海角大神

Is Sean Hannity the 鈥渨orst excuse for a journalist鈥� in the US? Or is Rep. Keith Ellison (D) of Minnesota 鈥渁 total waste of time鈥� as a television guest?

Yes, that鈥檚 the edifying discussion the Fox News host and Representative Ellison had on Mr. Hannity鈥檚 show Tuesday night. Politico is 鈥渙ne of the most explosive and contentious arguments between an anchor and a politician in recent history.鈥� We don鈥檛 know about that, but we鈥檙e pretty sure nobody who saw it thought they鈥檇 tuned in to 鈥�Downton Abbey鈥� by mistake.

To us, it represented everything wrong about cable shows. Plus, everything that鈥檚 watchable, unfortunately. We鈥檒l call it nacho dip TV 鈥� you know it鈥檚 bad for you but you just can鈥檛 stop consuming it.

贬别谤别鈥檚 : The conservative Hannity had just played a segment in which he appeared to place the blame for the sequester on President Obama. It included clips of Mr. Obama giving two similar speeches on the question, set to the lyric song 鈥淥 Fortuna,鈥� which is the kind of thing they use as background music in 鈥�Game of Thrones.鈥�

Ellison, a Muslim, and Hannity have clashed in the past over intemperate remarks the former had made about the Bush administration and its handling of the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. So the lawmaker was already in the blocks, so to speak. As Hannity threw the show to him he鈥檇 already thought of the point he wanted to make in the show, no matter the question.

鈥淨uite frankly you are the worst excuse for a journalist I have ever seen,鈥� Ellison said.

Hannity then gets a half-smile on his face. It could be pleasure that he鈥檚 baited his guest into a showdown. It could be covering nervousness, as if he didn鈥檛 quite believe his ears.

鈥淲hat?鈥� said the Fox News host. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 hear you.鈥�

It went downhill from there. Ellison rolled along, making the general point that he believes the Republicans more to blame for the current fiscal mess, while Hannity sort of played rope-a-dope, sitting back and occasionally throwing in a punch when his guest paused for breath.

贬别谤别鈥檚 our first reaction: This is why we dislike cable news. It isn鈥檛 that they argue. It鈥檚 that they argue about irrelevant stuff.

David Graham at The Atlantic elucidates this idea at length: Really, does it matter whose idea the sequester was at this point? We know Bob Woodward thinks it does, and he鈥檚 a journalistic god, but for us it鈥檚 like the crew of the Titanic getting into a spat about who thought it was a good idea to take the North Atlantic route while the iceberg looms in front of them.

As Mr. Graham says, both parties agreed to it and voted to approve it.

鈥淭rying to place the blame for the sequester is both a fool鈥檚 errand and a parlor game that has consumed much of the Washington media over the last week or so, as the lack of substantive progress towards stopping the sequester has left pundits and reporters with little else to talk about,鈥� he .

All that said, here鈥檚 our second reaction: What pros!

Watch them go at it. Whether Hannity had an idea that his guest would explode or not, he rolls with it pretty well. You can see that he knows he鈥檚 about to get the same kind of free media publicity that Piers Morgan got when that pro-gun guest Alex Jones went wild on his show.

That鈥檚 why Hannity just lets it go on. If he truly wanted to argue, he鈥檇 have hit the kill button earlier. He let it last about six minutes, which is about as long as any guest interview goes before they cut to something else. In that sense, he won. He got what his producers wanted. He鈥檚 getting tons of attention today.

But Ellison is going to be hero to many on the left for his rant. And did you notice that he never stopped smiling? Yes, he ranted while trying to look unthreatening. That鈥檚 what they teach you in media appearance school. If nothing else, Ellison鈥檚 press secretary must have been proud.