"The Speech" Animates All Media

The reviews of "The Speech" came in today. It was the subject of every news outlet and talk show.

I heard Rush today.

I heard Hannity today.

Do you want to know if Obama's "A More Perfect Union" Speech connected with voters? Just watch, listen to and read the Conservative media.

Rush was spinning so hard today he ended up in circular logic as twisted as it was funny. He played it mostly straight on ideological grounds, right after reaching for the big black "Candidate of Race" brush. Rush claimed the real problem is that Obama is a liberal and he's trying to trick you into thinking only he can solve your problems. But you see, Rush goes on, that you can't trust him because he's a fraud and liberals just want to control everything and force Conservatives to surrender their principles.

Uhhmmm, yeah.

The problem, Rush, is that our Republican President has the lowest approval rating since just before Nixon resigned. We know who the fraud is and we know about the endless war and the broken military. We know about the bankrupt economy and we know the Conservative party has created and dumped a colossal mess on Main Street. And we know who is going to get the bill for cleaning it up.

Rush has a problem. He can't credibly support McCain (he already tried to destroy him) and he knows how weak McCain is if he has to run on Bush's record. That leaves Rush and all the ideologues with nothing to do but savagely attack anyone who looks like the opposition. Obama shouldn't feel special. If Hillary were in the lead she would be getting hit instead.

And then there's Hannity.

Sean Hannity is walking a dangerous line. In broadcasting there is a very fine line between political opinion and liability. If stations drop his show or sponsors pull out over the remarks he is making, the business of broadcasting won't support him for very long.

Today, Hannity sounded like his head was going to explode and I feel sorry for him. This issue has become personally identified with him and he obviously has internalized it to a high degree. He's becoming emotionally unbalanced and teetering on a very high wire. He is calling for a white racist backlash against Obama using guilt by association and the remarks of Louis Farrakhan and the Reverend Wright. The irony is sickening. This is how lynching usually starts which is why we have laws against hate speech and hate crime.

Barack Obama raised the stakes and poor Sean Hannity has to go all in or fold. You'd better believe he's sweating this. And since he too tried to stop John McCain from getting the Republican candidacy, he's got nowhere else to go.

That high pitched, sweat drenched, desperately angry Irish American voice on the radio may be trying to bluff. But it's too late. Barack Obama won't fold. Hannity knows he has to play his cards and he knows he isn't holding a pat hand.

Yup, that was some speech.