about Islam?" She attempted to explain that a person did not necessarily have to believe in Islam to learn from at least parts of it, but Miniter cut her off and pivoted to another attack by saying, "It's kind of weird. Every president has had a personal relationship with God, and for him to say some days it's Buddha, some days it's Jesus, it's kind of strange." Of course, nothing about President Obama's comment substantiated Miniter's accusations of him switching religious allegiances on a regular basis, and coming from a guy who previously complained about others refusing to respect his personal faith, one might have hoped for more consideration of the facts.

Hannity could have challenged Miniter on the paucity of substance in his argument but chose instead to help ratchet up the attacks. As an established member of the GOP media, he preferred the kind of softball approach and loaded questions that let charged felon James O'Keefe feel comfortable enough to make an appearance on Hannity's show to try to exonerate himself with the public. Regarding the president, Hannity appeared content to cast doubt on his faith by invoking a months-old interview to manufacture controversy with little substance to it. Viewers have a responsibility to resist Hannity's artificial scandal -- and choose to Turn Off FOX.

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Originally posted at Turn Off FOX.

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