Anyone watching last night's debacle on ABC might have wondered to themselves about the ridiculousness of the questions directed at Barack Obama. One of them even sounded like it came out of the mouth of the reviled Sean Hannity. When George Stephanopolous asked Senator Obama about his relationship with ex-Weather Underground member Bill Ayers I almost flipped out, but now we know that he was taking notes straight from right-wing scion Sean Hannity.
From ThinkProgress:
Hannity, who for months has been aggressively pushing a story about Barack Obama’s connections to a former member of a radical anti-Vietnam 1970s organization called the Weather Underground, interviewed Stephanopoulos on his radio show on Tuesday, where he pressed the ABC host to ask Obama about this:
HANNITY: There are two questions that I don’t think anybody has asked Barack Obama, and I don’t know if this is going to be on your list tomorrow. One is – the only time he’s ever been asked about his association with Bill Ayers, the unrepentant terrorist from the Weather Underground who on 9/11 of all days in the New York Times was saying “I don’t regret setting bombs. I don’t think we did enough.” When asked about it by the Politico, David Axelrod said that they have a friendly relationship, and that they had done a number of speeches together and that they sat on a board together. Is that a question you might ask?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, I’m taking notes right now.
Well he could have just been facetious when talking to Hannity, being an ex-Clinton staffer and all, right?
In the debate last night, Stephanopoulos asked a question that mirrored almost word-for-word what Hannity pressed him to ask:
STEPHANOPOULOS: A gentleman named William Ayers, he was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol and other buildings. He’s never apologized for that. And in fact, on 9/11 he was quoted in The New York Times saying, “I don’t regret setting bombs; I feel we didn’t do enough.”
An early organizing meeting for your state senate campaign was held at his house, and your campaign has said you are friendly. Can you explain that relationship for the voters, and explain to Democrats why it won’t be a problem?
I guess not. To Stephanopolous, Sean Hannity's trafe is relevant political discourse. That must be one thick bubble Mr. Stephanopolous lives in to honestly believe that, otherwise he was just performing a hit job on Barack Obama. You take your pick.
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